Help needed with care plan!

[sleepysilver]

Hi! I am a student nurse working on a care plan for a patient with the primary diagnosis of intra abdominal abscess. I am having trouble coming up with acceptable nursing diagnoses for this patient. He presented with leg pain and a fever, however those have resolved so I'm not sure if I would still be able to use Acute Pain. Does anyone have any ideas or worked with a patient with an abdominal abscess?

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

Did you do an assessment on him? If so what were your abnormal findings?

[sleepysilver]

I did do an assessment, vitals were normal, he denied any pain. His lymphocytes were decreased and his hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were above normal however he is anemic. He has a history of colon cancer, 7 months post left hemicolectomy with an end colostomy. He did have a biopsy on his abscesses which were postive for cancer.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

"i did do an assessment, vitals were normal, he denied any pain. his lymphocytes were decreased and his hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were above normal however he is anemic. he has a history of colon cancer, 7 months post left hemicolectomy with an end colostomy. he did have a biopsy on his abscesses which were postive for cancer."

a few questions to get you going in the right direction:

so... what's the cause of an abscess? does it contain bacteria? how would bacteria get into the normally-sterile intraperitoneal space in this very unfortunate man? he's afebrile now, that's great; what might happen in the future?

what is peritonitis? what causes it? how might his bowel cancer be involved in this process?what symptoms would you look for if you were suspicious that this could develop?

how is he diagnosed as anemic if his prime measures for that (h&h) are above normal? what does cancer do to your ability to make blood cells? do you know the term, "anemia of chronic illness"? what symptoms would you look for in an anemic person? why do they occur? what care might this person need from a nurse for those?