Question about G tube on Melanoma Patient

[heffron]

i have a patient with melanoma. she's been diagnosed with it for over 3 years. this past october she had a surgery to remove several nodes which had supposedly contained the disease. after doctors made the incision, they had seen that it had spread throughout her intestines. due to that, there was blockage developing in her intestines, and a g tube was installed.

so now it has been installed in her for over 4 months, and things have been going smoothly. just about 2 weeks ago, blood and waste have been pouring out of the wound. i've repeatedly tried to patch the wounds with gauss pads and tape, but fluids continue to run out of the cavity. in the past 2-3 weeks the cavity has grown from half an inch, to over an inch long. my assumption would be that with her skin expanding from the ivs and acid/wastes pouring out, could that be the reason why the wound is growing rapidly.

does anyone know how i could remedy this?

thx

edward heffron

[leslie :-D]

if it's mets, it's unlikely it can be remedied. it can be a fistula or the ca itself eating its way through. what does the md say?

[aimeee, BSN, RN]

Your post is unclear about the location of "the wound". No matter where it is, it sounds like an ET consult may be called for. Is this a home patient or a hospital patient? Has the physician seen the progression of this wound?

[heffron]

NM, she passed away

rip tam vu

[renerian, BSN, RN]

My prayers and thoughts are with you.

renerian

[heffron]

thanks

she was sleeping, and during the time she was pretty weak and unable to communicate or move. (due to lack of nutrition) i heard some mucus in her throat and put one of the mini hand held pumps in there, started to drain the stuff out for a while, and she sounded fine. all of a sudden 2-3 minutes later i hear heavier mucus, then from what i saw it was becoming difficult for her to breath. i call my brother in, and then 5 minutes later, she just stops breathing. i feel very bad because i just stood there, but i don't know what i could've done to save her.

[jerseyRN]

Sounds like she was dying of advanced cancer, and all you could do was be there. Which you were...