CLEVELAND -- Doctors removed a tumor near Audrey Cimino's heart about three years ago.

5 On Your investigator Ron Regan said that In the process of taking out the tumor, something else was left behind.

For years, Cimino fought an infection that wouldn't go away.

"The pus just went in the sink. That's how bad it was. I mean, it was just draining and draining," she said.

It was draining from an incision in her chest where doctors had operated, Regan reported. But Cimino knew something was wrong within weeks of her very first surgery and immediately called her surgeon.

"I said, 'It's bleeding and there's pus coming out.' He said that's normal drainage and the blood was superficial blood, don't be alarmed about that," Cimino said.

Six months later, the same surgeon operated on Audrey again. But she said the infection continued.

"I was begging for help,” she said.

Finally after three years, Cimino found a different surgeon. NewsChannel5 obtained medical records to find the answer. Regan said something was left behind during the first surgery and records show it "seemed to be the source of the infection."

"It's not bigger than a piece of gauze. And they place that in there to absorb something I believe. And apparently it was left in there," said Brian Eisen with the Ohio Association of Trial Lawyers.

"I think that folks would be amazed and not just a little bit scared to find out how frequently there are retained objects during surgery," said Eisen.

A 5 On Your Side Investigation dug into the most comprehensive study on patient safety. Regan found more than 2,000 cases of sponges, towels and surgical instruments have been left inside patients in the last three years. That's about 900 cases every year.

Hospitals typically count everything three times -- once during set up, again before surgery and immediately after. Regan reported that sometimes that count is wrong. He found something that can stop that from happening.

"It will actually tell you how many sponges are inside the body and what type of sponges," said Gautam Gandhi of Clear Count Medical Solutions.

Regan said a tiny chip the size of a penny can prevent mistakes. It's the brainchild of Clear Count Medical Solutions.

"This is a laparatomy soft sponge -- a surgical sponge. And what we've done is we've implanted a small little micro chip the size of a penny and it's right up here if you can see it and what that does is that allows the surgical sponge to be detected by a hand held scanner during surgery," said Gandhi.

That may have helped Cimino, Regan reported. Instead, it took more than three years to get help.

Regan said he was surprised to find is that it’s not unusual. On average, experts said three patients every day go home with something left behind, and more than 100 have patients died as a result.

Patient safety advocates said if you experience infection or pain weeks after surgery, be persistent until you get answers.

For more information, check out the Safety In American Hospitals Study.

Or check out the Web site healthgrades.com.