VWvaporChick

I had surgery on Aug. 31st, liquid diet the day before and then the morning of the surgery I was terrified but went ahead with it, knowing it would only better me down the road. From the moment I woke up from the surgery I was in pain, however my incisions were looking good, and I was told this was not out of the norm. Went home around 6pm that day. That night I was in so much pain when I came home I took the 'liquid Tylenol' as told by the surgeon and it was no help I ended up crushing a vicodin just so I could sit up. In the next few days I slept sitting up in a chair, to where finally I couldn't even lean back and hardly walk, all along I was told this was gas.. and to walk it off. walk walk walk When I went in for my one week of post op I was told that my incisions looked great, like I even cared at that point I had hardly slept in a week and any movement was painful, my mom was convinced that since most of the pain was in my lower pack it was pneumonia or something of the sorts, she then insisted that they give me a chest x ray, in which they did another barium swallow and said oh yeah everything is fine, its gas walk it off. So at this point I go home (wed one week after surgery) and I walk, I cry when walking it is so painful, at this point I have gone through 4 bottles of liquid Tylenol. But they know what they are talking about so I force myself to walk. Saturday morning I get up and start coughing up blood, I call the drs office back and they tell me, its nothing to worry about, probably just anesthetic that I am coughing up. Basically I am "bothering" them at this point and they tell me if I want to persure this further I can take it up with my family physician. The next morning I do the same thing at this point my mom takes me to the emergency room. Now I still can barely walk, cant lay down, sleep leaning forward on a table and the back pain has spread around to the front and I am coughing blood. They diagnose me with pneumonia, and admit me to the hospital, on Sept. 10. The next morning I go in for an MRI and they find that my right lung is literally floating on a sac of Fluid, 2 cavities of my lung are completely collapsed and evidence of the pneumonia. in the next few days they drain 450cc (over a liter) of fluid from my lungs and area surrounding, at this point they can clearly see that I have the two collapsed cavities and a hefty case of pneumonia in my lower cavity. I spent 7 days in the hospital total, and this was all brought on, from what they conclude that I aspirated during my surgery which could be due to positioning or a number of other factors. I am out now, and home since Sunday, just being out of the hospital makes a person feel better, I am on a lot of medication, in a lot of pain, and down 16ish pounds. I am sure this is a rare thing that happened to me, but I think people should be aware of the things which can happen and my advice to everyone is that, if a dr tells you something and you don't agree with it, make someone listen, the pain I went through could have been avoided more had someone where I had my surgery had taken the time in my opinion. Oh and also the X-ray from the one week post op was sent to the hospital during my stay and they said they could see a dark spot at the tip of my lung at that point, which the lung specialist is now disputing with the staff, as this could have bought me 5 days of getting treatment earlier. I know now that the surgery is over and done with and the lap band is in me and I am sure it will do its job, but do I regret it, yeah overall I do, I don't place blame, I was aware that surgery can cause complications, but being in a hospital and in pain for close to 3 weeks really makes you think. Now for the rest of my life I have to worry about respiratory complications in addition to handling the lap band. sorry maybe I needed to vent, but yeah that's my story! PS, I am a graduating senior from college, oh wait I WAS due to being out for so long there isn't any way I can finish this semester as I am not even released to do , well anything at this point but sit around and lay in bed and try to recover. :sick

um yeah obviously thats what i did... can you not read and process that? I was thinking if there was an understanding for why something is happening though then i would take that into account first? hence why i am not a dr/nurse I dont know about these things. AND how would i know that would happen to me?? I was in YOUR office a few days before and was told there wasent a damn thing wrong with me, except gas. If I was to talk to my family dr you would think that only 4 days earlier you would have told me that? Or wait was that common sense on my part to read minds as well? I'm really glad you posted this actually, its just another example of how your office feels about their patients and their aftercare. Remember ladies: " You Get Tender Loving Care at TLC Texas Laparoscopy Center

Wow, I almost fell out of my chair trying to laugh which I cant do since I can barley breathe, but that's another thread. Dr Spiegel and his "cell phone". Let me tell you about my experience with that... every time i called it (4-5) times a nurse picked it up... not he himself. (which for his fan club whom would excuse this as a fluke or whatever dignified/ glorified answer they need to tell themselves) happened every time. 10 day stretch. The only day I got to speak to the dr was the day i was coughing up blood, called the emergency number and surprise got the nurse again, then almost 2 hours later when i called THEM back I got to talk to him, which is when I was personally told that it was not anything to worry about and If I wanted to per sue it I could take it up with my family Dr... it was very obvious this was not their problem anymore. So I guess that's what we have ER's for. I am sure that he is a great surgeon and I have nothing against that, my incisions are tiny and will probably go away quite well, its just all the other escalating things that have driven me over the edge with the place. I'm sure my case is one in a million, but they need to just be aware that not everything is what meets the surface, but I have concluded that they walk around that place like brainwashed robots.

Just to answer a few questions... I was given the blowing thing in the hospital and I could get to around 1000, which i guess was good enough? In the days to follow I couldnt even reach 500, I used that thing alot, untill it just got too painful, I had to in a sence make myself learn to breate very shallow just to avoid more pain. I had my surgery at 12 Oaks Hospital in Houston with Dr Spiegel. As far as the surgery there is no doubt in my mind he knows what he is doing, but as far as after care, he and his faculty suck, becuase to them everything is gas!

I am having my surgery tomorrow actually... and I was told all piercings had to come out, which presented a problem as i have my smiley done and when it was piericed the ball was lightly welded in, therefore it wont just come out it would need to be cut out. After hearing this I was told that during the surgery an insturment can be used 'sometimes' that any metal on you it could burn the skin, so they are going to put a layer of gauze under my piercing and hopefully it will be ok! As far as something like the navel I would say just go on and take it out, let it heal and get it re done. I'm taking my others out right before they take me into the OR, then putting them back in asap, and if you do that too, then it might be ok! GL