My Surgery and a Series of Unfortunate Events

[orionburn 1,024]

Hi all. I haven't posted since the morning of my surgery. Unfortunately I was one of those where things didn't go oh-so-smoothly for me. This isn't meant to be a discouraging post but my tale and where I am at.

I had my sleeve done on the morning of January 25th. Everything up to the point of surgery had gone swimmingly. When I awoke in recovery I was in a tremendous amount of pain and nausea. I do not do well with anesthesia so waking up was doubly difficult. While I do not suffer from sleep apnea my breathing was irregular and if I would start to drift off to sleep I would stop breathing. I ended up being in recovery for probably 6-8 hours. As to the surgery itself my doctor said things went perfect. Liver was tip top and the time of surgery went quickly.

When I got to my room the discomfort continued. What complicated things further was that the pain meds seemed to be making me nauseousness all the more. Getting fluids down was really difficult. My stomach must have been seriously swollen because any amount of Fluid seemed to sit at the top of my stomach and gave me terrible heartburn. Thursday continued to be a difficult day. The nausea continued and got so bad to where I wretched a few times although there was nothing to come up.

By Thursday night things had started to improve slightly, but on Friday things went downhill yet again. I had fallen asleep in my reclining chair and awoke around noon with terrible pain and cramps in my left side and shoulder. Then suffered another wretching bout on top of it. As time passed the pain increased and moved to the center of my chest. Breathing became difficult and painful. The concern was a leak or internal bleeding so they took me down to do a CT scan. Scan showed that it appeared my spleen had decided to spring a leak. Good news is that it was not a continual bleed but I had blood in my abdomen. By the time I got back to my room the chest pain increased and breathing was rapid and shallow. At this point the pulled me out of my room and sent me down to ICU to try and stabilize me.

The next 18 hours were scary and painful. By Saturday I was starting to feel slightly better with a reduction in chest pain and breathing became easier. I got the all clear to go back to my original room, but by that time the floor was full and they had no bed for me. So I was essentially stuck in ICU for almost a day longer than I needed to be. By the time I got into a room on my original floor it was Sunday evening. My luck seemed to be on a crash course as the heating was malfunctioning and all of the rooms were well over 80s degrees. Sleep Sunday night was minimal and miserable. Come Monday morning my doc told me that he wanted me to stay yet another day for observation. At this point I was ready to jump out the 12th floor window of my room as being in the hospital was taking its toll on me.

On Tuesday I felt the best I had. Sadly my heartbeat was still elevated and temp was over 100, but my hemoglobin was showing normal again which pointed to the internal bleed being gone. At the last second I thought they were going to change their minds and keep me again but my doc gave me the okay to go home. Total time was 6 nights and 7 days in the hospital.

I'm now home and doing better, but far from being out of the woods. My temp continues to bounce around at 100 degrees and heartbeat is about 100-110. I wanted to give myself a solid day of rest at home as the hospital stay was making me a wreck, plus the heat problem made the last 36 hours all the worse.

Getting fluids down is now a piece of cake. Still have no appetite at all, and cool drinks are all I want. I've actually gained weight but that's due to being pumped full of so may fluids while at the hospital. At this point in time weight loss is the last thing I'm worried about. Still having some pain but it's bearable, and the meds I'm on aren't causing nausea which is a Godsend. Still pretty scared about the temp/heartbeat and that it could be a sign of infection. The wretching bouts I had left me worried that I had done some damage, but my stomach seems to be happy at the moment. Put a call into my doc this afternoon to update but haven't heard back from them yet so I'll follow up again tomorrow. Hoping another decent night's sleep will help get me over the hump to a full recovery.

Could definitely use some well wishes right now. Was feeling horribly discouraged at the hospital but so thankful to be back at home.

Edited January 31, 2017 by orionburn

[kar12345 74]

So sorry to hear of your troubles. Wishing you better days ahead!!!

[amf1025 71]

I'm so terribly sorry all this happened . How scary, I pray for a full recovery ????☝????

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[rrurydita 2]

Will say a prayer that things get better from here on out.

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[Floetic23 10]

you are on my pray list and I'm sending nothing but positive energy your way. hang in there, love!

[Soviv 5]

2 weeks post sleeve I had a 10cm hematoma in my stomach. Had to go back in the hospital for 10 days. I felt so discouraged because everything was going wrong... ICU, PICC line, TPN, DVT... I was very stressed out when I came back home but now I feel great. Do not regret your srgx, you will get better and be so happy when the weight will go down !!! Hang in there

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[FindingCarrie 244]

@"Soviv", what were your symptoms that brought you back to your doctor to determine that you had a hematoma?

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[Soviv 5]

I had a low grade fever but mainly, a bad pain under my left rib increased with breathing. Because I'm a nurse, I was convinced I had a pulmonary embolism. After many tests, they concluded it was an "infected hematoma" for unknown reason... Me too I was scared for my life and far from thinking about my weight loss. I was pretty traumatized when I got back home and I was constantly checking my heart rate or my temperature. Even now at 9 weeks PO, I still worries but my Dr is happy with my improvement and my nutritionniste too. Give yourself some time and get well

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[mschan218 81]

Kudos to you for staying positive! Feel better!

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[Jazzzyjay 222]

Prayers that you continue well on your path to recovery. You poor thing. I couldn't even imagine. What an ordeal.

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[TheBomb64 39]

Hey hang in there it will all settle down soon. Stay positive ok

Prayers coming your way

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[orionburn 1,024]

Just to update I am doing better. Getting in my Protein and Water intake without issues. Weight hasn't changed much since prior to surgery (318 day of - 315 as of today). Temp bounces back and forth every now and then but seems to be stabilizing. Mainly dealing with fatigue right now, but after everything that I've been through in the past week I'll take it! I do have a bruise that is black as night and the size of a basketball on my right side, so that must have been where they did most of the work. Luckily that doesn't hurt any.

Despite more downs than up in the first week I do not regret having the procedure done. Obviously I wish I could have been in the group that didn't suffer many of the unwanted side effects, but what's done is done. I knew the risks going in and was one of things out of my control, and don't fault the doc in any way.

[Soviv 5]

Thanks for the update ! Give yourself some time with the fatigue and low energy and take care !

[AGreenEyedWolf 97]

I remembered that you and I shared a surgery date... I'm so sorry to hear that things went so badly for you... I had been wondering how you were doing.

I'm glad to hear you're home now - that usually helps me feel better - familiar surroundings and all - and I hope you continue to improve! Chin up! The hard part is over - your WL "tool" is ready to use and now you can just work it!

[carolynjackson 171]

So sorry to hear . Hope your feeling better! Keep us updated

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