Anesthesia Complication-102.6 post-op fever ”Atelectasis”.

[RNY-Fall-2017 161]

My two actual surgeries went very well (1) gastric bypass 2) cholycystectomy (gallbladder removal including a 2 inch gallstone. See attached pics). Walked a lot from day 1 and used inspiration spirometer like crazy too 10 times per hour-was very compliant and literally, just soo thrilled to be in the post-op phase. Afterwards on day 4, I had some complications, however. Temp went from 99 (was 99-99.4 post op days 1-3) to 102.6 on day 4. At the ER, all blood work was normal, but the the ct scan with contrast & chest ray showed that I have ATELECTASIS as it turns out. (An area of one of my lungs didn’t reinflate) after I was taken off the ventilator during anesthesia. This can turn into pneumonia, so I’m pushing myself even harder to do every single thing I’m supposed to as perfectly as possible even though I’ve been at home still doing the inspiration spirometer and walking to our neighborhood stopsign 2-4 times/day. I’m postoperative day 6, and now down to 99 degree fever. I’ve also had pain with bending over since the immediate post-op (the pain is deep inside & the surgeon told me it’s due to the way he overlapped the muscle he stitched back together). This seems to be getting a little better now that I’m on day 5 however. Diarrhea is chronic is was always explosive & now just chronic. Also, STRANGELY,I did NOT feel any gas or shoulder pain what so ever while in the hospital. The nurses didn’t even hear any bowel sounds ‘til mere hours before discharge too!? Was quite cool actually! I did however walk the halls at least a 45-50 times in total I’de say. (Now, my dad had a pulmonary embolism after his hernia surgery and was pronounced dead before somehow coming back to us..?) Thus, I walked each hall about every hour to three hours at least 2 times as well as throughout the night at like 1am & 3am like a freakin’ mad woman! And that wasn’t due to gas pains or shoulder pain, just to mitigate chances of a blood clot like my dad had. Anyway, still ended up that I have this lung issue now and also due to the bodies natural stress levels from surgery, I have hundreds of cold sores on my lips going up to my nose. I’m taking a Lysine (amino acid) several times/day which is greatly helping. Otherwise, I’m just sleepier than normal. The good news is that I don’t need pain meds, though I have them on hand. I do not regret having surgery of course and still feel eternally grateful to have a second chance at better health. Oh yeah- I was in 3 blood pressure meds in post op day one went off all! All BP readings actually low! Also not on CPAP for apnea now! The health benefits for me started on day 1 post op.

[insul817 49]

WOW! Sounds like you sure have been through the mill! Glad your doing better everyday! Keep us all posted as to your progress. Best wishes for a speedy recovery !

[RNY-Fall-2017 161]

Feeling 100% Bette, thank you so much!