I walked under a bus, got hit by a train..........

[elcee 3,341]

Well not quite but it certainly feels like it. I'm finally home from hospital after spending 5 nights there rather than the planned 3 - 4.

Went in for surgery last Thursday. Removal of band, repair of hiatus hernia and revision to RNY. The surgery took about 3 hours and was apparently pretty standard. Came round in recovery , felt ok and was taken back to my ward. Still felt ok. No real pain or nausea which is always a bonus. Had my glass of ice to suck when I suddenly started to feel really strange. Hit the call button and when the nurse came in told him (or her can't remember now) that I thought they may need the crash cart. By this stage my monitors had started going crazy as my BP was dropping through the floor so the first Met call was placed. Most of the nurses from the floor came rushing into my room and I was convinced I was going to die. All I could think was no how stupid am I , why did I do this, what on earth will my Mum and kids and hubby etc say.They got me partially stabilised and I stopped feeling dizzy and then I started shivering like mad ( another sign of hypovolemic shock) . I kept telling the nurse I was cold which was hardly surprising since they had me mainly uncovered but she was trying to concentrate on getting a cathline in and it wasn't working as my veins had all collapsed. 2nd met call placed and a couple of ED docs came in as well. They were ultrasounding me to see if they could find some blood loss and my BP was down to 75/45 My surgeon was contacted ( I think he was still in surgery at this point) and it was arranged to take me back to theatre urgently. At some point I apparently had a CAT scan but I don't know when as by that time I was very groggy and I am sure my recollection of the true events is severely impaired.I have since heard that they went back in , looked for a leak , cleaned me up etc. I don't think they found anything significant but I don't know the full details.

I recall waking up in ICU and thinking oh I'm still alive which was a relief but I still wasn't confident that things couldn't change. Friday sometime I was deemed fit enough to be transferred back to the normal ward. Again I was doing fine on Clear Liquids, had no pain and wasn't using my Fentanyl pump excessively but I definitely felt like I had been hit by a bus. Zero energy and like a washed out dishrag. That could be expected after major surgery except I am usually the one that is bouncing around the ward in record time amazing everyone. I felt so good after my hysterectomy that I kept getting out of bed to go somewere forgetting I had a pain pump attached! Physician ordered more blood tests to check my HB levels, apparently they were still really low even though I had been given 2 units of blood in the second surgery so Saturday evening I received another 2 units of blood. My temp spiked slightly whilst the first lot was going in but the on call Dr told them it was OK to continue. I was lying there think yep I'm not out of the woods yet and being anxious is probably not good for recovery.

By Sunday I was getting a bit frustrated with food as I was still on clear fluids , I think the extended stay confused the hospital kitchens and the weekend staff.Especially as by this stage I had been told I had to do a NO 2 before I could go home and obviously that wasn't possible with what was in me. I refused to take the lactulose as last time it had me in agony for hours and wasn't going to go through that again. I did behave and take 2 doses of Movicol on consecutive days which eventually had the desired effect. I also find it annoying that as a bariatric patient the kitchen brings all your food for each meal in one go and then they don't look happy when they have to take melted jelly and sour yogurt back a couple of hours later! We won't talk about that yogurt it was vile, sour, unflavoured drinking yogurt, it wasn't even palatable when it was fresh. I finally started some Optifast yesterday and was hoping the Protein would help boost my energy levels. Sadly it didn't. The best meal of the stay was some delicious cauliflower Soup.

On Sunday my Physician ordered a Physio check on me but when they tried to contact her she had already finished her shift!!!!@@@@###( Does make you wonder why you pay for a private hospital). Got to see her yesterday and she just checked on my breathing exercises, made sure I was walking ok and gave me tips for when I got to go home. My energy levels by then were still zero, if I managed to do the recommended walking it would wipe me out for the rest of the day. I have no idea how people walk off their gas pain so its a good job I didn't really have much. I climbed into bed to try and get some sleep and then realised I could hear voices under my pillow. Can you imagine the state of my mind by now? I concentrated on the voices and then realised it was my breathing, some of the worst wheezing you have ever heard. I called the nurse in and told her and I think she made a note but nothing else happened. They change shifts at 9.30 so it was probably 8pm ish when I raised it again and said how frustrated I was. Surely it wouldn't have been that hard to get someone to check on me. Maybe nurses dont know how to use stethoscopes, thats fine but there must have been some Drs in the hospital somewhere. Then the **** hit the fan as the person in the room adjacent to me had a seizure so they had an emergency situation to handle which meant they went home late which meant that despite their promises they didn't call and speak to a DR. I am sure if they had one would have telephonically ordered a blood test or an xray or told them to give me some salbutomol.

I swear I slept for a max of an hour last night. It was so uncomfortable. I couldn't get into a position where I felt I could breath properly. The wheezing was loud enough to wake the dead and I had the sensation of popcorn popping in my throat! Half way through the night the nurse must have realised there was a problem as she came and put the O2 back on me. I was terrified. I even messaged my hubby in the early hours telling him I was scared and asking him to get there as soon as possible in the am so he could be there when the drs did their rounds. Dr this morning was lovely, he couldn't understand why someone hadn't called him. He decided it sounded like Asthma( which I haven't formerley been diagnosed with) so ordered me to be nebulised. It seemed to help so I have now been sent home with an inhaler and spacer. It still seems pretty bad when I lay down so may have to try and sleep sitting up for a few nights.

I don't regret having had the surgery now it is behind me but had I known how close things were going to be I would definitely have thought about it a little bit harder. I thought that I had done my research and that the odds were good but maybe I was a little too blase.I will definitely only be having future surgery if I really have to and even then I shall be absolutely terrified.

Hope I haven't bored you all with my long story and if anyone else got Asthma after surgery would love to hear from you.

[Bari_KS 499]

Omg that was quite an experience, sorry you had to go through this. On the other side I admire your resilience. You are a hero! You won that battle and you're alive and well. I wish you steady recovery. I'm sure you'll feel much better in few days.

[KimTriesRNY 1,853]

Glad you are home and hope you are on the mend now.

[GradyCat 3,695]

Oh goodness, you had quite a few scares there with your surgeries. Hope you are on the mend now.

[Hop_Scotch 1,630]

So goes the song some Australians would know

You've been through some trials the past few days, you certainly have strength of character, can only get much better from now on.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

Holy moly!!! ((hugs)) I wish you a speedy recovery!!! Try to get the Fluid in and walk/elevate, don't lay down flat until your chest clears. (But sounds like you know that!) Watch your temperature as well! So sorry to hear of all the problems and scariness!!!!

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

10 hours ago, elcee said:

suddenly started to feel really strange

@elcee

OMG you went through the wringer and back!! feeling those awful thoughts, hurting so much.

i am so sorry you experienced this situation, being understandably scared of what was going on!!

take care at home, heal slowly - don't rush - this was very serious - do only what your body

is allowing you to. I don't think you should walk and walk as you would a "normal" bariatric

surgery. Do whatever the doc allows. This is no time to be a hero - you must totally recover

at your own pace. Take care my friend🤗

kathy

[Frustr8 7,886]

Elcee you remind me of a lost Dog

[Frustr8 7,886]

story. Lost or Strayed medium sized male dog. Indiscriminate shade of hair, 1/2Border Collie 1/2. Irish Setter , one eye missing, 1 ear sticks up, 1 permanently flopped down, healed broken left hind leg, recently neutered. Answers to name of Luckey
You took everything they dished out and still were a Winner. Everybody cheer for our elcee, skoot down, she's on the Bench of Victory now with all of us! Congratulations on making it through your Trial by Fire!.

[elcee 3,341]

5 hours ago, proudgrammy said:

This is no time to be a hero - you must totally recover

at your own pace. Take care my friend

Thanks Kathy, you too

[elcee 3,341]

5 hours ago, Frustr8 said:

Lost or Strayed medium sized male dog. Indiscriminate shade of hair, 1/2Border Collie 1/2. Irish Setter , one eye missing, 1 ear sticks up, 1 permanently flopped down, healed broken left hind leg, recently neutered. Answers to name of Luckey

Probably more one of those annoying but cute wire haired terrier types that hangs onto your trouser leg and wont let go

[ummyasmin 1,603]

Well not quite but it certainly feels like it. I'm finally home from hospital after spending 5 nights there rather than the planned 3 - 4.
Went in for surgery last Thursday. Removal of band, repair of hiatus hernia and revision to RNY. The surgery took about 3 hours and was apparently pretty standard. Came round in recovery , felt ok and was taken back to my ward. Still felt ok. No real pain or nausea which is always a bonus. Had my glass of ice to suck when I suddenly started to feel really strange. Hit the call button and when the nurse came in told him (or her can't remember now) that I thought they may need the crash cart. By this stage my monitors had started going crazy as my BP was dropping through the floor so the first Met call was placed. Most of the nurses from the floor came rushing into my room and I was convinced I was going to die. All I could think was no how stupid am I , why did I do this, what on earth will my Mum and kids and hubby etc say.They got me partially stabilised and I stopped feeling dizzy and then I started shivering like mad ( another sign of hypovolemic shock) . I kept telling the nurse I was cold which was hardly surprising since they had me mainly uncovered but she was trying to concentrate on getting a cathline in and it wasn't working as my veins had all collapsed. 2nd met call placed and a couple of ED docs came in as well. They were ultrasounding me to see if they could find some blood loss and my BP was down to 75/45 My surgeon was contacted ( I think he was still in surgery at this point) and it was arranged to take me back to theatre urgently. At some point I apparently had a CAT scan but I don't know when as by that time I was very groggy and I am sure my recollection of the true events is severely impaired.I have since heard that they went back in , looked for a leak , cleaned me up etc. I don't think they found anything significant but I don't know the full details.
I recall waking up in ICU and thinking oh I'm still alive which was a relief but I still wasn't confident that things couldn't change. Friday sometime I was deemed fit enough to be transferred back to the normal ward. Again I was doing fine on Clear Liquids, had no pain and wasn't using my Fentanyl pump excessively but I definitely felt like I had been hit by a bus. Zero energy and like a washed out dishrag. That could be expected after major surgery except I am usually the one that is bouncing around the ward in record time amazing everyone. I felt so good after my hysterectomy that I kept getting out of bed to go somewere forgetting I had a pain pump attached! Physician ordered more blood tests to check my HB levels, apparently they were still really low even though I had been given 2 units of blood in the second surgery so Saturday evening I received another 2 units of blood. My temp spiked slightly whilst the first lot was going in but the on call Dr told them it was OK to continue. I was lying there think yep I'm not out of the woods yet and being anxious is probably not good for recovery.
By Sunday I was getting a bit frustrated with food as I was still on clear fluids , I think the extended stay confused the hospital kitchens and the weekend staff.Especially as by this stage I had been told I had to do a NO 2 before I could go home and obviously that wasn't possible with what was in me. I refused to take the lactulose as last time it had me in agony for hours and wasn't going to go through that again. I did behave and take 2 doses of Movicol on consecutive days which eventually had the desired effect. I also find it annoying that as a bariatric patient the kitchen brings all your food for each meal in one go and then they don't look happy when they have to take melted jelly and sour yogurt back a couple of hours later! We won't talk about that yogurt it was vile, sour, unflavoured drinking yogurt, it wasn't even palatable when it was fresh. I finally started some Optifast yesterday and was hoping the Protein would help boost my energy levels. Sadly it didn't. The best meal of the stay was some delicious cauliflower Soup.
On Sunday my Physician ordered a Physio check on me but when they tried to contact her she had already finished her shift!!!!@@@@###( Does make you wonder why you pay for a private hospital). Got to see her yesterday and she just checked on my breathing exercises, made sure I was walking ok and gave me tips for when I got to go home. My energy levels by then were still zero, if I managed to do the recommended walking it would wipe me out for the rest of the day. I have no idea how people walk off their gas pain so its a good job I didn't really have much. I climbed into bed to try and get some sleep and then realised I could hear voices under my pillow. Can you imagine the state of my mind by now? I concentrated on the voices and then realised it was my breathing, some of the worst wheezing you have ever heard. I called the nurse in and told her and I think she made a note but nothing else happened. They change shifts at 9.30 so it was probably 8pm ish when I raised it again and said how frustrated I was. Surely it wouldn't have been that hard to get someone to check on me. Maybe nurses dont know how to use stethoscopes, thats fine but there must have been some Drs in the hospital somewhere. Then the **** hit the fan as the person in the room adjacent to me had a seizure so they had an emergency situation to handle which meant they went home late which meant that despite their promises they didn't call and speak to a DR. I am sure if they had one would have telephonically ordered a blood test or an xray or told them to give me some salbutomol.
I swear I slept for a max of an hour last night. It was so uncomfortable. I couldn't get into a position where I felt I could breath properly. The wheezing was loud enough to wake the dead and I had the sensation of popcorn popping in my throat! Half way through the night the nurse must have realised there was a problem as she came and put the O2 back on me. I was terrified. I even messaged my hubby in the early hours telling him I was scared and asking him to get there as soon as possible in the am so he could be there when the drs did their rounds. Dr this morning was lovely, he couldn't understand why someone hadn't called him. He decided it sounded like Asthma( which I haven't formerley been diagnosed with) so ordered me to be nebulised. It seemed to help so I have now been sent home with an inhaler and spacer. It still seems pretty bad when I lay down so may have to try and sleep sitting up for a few nights.
I don't regret having had the surgery now it is behind me but had I known how close things were going to be I would definitely have thought about it a little bit harder. I thought that I had done my research and that the odds were good but maybe I was a little too blase.I will definitely only be having future surgery if I really have to and even then I shall be absolutely terrified.

Hope I haven't bored you all with my long story and if anyone else got Asthma after surgery would love to hear from you.

Oh wowee you've been through the mill and back! What a lot for your poor bod to cope with. No wonder you don't have energy! If you needed blood transfusions I wonder if that's partly why too!
Gosh, I'm glad to hear you're recovering.

Sent from my SM-G930F using BariatricPal mobile app

[Wendums 64]

You are so strong to have made it through that like you did. It will all be worth it in the end. Have a speedy recovery.