rubyredslippers
Complications and Finally Post-Op
Dec 12, 2010
Well friends, I am in no way a poster child for VSG, but I'm still very happy to have done this. I had some complications but the surgeon was still able to do the sleeve. So I am finally feeling like a normal VSG patient today. Here's what happened:
Went in at 8:30 a.m. for surgery on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Surgery started close to 2 p.m. so it was a long wait. When the doc got in there he saw that my stomach was connected to my spleen, back and bottom. Now, that sounds weird but apparently your stomach is usually connected to your spleen with some tissue and nerve endings. They are loosely connected and there is plenty of room between them to cut it loose. Well, my stomach was only about 1cm away from my spleen and that centimeter was tightly connected with adhesions and tissue. On top of that, my stomach was also connected to my back and bottom areas. Doc said to think of your insides like a fish bowl and my stomach was connected to the back and bottom of the bowl as well as my spleen.
So.....he had to spend an additional 1.5 hours cutting my stomach away from my spleen, back and bottom area. Then he was able to do the sleeve and remove the pesky part of my stomach. Of course, all of that was super complicated for him but it became an issue for me because I lost 2.5 pints of blood. A few times he even said I was lucky that I was young and able to recover from this better because of my age and lack of health problems. He also said it was just a fluke that I had those issues. He told my sister that no one will ever know how difficult it was to do my surgery. I commend him for completing it and not just walking away. I even asked if he would be able to charge more. He said there is something they can file but insurance companies just deny it so he didn't plan on it. He just wanted to get it done and get me healthy. Very kind.
The surgery took about 4.5 hours and they normally take only 2-3 hours. After surgery, I was sent to SICU around 7 p.m. I think. I can't recall times very well but I do remember the recovery. I was in MICU for Tuesday and Wednesday night I think. Then I went to the post-op floor and had a private room (all rooms in the hospital are private). While in SICU I found out that they started another IV in surgery so I had two at that point. I also learned that my blood pressure, hemoglobin (part of your blood count), and oxygen were all low. So they had my IV pumped with liquids and vitamins. Everyone in SICU was nice and very helpful but that department is so busy that I could only sleep for about 15-20 minutes at a time. So by the time they got me to a post-op room, I was exhausted.
They got me moved to my room and kept my on morphine for the first day. Morphine was okay, but it didn't help with the internal pain. After 2 days of lying down, they had me stand up for my swallow test. Standing up for the first time was difficult, but they pulled me to the machine and it turns you upright so that helped. As soon as the lab and surgeons okayed my swallow test (3rd and last leak test), they started me on liquid lortab. The lortab helped a ton more than the morphine did. The lortab actually helped with the internal pains. The incision areas haven't really hurt much yet, it was all more internal pains since they had to do lots of cutting.
So I was on lortab and in a regular room. They had laps drawn every few hours to check my hemoglobin. It was low every time so the doc requested 2 units of blood be transfused. Here an interesting part - the hospital blood bank didn't want to give up 2 units right away so they asked if he could use 1 and see how that goes. You see, blood is like gold in the hospitals. And the interesting part is that I do marketing for the American Red Cross Blood Services. For almost 7 years now I've been developing recruitment and awareness campaigns through PR and media to increase blood donations across the Midwest. Not to be full of myself, but the 8-state area I cover recruits about 750, 000 blood donations each year.....and they were hesitant to give up 2 pints. It just made me laugh. I've even worked with the hospital blood banks to garner media interviews and increase donations for the hospitals. My surgeon and his team knew that too so they thought it was funny that they were holding back on "the blood lady". Anyway, so the first pint brought me from ghostly white to having rosy cheeks. But my hemoglobin was still too low. And my blood pressure was staying around 80/50. So my surgeon went and talked to the blood bank manager and got the second unit approved. After that second pint and lots of IV liquids and vitamins, my hemoglobin was just low not dangerously low anymore, and my blood pressure went up to 100/55. But my oxygen was still in the low 80s. So we started breathing treatments and kept me on oxygen. After about a day of those treatments and walking, I was up to the low 90s with a blood pressure of 110/58. So that was all much better.
The doc came in on Friday and said he wanted me to stay one more night so we could continue working on my oxygen levels. And that was fine by me because everyone was really helpful and I felt safer being there anyway. The main issue was that I was dehydrated so they couldn't get blood with just one stick and every IV clogged up quickly. So after 16 needle sticks, plus 5 different IVs, and 2 pints of blood, I came home on Saturday around noon.
I had my friend stay the night with me last night (Saturday) and she plans to stay tonight too. I've been walking and trying to do things on my own so I'm prepared to handle stuff when she leaves. So far the only part I dread is (Warning: TMI) wiping my butt. I had 4 BMs in the hospital but they were all liquid (like baby tar poop). And of course, I am so swollen that I can't reach back there right now. All modesty went out the door when I had to have the nurse wipe my ass. I asked if I should tip her or something. She laughed and said it was no big deal. Thank goodness! Oh and the saying "never trust a fart" is soooooooo true! Take my word, be close to a toilet after every walk.
It's all been a wild ride but I think after the first 4 days of craziness, I'm finally on track with what normal VSGers experience. I slept in today and am now sitting on my couch watching television. Going to get up for a walk then probably take a nap. So that's all for now. Thank you all for the kind words, prayers and thoughts over the last few days. I know they helped guide my surgeon's hands and keep me going. I can't even express how much it means to have total "strangers" supporting me.
Thank you!!!!
