PEG Surgically placed/Gastropexy done...Oh, the pain

jbird1972
on 11/21/11 3:37 am - Cary, IL
I did go to surgery the next day, still a nervous wreck.  I kept thinking about how much the liver can bleed when messed with, and that's when too much medical knowledge can be a bad thing when you are the one that is sick.  Each person in the OR assured me that they were going to take excellent care of me, and wouldn't let anything happen to me, I had to believe it, just so I wouldn't go insane.  I'm not sure how long I was in surgery, but when I woke up in recovery, the pain was the kind that makes your whole body twitch, even my toes hurt.  I also woke up with an IV in my neck, external jugular...I kind of figured that was going to happen, I only had one IV left going into surgery and it was barely hanging in there and small, only a 22g. It took a long time for them to get my pain under control in recovery, and then I went upstairs to my room and all the pain was back again as they moved me to my bed.  There was some sort of mix up in the post-surgical orders, so my pain med was still set to what it was pre-op, and my RN had to fight with a resident to get it straightened out...he didn't read my whole chart, just saw PEG tube placement and couldn't figure out why I would be in so much pain.  He missed the part about surgical placement, massive adhesion/scar tissue removal, and Gastropexy.  They already knew that the liver and stomach were stuck together, but there were a bunch of other adhesions throughout the abdomen that they took down.  This surgical pain has been the worst so far, even worse than the last one that was an open procedure.  I left the hospital in Cleveland on Saturday, and they sent me home with oral Dilaudid because the pain was still very bad, with instructions to take it regularly every 3 hours.  My PEG tube is for decompression, not really feeding, so I am still trying to figure that all out.  I do open it up and flu**** to determine if the pain I am having is from gas/air build up in the stomach, but it isn't because venting does not help the pain.  I have been home for 2 nights so far, and I drift in and out of sleep for about 2 hours, wake up in searing/burning pain, wait the extra hour until I can take another pill, and then start the cycle all over again...the whole day is like that.  I know that a certain amount of pain is part of healing, but I have never had to take Dilaudid at home, and then to still be in this much pain is scaring me.  I am seeing the bariatric surgeon here at home (Dr. Guske-not my original surgeon, but nice enough to keep track of my labs and care when I am here at home and not at Cleveland Clinic), my appt is at 4pm to go over my labs, but obviously a lot has happened since then.  I will discuss the pain with him, see what he says.  I hope this finds all of you getting answers and feeling better, and if you aren't, then don't give up!!
Thanks,
Jules

Jules RNY 10/30/2007

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