susie24
Happy Holidays and New Years Resolutions....
Dec 24, 2012
Happy Holidays to all of you! 
I am sorry i have not written for awhile. I finally made it to the other side. It was a rough ride at times but I truly am grateful for Dr. Leslie, the Abbott Northwestern Barriatric Clinic nurses and the ABNW Nurses, chaplain, PCA's, etc. Because of their wonderful work ..........I am down 80 lbs since surgery on 10/15/2012. I have factored in the 30 lbs's pre-op that i had to lose but i had actually gained about 7 pounds when i "weighed in" prior to going to the OR-in the pre-op area.
I was the last case of the day on 10/15/2012 (my new birthday!) and went into the O.R. at approximately 4:30 pm and woke up in the recovery room at approx. 12:00 a.m. I had to have an Open procedure and apparently my intestines had such horrible adhesions from prior abdominal surgeries that they were stuck together he said "like double sided tape" and they got very congested and swollen during the surgery. So....they had to convert to the open procedure and placed a G-tube, etc. They kept it in for approx. 6 weeks in case i would need to be fed through it due to an ileus/bowel obstruction or per Dr. Leslie... "if your bowels get sleepy and slow down".
Pain was a very big issue for me post operatively...... I had a terrible time in the recovery room and God Bless those nurses who had to put up with me. One of my medications i take daily almost work as an antagonist to the Dilaudid they were giving me through the IV. I ended up getting a consult from a pain management MD and he was wonderful and is going to work to get that other medication weaned off of me and he handled all of the pain issues in the hospital for both admissions. He was awesome! I had to however be in the I.C.U for 3 days due to the high doses of narcotics (Dilaudid PCA, Dilaudid drip). I am by training and certification an ICU nurse and never thought i would be in an ICU EVER! Well..... i had my opportunity. I had a wonderful nurse who helped me and really pushed me to get up and doing the walking and "coughing and deep breathing". She walked with me to my new room when i left the ICU. I discharged after 7 days in the ICU. I was only planning on being on my leave for 2 weeks and ended up being off for almost two months. I returned to work on Dec. 4, 2012.
I started having a lot of drainage from the wound and bleeding and at my appt. with the surgeon he took about 8 staples out and put his hands/thumbs in the wound and MANUALLY opened it up to facilitate the drainage of the wound. This was Tuesday and by Sunday (November 4. 2012) i called him in the afternoon and told him i was having high fevers and increased drainage and he sent me to theER and told me i would probably need to go to the OR for a "wound wash-out". I had the most wonderful looking ER MD named Dr. Johnson. He was awesome and got me ready to go to the OR within approx. 2 hours. I woke up with the whole wound completely opened and was so disappointed. I knew that this probably meant: a lot of dressing changes, more time off work and pain and prolonged healing. Well the following afternoon a wonderful "old school" wound nurse (i mean that with all due respect and admiration and thanks to her). She came in with a student nurse (from my same nursing school....and there was also one in the ER the night before from my same school--ironic) and they applied the wound vac. She was so encouraging and got everything moving along. I had a great nurse the day of my discharge on Wednesday who worked with a clinic nurse navigator/consultant who made tons of calls for me to facilitate the Wound Vac company getting the home vac shipped to the hospital that day and set up the home health nursing visits, etc. I am so grateful to everyone who was so kind and supportive and went the extra mile for me. There were some very rude nurses there too and i did my best to bite my tongue but i do know that i would never treat a pt. the way some of them did. That is ok though now. I am ok in my skin and did what i needed to do to stand up for myself and be my own advocate. I also remember a mug with a cute saying my sister Paula was given one year at her Birthday and it said..."Don't let the Turkey's get you down". Amen to that!
Amy was my Home Health nurse and God Bless her! She was so fun and nice and i remember the first day she saw me. I was of course reviewing the procedure the hospital nurse did, etc..... and she looked at me and said....."believe me Suzanne....you are in good hands....". She assured me that the other pt.'s she worked with that had wound vac's healed fast and one of them had necrotizing fascitits on her arm and underarm that extended down further and it was so huge it took the whole sponge (approx. 8.5 x 11) placed in there and approx. 2 months later she just used a bandaid. Well.... i have pretty much all healed up now and do the dressing changes on my own and the help of the ABNW Wound Clinic and last Friday they discontinued the wound vac. I had one of these approx. 4 years ago and spent 3 months in a nursing home as i did not have the support like i do now and my body was not getting good protein.
So.... i won't continue to bore you with my saga. I am so grateful for the wonderful professionals and Dr. Leslie and the support of family and friends and God and my Angel--Dad looking out for me. I could not have done it without all of you.
It is fun now gettting back in to the clothes (especially expensive jeans i "outgrew" and my mom encouraged me to save). The one's i have on today are 3 or 4 sizes smaller than i was at the surgery date. I feel taller and don't get short of breath and have back aches when walking Molly. Some of my short term goals have been met and i have a different outlook on my life. My dog even loves it when i am not stopping every so many feet to rest. She just gets so excited and runs and wiggles her little butt and runs on the leash. She likes a healthier, happier Mommy too! These are all truly gifts......for which i need NO materialistic things this year.
God Bless everyone this Holiday Season and enjoy your family and friends every day and live everyday to the fullest!!!!! We are all going to be together this Christmas Day at my Mom's house and it will be a sad day without Dad-I know he is here in Spirit though.
Susie
