Beth D.

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Let me start off by saying that this may turn into a ramble, I'm still in the hospital and all sorts of drugged up right now..

So as I has announced, I had my quad hernia repair & bonus TT on Jan 4th. That went really well and I was discharged on Jan 7th.. Was home and things were going great until Wed night (Jan 14th) when I started to not feel so well. Thurs I went into my surgeon to have my drains removed and was in a LOT of pain (7-8 on the pain scale) and told the doc "It feels like a bowel obstruction." He said no, I had been passing gas so he didn't think that was it.. To just give him a call if I continued to have issues. I KNEW it was not related to the surgery I had just had as my insides were just killing me.

We left there and headed up to Seattle (3 hour drive) to see my brothers whom I hadn't seen in 3.5 years and were only gonna be in town for 3 hours on their layover.. On the way up, my pain increased to a 9-10 on the scale and was starting to move into my back. Told my husband that I didn't think I could make the drive.. I sucked it up and told myself that I would, felt like someone had a voodoo doll and was stabbing me over and over again. I feared i wold disappoint everyone else in the car so I suffered in silence all the way up..

We saw them and it was a great visit other then the shit ton of pain that I was in, my middle brother noticed how much pain I was in and was concerned but I kept blowing it off.. We left them and headed home.. It was then I finally figured out that I hadn't eaten the entire day and ANYTHING  I was trying to eat or drink was causing extreme pain/discomfort..

Got home and into bed at 11pm. By then I was in the worst pain I think I had ever been in. I called the on call surgeon who told me I had to come in.. Got into the hospital, they saw me pretty much right away. They put me on a ton of meds that were relaxing me but NOT easing the pain at all. Took 3 hours for me to get the CT scan dye down.

5am CT scan done, 6am, Told I had an obstruction and they had to operate right away. My surgeon came in and spoke with me.. He said the words I had been wanting to hear for YEARS "This is the pain you have been reporting for the past year."  I looked to him and said "It wasn't the hernia pain?" He said "Nope, it was this".

I can't tell you  how many trips to the ER & Dr's office I had made for this stupid thing, apparently it had kinked several times but always worked it self out by the time I got to the hospital. I ended up having part of my small bowel removed that was severely damaged from adhesion's.. I suspect this is the same part of my bowel that back in 2006, when I had my hysto done, I was told was damaged. (I had a hysterectomy because my bowels were adhered to my uterus and were causing blockages)

So I can say that so far I have spent more time in the hospital then out in 2010, hoping things get better! 
OH and after most of my scaring was gone, I have a nice new one running from my breast bone alll the way down my tummy again, right into the TT ones, go figure sigh..

OK, so that's wrong, Dr. D' did a great job on both of my surgeries.. The hospital portion is a joke..

The nurses/CNA's are wonderful, the rest of the staff has got to go... First and foremost.. It is flagged ALLLLL over my file what my allergies are, including TURKEY..  When the first set of Faux Dr's made their rounds, I mentioned that I can't have white flours, rice and that I'M ALLERGIC TO TURKEY.. 1 hour later a nut shows up cuz apparently I have "a very strict diet requirement" Mind you, this is the SAME HOSPITAL and SAME DR whom preformed my DS, and I am on a BARATRIC FLOOR so it never occurred to me that things could get difficult..

ok so I talk about my "special diet" to this Nut.. She scribbles in her handy dandy note book. Next round of Faux Dr's shows up, AGAIN I remind them about the turkey and so on and so forth.. My dinner arrives, I'm just barley coherent enough and something tells me to READ my menu.. guess what

FUCKING TURKEY IS ON MY FUCKING PLATE! If i  had not looked before shoveling food into my starving pie hole, I would have been in anaphalatic shock and all the faux Dr's would have been scratching their head trying to figure out why...SIGH

Fast fwd.. I report this to EVERYONE who would listen to me as I was PISSED.. they also had sent the head pharmacist to me to talk about my vites.. I told him I CAN'T DO OIL BASED and all HAVE TO BE DRY.. We spoke in depth about absorption issues and why I took high amts of certain vites, he understood all this, or so I thought he did.. Next morning, low and behold.. I am given 4-oil based vit A's, Oil based vit E AND 2 FLINSTONE CHEWABLEs! I refuse them all and tell them why, I say I'm bringing in my own.. They agree but want the bottles to verify or some shit like that... So Tuesday morning they arrive, 3 pharmacists show up, take my bottles and 4 hours later they come back and decide I can take my vit A, D & centrum cuz they are in sealed bottles, the rest they could not identify.. I agreed, laughed and waited till they walked out of the room until I took all of what I require..

Wed night I finally had a MAJOR melt down after i had submitted my dinner menu but apparently the kitchen never got it.. When dinner arrived (I was starving) I lifted the cover only to find a lump of rice with veggies mixed in, mashed taters, FF milk & pudding... I pushed my call button and when my nurse arrived, I begged for my meds so I could just go to sleep and forget about everything that was happening... Instead she listened to me..

I couldn't believe that every single effort I had made to take care of my own body had failed, from my vites to my proper diet...

I'm home now and getting my proper care cuz I am my own dr.. This was/is a VERY painful surgery which I was told it would be.. i'm still to swollen to see my results but they should be interesting...

So went to the surgeon today. His fucked up intern couldn't find the hernia's at first and apparently last weeks trip to the ER the CT scan failed to pick up the hernia's that were there on the one in Sept. So he thought I was smokin' crack..

Fast fwd 20 min, REAL dr walks in. examines me and poof, not only do I have 2, but he finds a 3rd bouncing baby girl growing inside me RIGHT there where I keep saying I hurt like hell at and was convinced my intestines had moved. (oh I had tried to ask mr. stupid intern about my intestines sitting in my pelvic again, he tried to tell me they were suppose to be there cuz of my surgery, I tried in a very beth way to explain that intestines in an empty uterus cavity was NOT what I signed up for when I had my weight loss surgery, he didn't get it.)

So right now, total hernia count is 3. Then Mr. Real Dr. asks me 2 questions, 1 being the dumbest a weight loss surgeon could ask, the other proving jesus loves me.

#1, Are you done losing weight?
My VERY baffled look followed by a "um well I lost 3lbs in the past week since I was last here. I had weight loss surgery and I have an 18 month window, I am in month 13. I can't predict what it will do from here but I am comfy with where i am"

#2- The Jesus question- I see you have some fat and a bit of xtra skin, would you like it removed?
Me-Well insurance won't pay for it
Dr-yes they will, it's "medically necessary vs. cosmetic"
Me-YES!

So on Jan 4th, I get my plastics, er I mean fat removal & the 3 hernia's fixed..

just a quick note, just weighed here at the hospital and i'm at 144.6, kg.  at check in i was 139 more on this later, just trying to keep notes in 1 place. My official checkout weight on Nov 4th is 142.9k. still plan on making sense of all this later.

Oh! oh! OH! my blood sugars are already down to a 95 consistently. This is down from the 145-180's that I have been for the past 4 days straight. So I'm already at a 95 WITHOUT MEDICATION!

So I showed up yesterday for my PAT appointment, a bit early at 1:50pm for my 2pm appointment that was to be done at 2:30 so I could be up to see Deveney at 2:40.  So it hits 2:30pm and I let the lady at the counter know "I'm to be upstairs in 10 min and appointment was at 2." She goes back to another room, makes a call and gets the ok from upstairs.
I FINALLY get in for my 2pm appointment at 2:50. We go through all the questions and do the EKG, then comes labs.. They ask me "why are you here so far out"  which I could only respond "umm i have no clue." Turns out that labs are only good for 30 days and yesterday, my surgery was 32 days out.. So I gotta go back to the lab to get that done.

THEN upstairs at 3:15 for my 2:40.. The REALLY nice MA gets me into a room where she lets me know that 2 people have previously walked out because he's taking so long. I think at 4:00 someone told me "the NP's are doing the 1st 1/2. So at 4:15 the NP came in, we did a quick run down where I pointed out the book is geared for the bypass/lapband, she said no true.I just kinda shut my mouth. We talkd about vitamns which again I was given details for the bypass. I did show her vitalady's list and she said it looked good and agreed with it. so THAT was good.

So around 4:45pm , the Dr comes in for my 2:40 appointment. He was in the room, I kid you not, 5 min. First words "you picked the DS?" Yes. "Are you aware of the malnutrition" Yes. "And the Diareah" Yes. I explained to him that I have been researching come a year in November, and while I'm not an expert, I feel I'm making an educated and informed decision. He was fine with that and signed the paper. Then began the 15 min convo that took place between my husband and himself about copper something or another, some dude that has been fined and how much wine the Dr makes. The NP and I just sat and laughed as we had NO clue.
So pre-op is done. I signed up and agreed to be a lab rat and not sure if I'm happy about it or not but I'm pleased to be part of helping others who come after me.

So I just got off the phone with OHSU, my surgery is scheduled for 10/31/08!!

Vit D2 Hydroxy <1.0

Vit D3 35.3

Vit D Total 25 Hydrox 35.3

Says that I’m in the optimal 32.00-100.0 range. I don’t understand the D2 Hydroxy is though??

 Calcium PTHI- 9.4 normal

PTH-Intact 16 Low end of normal

 

Cholesterol 192  - High end of normal range

TriglG 109 Normal range

HDL 44 – Normal range

Chol/HDL ratio-4.4   normal

LDL- 126- High

Please note: These are averages. Your mileage may vary. (as seen on Carolyn M's profile)

Absorption after the DS

After the DS a typical post-op will absorb only 20% of dietary fat and 50% of their protein intake, but will still get around 80% of their complex carbohydrates calories and virtually 100% of sugars--including the "natural sugar" lactose (in milk) and fructose (in fruit). 

Here's why:
 Protein and fat aren't digested into an absorbable form until/unless they are mixed with the digestive enzymes produced by the liver and pancreas. This doesn't occur until they reach the common channel after the DS, so there is a lot less time for processing, and hence less absorption.

Starches begin breaking down in the mouth and are partly to fully absorbed in the entire food limb as well as in the common channel, thanks to the digestive enzyme for starches found in saliva--amylase. And sugars are in absorbable form already--that's why they are called "simple" carbs.

Tonight I received an email from the NP at OHSU saying
"We have everything and will be submitting for insurance authorization next week. We will call you with preop dates and surgery date once that is received. Probably 2-6 weeks depending on how quick your insurance responds."

OMG is all I can say!!!!

So it's been a few days since my last post and my head has  by this time, made a full circle and I think is starting to rest again.  It amazes me much this process has felt exactly like adopting my daughter.. Here's how

Weight loss: Pre-op testing: Seeing if your body is strong enough for you to survive surgery

Adoption "preop would be gathering papers for your Dossier" Getting your entire life put together in one place for someone else to see if your stable enough for a child.

Weight loss" The psych eval.. Meeting someone, pouring your life out for them to put it on paper.
Adoption: Pouring your heart out on paper to a complete stranger, allowing them in your home

Weight loss: Waiting with a very submissive feeling for your report to come back and let you know if your "mentally well enough" to have surgery. Can't get mad at them because they hold the key to saying "you are or are not a psyco"

Adoption: Waiting for your social worker to say your family and life is good enough to receive the gift of a child 

Weight Loss: Waiting for approval or denial from insurance

Adoption: Waiting for your I-700 to say "your good enough"  same goes for waiting for waiting for a referral of your child,

Weight loss : Do you have a date yet? What more has to be done?

Adoption: Do you have a travel date yet? When do you get to see her?

Weight loss: Surgery day- OMG IT'S HERE, IT'S HAPPENING,

Adoption: Meeting your child for the first time.. OMG, SHES MINE!

I experienced all of the adoption feelings 2 years ago when I was blessed with my BEAUTIFUL daughter. I never in a million years would have thought the same emotions would be stirred by this surgery process.

 

Thanks for letting me share!