Recovering

Apr 06, 2009

Well, I've never written a blog before, but wanted to update anybody who was wondering.  My surgery went well and I came home 2 days later as planned.  I had a lot of pain from gas but other than that was doing fine, although it is difficult to down those wonderful tasting clear protein drinks!  Saturday around lunch time I had my first bowel movement and it was nothing but blood.  I wasn't too concerned because I was told to expect some blood. After the second one I called the doctor.  They told me to moniter and see if it continues.  It continued all afternoon Saturday and they had me come to the ER Saturday night.  My hemoglobin was fine and all my vitals were good. I was admitted and an endoscopy was done Sunday morning.  They found that I have a bleeding ulcer.  The seam where my pouch connected to my small intestines was ulcerated and was bleeding.  In the words of my surgeon it looked like ground beef...This they tell me is actually pretty good because it can most likely be fixed with medicine.  I am currently being treated with carafate, a liquid that lines the stomach and coats the ulcer.  The bleeding has greatly subsided and is minimal now.  Thanks be to God!  I have to remain on clear liquids two extra days until my follow up appointment.  Hopefully then I'll be able to switch to pureed.  I've lost 34.6 lbs to date since I started my pre-op.  Thanks to everyone for your support.

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