Christina E.
Dec. 17th 2008 Is the day that changed my life. It was the day my RNY was scheduled to take place. Was i scared, yes, was I excited, even more so. Everything before surgery went pretty normal, the waiting was the hard part as I was the 2nd patient to go in. When they finally took me in I remember telling the nurse, just make sure I wake back up. Well boy if I'd only known what was in store for me once I woke up. When I woke up in recovery I was immediately rushed to do a HITA scan, no one has yet to tell me anything and I've not yet seen my husband. I'm down in the HITA scan room for about an hour, groggy not understanding why I'm there I thought it was routine. Finally they get me up to my room, where my husband was waiting and the first thing I noticed is it was night time outside, I went in for surgery at 10:30 AM, it shouldn't have been dark. FINALLY my husband tells me what happened, which still didn't make sense. The Dr had come out and explained to my husband that the RNY went beautifully, but when he went to remove my gallbladder there were complications, first he blamed it on my weight saying he'd never opperated on someone of my size, then he said he wasn't sure of the anatomy on teh gallbladder that he wasn't sure he'd made the right cut, that he felt confident that he had but was sending me for a HITA scan to make sure. Well apparently he made the wrong cut. I had 3 HITA scans that night all coming back with the same conclusion, my bile duct had been blocked or severed because it was not functioning. So the next day they had me transferred to St. Lukes to the care of a Liver specialist, I'm told the best in Texas (and i dont have much bad to say about them they took care of me the last 7 months now). Once at St. Lukes the Dr paid me a visit (RNY Dr) and he admitted to my face that I was the 2nd person he's made this mistake on, proceeded to draw me a diagram of my anatomy of what he saw and where he cut etc. Again I was still medicated so not quite all there and understanding. The next few days insued of many many tests, Cat Scans, HITA scans, blood tests, etc. Finally the Liver Specialist came in and explained to us that the fix for this could take anywhere from a month to 3 months, as they needed to let my bile duct balloon out so that the sugery was safer. Because in order to fix it they had to take a piece of my intestine (which mind you most of the flack had been used in the RNY) and connect it to the good part of my remaining bile duct. He told me I'd become jaundice and a very nice yellow color. And decided to send me home on Sunday. I was so affraid I was going to miss Christmas with my kids. Well the first week home I was fine, it was at week 2 i started turning yellow and becoming sick and weak. I didnt know if it was from the RNY or the bile duct injury, and it being the holidays I ofcourse could not get ahold of any Dr's. At week 3 i started dry heaving nearly all day, finally we got ahold of the Dr and he told us to come in he barely stepped in the room, took one look at me and said we're admitting you. So I was to spend time again in the hospital. They scheduled for a stent to be placed in my bile duct the next day to drain some of the bilirubin because that is what was making me sick. They let it drain for about 3 hours and then capped it off. They kept me in the hospital for 4 days and scheduled my reconstruction surgery for the following Thursday. So they released me again I spent 4 days home scared out of my mind. Because I KNEW this surgery meant life or death. He informed us it would be a 3-4 hour surgery. A GOOD Friend of ours went to the hospital to stay with my husband while he waited and I'm so very grateful that she did cause had she not he would not have made it. My 3-4 hour surgery turned into 6. When they cut me open they found 6.8 liters of bile fluid freely flowing in my abdomen. They used 20 liters of antibotic fluid to wash me out and clean me out, once they did that they went on to repair my bile duct. When I woke up in recovery I was on a ventolator, and they let my friend in first to see me and by the look on her face I knew it was bad, she was 10 shades whiter than normal. And I'm glad she saw me first and not my husband. They could only visit for 5 mins and did so about 4 times each before they finally found me a bed in ICU. I was in ICU for 3 days after, on the ventolator for 1 day. Getting that thing out was the best day of my life. I felt good when i finally was allowed to move and get up, I thought FINALLY the worst was over. After 3 days they moved me to the recovery floor or the Dr's main floor for rounds. I was up there 2 days, on the 2nd day I was doing some physical therapy, walking the halls, when they went to put me back in bed I was extremely out of breath and could not catch it for the life of me. They brought up a chest x-ray and then ended up sending me down for a Cat Scan. By the time I made it back to my room it was about 2 AM, at around 2:30 the liver specialist comes in and asks how I was doing ... I said ok and he looked at me and said Oh No you're not... told me they had to rush me to do an emergency surgery because they'd found air in my abdomen, asked me to call my husband ... he explained the same to my husband and then we were off. Its during this surgery that I remember having to will myself to wake up, you hear many people tell you about out of body experiences, well thats what this felt like I felt like I wasnt in my body and that I was letting go, I had to keep telling myself that my husband and kids needed me i HAD to wake up. When I finally woke up I was yet again hooked to a ventolator and I was really disoriented it took awhile for me to figure out where i was. No one for days really told me what happened, I was kept mostly sedated in ICU. This time I was on the ventolator for 6 days the worst 6 days of my life. And this time I wasnt allowed to move, they had me strapped down to my bed, i felt like a prisoner. A million Dr's would come in and out all day asking how i was blah blah blah. Someone finally told me that in 2 days I would again be going back to surgery for another washing out of my abdomen. And at this point my husband finally told me what had happened, my suture spot from my RNY had "exploded" for lack of a better word, and my intestines had been leaking into my abdomen. I became septic and was placed on every antibiotic the hospital had to fight off the infection in my blood stream. It was after the 2nd washing out a day or so after that they went to my husband and told him to bring our family and children to come say their goodbye's to me, they didn't think I'd make it. My husband refused, He told them that they would all see me at home to get back in there and do what they had to to make me better. My nurses for the most part in ICU were angels, and many were worried about me because i'd do nothing but lay there all day. I got many speaches about how i had to hang on to life for my kids. I was hanging on but I was VERY scared by now, I was convinced I had single handedly ruined my families life by choosing to put myself through this just to get healthier. I spent 10 days in ICU this time, and on day 10 I think i fell in love with my Liver specialist, because on that day (mind you i hadnt eatten since Wed night before the initial surgery) he asked if i wanted Jello, I thought I was in heaven. And my nurse sat and watched me eat and told me he LOVED watching his patients take that first bite because of their reactions. I must addmitt it was almost better than sex. They at this point were waiting on a room for me in another ICU (i guess there are different stages of ICU and i was in the critical part) but for days they had no beds so finally the Dr said to send me to their floor. I was never more happier to see a room, because it meant soon i'd be able to go home. It was on a monday that I got up there. And the liver specialist came in and told me, how about we release you the end of the week?? WELL YES PLEASE DO!!! I was excited there was a light finally at the end of the tunnel. He finally explained it all to my husband, my original Dr had severed my bile duct only 2mm from my liver, 2mm higher and i would have needed a liver transplant. I was placed with a wound vac for my wound from opening me. I had gained over 60 lbs of water weight from them washing me out that they couldnt close my wound. I was released Feb 12th with a fight let me tell you. They had my released date MONDAY, and had been trying since to get me lined up with Home health care for my wound vac, and they couldnt find anyone. Come thursday when I was suppose to be released the nurses told me everything I had to do before they'd release me, IE take my PIC line out, take my central line out, i had to pee and poop and get off the oxygen. Well I completed my list and then they tell me well we can't release you. Because you have no home healt lined up to take care of the wound vac. My husband finally shows up and starts dealing with it, and at first they had said it was insurance not approving it so he got on the phone with the ins company and they told him they had and gave him the approval # so he called the case worker and gave to her then she said no its we cant find a home health company in your area to take care of her. Well he finally broke down and told the nurses NOT GOING HOME TONIGHT IS NOT AN OPTION... and he asked them why i couldnt go home and they told him well according to the hospital you can ... it was the nurses who didnt want to release me because i had no home health lined up for the wound vac. My night nurse just came on duty and he was explaining to us that they were affraid if something went wrong with the vac i'd have no one to call. And i told him ... Larry i live 5 mins from a hospital if something goes wrong I can find someone to help I just want to GO HOME ... finally my husband went over heads and called the Dr directly and explained what was going on and the Dr said NO no you're going home tonight. And asked to speak to the Nurse and he told the nurse you discharge and you do it now. I was never happier to see the wheel chair to take me downstairs. If i could have ran for it i would have. But I got to sleep in my bed that night. It took 5 days to finally get a home health care lined up which was bad, because the vac was to be changed every other day, so the first changing after being home was VERY painful (they take foam litterally and stuff it in your wound and hook a vaccum suction to it). I was finally taken off the Wound Vac sometime early April I believe or late March. My wound finally healed the end of June. There still one small spot on it that opens back up because of how it healed, there's a dimple and its inside that dimple that opens. I was told at my last Dr's visit that I will generally never be out of the woods. Years down the road new complications from this can come up ... as severely as needing a liver transplant ... for the next 2 years I have to go every 3 months for labs, for 2 years after that its every 6 months ... then its yearly from that point on.
I have been left with a lot of guilt from this, guilt because i CHOSE to put myself and my family through this. My husband yells at me often that I only CHOSE to get healthy i didnt choose for the Dr to mess up. I'm still not certain that it was worth it, that what my family has been put through has been worth it. Everyone tells me a year out I'll feel differently but I just dont know. For awhile anytime I went to a Dr's appt my kids were scared thinking I was going back into the hospital. My son clung to me while i was home always checking on me. My daughter checking my eyes to see if they were yellow again. What they alone went through wasnt worth it. And I dont think the Dr even cared.
