"Lightheaded" dizzies...scared myself BIG TIME!
Ahhhhhhh...found out why I was so "lightheaded" -- my BP on Thursday evening last week hit 77/56...yup, something was terribly wrong.....so Friday am my wife called an Ambulance and I was off to the Hospital!
After realizing that I was in some troubles (but only when I was vertical - horizontal, I'd layed on the couch for all Thurs fine) they pumped 3 units of red blood cells into me, along with some kind of ulcer or lesion "stopper" that is supposed to stop up any leaks (please pardon the laymans terms here guys, Dr lingo is a killer!) so they admitted me then. In my stool, was a black "tarry" flaky looking things too....and they id'd it as blood, from a GI bleed somewhere in my GI tract. So, I was worried.
Later Friday, I had an Endoscope - a 10 minute procedure where they put a camera down your throat that was AWFULLLLLLLL!!!! to check my "upper" area of intake. He did see my new pouch and stoma and toldme they looked perfect as he's seen RNYs before, and they found nothing so they admitted me. But the blood and other IV things brought my BP back up to around 115/120 over 70/80 -- asolutely perfect for me...and i felt like MUCH better by Sat morning.
It being a holiday weekend, no Drs were around, so I had to sit all day Sat and await the Sunday shift for the Colonoscopy team - again about a 15 minute procedure that put a camera up my butt. It was also AWFUL!!! This was to check my Large Bowel, and they found nothing. The Dr there said " we sometimes never find the cause of a GI bleed..." which made me feel not so good either, figuring that fixing a problem is a lot better than never knowing the cause.
Again as it was a holiday, I again marked time in my hosp room, awaiting my Small Intestine followup which was this morning. After drinking 3 large glasses of Barium, and getting prodded and having some C02 put in too (from the rear again, sigh) I was told that again they'd found nohting. Whereever that blood loss had come from, they could not find it.
The Radiologist came out to speak to me to explain my options, and there were 3. Have a swallowable camera used - but my RNY had made that one impossible due to the small size of my stoma. Have an Angioplasty done, to check each and every artery aroundthe GI tract to see if they could find a bleeder (at least 4 procedures he said aside) -- or go home. 20 outta 100 people he said had a "one-of" GI bleed sometimes in their lives that can never be found or need to be as they fix themselves. After more talk and and discussion, I asked him what he'd do - and he said go home. So I'm home.
Yup, i go to see my GP on Friday, and I'm now totally off my BP meds - all meds till then anyways. And yup, I know what to look for in future....but that was the WORST way to spend a holiday weekend I've found...
Thanks for letting me vent here guys....and I'm back with only 3 lbs to my GOAL!!!!!!!!!!
Jim
