This too shall pass! 8/15/09

Aug 15, 2009

I had complications with my Plastic Surgery, which led to even MORE complications ---it was like a domino effect. Each problem lead to a new one.  The original DS surgeon did my hernia surgery and found I had 3 hernias instead of the one. She repaired them with mesh and I lay on the table until the second surgeon the PS could arrive she was delayed at another surgery.
She did her part of the surgery and I got to stay in the hospital one night. Before I left a nurse insisted on giving me my blood thinner shot in my BELLY just above where I had the incisions. I begged her not to give it in the belly as the Plastic surgeon had said to give it to myself in the leg due to the surgery....BUT she would not listen to me --- the pain from that shot lasted for several weeks and hurt worse than any surgery had!!!
Other than that pain I thought I came through the plastic surgery fine but within 3 days of the surgery some of the skin at the T section where the hernia and the bib incision crossed began to turn black. The PS checked me on day 3 and again at day 7 she stayed on top of it. Within a week there was a 6 inch area of tissue that had turned black and hard like mummy skin. It had also spread to about 1 inch wide. I was NOT draining at all but they left the drain in for one week to be sure. Later they had to use a large syringe to draw out a lot of fluid from my belly. It just never drained out of the surgical drain nor the wound. No bleeding nor drainage to speak of…I am still swollen and don’t have any feeling at all in my belly from the sternum down –which has been a good thing considering all the cutting and digging they have done inside the open wound and all the sticks with the syringe to draw out fluid…nice not to feel any of that.    During the course of the antibiotics given after surgery...(even though I took probiotics), I got a nasty colon inflammation flare up...The pain I experienced from the colon was the worse pain I have ever had in my life. I ended up at the ER over July 4th holiday...I just wanted to die at one point to be out of the colon pain! I was put on 2 meds and seen by a colon rectal surgeon. He said I had a very serious inflammation of the colon..He put me on a double daily dose of canasta for 6 weeks before it helped knock out the inflammation and got it under control. About that time I also began to experience sever pain in my shoulder and found that all the lifting of my body with my arms after surgery had irritated my rotator cuff and it was inflamed.  X-rays also showed a calcium build up on the shoulder so I was put in physical therapy. Meanwhile I had been seeing the Plastic Surgeon (weekly since day 3 post surgery) week 2 they had begun debridement of the tissue. It took 8 weeks to cut out all the dead tissue. The wound has gotten deeper-now goes about 1 1/2 inches into my body but  after 8 weeks of cutting out dead tissue and 5 daily dressing changes with saline solution it has closed up at the edges and is now about a 3 inch circle. This week they put me on a Sorbsan dressing once a day -it is a cotton candy floss like seaweed material that is said to hurry along healing. Two weeks ago she had given me the option of going back to the Operating room to get it stitched up again but said it may put me back to square one with the same problems..She felt it would heal on its own given enough time...so I opted to wait and see.  I then began to have problems with my right eye seeing black spots it was driving me nuts with the black spots so I went to another doc…and was diagnosed with Posterior Vitreous Detachment. I was told that my normal eye condition makes me at a higher risk anyway for retinal detachment and this increases the possibility even more...No one had ever told me that! So that was about the last straw for my ability to grin and bear it I cried it had all seemed like a bad joke.  I had gone almost a year since my DS surgery with such great health and then to basically FALL APART in the course of just 9 weeks…all just seemed too ludicrous to be real.   I am now under the care of the Plastic surgeon, rectal/Colon surgeon, Sports meds surgeon for the shoulder, Physical therapist and an eye surgeon all in the course of just 9 weeks! I went back to teach in the Kindergarten classroom last week --for now it is keeping my mind off all the other issues which I can't do anything about. The word of God says: “This too shall pass” I am hanging on to that scripture. I know things could be a lot worse! I am NOT in the daily pain with the colon, I am NOT blind, I have two arms, I AM slowly healing and it is NEAT not to have the extra hanging skin ---I am now wearing a size 12/14 pants and 12 top and weigh 166 Feels good -- SO I guess I consider myself blessed--- all things considered!  

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About Me
Indianapolis, IN
Location
34.2
BMI
DS
Surgery
07/09/2008
Surgery Date
Jan 02, 2008
Member Since

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