Finally home from the hospital

Dec 09, 2010

12/9/10: After having my revision surgery on 11/29/10 I went from a bypass to a bypass, I finally got to go home on 12/6/10. I have never been so happy to see my big comfy bed and to take a shower.  My mom and I got Lenox Hill at 6:00 am and we went to the surgical waiting area.  I filled out some paperwork, and was then called into the back, and they started talking to me and asking questions. During this time, they started taking blood and I was told, that my potassium levels were low.  I was like "what", I just met with the dr b/c of that and she had given me potassium to take to get the levels back up.  I had spoken to my doctor after having repeat blood work and she told that the levels were normal but I don't think the results were ever sent to the hospital.  "i was like OMG, I am not going to have surgery!" The nurse came back after about 20-30 minutes and said that my potassium was fine.

Around 7:30 -7:45 they weighed me and I saw that I weighed 253.7. Pretty much what I weighed that last time I saw the NUT in Dr. Roslin's office., At around 8:15- 8:30 I met with the nurses, the anesthesiologist and my surgeon. I was explained what was going to happen today and I signed the papers.  My surgeon told my mom that the surgery should last 3-4 hours.  It wound up lasting 7 HOURS.  I was not expecting that nor was my family.  The nurses started walking me to the operating room and I kissed my mom good bye.  I was brought to the operating room and they started an IV and gave me some medication, put a mask over my face and told to think about happy thoughts.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room with my mom and sister over me. They told me that my surgery lasted 7 hours, I was in shock.  I know I saw Dr. Roslin. At least this time, I wasn't screaming when I had my RNY in 2003.  My sister told me I was making faces.  They brought me up to my room, and I started hitting the pain pump. I had some crazy pain management doctor trying to talk to me and ask me questions about the medications I am taking.  I could not get the words out of my mouth and she was like "I can't understand you." I was like "lady, I just had 7 hours of surgery, give me a break.  I did see my surgeon and he told me that my old bypass was crooked, and when he saw the pouch, he said it was "horrible" he had to take it down and redo it.  He also explained that he had to take out a piece of intestine and sew the ends back together and he also removed the other part of my stomach. Dr. Roslin said he would not do my upper GI until Friday b/c everything was so swollen.

The next day is when things started to go down hill.  My mom and my roommates daughter noticed that my breathing was very shallow and I was breathing very fast.  My roommates daughter asked for someone to come in a look at me.  All that doctor did, was stand by the door and look at me.  My mom said to the nurse and the doctor, something is wrong. They actually listened to her this time, instead of saying that my heart rate was my base line rate and waiting 3 days.  They decided that I needed to go for CT scan and I had to drink contrast fluid.  I got it down without any problems. I had the test and they saw that either I had a lung collaspe or pneumonia.  I has a lung collaspe when I had my RNY in 2003. So I was started on antibiotics, put on breathing treatments.  During the next couple of days, the nurse comes in and tells me that I have to have IVs of magnesium and potassium b/c my levels were low.  The IV of magnesium was fine, when I got the potassium, it burned so badly, that I felt like someone was breaking my wrist.

So this was the treatment I was getting until I finally left on Monday.  On Thursday, they started giving me ice chips, thank god for that!!! On Friday, they told me that I could start having clear liquids (I am so glad that I had Diet Snapple with me. It went great with the ice chips lol) The broth was tasteless, but the jello wasn't bad.  The hardest thing about being in the hospital was getting comfortable.  My butt was getting so numb and so were the tops of my thighs.  I didn't understand what was going on.  Dr. Roslin's associate came in and spoke to me. He told me that he was helping out during the surgery and I had a ton of scar tissue.  He said that what was happening in my legs, was probably due to the fact that I was lying in the same position for 7 hours. 

On Monday, my surgeon came in and asked if I wanted to go home? He said "that he was surprised when he called during the weekend and found out that I was still in the hospital.  During the weekend, the attending and the resident kept looking at the drains and were not comfortable at pulling them out and letting me go home.   I was so happy that I would be able to go home.  The pulmonologist came and he decided that he was going to take me off the antibiotics b/c I didn't have a temp anymore. I asked if indeed my lung had collasped? He said he thinks that it did, but we would never really know b/c it was so small.  He also said that I am very prone to this.

I finally got home and I found that they pumped me up so much fluid, that I gained 10 pounds.  I was really annoyed!!  I had edema before surgery and I was prescribed water pills. So I took some of those and started drinking and I lost the 10 pounds I gained in about 2 days.  On Tuesday, I started feeling crappy and I took my temp and I found that it was 100 - 101.  I called my surgeon and he called me back. He asked if I had any pain, I said in one incision area, he asked me to cough and said I sounded fine, but I needed to cough more to get the junk out of my chest. I also explained about the pain and swelling in my feet and thighs.  He said something about a nerve in my thighs and I needed to get up and walk.  During that night, I noticed that my mouth felt very strange and I was having trouble swallowing. I was telling my mom the next day and she looked into my mouth and told me that I had thrush.  I went to my PCP yesterday and it was confirmed that I had thrush.  She did blood work to check my magnesium and potassium levels and sent me for a doppler ultrasound of my legs to rule out a blood clot.  I am hoping that they worst is over and I can start feeling better.

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