unfortunate me.

Jan 27, 2011

I had surgery Monday afternoon to remove a gallstone from my bile duct, to take out my troublesome gallbladder, enlarge my ducts and snip my sphincter of oddi so stuff cant keep backing up there. I am in pretty bad pain, even today, controlled fairly well by dilaudid. Mostly when I breathe in even remotely deeply, it hurts. Not sure what exactly is hurting, but its related to breathing in. Getting better though.
I stayed one night in the hospital, which i didnt want to do. But I am glad I did it. I am learning to trust my Doctor, her instincts are usually pretty good. I had a "procedure" last Monday as well, three hours under anesthesia ought to count as surgery, but what do I know. ;)  That was a failed ERCP. My doc had assigned a gastro doc to try, they had ordered a longer scope from a hospital downstate. While the scope got close, it made using the instruments inside it too difficult. so, I woke up with a mouthful of blisters, some serious throat soreness, and bummed to find it was worthless. I did manage to get my first tattoo, however, though no one will likely ever see it again, I can scratch that off my todo list of things to try in life.
In my Doctors discharge papers, I noticed she wrote "this is an unfortunate 43 yr old woman who has undergone repeat surgeries...". Unfortunate. I guess technically, I am. I have had complications that resulted from RNY done may 20th 2010. I left the hospital after 24 hrs, never took so much as a tylenol to combat pain, went grovery shopping the next day and back to work 2 days later.  I thought I was cruising right along, but then in September, 4 months to the day after gastric bypass, I had my first surgery, to explore WHY I was having pain so severe I was barely making it to the ER, being drugged up good and solid, and sent home to await it happening again. I had a series of tests in august/Sept to see if this was gallbladder related, they were sure it wasnt. Ultrasounds and HIDA scans saw no evidence of stones. An exploratory lap was done, in which some adhesions were released and a small hernia repaired. But neither of these explained the severity of the pain. A clue we all missed was just HOW helpful actigall medicine was in the short time I was on it before the lap. I told my doc "its helping" and she told me it wasnt possible, because I simply didnt HAVE gallstones. I think I will mention to her to listen closely the next time a patient tells her that, it may have saved us countless hours in surgeries and me a lot of pain.
In any event, the lap surgery found little to explain the pain. I wanted to believe it was the hernia they found, and I was fine for awhile afterwards. But then in December, it started hitting again, wave after wave of mind boggling pain, directly beneath my lowest right rib, pain I could not handle, that even the dilaudid that I never used (but thankfully kept) after my RNY barely touched. I had ultrasounds and bloodwork, that showed liver function issues were getting bad. It was a saturday night the last time I was in the ER, and my Docs partner saw me. I signed myself out against medical advice, and went home, living on water and dilaudid for the week following. Had an MRCP, which unexplainably found multiple gallstones in a "very sick gallbladder" and a couple in my common bile duct to add some fun to the project. Stones in the bile duct can cause all kinds of troubles, including pancreatitis. My numbers were all screwed up, I was a sick puppy. walking like an old lady, kilted off center life like a 90 yr old grandma. Doc saw me and immediately scheduled me for surgery. FIRST, she told me, we had to get the stones out of my bile duct. They were dangerous, and she wanted them gone before they even considered taking the gb out. so she set me up with the gastro guy, and we spent a lovely three hours getting to know one another, but failed. My options were dwindling. The next step was going through my old stomach to do the ercp. That meant the possibility of a leak. I was afraid. But oh, was I sick. My mouth still full of blisters from the failed ercp, I checked myself in exactly a week later for the laparoscopic ercp/gb removal, etc. My doc had never done an ercp on an RNY patient. she is GOOD, world renowned for what she does. And yet, here was I,  a guniea pig of sorts. here I thought she knew everything? someone has to get the short straw. That morning, she told me that a group of Docs happened to be visiting from Colorado or something that day, and that she had asked one if he had ever done the ercp through the old stomach. He said he had, and as she out it "days and days of reading everything I could get my hands on suddenly went out the window, it was perfect!" Timing is everything, I guess. Because of that chance encounter, a few quickly drawn diagrams (no, you arent alone if you are thinking "OMG!") she knew to "parachute some threads up through the wall to hold the stomach in place while we push through". I am still not clear completely, but I do know they sewed my stomach to my abdominal wall, I think permanentally, but I was a little foggy when she explained this to me.)  They did the ercp, cut the sphincter of oddi, enlarged my ducts a bit, then snipped out the gallbladder. Doc says this was pretty heavy surgery, they used a trocar bigger around than my thumb, and gave me a beating. But I think it is over now, I sure hope so.
all this to say, I have had complications..the dreaded complications after RNY. I have lost 114 pounds, that with the vast majority of the time since september not being able to go to the gym. (My doc GETS that, too, by the way, she still tells me Im doing awesome) My body is full of healing, healed, and new holes. I think, in some ways, I qualify for "unfortunate". But I dont feel unfortunate. I feel lucky. I am a third smaller than I was. I play on the floor, I dont snore. I take great pride in my appearance (not today, mind you, underwire bras and multiple incisions do NOT go hand in hand) I pray that the pain of this new surgery will ease in the next few days. In 6 weeks, I will be cleared to go back...again...to the gym I came to love. I am strong, I am capable. I am feisty, I am fine. Im not unfortunate, in that I have a new life that is a second chance, and these "little things" I have to experience to get there are doable. I could wallow in them, but I wont. Im nowhere near "there " yet, but Im getting nearer. and I am happy, proud, and ready for whatever comes next.
Ps I can see ONE-derland...REAL close up.

0 Comments

About Me
32.0
BMI
RNY
Surgery
05/20/2010
Surgery Date
Apr 09, 2010
Member Since

Friends 12

Latest Blog 28

×