My Complication at 9 years PO...

Jan 23, 2013

Hey there old and new friends...I cannot believe it's been 9 years since my surgery...I'm still holding my weight after all these years. However, I did have a complication 2 months ago in mid November 2012 and almost died from an abdominal hernia and twisted, crimped intestines and a blood clot!  

I had not been feeling like myself for several months. Depression, severe hair loss, gas and bloating and a terrible stiff neck for a month that I had been going to physical therapy for 3 times a week. They told me that I was probably compensating for pain elsewhere that caused my neck pain...

I had gone to the ER 4 mos prior with chest and lung pain...They kept me for 3 days and ran all kinds of tests on my heart and lungs...but found that I was one very healthy woman!  Obviously they missed the hernia on the cat scan. But I was borderline anemic (as I always seem to be)...They released me...

Then that awful evening...I couldn't sleep and I laid on my stomach (knees drawn under me) while my husband rubbed my back for me...And as he did, I began to have pain in the pit of my gut. The pain grew...I thought for sure I was having a gallbladder attack (my dietician told me she hoped I had my gallbladder out because it's awful to have an attack and very common for gastric bypassers) and the internet said that a gallstone usually passes in two hours...So I waited...2 hours! At this point the pain had become sharpening waves of contraction-like intense pain...and my husband said it was time to call 911...but at that point the pain was bigger than life and I knew I was going to die. I just knew....I didn't want to wait for an ambulance...I could barely walk to the car. Child birth contractions were like a walk in the park in comparison.

The ER doc got me on an IV and morphine immediately...But it only helped take the edge off and within 10 minutes I needed more, more...more...I began to throw up when I had to stand up to get on the cat scan table...And as you know, there is nothing in the pouch to throw up..And it felt like I was turning my pouch inside out! It was just awful on top of all the pain...and they would not let me have anything to drink.  Doc told me that blood tests suggested I had a blood clot and gave me blood thinners to dissolve it... I had two cat scans that showed hernia in my small intestines...The ER doc came in and took my hand...He told me that I was his most interesting case in a very long time, and that the good news was that I got to the ER just in time...but the bad news was that they could not perform the surgery without a bariatric surgeon or in that hospital!!!!...My surgeon was out of town ( I had not seen him since my surgery 9 years ago, to be honest)...but they found three to do my surgery (on a holiday weekend) at another hospital 20 minutes away. The surgeons all met at the hospital and set up the operating room until my arrival by ambulance...on a holiday weekend...in Wash DC traffic!!!!!

On the way...I watched the traffic come back together after spreading out of the way (from the back of the ambulance) The traffic was not moving...but we were! Then suddenly I felt air and heard a woman screaming at the ambulance driver ...She said, "Your tire is wobbly, you need to pull over and check it out"....The guy in the back with me panicked a bit and that made me panic! But the driver was determined to get me to my surgery and he decided to finish the drive on a wobbly tire. When I got to the hospital...I went straight to the OR...They introduced me to my team of surgeons and within minutes I was in emergency surgery!

2 and a half hours later...Doc tells my family that I made it in just in time...and that my hernia and twisted intestines were a direct complication of gastric bypass surgery. I was told that my intestines were a mess and very twisted and badly crimped. I was shown pictures of the mess!  UGH!!! Yuck. They also told me my pouch was still very nice and small! YAY!  Healing took a month and a half. It's been just over two months now and I am almost back to normal now...I can still feel a little pain now and then...and I'm more sensitive to eating again...Similar to how it was post op 9 years ago!  I lost 5 pounds after the surgery and my stomach looks amazing!  I had a weird bulge on one side for many years. I had the hernia for a very long time and never knew...until that final twist that almost took my life...I was lucky that my intestines turned pink after they untangled me and I didn't lose any to lack of oxygen (strangulation)...

Pay attention...9 years after surgery,... you become complacent and when you have little aches and pains or other hair loss type, minor symptoms... you tend to ignore them...DON'T!!!!!! See your surgeon now and then...Even 9 years later!  I would never have believed that this would happen to me...I had a very uneventful 9 years...except for some vitamin deficiencies and chronic anemia.  But it can happen and if you aren't near a hospital that can handle bariatric complications and there isn't one near you...LEARN where there is one that you can get to...I was just hours from death when I got to the ER...

Other than that..I'm great!  :)

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