Sick to death of being sick to death...

Good god, I'm tired of hospitals. Once again, half a day of my life was spent in the hospital. This time... dehydration. Funny thing, I was the healthiest dehydrated patient the doctor had ever seen. Clearly dehydrated, and with some rather serious blood pressure issues (dropping over 30 points from laying flat to standing up) but perfect blood-work and urinalysis. Oh, and whoever said Crestwood has a faster E.R. hasn't been in a while. It took three hours to get called back and another 4 hours of treatment. Anyway, the only thing they really found wrong with me was kinda two fold. I mean the blood pressure thing was a symptom of being dehydrated... but what was causing the dehydration? Clearly I'm not getting in enough fluids, but why? Because drinking and eating makes me nauseous and I have no appetite or thirst. What's causing that? The E.R. Doc's thoughts? My pain meds and, for some reason, the gas from the Kidney Surgery hasn't completely dissipated yet. It has collected under my diaphragm and may be making me queasy when I eat. The pain meds may be making me not hungry, apparently a common side effect of the meds. So he put me on a couple of meds to easy the nausea and help me keep down (and keep eating) food. But he said for someone who just had major surgery AND lost 26 pounds in under three weeks I'm doing really good health wise. Drink more, eat more and get over this little setback. I've got to put in a call to my Urologist's to let him know about the gas. Actually, he knows, but I want to make sure his nurse follows up on it. I think I need to start walking, that's what I did to get rid of the gas from the last surgery. So I'm going to talk to the nurse today about all that. And maybe I can start back to work next week sometime. I'm pretty tired of sitting around the house. So what started out as a major setback turned out to be minor, but scary. I'm trying to drink more and more water today, because the passing out when I stand up has to stop before I can be cleared to drive and return to work. But I can tell you one thing, I'm tired of looking up from a hospital bed.

Hey mister, don't make us worry about you and your passing out. I know with me if I'm on any type of pain med I don't want to eat either. But I do like to eat sf popsicles cause they make my mouth dry. Maybe try keepin them in the house cause they do count as liquid. If my pouch is grouchy or my ulcers (I just found out yesterday I have 3) are bothering me, I will eat them all day cause on those days plain water makes me gag. Micha

Hi Michael, Dehydration is nothing to fool around with, especially now after another major surgery... Though SF popsicles are a great way to wet your whistle, if you melt one down, you'll find they don't provide a lot of fluid at all... Have you tried putting a little flavor in your water? I buy those single serving packets of Chrystal Lite or generic Walmart ones and just add a tiny bit to a big bottle of water...it helps me to get the water to go down a bit easier, but without a huge tangy taste from a lot of Chrystal Lite... I drink Smar****er all the time. It's regular water (not flavored), but is electrolyte enhanced and keeps my levels on level...I get it at the grocedy store in the health food section. It is made by Glaceau, the same people that do Vitamin Water. Propel Water is flavored, but also has electrolytes... Gas is nasty...can you try Gas-X? It really helps for me and rids me of my pent up gas all the time. Walking is an excellent way to rid yourself of toxins in your body from anesthesia too. You don't want to get a blood clot! Take some short walks and maybe your blood pressure will level out too. Standing upright for more extended periods will help too. Hang in there and keep us all posted on how it's going. We worry about you! paula

Paula, Excellent advise, My laptop has keys missing it hurts to type. So Hi everyone. I dont like getting on the desktop. Need to get this sent in. Take Care all. \ Mike Hang in there it can only get better Barb

Mike, Sorry to hear about the set back, but glad it was nothing major. Christine

Michael, Hang in there. I know how you feel...."am I ever going to feel normal again?" It seems like everytime I have surgery, I end up back in the Hospital. After WLS, I was back in at two week for an infection. One does grows tired of looking up from that bed, you're right, plus that bed is damn uncomfortable! Before you know it, every thing will stablize, and you'll be back in your old self. Keep eating and drinking as much as you can tolerate. Anesthesia has a funny way of surpressing appetite, but it will come back. I'm glad your home, with such a great prognosis. Linda R PS: About the gas....walk, walk, walk. It's the only way.