Full update on Marcie D

This is very long, but worth reading. Its the complete story from beginning to end, as I had some emails asking what happened. Please stop and sign her page. The updates were coming from her boyfriend. http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=D1086626746 2004-10-07 So,to run everything down to the bone: Girlie is fine.And her operation went very well with no complications. 2004-10-08 The girlie called me this morning right at 7am.She told me that her pain is pretty bad.She tried to walk but it is too painful,and,her heart rate is up pretty high. 2004-10-08 The day started at close to 7am,when the girlie called me and told me that she had a pretty rough night,and that her heart rate was pumping at 103-115bpm still. So basically,things were much better for her this time around.We found out that she passed the "leak test" which is by swallowing barium(??) and I guess(??) having an X-ray done on her to see if the sutures are okay. She tried to go to the bathroom,and "pulled" something,and all chaos broke loose.She started crying and yelling.I held her hand and told her to breathe slowly.Some nurses came out and helped her out a bit more.The issue NOW is,is that on ONE of her 6 incisions,she has pain. She is not bleeding or anything,and they have taken the cathader out.She does fine until she,well,"does something odd" and pulls something.The anesthesiolgist came in and told us that,basically "they" cut into muscle and what not,so,there WILL BE pain.She lifted her spirits a bit. 2004-10-09 Here's the latest: Basically,her heart rate has not been slowing down.This is maybe just about the only thing that is REALLY the matter right now.The one test that they did,well,it came out inconclusive,so they ordered her down to nuclear medicine to do another test,but they went ahead and did a load of X-rays to rule out anything else. 2004-10-10 Well,to break it short,all of the tests came back negative for any blood clots.She does not have to worry about those anymore.The high heart rate,well,now the docs are saying that because of the fact that the girlus is getting off from Effexor and some other crap,that her heart is just beign funny,and when the heart machine counts the heartbeats,it "doubles" them up because the machine is confused.The doctor even checked her pulse,Little House On The Prairie style,with fingers on her wrists.He said that it is high,but not THAT high. They have kept her tonight.Maybe tomorrow she will get to go home. 2004-10-12 I am leaving at 3pm to pick up the girlie from the hospital The girlie will be home tonight from here on. 2004-10-20 This morning at close to 3am,the girlus woke up shivering,and saying that she was freezing.I gave her some medicine and an extra blanket,and things calmed down a bit. This morning,she woke up shivering even worse.I took her temperature and it was 101.7. I took her downstairs to get away from the colder upstairs of the townhouse,and we went downstairs.She was now getting nauseous,and her temperature was 104.I gave her some anti-nausea medicine,and some Tylenol,and her fever has went away,somewhat,and her shivering has stopped. The doctor gave us a call back,and told her that she MAY have the flu.Thus,the fever and shivering.We will be going to her primary care doctor,and take it from there. 2004-10-20 Just got back from the doctor.......... All in all,things have calmed down a bit.The final verdict is,she may have some sort of virus,and you can't prescribe anything for that,so the doc told her to drink fluids,rest. All of the symptoms that she had this morning are gone.She is just very tired.She will go sleep for a while now. 2004-10-22 The girlus has been having this,low fever for the past few days.And,for the last few nights,she wakes up,shivering at close to 3am.Really scary .I give her some Tylenol and she starts to calm down,and she sleeps solidly. During the day,all is normal,but today,she does not feel too well,even though she has gone to the doctor and they have told her that she may have some sort of virus or something.Well,after yet another night of waking up shivering,and low fevers and not feeling too hot,she makes a few phone calls and voila,we have to go to the ER at Tampa General. We get there,and I call Susan,the secretary of the surgeon that operated on the girlus.She has to let the surgeons know that we are in the ER,and they will take the girlus to where she needs to go..Anyways,the girlus gets checked out in some room,and well,all is "cool",except for the fever/shivering part.They suggest that she will stay overnight,and have a CAT scan,and fluids given to her. So,we finally get wheeled up to the 8th floor,but have to wait about an hour for the girlie's private room to be cleaned and all. Basically,the run down is this: The girlus has some sort of virus(????).Maybe a low grade flu,but her recent operation has just screwed up her immune system.And she has not been feeling well.She has to be checked out to rule out any sort of serious problems. She is in room C810,and the # there is (813)844-1809 8th floor y'all. She is been pumped with fluids,and she was given morphine and Tylenol. She does not have any sort of bleeding/leakage,whatever,but we will see what the CAT scan will show. She still shivers if she gets too cold.This is the worst part of it all,and she says that her heartbeat is a bit high too. 2004-10-24 just got off the phone with her.She has been given the orders to go home today. 2004-11-01 The girlus got checked out and all,and well,she was given some Oxycotin and some other stuff,and she will have to get some Xrays done somewhere(not at the hospital though).But,mostly all it is is some sort of pulled muscle.(Hopefully not a separated rib or anything,but,that might not be the case) So,with the medications and all,she will be okay,as far as WHEN she will go back to work,might be on Wednesday,but we shall see........ 2004-11-03 The girlus has pneumonia.. (Going to get her antibiotics) 2004-11-10 We went to get the girlie's CAT scan this morning,but because of the fact that she had nothing to drink this morning,her veins were not showing up well to give her the iodine that she needs to get the CAT scan done,so we will be going back later today for it.She did have her blood work done,and we now have to wait for the results in a day or two. She is sad all of the time.She is weak.She is in pain.She has fevers.She cannot do alot of things.WE cannot do a lot of things.I am not regretting the surgery,but,I just want her to get better.And I know she will,but,I am just tired of seeing her this way.I want her to be happy again.I am taking care of her the best I can. 2004-11-11 Just wanted to say......... We are off to the hospital............ 2004-11-11 I am back from the hospital.... As of now,the girlus is resting comfortably.She has been given morphine and all,and we are waiting for the doctors to FINALLY come in and see what the hell is going on with her,and what the next step is.When we got the CAT scan films and the report,I found out that the girlus is somehow,bleeding from her spleen,as in,inside her spleen. The girlus is back at square one with everything.As of NOW,we have no idea how long it will take for her to fully recuperate.We have no idea when she will be back at work.We have no idea when she will start to feel better,enough to do all of the things that she wants to do.From what we have been told and assumed,this current problem(along with pneumonia) is not as bad as it sounds. They do not want to operate on her,because of her pneumonia.But,that might change.They did take regular Xrays of her,and the pneumonia SEEMS to be going away.The spleen,is another story. In the beginning,the girlus was held back for 2 extra days because they thought she had a bloodclot somewhere.Nothing was found.2 weeks later,she gets a virus,and she was back at the hospital.CAT scans were done,and nothing was found.They ran a bunch of tests on her and she was fine.A week or so after that,and I had to take her to the doctor for shivers and a fever..Anyways,she then "pulls" something on Oct.31,then it has been downhill ever since.She has not been able to sleep all that well.Her overall health is not all that great.She has been fighting with this and that and she has no idea when she will be herself again,and go back to work. I do not know what to do.We both do not know what to do......... As of now,we are starting to agree on a few things.For one,WE feel that some of the symptoms that she is feeling now MAYBE surgery related.Also,we are starting to find that some of the doctors are not giving her the EXACT care that she needs.We are starting to find faults in the whole surgery process.We are also agreeing that,we BOTH have to talk to every surgeon that dealt with her,and ask questions 2004-11-12 Girlus just called me a few minutes ago....... So,THIS is where we stand: First of all,her pneumonia is going away. And yes,her spleen is bleeding,yes the spleen IS bleeding. She talked with the doctor today,and well,we kind of do not know how the hell did she damage her spleen.The girlie thinks that SHE may have ruptured it by streching her arms out too much/too long.Regardless,they are not going to operate.They think that it will heal on its own.BUT,they will watch how things go. 2004-11-13 Basically,the pneumonia is almost gone.The spleen is healing itself.She is beign pumped with so much right now,in fact,they had to cut down on fluids.The antibiotics are still given to her..She is still given pain medication too.She will stay another night at the hospital,and chances are,she will be out by late Sunday,maybe Monday.....And they will give her an Xray to see if everything inside of her is okay....... 2004-11-14 You know where I just got back from............ Today was just insanity at its finest...... Long story short: It took 3 hours,and 7 nurses to try and get blood from the girlus. The girlus also had a CAT scan done,and a regular Xray done Her pain levels have been pretty high. She started shivering again at some points during the day. She is dead exhausted now. Her fever has been a bit on the high side,but it was knocked down a bit. She is still beign given every antibiotic known to man. The girlus' spirits are starting to get very low. As of NOW,what we are waiting for is this: The results of the blood culture taken today,the Xrays,and the CAT scan.She is going to be in the hospital for the next few days.I say maybe by Thursday she will be out.IF everything goes to plan. Her hemoglobin will be checked to see if she will indeed,need a blood transfusion. When the CAT scans are looked at,we will know if the spleen has healed enough.If not,chances are that it might have to be removed........... Things are not looking good here,with me,and/or the girlus........ 2004-11-14 The girlus is really sick........... I found out today that the doctors looked at her latest CAT scan,and it showed that the hematoma in/on her spleen has grown to a "monstrous" size.Because of the problems that this has and may cause,she was moved to the 4th floor,since she really does not need to be on the 8th floor for any digestive issues,she was moved somewhere else where the issues at hand could be addressed better.. The 4th floor is the newer part of the hospital.There,the nurses have more time with the patients.The floor is less crowded and they have more advanced stuff down there.The girlus is hooked up to a remote heart monitor that the nurses can check from their desks.The room is very nice.She also has a plasma TV in there as well.On the 4th floor,people that are in CRITICAL CARE are taken care of.That is one step below ICU. So far,the girlus has had her blood transfusions.She had 2 units of blood.She has also been given Ambien to sleep.Pain medication has been moved up to every 4 hours,instead of every 3.The blood was given because not only was her hemoglobin low,but the hematoma has been taking alot of blood supply from her body.The doctors still do not want to operate on her,but if they have to,they will just have to go through one of her incisions to take out the spleen.This is the last and final move,if the hematoma does not get any smaller. She slept for most of the day.I left for home and talked with lovethyone a bit and then I came back.The girlus and I had a chance to talk about a few things: She is feeling pretty miserable.She wants to blame herself for all of this(the whole pulling on the spleen part).but,I told her that it was not her fault.She wants to go home and get on with her life.We still do not know when she will get out.We have to wait for her blood tests to come back,and then,we shall see if she has some sort of infection in her blood.If she does,I am guessing that more transfusions will be on the way.Along with more antibiotics and what not. .The pneumonia is all done.The big worry now is the spleen.......... 2004-11-15 She told me that she will be at the hospital till Friday.That is,if all goes to plan. The hematoma on her spleen is not getting bigger,BUT,it is not getting any smaller. Talks of an operation are starting to grow frequent.They will just open up one of her existing incisions and do it from there if they end up doing it. She is running a fever at the moment. That is really all that I got for now. Thank you all for the well wishes and all. 2004-11-15 Well,to cut to the chase,the girlus had yet,ANOTHER CAT scan today.She also has had 2 more units of blood pumped into her,as well as a "plasma slushy". The doctor told us more about the whole spleen/hematoma issue: She told us that the last time they checked,the hematoma was about the size of a large orange,and it is not going down in size.It is not reacting to the antibiotics.There could be a bunch of reasons why this is happening.She told us that there could be an abcess in there,and the Ph levels are not letting the antibiotics do their job.Thus,the only way to even get rid of the abcess would be: To take the girlus in to CAT scan,and while she's there,they will put her under something called "conscious anesthesia"(??)and DRAIN the abcess by sticking a needle right on her side,while she's more or less awake.BUT,if they look at the CAT scan they did today and feel that the hematoma/abcess is not going down,and IF the spleen has been damaged severely enough,that they would just take it all out.This,would be the last thing they want to do,but not until the look at today's scans and see what is going on...... No word yet on her blood tests..... She has been sleeping for most of the day.The lack of sleep has been catching up with her.I left early so she could get some long sleep. Scratch That I just got a call from the girlus.She saw Dr.Murr(the main surgeon that did the operation) and they talked for a while. The girlus will have another CAT scan on Friday.She is going to be at the hospital for close to another week.They want to look at the hematoma and see what it will do.They are just going to wait around,and see what Mr. Hematoma wants do with itself............ 2004-11-17 I talked to one of the doctors today abouyt this whole hematoma/abcess buildup gimmick for a while.Well,more than likely,they will just have to take her to radiology while they are doing a CAT scan and stick a long needle inside of her and drain the beast out.The *whatever* it is she has on her spleen is not getting smaller,OR bigger,so it is not reacting to antibiotics.Yup,I knew it.She will just have to get a needle stuck through her and it will be drained.They might even put a cathader in her,and just let it drain slowly.They cannot tell whether it is an abcess or a hematoma at this point.After a while,an abcess can look like a big build up of blood cells and the opposite.Action will be taken in the next few days.They do not want to open her up really.They just want to drain it,and get it done and over with.I also asked him about whether THIS all had something to do with an "accident" during the surgery,and he said no.Because if it WAS an accident during the actual surgery,she would have been in more pain in the beginning.And they also do all types of tests for all of that stuff too after she had the surgery. 2004-11-18 The girlus called today and well,she is doing a bit better.Damn hematoma weighs in at about 16 pounds.Yes kids,my girlfriend has some sort of beast inside of her that weighs about the same size as a large housecat. 2004-11-18 As far as the girlus herself,well,this is what we now know: She no longer has any fevers. She is still in pain,but mainly due to this spleen issue. Her blood is okay.White blood cells are fine. Dr.Murr(the main surgeon in all of this) came in with 4 other doctors,and we all talked.Well,we now know that they do not know (still) whether it is a hematoma or an abcess.They will take a CAT scan tomorrow and figure out whether whatever it is,is getting any bigger(which has not).And,the final prognosis shall be this: If the hematoma is not getting any bigger,and since they have everything else under control,she will be given some medicines,and go home on Sunday.That's it.No poking,no nothing.She will go home this Sunday. They think it's pretty much a collection of blood and vessels in her spleen that have just gotten out of control.Thus,ruling out the abcess thing,which IS a lot worse than a hematoma.It's big,like,double the size of her spleen.How big is the spleen? I have no idea.About the size of your fist.I think...... If they see that whatever it is,is getting bigger,that's when she will get some sort of procedure done.But,MORE THAN LIKELY,she will be home this Sunday. 2004-11-19 Today,the girlus had her (hopefully) last CAT scan.This one will show whether the hematoma in her spleen is getting any bigger.As of now,it is the size of a grapefruit.It shows on her.She is very swollen on her left side.It has caused her to gain weight,and her ankles are all puffed out. She gets really sharp pains because of it.I only think one doctor saw her today and she has not been eating well.But other than that,she is doing well.She does okay for a while,until the pain medication starts to wear off. 2004-11-21 The latest,but not so greatest: The girlie's pneumonia has decided to start packing things up,and leaving her body.That would be,through tons and tons of coughing and spitting up.Everything in her lungs is basically mush,and she sounds terrible,BUT,it is a good thing that she is coughing up so much and all. She has been given a nebulizer,and before I left,doctors were checking up on her and all,and gave her some more drugs,and she will be okay.She will have some oxygen given to her tonight so she can breathe a bit better. The hematoma is not getting any bigger.But,we found out that she will have to go home with that beast inside of her until it dies down.You see kids,apparently,you cannot drain a hematoma.I mean,you CAN,but it might lead to a more serious infection.So,they will give her plenty of medicine,and she will get to go home. Now,WHEN exactly is she going home? Well,not sure...................... We have to wait and see how she fares with this coughing up issue,but everything else is good.She might be able to come home sometime this week. 2004-11-22 Dr.Nelson,one of the main surgeons in the operation,came in and started to talk to the girlus.The girlus,although sounding better as far as her lungs go,is under oxygen therapy.Dr.Nelson told us that the hematoma is not getting any bigger at all,and that it will take close to 6 weeks for it to die down completely.Her blood gases are okay,but...................... The deal with her pneumonia has caused her to remain at the hospital until it all gets cleared.The doctors will not release her until the effects from the pneumonia have cleared.She also was taken down to the Cardiovascular floor,in which they took a sonogram of her whole heart/left side of her chest.She was also told,that.... She will not be home for Thanksgiving,and that only a miracle will have her home that early. At this point in time,we have no idea when she will finally be home. I lost it.I completely..................lost it............ She has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. Her legs have swollen to twice their size(they are giving her something for that) She cannot sleep at night.She has been getting about 2 hours of sleep everynight for the last few days. She cannot eat THAT much. Now,she has had someone do a sonogram of her heart She is under oxygen therapy. She has to go home(whenever that is) with a hematoma in her.And she has to watch what she does so she does not come back 2004-11-23 I talked to the girlus this morning,and I guess that they found something in her lungs that prompted them to take THIS action: She will have a needle,stuck right into her lungs(maybe her left,maybe both of them),and drain whatever it is in there.She's not too happy about this.But,what the hell can you do,right? Obviously,they are following serious protocol on this situation.The sonogram did not show anything wrong with her heart. 2004-11-23 They did not stick her lung with a needle,BUT,at 9am tomorrow,they will somewhat sedate her,and put a tube through her nose,and into her lungs.I think that it might have a camera attached to it,so they can see what is going on.I helped her walk around some.Her feet are really swollen.They are giving her stuff for that. Her coughing has calmed down some.Dr.Nelson talked to her and rubbed her shoulder a bit,and was very nice and understanding with her.They are not releasing the girlus until she is in a much,much better shape than she is now.She is still taking in oxygen,and antibiotics too.She is also getting Effexor,and some calcium,and some other pills.She has had no appetite really.She does not eat much. I want to say that she MIGHT be out this weekend,but by how things have been going,I cannot say when she will be out. When will she get to go home? When she's home................... That is all I can say about her at the moment........... 2004-11-24 I then,headed to the hopital after I got a phone call from barnabyq telling me that the girlie just came back from her lung procedure. I got there and she is rather happy,but after a while,she starts to sleep,and her mood changes after she wakes up.I found out that they went into her lungs,and took some scrapings for testing,and they also sucked out a lot of stuff down there.She was put under some sort of anesthetic,and well,she does not remember much of it.Dr.Murr told her that this was the first case in which one of his patients had all of these crazy complications.He also told her that she MIGHT be out by next week,but,at this time,the way things are going,we have no idea still when she will go home. She has full blown pneumonia.It was not such a problem before,and I thought that it was all under control.I guess not.The swelling of her feet and legs is prettty bad,and we found out that the doctors would not give her anything for it today.Then,something else happened: This doctor came in and told us that when they did the lung stuff,they found something,in the throat,near the voice box.This meant,that this guy had to go into her throat,through her nose,and down her neck,with this tube,that had a light at the end.She was given nasal spray,and numbing stuff,and he went to work.I could no****ch. Looked like she was doing one of those snake through the nose tricks like at carnivals.Well,he said that he saw some "nodules" there,but nothing to be alarmed about.(but then again,I have seen may freaky things.Why did this bother,I have no idea) She had no pain medicine all day,and she starts to feel a lot of pain.She is still under oxygen therapy,and under antibiotics.She finally gets some before I leave.Her color looks good,her voice,well,comes in and out.She is very swollen at her feet and it is getting bad.She is trying to eat,but she has to deal with huge pills and all,which make her stomach kind of ill,so she has to wait to eat and drink something.

Kay thank you for keeping us updated. Please tell Marcie I am praying all goes well. Dr. Murr is my dr as well and he will probably want to keep her till he can give her a complete clearance. She sure has been through allot.

Wow, I am in complete shock! I agree with Gisela that we need to lift this woman up in our prayers and give her the strength to fight whatever is going on inside her body. Please keep us posted and tell Marcie and her bf that she has a ton of friends from FL sending her our best. Amy

Oh my goodness. I will most assuredly keep Marcie, her family, friends and other loved ones in my thoughts and prayers as Marcie continues her fight. Thank you for the updates, I'll go sign her page. I sure hope she regains her health soon!

please let marcie know she and her b/f and families are in our prayers and if there's anything we could to do help please let us know again give her our best and shes in our thoughts and prayers for a quick recovery love and god bless thanks for the update love your wls sister ktaylor sending her a