Two surgeries Two Weeks

For alot of you on this board you already knew that I had my left knee completely rebuilit and the joint replaced on June 29th. I had a few minor "bumps" along the way with a nasty case of celluitis that landed me back in the E.R. after only being home a few days. Unfortunately said case of celluitis ended up with me being given the wrong medication and I had a massive drug interaction that almost did me in. I won't go into the details but the hospital/pharmacy really screwed up on this one. Got things slowly straightened out, or so I thought. Was slowly regaining my strength and trying to get the infection out of the leg. Went back to Dr. Bal to have my staples removed last Wednesday. Had a good appt. although he was not happy with the miss treatment that I had been given. He WAS happy with the status of the knee as we had the time at this appt. for him to go over the specifics of just how bad my knee was. He said is was almost completely ankylosed with bone deformity and spurs/adhesions. For those non medical folks anklylosed means bound/fused. Basically my joint was almost completely fused. He told me that he had no idea how I had been able to function, let alone walk as the degeneration was that bad. Let alone the pain that he knew that I had been enduring. It was one of the worst cases that he had ever operated on and it put him through his paces with the complexity of it. For those of you who don't know Dr. Bal (Kelly does!) he is one of the top joint replacement ortho drs. in the nation who typically takes the cases that other drs. refuse out of complexity. He is top notch and I cannot say enough good things about him and his staff. I will be forever indebted to him for what he has done for me! After my appt. there Mike and I left to grab a bit to eat. We hadn't eaten since the day before and were quite hungry. So off to IHOP where I tucked in to some scrambled eggs. I didn't eat very much as the last several days I had been having quite a bit of pain G.I. wise after eating. I was just chalking it up to all the medical hoopla that I had been through. Drugs, drug interactions, anemia, infection, almost bleeding out, etc. So I figued my good old protein standby of eggs would be innocent enough. Well I was wrong. I ate just a tiny bit... as I wasn't feeling well. Mike finished his meal and we proceeded to leave Columbia and head home. Mike driving and me lying in the back seat of our Jeep. Somewhere between Columbia and Jeff City the pain began. Waves of intense nausea and cramping started overtaking me. Building and building until I was writhing in the back seat. This was a throw back to my last episode of bowel obstruction that I had months ago that landed me in the hospital. Only this time is was worse if you one could only imagine this. Last time I thought I was going to die. This time I was begging for it. Mike pulled into Jeff City on the side of the road and was trying to assist me. I was trying to see if I could make it to Rolla so he could take me to the hospital where I was treated for the bowel obstruction once before as they would have that info. on file. Well it was a no go. We started stopped the trip several times on the side of the road with me growing sicker by the second. He ended up turning us around and taking me to St. Mary's in Jeff City. I don't remember much other than they were so kind and gentle with me. I was violently ill. White as a sheet, blood pressure plummeting, pulse thready, shaking with pain and almost incoherent. Tests were done immediately and it was found that not only did I have an obstruction but that a long loop of intestine had passed through a hernia (this was caused by my massive weight loss) and it was not only strangulated by the hernia as it was caught in it but it was also twisted and folded over. I was in a dire predicament. O.R. was prepped and at the ready but the local surgeon was a bit uneasy with my past treatment as a WLS patient. He had no qualms about fixing the intestinal problem but with his lack of knowledge of bariatrics he was unsure of opening me up and possibly finding something else that would need someone with bariatric knowledge to fix. Sooooooooo... I was loaded into an ambulance and whisked back to Columbia to UMC. This is where my story starts to unravel a bit. Evidently there was a loss of communication between St. Marys' and UMC and the bariatric staff as when I got there I was admitted under general care. I got a bunch of student yahoos (by now it was after midnight) that poohpoohed my entire diagnosis. Since St. Marys' hadn't sent the copies of the test results or the films of my CT ..UMC went as far as to tell Mike that they thought I didn't even have an obstruction! That they were going to just admit me and watch me. I won't go into detail at the lack of care and consideration that was demonstrated to us while I was stuck in their E.R. for several hours but I will tell you that it was severe enough that we had to deal with hospital adminstrators afterwards and that formal complaints were done and reprimands were done with the findings placed in those drs. files. The patient care adminstrators were extremely displeased at the lack of care that I received while in the E.R. Basically I should of been taken directly into the O.R. and I was kept in the E.R. for hours and not treated. Finally up on the floor but I am still under general admittance and not under bariatric care. FINALLY the connection is made and I got to see Drs. Scott, Dr. Johnson (he is the new assocate working with them). The heavens have finally parted and I am going to be treated! Oh happy day. Dr. Scott is PO'ed majorally. Even though UMC put me through ANOTHER CT w/contrast Thursday morning he said that it was obvious what was wrong with me and that I needed surgery. I need it immediately. By this time it was late morning. The ensuing hustle began in earnest. I was still NPO and had not had anything for over 24 hours by this time. Already had two I.V.'s in and going... I was moved into a private room and was taking to O.R. waiting just a few minutes later. Drs. Johnson and Del LaTorre did my surgery. Two internal hernias (caused by my weight loss) with one strangulating several centimaters of bowel that had also folded over and kinked back on itself. They got to it in the nick of time before permanent damage had occured which would of necessitated them resecting the affected bowel. In other words I got lucky. Very lucky. I talked the Drs. into letting me come home late last night. Still on liquid foods as anything else hurts like hell going down. Bowel is still very swollen and inflamed as I was right on the border of loosing it. They said it will take several days to calm down. I have to go back to see them in clinic this next Thursday and I am off work all this week again. I was due to go back to work last Friday. So that is my story folks. Two massive surgeries in two weeks. Not fun. My poor body is so stressed right now. I have so many holes in my arms, not to mention the rest of me that I am afraid I will leak if I drink something. I look like a junkie. Arms covered in bruises, legs, belly a mass of bruising. I hurt. Badly. Good thing to note though... Drs. Scott, Johnson and Del LaTorre were SO jazzed with my success. They just couldn't believe how far I had come. To have a BMI preop of well over 50+ .....only to be what is now called normal just really made them smile. We also got a good laugh over the fact that Dr. Scott was supposed to be my original surgeon but I had to switch right before having WLS due to Insurance issues and getting the permission for surgery to come through in time for me to have WLS. So in the end run I STILL ended up being a patient of Dr. Scott! That made him smile and they just asked me what took so long ! Dr. Johnson made my day when he told me that he even thought I looked good for not having PS either! This was after I had remarked about my saggy tummy skin while he was examing me. He told me that even if I didn't have PS that I still looked better PRE PS than most folks POST PS. That made me feel good which I desperately needed. They were very proud of me. So sorry for the long post folks... just wanted to let you guys know what I had been up to. Please send up some prayers as they would surely be appreciated. Financially I don't know how we are going to handle this. I have already lost one paycheck from my first surgery and I am going to loose over 1/2 of my next one. Financially we are very tight and we basically live paycheck to paycheck so this has hurt us terribly. In the grand scheme of things I KNOW that we will be ok. Health and family comes as a priority and I know that the good Lord will be there for us. He got me through this ordeal when I could of very easily passed on from the never ending complications that I had. So we are blessed. Everyone take care and enjoy your day. I am so happy to be home! Elizabeth~

wow Elizabeth that is amazing. I hope you are beginning to feel somewhat better now. I will pray for your health and also for your finances. I cant imagine having all of that happen to you is such a short amount of time. Take care of yourself and get well. God is watching over you. It was wonderful to see you in the meeting last monday. Have a blessed day. Jan

Jan... Yes it has been a very hard period for me medically. A body can only deal with so much and I have pushed mine to the limit. But I am still trying to stay upbeat and positive. I WILL get through this.... Thank you for your kindness... and yes I do know that God is watching over me. That is the only reason that I am still here. I know that I am safely in his care. Thank you again... Elizabeth~ ps.... I would like the info. that you have on the protein powder. I am always open for trying something new!

Wow sorry to hear you have been through so much...Is there anything I can do for you? Please let me know....I am always just a phone call away.....I will pray that you have a speedy recovery and that God will take care of your finances for you.... Keep the faith.... God bless Rachael

Rachael... Thank you for remembering me in my time of stress... yes prayers would be most welcome! Hope that you find out what is going on with you shortly and that you will be feeling 100% soon as well!.... Elizabeth~

Elizabeth You are in my prayers. Things may be hard for awhile but with Gods help you will make it alright. You must be one amazing person to go through all of that and still sound so happy. Take care and God Bless You. Sky

Sky..... Thank you for taking the time to write to me. It does my heart good to know that I am not alone in my struggles... that out there somewhere - someone is thinking about me and wishing me well. It has been a very hard struggle and I will not kid you one bit to say that I have not had my moments of darkness. I just can't understand the WHY'S but I DO know that my Lord and Savior has been with me through every bit of it. My faith in God and the loving care of my husband is what has sustained me. Thank you again for being you! You are a pretty cool lady and I absolutely LOVE your name! Elizabeth~

All I can say is WOW! Yes, I know Dr. Bal...he is the greatest orthopod ever! I'm so sorry that all of this happened to you at UMC...good grief...at least you are home safe and sound! Take care of yourself and our heavenly father will take care of the rest. You sure have had your share of FUN here lately...things will simmer down and get better soon. Take care and hugs, Kelli

Kelli... I don't know what I would of done if I had not of found Dr. Bal. Not only does HE rock but his entire staff ROCKS.. I absolutely love them all to pieces! You silly girl... FUN doesn't even begin to come to mind when I think of my trials lately... but I know you are being sarcastic with that response. Oh yeah baby.... much fun was had by all... NOT NOT NOT! *LOL* But I am hanging in there and I am slowly but surely on the mend... I will have to say that I got a kick out of finally being one of Dr. Scotts/ Dr. D's patients!! It just took me a bit longer than the rest of you! Thanks for thinking of me! Elizabeth~

Elizabeth, I am so sorry about all the problems that have beset you. I do pray that the rest of your recovery will be uneventful. You said the hernia was caused by your weight loss, was the bowel obstruction also caused by the weight loss? I would have been so scared if that had happened to me. I do pray that God will watch over you and your family and that he will take care of your needs and finances. Brenda