ULCER

Sorry for the long post but thought you all would appreciate the info: Well I need to update and tell you all I just had a really big scare! I just got out of the hospital ! Heres what happened: On wednesday 02-09-2005 I got up about 8am and was feeling really crappy. I had to go to the bathroom so I went and sat down on the stool and proceded to pass about a quart of blood rectally. I then passed out. I woke up and yelled for Carol to call 911. She saw that my eyes were rolled back in my head so she called 911. The firemen arrived in about 5 minutes, put me on oxygen, took my vitals and then the EMT's arrived and hooked me up to all this stuff. They asked me which hospital I prefered I said "Mercy" and one of the fireman said that would have been his first choice also ? They picked me up and as they were carrying me to the stretcher I said they should be glad it wasnt a year earlier and I weighed 350 instead of the 175 I now weigh. They said it was no problem, they had just picked up a guy that weighed 400. They got me on the stretcher and into the ambulance and man was it cold in there. They started an IV and off we went to the hospital, got to the hospital where I was seen by a Dr David Smith. He ordered all these tests and called Dr. Thomas. The tests showed I had indeed lost alot of blood and I need a transfusion. They sent me to ICU. In ICU I got 2 units of blood, and Dr Thomas came in to see me. He said a Dr Neumann ( a gastrointeroligist ) would see me in a awhile. Dr4. Neumann ran the scope down me and found a small bleeding ulcer at the end of my pouch. He sprayed it and cauterized it and said they needed to observe me for about 72 hours. Dr. Thomas said he thinks the ulcer was caused by the Bextra I was taking for arthritis. I was in ICU and they kept doing blood tests and my hemo count was improving every time. Thursday they said I could go to a regular room, but there were no rooms available at the time so I was stuck in ICU until friday, when I finally got a regular room. It was nice to be in a regular room, I was finally able to get some sleep, although not much. Saturday I saw Dr. Neumanns associate and he released me to go home that afternoon. I am now home and feeling pretty good. They gave me a couple of prescriptions, one for Carafate and another for Protonix, both ulcer medications. I havent taken any of my other prescriptions that I normally take so I will wait on them until I see my PSP Dr Parkison. Thanks to all that called me or Carol while I was in the hospital, your thoughts and prayers were really appreciated.Well all is well for now, I am feeling pretty good.

What an ordeal you have been through. Glad to hear you are on the mend. Thank goodness your wife was with you. Congrats. on your weight loss. You look totally different. I would not have recognized you as being the same person. Good job and continued success.

I did start taking some stuff called Move Free, it has MSM ,Glucosmine and Chrondroitin. I also started taking SAM e . They stopped all my prescription medications while I was in the hospital. My blood pressure is fine so no more blood pressure medicine. No more Bextra (of course) . No more clarinex(for allergies) and no more allopurinall(for gout) . So far I am doing just fine without them.

Mark, What an ordeal!!!! I am glad that Dr. Thomas came to see you. I have heard horror stories that he has abandoned all of his bariatric patients and won't even see them when they are re-admitted for complications. Your story at least gives me a better opinion of him. I'm glad that you are on the mend. Where did you get your MSM? I have L-Glutamine with MSM from IDS Sports ($22 for 550G) that is a lot less expensive than I found at GNC. email me and I'll pass on the info if you need it. Sherry