Complications and moving forward? Long post

Hi there,

I am posting on behalf of my husband.  His RNY bypass was on Feb 11th.   Recovery was looking good until dry heaving began on the second night.  Slight fever on the Fri of 38 but otherwise all blood work was coming back normal.  He had been up and walking and on full fluids.  Late Sat night early Sunday he started experiencing extreme abdominal pain.  That continued all through Sunday. Again  blood work was fine and one time he had a 38 fever.  No other issues.  Monday the surgeon said he was going back in to see if there was an issue.  As he was going into surgery we got the mornings blood work back and his white cell count had gone from 8 to 22 so we knew there was an infection. Turns out his small bowel had been perforated.  Infection had been brewing for 5 days.  They had to keep him in recovery for 15 hours because his bp would not stablize.  He finally was able to return to his roI'm the following morning.   He is still in hospital now and will be until at least Monday.  

I guess our question is: has anyone else experienced this or other complications and how long did it take to recover from your second surgery?  Did these complications cause your spirits to get low and if so how did you over come this.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this :)

I have read of many such complications on these forums. Some who end up in hospital for a few weeks... or more. I am grateful (as I am sure are you!) that your husband's infection was caught quickly and the perforated bowel could be repaired. With luck, that will be the end of the problems and it's onward in his journey from here. 

I think for some people who have long-term problems and issues, they do tend to get down about it and they need assistance dealing with that. Though I cannot speak to it directly, I think if I were in your husband's shoes, the slight delay that he is currently experiencing would probably not cause me (personally) to have lower spirits. But I'm the sort of "pull up your socks and get going" kind of girl. Not everyone is like that. 

I will keep my fingers crossed for your husband's continued recovery. Keep us posted please. He should be on the right path now! 

We are definitely on the right path now.  Ended up getting jaundice as well but now everything I looking good and improving daily.  Should be out of the hospital I'm a few days :)  Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I understand that my surgeon nicked my vowel with the cauterizing tool and had to do a small repair. I was fortunate that he realized it right away and fixed it at the time. It seems that this can happen fairly easily.

We all go into this surgery understanding that all may not go perfectly so I hope your husband can keep this incident in perspective. I think we all move forward after deciding that it's a greater risk to not have the surgery...despite the potential complications. Thankfully his condition has stabilized and hopefully this will be remembered as a small 'bump in the road' on a successful journey to a better quality life. Best wishes! Kim

I think he just needed a few days of feeling crappy because now we are on the positive path and looking forward to a discharge from the hospital soon!  Thank you :)

i had issues that took them 2 years to find out what was the matter. They even thought it was the gal bladder and removed it and still had the same problems. Ended up in the hospital for 6 days and they finally found out was the problem. Once they knew sent me home and had day surgery to fix it back home the same day which was a Wed and did my first triathlon on the Sunday against a whole lot of people. It is hard to say how long it will take him to get over the second operation. Everyone is different in healing and what they had to do.  Did I ever get down. Sometimes because I could not eat so yes it was hard you go take a bite and bang you feel sick and your stomach hurts. did I have regrets no. I still pushed myself to the gym everyday and went out and ran. I knew and trusted that they would figure it out.

Your husband is now on the mends and he will be out soon and his new life will be starting. This should not get him down. Wish him all the luck and the best for his new beginning 

Wow, you are certainly an inspiration thank you so much for taking the time to respond :)

I've been lucky so far with no medical complications...but I just wanted to wish your husband well. This journey is really worth it!!!

Jane

We appreciate that!  Thank you :)

Sorry to hear your husband had complications. I hope he is able to regroup and think longer term, he will come out the winner. Wish him well.