low potassium and another surgery :(

I had a rough week.  It started on Monday night...I woke up with the chills, my teeth would not stop chattering for over 3 hours.  Finally after falling asleep for about a half hour I woke up with the sweats.  Silly me STILL attempted to go to work in the morning. I lasted a few hours and went home.

When I got outside (it was 90 degrees) I was FREEZING.  I called the bariactric center just to make sure it wasn't surgery related (I figured it was the flu). They told me to come in for a CT scan to be "on the safe side".

So I go to the ER and wait a couple of hours finally I was seen and after they got my blood work back they said I had very low potassium, it was 2.4.  They started me on bags of IV potassium (which I must say burns like hell if t the saline that is dilluting it runs out).  I was also VERY dehydrated.

So I think okay well they will fix this and I'll go home....ah  no.  At about midnight the nurse says "your surgical team is here".  I started bawling, I had NO idea what she was talking about.  So they come in and told me something was wrong with my CT scan but I probably would not need surgery...but that my surgeon was on the way in anyway.

Needless to say I did need surgery.  My surgeron said the middle section of my RNY was very "angry" looking.  So she needed to look at it to see what was going on.  She ended up widning something near the second hookup.  She said where my kidneys/liver drain was backing up for some reason.

The best part...she said she had never seen this happen before and she was hoping what she did would work. 

So after a couple of days I am home.  (this was last Tuesday that I had the surgery).  I still don't feel great and went to my primary doc today who took more blood to check the potassium levels.

She (surgeon) said she had NO idea what caused this....so I am wondering has this happened to anyone else?  I am a nervous wreck now about my potassium levels.

Erica,
I hope you are feeling better now, are you?  I'll add you to my thoughts, hang in there!

Eight days ago, I was having nausea and diarrehea (sp?). I then had chills. My stomach had major pain so bad that it felt like labor. I drove myself to closest hospital and they transferred me to another one where my surgeon is at. My potassium levels were down, I was dehydrated and had a blockage in my small intestines. 7 days later I was released, I now have a drain from my old stomach that leaks green bile. I have quite a bit of soreness and I have a terrible Poop taste in my mouth. I have a follow up appt with my surgeon again in 2 days. I am just not feeling as good as I thought that I should. Especially since this was not as big of a surgery as the bypass. I know that from some searches that low potassium can cause major problems. That was a big one of why I was so ill, once that was under control then my vomiting and pain was able to be controlled. If I could get rid of this drainage and horrific taste then I would be feeling 10 x's better. I wish you the best and I will say a prayer for you. We are definitely in the same boat and I hope that neither of us ever goes through this again. I dont wish this on anyone.

My problem occurred at the beginning. I was so sick after RNY in June. I had a g-tube and the drainage kept coming up around it and all over everything. When I drank liquids it would come out. I kept telling the doctor something was wrong, but they felt the swelling at the connection was inhibiting the flow. So they sent me home. I live 450 miles away. I was back in the hospital 3 days later and had a small bowel resection because I had an incarcerated hernia. Ahh I felt better, but my potassium was also very low 2.2, just to scare you these low potassiums can kill a person.
Anyway I came home and was better, but worse. I felt like I was anemic and after about a week it had gotten to a point where I needed help to go to the bathroom. I called my regular doctor and she could not see me but said I should go to the er. So, I did. Some nurse kept making a big deal about my fingers because they were blue. Now, I thought she was crazy because there was so little light in the room I could not figure out how she could see them. Anyway the ER doctor could not figure out what was wrong with me. I was not short of breath, but she felt I had had a lung embolism. The cat scan was negative. She finally asked me to walk down the hall with her and she notice how weak I got. She had an ABG done and the blood was brown not red. Well, I made her day. She said it was a disease process they learn about in school but never expect to see because it is so rare. I had some kind of drug induced anemia called Methemaglobin anemia. I had every doctor in the place stop by and see me. I was in the hospital for 3 days and they decided not to treat it because once the drug was stopped it should clear up by it's self. Well, it did but it seemed like it was forever. I still get physically tired after a strenuous day like being in the car for 4 hours. But I can cook and dress and do most everything for myself now. I can even drive by myself. Though I have to admit there are days I am not sure I should be.
We don't know exactly where or when the anemia started but I am glad it is behind me.
So, Take care of yourself and be glad they can figure out these things so easily. Just be careful not to get to many cat scans in one year they are kind of high in radiation.