Back from ER (long)

Hi guys, I just got back from the ER and What a crappy trip this was! First, it wasn't an overtight band... I'll get to the explaination later. Wednesday night I tokk my meds with my meal  for the first time since the laparoscopy and then  went to be around 9:00pm. I got up at 100:00 feeling heartburns that I attributed, rightly, to the meds. Went backl to bed at 3:00am and slept till 9:00am The wife had left to go see our daughter, and I had a glass of milk for breakfeast, then had a sip of water around 10'ish (see http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/men/a,messageboard/action, replies/board_id,5479/cat_id,5079/topic_id,3248890/ ) That's when my problems started, I started regurgitating like a baby: started with hiccups until I threw up spit. This happened every 5-15 min for almost and hour and I then decided to call my wife and tell her she needed to bring me to the emergency room. Glad she drove, I managed to spit out of the car :-) Got to the emergency room and told them they needed to contact my surgeon, I asked for a bowl as I'm still throwing up every 15 min or so, they put me on a gurney and told me thay had called him and he had said would be coming in the afternoon, remember this is a little before twelve pm.  They hook me to a saline IV and some stuff to prevent nausea. I then got moved to an observation unit, think small room, 6 beds, separated by curtains, I'm considering myself lucky it wasn't the corridor with many other patients. At this point I have repeated the same story as above to at least four people, no doctor has examined me yet. 4:00pm, my attending nurse tells me they called him and he says he will drop in in the afternoon. I'm still heaving every 15 min. 7:00pm  I'm really @%$#$ frustrated, not to say pissed, as he hasn't shown up yet. I get the attention of the first poor nurse across the hall with another patient. As soon as she's finished I ask her who is in charge of this joint. She asks this dept or the ER, I raise my voice and say I don't give a damn I want to speak to someone responsible. She tells me not to be so loudl, I tell her I'm just slighly raising my voice, and I'm not yelling, yet. I stay polite but loud. I tell her that I work cutomer service for Nortel and if anyone treated any of our customers like I had been treated by them, heads would definitely roll! My surgeon hasn't shown up and I had been told he would be here in the afternoon. She says she will ask my attending nurse  to call him. A nurse comes back, she says my attending is on break and that she calld my doctor: He is sick and will not be coming today. I'm loosing it at this point. I raise my voice and tell her what the @%$5 is she saying? I have been told since 11:00 am that he would be coming to see me and now they tell me he says he is sick and not showing up? This is unacceptable. She asks that I lower my voice, Yea right, as if I will, I tell her I'm being polite but that I'm very frustrated that they tell me this after 7:00 pm and that no other doctor examined me today, that I'm puking every f'n 15 min and that pucking is definitely not recommended for someone with a lapband. At this point she asks me what do I want them to do: I replied that they were the health care special;ist and I was the patient that showed up sick: how the f**ck should I know what they were to do??? Do their job maybe? I'm scared, how am I supposded to sleep if I throw up every 10-15 min without drowning in my own spit? her reply" I don't know" I told her she'd better find out pretty fast. 30 min later a doctor showed up stating he was on call replacing my doctor, and that my surgeon had just called him a few minutes earlier. He quickly looks at me, I repeat the same old complete story, he says he will call my surgeon and discuss with him. He comes back and tells me they suspect an oedema has formed blocking the passage. He will administer and anti-inflamatory to help, and an anti nausea for the heaves. I tell him the anti nausea is worthless, i'm not nauseated, my pouch is full to overflow and I'm throwing up spit that has nowhere else to go. He says he will call my surgeon again. He comes back and suggest inserting a hose up my nose down to my stomach to pump out the saliva so I can sleep without drowning. Now I can tell you that this is definitely not a pleasant procedure, I puked bile, pieces of pill, curdled milk and water he had asked me to swallow when he tried passing it in my throat pass the nose. I sprayed his pants, my gown, the bed, well you get the ugly picture... and he says he might have gotten it past the pouch into the second stomach, he leaves all proud saying I owed him a pant clining, I replied to bill my surgeon, it was his fault (there!) Once this was inserted, I kept getting the heaves, anyways I threw up again five or six times, the last time I even saw this big piece of white stuff that I thought looked like a cap of some sort. I first though it had to do with the tube they'd just inserted. But the more I looked at it, the more it meant something to me, until I recognised a pill (Welbutrin 500mg) that was still about 1/4" in diameter by about 3/32" thick (approx, may be less)  I also felt less constricted at the chest level, althoug still very nauseous from the tube. I called the nurse and asked her to take it out as I couldn't stand it, it was making me worse. She came back and took it out (another experience I do not wish upon you) and I could right away say I felt better than I had all that day. I concluded that the little F****ng pill had cloged the hole between the pouch and my stomach. That's all it had been: an occlusion.  I asked for ear plugs for the night, plugged my CPAP and slept like a baby, except for the 4 times the came to check on me with their damn flashlights. I woke up at 5:30 and spoke to one of the nurses, and she was the first one to ask me how many pills and what kind I had taken (I told her) My doctor came to see me today, and explained that he had told them he and his wife were bedridden, she was hospitalized, and that he had told them. that he had paged the other doctor much earlier and that he would provide me with a complaint form to log a complaint against him. I told him it wasn't against him it was against the ER. He said that they had acted properly even if there was a break in communications. I don't want to lodge against him, he will be following up on me for a long time :-( not good to alienate him. Plus he has a reputation of takling good care of his patients normally. I think I was just very bad lucky, that's all. He has modified all my prescriptions: I now have to crush all my pills, and undo the ones that are capsules. he removed the one that couldn't be crushed (Pantoloc) I have to mix them with apple sauce because it's the most PH neutral. I got my release this afternoon after they tested the crushed pills and a liquid diet would all go well without making me sick. My advice to you: Talk to yoiur doctor about how you are to take your medication after the surgery: it's very important (I found out first hand)  

Marcel, gald you're back home, and it was just an extreme case of "The Foamies." BUT_ Your Doc still needs to be "Biotche-Slapped!!" See my response to this thread that ran the same time you were having troubles--- http://obesityhelp.com/forums/men/a,messageboard/action,repl ies/board_id,5479/cat_id,5079/topic_id,3248587/ 

Crushed pills, even prescription "Pill Crusher" is Common-Place. Your Doc should have "Headed this Off at the Pass." Da*n that Socialized Medicine…. You’ve got a bunch of Red-Tape to wad through there. Sorry you got something stuck. Take it easy as once the stomach is stressed or traumatized, It’ll take it a few days to get over being really sensitive and "fussy."

Best Wishes- Dx

Marcel, I’m so sorry to hear of your unpleasant experience with being plugged up and then not getting the best response from the medical care providers.  When you first posted about lactose intolerance I suspected some sort of stricture, but before I could answer, you were already on the way to the emergency room. Follow the doctor’s orders, crush your pills, drink plenty of water; and hopefully you won’t have any more problems.  Keep us up to date with your progress.

OMG!!!  You poor Guy!  You handled that much better than I would of handled it, no questions about it!!!  I'm a 100% Italian born & raised in NY, I would of snapped about 5 hrs before you!  That is just Totally Un-exceptable!  It sounds like you were dealing with a Romper Room ER!!!  And on top of all of that, your still recovering from your Surgery, Gas Pains, and just over all Soreness.  God Bless you!!!  If I feel like complaining when my Surgery is over Tuesday from pain or anything, I'll just reflect on your Story, because I'd feel like a Wussy after the Hell you went through.  I can't believe he didn't tell you about you Meds!?  At my pre-op meeting Thursday they went through Everything, and I mean everything.  They told me to check with the Doctor's that Prescribed the Meds to see if it was ok to crush them, because all Meds you can't Crush.  Man oh Man, you poor soul.  Well I feel stupid asking you this but, outside of all that, how do you feel right now? (I think I know the answer tho)   I wish you nothing but the best now, you deserve it.  Please keep us up to date with how your doing!  And if you need me to send "Guido" down from NY to straighten some people out let me know, my last name is Gambino ya know! I'm just trying to make you smile a little bit  you deserve it  ;-)

Get Well Soon, Rocko~~

Hey Rocko, You attained your goal. Thanks buddy: I needed that laugh. I actually feel very good, thanks for asking.  For supper I had cream of mushroom that went into the "magic bullet" first and it went down deliciously, and painlessly I may add. Yes it was a romperroom. The health system here is a big jokle right now. Free, but in serious need of a refurbishing from the goverment. We have Provincial elections next Monday, and the elected (liberals) party had made it their platform to "better" the health care system last elections : guess who I'm definitely NOT voting for this year The worst part to me is that I'm the one that diagnosed the problem source, even though I had given everyone the details necessary for them to find the problem cause (told them all it had started after taking meds)  and I'm no doctor. Guess my computer analyst training came in handy this time. Good luck to you buddy, I'm sure it will be easier for you. And remember that when I came out Tuesday I was feeling actually very good, and did not complain as much as my wife, who actually spent an extra day in the hospital compared to me and was in much worse shape than me for a few days. She, and others that saw me, were pretty amazed at how good I was doing. I've also lost a total of 24 pounds in the last month, which is not to be sneezed at. I'd say that those extensive pre-ops you got, of which I only got one of a few months ago, will make a big difference for you and that you will fare much better than me. I'm rooting for you big guy, and will have a special thought for you and a word with the Big Man upstairs on your behalf Tuesday for sure. Best of luck to you, and don't let my mishap cause you any apprehensions, it was avoidable and you have the information now, so you shouldn't do the same error I did

Marcel, you mentioned crushing your pills which is fine since it's what your doctor has recommended.  I used to just cut mine up with a little device they sell at most drug stores.  I think its called a pill splitter.  I just mention it for the other guys.  Do what your doctor tells you to do.

Marcel, I'm glad to see you made it back without it being a seriou trouble with your lapband. Your band must be adjusted a lot tighter than mine. I just had it put in on Dec 4th 2006. I'm on a lot of meds and some are pretty big and this makes me pretty nervous. But I have still been able to take them whole without a problem. But as they tighten my band I will remember what you went through and I will be very cautious. I'm glad there was no trouble with your band and I hope you don't have any more problems. Best of luck on your journey. Dan 

Marcel, I'm sorry to hear about the difficulities that you went through.  You must have been really upset and you had a right to be. It sounds like you are feeling better now.  Hang in there.  It does get better as you go along.

marcel glad to hear your doing better. i think we went in on the same day.  1 week post op today.  how did the surgery go for you. hope that all went well. adam