My RNY Experience in Ottawa, the good and the not so good

Hiya Folks, it’s been some time, not that I was an avid poster to begin with but was definitely an avid visitor/reader I had my RNY in Ottawa November 20^th. I walked into the hospital by myself with my bag packed. I wasn’t nervous at all; in fact I was calm. By that time I had my fill of freaking out during the weeks leading up to my surgery. I was as they say ‘ready to go’.

While waiting for the approval to get my gown on and to change out of my street cloths etc I wrote a quick will in the waiting room. It was quick and dirty but had the essentials in it that included my wishes and personal messages to my son and family. It just seemed like the smart thing to do.

Fast forward to me waiting in the hall on my stretcher to enter the OR…was I nervous then?…well… maybe a little but I did some deep breathing to take care of the jitters. Mr. Perfect Hair AKA Dr. Mamazza came by and the first thing he said was “you have lost weight, you look good”. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to be greeted by that comment, but then my sceptical twin reminded me that he probably says that to everyone before going under the knife to make them feel more at ease and relaxed about their decision LOL.

Any how…the OR room is more intimidating than any jitters I experienced waiting a over a year for the surgery…it’s was so cold…brrrr cold and had a dungeon like atmosphere. Thankfully they don’t give you much time to get acquainted with your immediate environment lol.

So that was it, in a matter of minutes I was out…then what felt like a split second, I was awake. I was groggy and felt a bit of pain but nothing like the pain I woke up to when I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was 18. I will never forget that pain, it was like waking up to someone banging a brick on your head. In all honesty, for me, waking up was a bit fuzzy and still hard to remember details.

Moving on to what I do remember…I remember later that evening they wanted me to get up and walk around, which I did and did ok too. I went back to bed for more rest, agreed to take dilaudid (liquid narcotic) which I regretted not long after. It takes the edge off the pain but the side effects were awful…I can only describe it as the worst hang over in the world…like a ‘I just turned 18 and I’m going to Quebec to drink a small lake of alcohol just because I can type of hangover!!!!’ For real, that bad.

Any how, a couple hours later they got me up again to see if I could go pee on my own (something they monitor). They took me to the bathroom, shut the door and let me have my privacy. I started feeling light headed, dizzy and like I was going to be sick to my stomach or have a major panic attack, my heart was racing like crazy. Luckily I knew something was wrong and grabbed the emergency cord and gripped the safety bars before I blacked out. My head went back and I fainted. I woke up to a team of nurses around me calling my name….I was lucky I didn’t fall off the toilet and hit my head on the hard floor…. and that’s when the craziness began.

They couldn’t figure out why I passed out, after some consultation they figured it was a bad reaction to the pain killers, so they changed them up. After some time they came back to get me for another walk…this time, I couldn’t get my head off the pillow without that feeling like I was going to pass out again. As per the monitors, my heart would race like crazy and my blood pressure would sky rocket anytime I slightly tried to sit up, so they put me back down. After another day of extreme monitoring, blood work, 4 IV’s and doctors coming in and out all day AND me not being able to move an inch, they determined based on my hemoglobin dropping on the hour, that I was bleeding internally. Yup a complication that happens to approx 30% of us. I was bed ridden for 3 full days before I could even lift my head off the pillow. I was white as a ghost (check my pictures out…I’m not white I’m half but was fully white at the time lol). I was not allowed to drink anything, no ice chips, nothing. I was so weak and what was worse than all of that was that nobody not even my family was allowed to visit me. I was on strict bed rest, at one point they even put a sign outside my room door saying DO NOT ENTER. I thought I was goner.  After 3 days of my hemoglobin not coming back on its own they gave me 2 blood transfusions but it wasn’t enough, after another day of not being able to get up after the first 2 transfusions, they decided another one was in order. I was told that my hemoglobin dropped to 59 and normal levels for me should have been around 120. No joke and gratefully I immediately felt better after the first blood transfusion, as every drop entered my body I swear I could feel LIFE coming back thru me, It took weeks of bed rest at home for my hemoglobin to come back to normal levels.

As for the internal bleeding, my understanding from what they told me is that there are 2 ways to bleed after this surgery. One is from the inside of the staples and the other is from the outside. If you are bleeding from the outside of the staples then this means another operation in almost all cases to stop the bleeding and it’s considered quite serious. In my case it was confirmed via a cat scan that I was bleeding from the inside of the staples, meaning that the blood was going through my digestive system. Long story short, it had to come out….and take a guess where??? Yup via bowel movements. JEEZAS….bear in mind I was still bed ridden and had a catheter in because I couldn’t get up to pee on my own…. … I had to do “my business” at least 7 times in one evening following countless times the following days in my bed in a portable potty thingy…I was helpless, I couldn’t do anything, not even clean myself. The medical term of passing the blood is melena. It was humiliating and anyone who has bled after this surgery that way knows that the smell is grotesque and out of this world…down right FOUL. I apologized to anyone who would listen to me countless times, including my poor neighbor and her husband who for whatever reason wouldn’t leave the room even knowing what I was doing one curtain over…literally, at some point I said to myself screw it…it’s his funeral LOL. ….but talk about embarrassing!!!

All in all, even at 7 wks out if you were to ask me if I would do it again, I would say yes even though I had major buyers remorse while all that was going down. That said though, even with my buyers remorse and the pain I was in, I knew deep down that I was going to be ok. I had faith and my loved ones reminded me as much as they could that I wasn’t “going out like dat” LOL!

 

I’m 50lbs down and am already reminded everyday why I made this decision when I chase my 20 month old son all over the house, when I walk up the stairs with less effort, when I lift myself up from sitting on the floor among countless other victories.

There’s so much more to the surgery than the surgery itself. For those waiting still, I can’t express how much this is a life altering decision and a transformation of not only your body but you mind and soul.

BTW...I can’t believe how long this post is, so I won’t even begin to tell you about how I was accidently dropped by a porter transferring me into bed after an ultrasound I had to rule out blood clots…to say the least, it resulted in another 2 days in the hospital. My pain levels went straight back up and I could barely move….but that’s another post for another day.

 

What a ride its been…..

 

Wow! What a story!  I was 5 days after you in Ottawa and my surgery went smoothly. I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better after your ordeal. Congratulations on your 50 lbs lost and your wonderful attitude!

Wow so glad you are doing better! Reading this is like reading my own story....I had the EXACT same thing happen after my surgery also at the civic and you are right melena is the grossest!! After countless transfusions and 6 day stay at the civic I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! I had surgery back in February and my hemoglobin is just now restored so take it easy!

Wow, that does sound like quite a ride for sure. Glad to hear you got through it okay though.  30% of people get internal bleeding after surgery?  That is a lot!  thank you for the info...

Clearly, all of this trauma did not effect your sense of humour and great disposition!!

Wishing you all the best!

Yikes, you've been through the ringer! Your recount including humour certainly lightens what must have been a scary time.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded of the potential risks associated with this surgery.

Thank you for sharing.  Look forward to hearing about the porter drop"

Terri

Hey Twinsie.

I remember all this. I was so worried when I hadnt gotten a text from you to let me know you were in recovery. I am so glad that you are doing so much better now. 

Great post and I am glad that you are doing well now.  Sounded very scary in the beginning.  Keep up the awesome work and enjoy the ride!!

 

Thanks everyone for replying and reading my post! I love this website!!! You are all awesome peeps:-)