I was checking out a site . ( d.s. related ) long
Wow - I went out and googled a topic andhit upon this story .. Wow I feel bad for the woman - now the story is from 2003 - still SCARY !!!
http://www.duodenalswitch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1893
On Feb 12th, my sister Judi had her DS. Judi\'s biggest concern was that her surgery be done LAP. Judi had an open hysterectomy in 1998, got a horrible infection, and it took 7 months for the open wound to heal. So her track record with abdominal surgery isn\'t all that good. Judi is quite often sick. She seems to pick up every cold and upper respiratory thing that goes around. Judi explained her history to Dr. Baltasar and he assured her that he would do his best. Dr Baltasar is a speedy surgeon. Dan\'s surgery only took 1.5 hours. When 5 hours passed and Judi wasn\'t back yet, I was worried. I was hanging out in the hall with all the other WLS patients when the elevator opened and there was Judi, wide awake. \"Hola\" she said to all of us as she was wheeled into her room. While they were hooking Judi up to the monitors, Dr. Baltasar came up to talk to me. He was concerned about Judi too. The surgery had been done LAP. It was a long surgery because Judi had severe adhesions from her previous surgery. He also found a hernia made up of omentum, and adhesions. He was unable to fix the hernia. He did spend a lot of time working on the adhesions but some of them were so involved, he elected not to touch them. He was worried about leaks and other possible complications and he wanted me to watch Judi very closely. He told me her CC was 65, the gastric resection had been done and her gallbladder removed. So I watched Judi and Dan all night. I especially watched Judi\'s o2 sats because her surgery had been so long. Judi stayed wide awake so I had her using the respirometer every 15 or 20 minutes. I told her about the hernia, adhesions etc but she was happy the surgery was done LAP. Around 3am, three nurses came in and got Judi up and walking. All in all, things were going well. Judi had 7 incisions, 2 drains and an IV.
The next day, Judi had her first leak test. She swallowed methylene blue. We watched and waited, no blue showed up in her drains. So she was allowed to have ice chips. She was up and walking just fine by herself. She said she felt pretty good and wasn\'t in much pain. Later that day, she had the barium xray leak test and passed that one too. Then they let her have juice, popsicles, broth, and warm tea. Dr. Baltasar came to see her 3 times that day. He asked her to take the methylene blue test again the next morning. If she passed it again, she could have food. Early the next morning Judi did the dye for the second time and passed. She elected to stay with the liquids and had water and popsicles.
It seemed like Judi was doing fine. She was up, walking and visiting with the other DS patients. She did have some diarrhea, but no worse than expected. She was on IV antibiotics and Prevacid. She was discharged from the hospital on the 4th day. Dr. Baltasar gave her and Dan all their meds to take with them. She did end up taking the leak test one more time than usual but things were going well.
We all went to Santa Pola where I had rented a 3br 2 bath condo for the next 2 weeks. We walked every day to the store, coffee shop, beach etc. There was a clinic a block away just in case. They ate lots of soft foods like yogurt, pudding, jello, and eggs. They also had tastes of whatever else was around and so far so good. Dan was progressing faster than Judi but he\'d had less surgery and less anesthesia. We were now a DS family. They both mentioned several times they were glad we had 2 bathrooms. Judi still had some diarrhea issues but nothing unusual. A couple afternoons, Judi ran a low-grade fever but it went away on it\'s own after about 2 hours. Judi took her antibiotics religiously because of her previous experience. Everyone was doing well. The place we were staying was a community of retirement/vacation homes owned by English and Scandinavian people. Americans were very unusual there and we were a curiosity. People would come up to us and just start talking. Some of the local English residents were kind enough to take us under their wing and come get us for trips/excursions in their cars. Dan would go anywhere but Judi was happier staying closer to the bathroom. I understood because I too had suffered from Bathroom Separation Anxiety when I was a new post-op. Judi still did her walking every day but her walks were more likely to be around the block. One day she said she was ready for a change, a new walk. I told her I was thinking about walking to the lighthouse and back. Our English friends had told me it was about 3/4 of a mile away. It sounded good to her so off we went. Well, it was about 3 miles to the lighthouse. I offered several times to turn around and go back but she is stubborn like a mule and plods on. We finally made it back and from that point on she referred to that walk as the deathmarch. It took her a couple days to recover.
On Feb 27th, we left Spain and headed home. Dan and I were flying from Alicante, to Madrid, to Atlanta, to Minneapolis. Judi was traveling a different route; Alicante, Madrid, Newark, and finally Houston. We traveled together as far as Madrid and said our goodbyes there. I pushed/carried all the luggage and made sure Judi got checked in OK. Dan and I had a little time so I shopped the stores at the airport. We made our connections and arrived in Atlanta an hour early. We sailed through Customs and waited for our last flight. First they lost their flight crew, then the plane had mechanical problems but about 2.5 hours late we were finally on our way in a different plane. We arrived home at about midnight and went to bed. The next morning I headed out to the post office and the bank. I took Dan back home and went to the grocery store. There\'s always too much to do when you get back from a trip.
I pulled in the driveway with my carload of groceries and Dan\'s standing there looking a little green. He ran up to the car and said I needed to go call Judi right away at the hospital in Houston. I asked him who called and what happened. He replied that Judi had called and that Judi had exploded, just like in \'Alien\' on the plane between Newark and Houston. My first reaction was disbelief! That was impossible! I ran in the house and called.....ring no answer. Dan was sure it wasn\'t a joke. He swears that\'s exactly what she said. I brought the groceries in the house and called Judi\'s home, answering machine. So I put the groceries away.
About an hour later, the phone rings and it\'s Judi. Yes, that\'s what happened and she is in the hospital on IV antibiotics. About 1/2 way between Newark and Houston one of her incisions split open. It was a nasty, infected mess. They offered to make an emergency landing but Judi said no figuring it would be better to continue to Houston. She was afraid of ending up in the hospital in Nowhere, USA. There was a nurse on the plane who volunteered to help. Poor Judi landed in Houston in the plane\'s bathroom. They loaded her onto a food service truck and then to an ambulance. She is still in the hospital as I write this. They got culture results back today and she\'s got strepto****us and e-coli. More results are pending. Right now she thinks she will be released on Friday. I have cleaned it up a bit and left out some of the grosser details. Just take my word for it, this was a nightmare experience. But she\'s feeling fine now!
Have you ever noticed how we DSers seem to bounce back quickly? No more than a minute into our last conversation, Judi is telling me that she\'s already lost 40 lbs. Just goes to show we will do anything to lose weight. Judi and I would hate to think that anyone considering surgery might read this and think it was too dangerous. Judi was an unusual case and she was already very much predisposed to postoperative infections. We don\'t blame Dr. Baltasar either. His postop complication rate is very low and like I said, Judi is an unusual case. Would Judi have this surgery over again? In a couple weeks, her answer will be Yes! And she too is losing faster than I ever did!
I guess this is the reason I worry about people going out of the country for surgery...
http://www.duodenalswitch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1893
On Feb 12th, my sister Judi had her DS. Judi\'s biggest concern was that her surgery be done LAP. Judi had an open hysterectomy in 1998, got a horrible infection, and it took 7 months for the open wound to heal. So her track record with abdominal surgery isn\'t all that good. Judi is quite often sick. She seems to pick up every cold and upper respiratory thing that goes around. Judi explained her history to Dr. Baltasar and he assured her that he would do his best. Dr Baltasar is a speedy surgeon. Dan\'s surgery only took 1.5 hours. When 5 hours passed and Judi wasn\'t back yet, I was worried. I was hanging out in the hall with all the other WLS patients when the elevator opened and there was Judi, wide awake. \"Hola\" she said to all of us as she was wheeled into her room. While they were hooking Judi up to the monitors, Dr. Baltasar came up to talk to me. He was concerned about Judi too. The surgery had been done LAP. It was a long surgery because Judi had severe adhesions from her previous surgery. He also found a hernia made up of omentum, and adhesions. He was unable to fix the hernia. He did spend a lot of time working on the adhesions but some of them were so involved, he elected not to touch them. He was worried about leaks and other possible complications and he wanted me to watch Judi very closely. He told me her CC was 65, the gastric resection had been done and her gallbladder removed. So I watched Judi and Dan all night. I especially watched Judi\'s o2 sats because her surgery had been so long. Judi stayed wide awake so I had her using the respirometer every 15 or 20 minutes. I told her about the hernia, adhesions etc but she was happy the surgery was done LAP. Around 3am, three nurses came in and got Judi up and walking. All in all, things were going well. Judi had 7 incisions, 2 drains and an IV.
The next day, Judi had her first leak test. She swallowed methylene blue. We watched and waited, no blue showed up in her drains. So she was allowed to have ice chips. She was up and walking just fine by herself. She said she felt pretty good and wasn\'t in much pain. Later that day, she had the barium xray leak test and passed that one too. Then they let her have juice, popsicles, broth, and warm tea. Dr. Baltasar came to see her 3 times that day. He asked her to take the methylene blue test again the next morning. If she passed it again, she could have food. Early the next morning Judi did the dye for the second time and passed. She elected to stay with the liquids and had water and popsicles.
It seemed like Judi was doing fine. She was up, walking and visiting with the other DS patients. She did have some diarrhea, but no worse than expected. She was on IV antibiotics and Prevacid. She was discharged from the hospital on the 4th day. Dr. Baltasar gave her and Dan all their meds to take with them. She did end up taking the leak test one more time than usual but things were going well.
We all went to Santa Pola where I had rented a 3br 2 bath condo for the next 2 weeks. We walked every day to the store, coffee shop, beach etc. There was a clinic a block away just in case. They ate lots of soft foods like yogurt, pudding, jello, and eggs. They also had tastes of whatever else was around and so far so good. Dan was progressing faster than Judi but he\'d had less surgery and less anesthesia. We were now a DS family. They both mentioned several times they were glad we had 2 bathrooms. Judi still had some diarrhea issues but nothing unusual. A couple afternoons, Judi ran a low-grade fever but it went away on it\'s own after about 2 hours. Judi took her antibiotics religiously because of her previous experience. Everyone was doing well. The place we were staying was a community of retirement/vacation homes owned by English and Scandinavian people. Americans were very unusual there and we were a curiosity. People would come up to us and just start talking. Some of the local English residents were kind enough to take us under their wing and come get us for trips/excursions in their cars. Dan would go anywhere but Judi was happier staying closer to the bathroom. I understood because I too had suffered from Bathroom Separation Anxiety when I was a new post-op. Judi still did her walking every day but her walks were more likely to be around the block. One day she said she was ready for a change, a new walk. I told her I was thinking about walking to the lighthouse and back. Our English friends had told me it was about 3/4 of a mile away. It sounded good to her so off we went. Well, it was about 3 miles to the lighthouse. I offered several times to turn around and go back but she is stubborn like a mule and plods on. We finally made it back and from that point on she referred to that walk as the deathmarch. It took her a couple days to recover.
On Feb 27th, we left Spain and headed home. Dan and I were flying from Alicante, to Madrid, to Atlanta, to Minneapolis. Judi was traveling a different route; Alicante, Madrid, Newark, and finally Houston. We traveled together as far as Madrid and said our goodbyes there. I pushed/carried all the luggage and made sure Judi got checked in OK. Dan and I had a little time so I shopped the stores at the airport. We made our connections and arrived in Atlanta an hour early. We sailed through Customs and waited for our last flight. First they lost their flight crew, then the plane had mechanical problems but about 2.5 hours late we were finally on our way in a different plane. We arrived home at about midnight and went to bed. The next morning I headed out to the post office and the bank. I took Dan back home and went to the grocery store. There\'s always too much to do when you get back from a trip.
I pulled in the driveway with my carload of groceries and Dan\'s standing there looking a little green. He ran up to the car and said I needed to go call Judi right away at the hospital in Houston. I asked him who called and what happened. He replied that Judi had called and that Judi had exploded, just like in \'Alien\' on the plane between Newark and Houston. My first reaction was disbelief! That was impossible! I ran in the house and called.....ring no answer. Dan was sure it wasn\'t a joke. He swears that\'s exactly what she said. I brought the groceries in the house and called Judi\'s home, answering machine. So I put the groceries away.
About an hour later, the phone rings and it\'s Judi. Yes, that\'s what happened and she is in the hospital on IV antibiotics. About 1/2 way between Newark and Houston one of her incisions split open. It was a nasty, infected mess. They offered to make an emergency landing but Judi said no figuring it would be better to continue to Houston. She was afraid of ending up in the hospital in Nowhere, USA. There was a nurse on the plane who volunteered to help. Poor Judi landed in Houston in the plane\'s bathroom. They loaded her onto a food service truck and then to an ambulance. She is still in the hospital as I write this. They got culture results back today and she\'s got strepto****us and e-coli. More results are pending. Right now she thinks she will be released on Friday. I have cleaned it up a bit and left out some of the grosser details. Just take my word for it, this was a nightmare experience. But she\'s feeling fine now!
Have you ever noticed how we DSers seem to bounce back quickly? No more than a minute into our last conversation, Judi is telling me that she\'s already lost 40 lbs. Just goes to show we will do anything to lose weight. Judi and I would hate to think that anyone considering surgery might read this and think it was too dangerous. Judi was an unusual case and she was already very much predisposed to postoperative infections. We don\'t blame Dr. Baltasar either. His postop complication rate is very low and like I said, Judi is an unusual case. Would Judi have this surgery over again? In a couple weeks, her answer will be Yes! And she too is losing faster than I ever did!
I guess this is the reason I worry about people going out of the country for surgery...
ya know I didnt mean to post it here ! Sorry for your confusion ,,, I was trying to make a point to a friend , sometimes traveling far out of country is not always a good idea ,,,, This was the first item that came up when i was doing a search ...
Scares the hell out of me that you could be in air space and have a major medical emergency !!!!
Scares the hell out of me that you could be in air space and have a major medical emergency !!!!
ShielaC.
on 8/19/08 10:43 pm, edited 8/19/08 11:02 pm
on 8/19/08 10:43 pm, edited 8/19/08 11:02 pm
What about the folk's flying cross the country to get revision's? Isn't that just as dangerous, even though its in the U.S of A.? I agree with you; it is dangerous to go so far from home. Even if you are fine like this woman was during the 2 wks she stayed near the doctor in his country, what happens once you go home? What if something goes wrong two months or six months later? If you couldn't find a doctor near you who was experienced enough to do the surgery in the first place, how are you going to find one to correct any problems? You are right! Very scary!!!
If you had to fly the plane, I could see your point, but I don't see the difference in being in the air or on the ground when you have an infection problem. It's going to take some time to get to a hospital in either case and I can't imagine a case where a few hours time is going to make a big difference in your long term health.
Any type of sugery is a serious matter and shouldn't be taken lightly, everyone considering surgery should be well aware of the chances of getting an infection or having some other complication.
Anesthesia is what worries me most, I really hate the feeling of trying to wake up and I can't.
Kerry
Any type of sugery is a serious matter and shouldn't be taken lightly, everyone considering surgery should be well aware of the chances of getting an infection or having some other complication.
Anesthesia is what worries me most, I really hate the feeling of trying to wake up and I can't.
Kerry
(deactivated member)
on 8/20/08 3:37 am, edited 8/20/08 9:19 am - AZ
on 8/20/08 3:37 am, edited 8/20/08 9:19 am - AZ
What about having a blood clot in your leg or a PE in your lung while flying ? I can see travling with a infection. But not a PE and a airplane ride don't mix. I had a blood clot when I just flew to Orlando. I was in the hospital for my vacation and did not be able to go to Disney World
(deactivated member)
on 8/20/08 9:17 am, edited 8/20/08 9:19 am - AZ
on 8/20/08 9:17 am, edited 8/20/08 9:19 am - AZ
I think you miss understood me. I said why have surgery out of the country. You have a greater chance of a PE or DVT. It is okay to travel with a wound infection but it is possible to have a postop pe or dvt. Stay home is right and have the surgery in the USA. I can't imagine having surgery for example in Brazil and flying home all the hours is just asked for a pe or dvt after having a anesthesia. That is just my opinion.
I understand what you're saying and I can only think of two reason to travel in our out of the country for any surgery:
1. There's no experienced surgeon where you live.
2. The cost is worth the hassle.
Everyone has to decide for themselves if the cost saving is worth the hassle, but I would question whether or not a PE or DVT is more likely in the US than everywhere else. The US hospitals have more than their share of sanitation problems so I don't think it's fair or even accurate to assume the US has the best record of hospital caused complications. There are plenty of US hospital horror stories to go around.
Kerry
1. There's no experienced surgeon where you live.
2. The cost is worth the hassle.
Everyone has to decide for themselves if the cost saving is worth the hassle, but I would question whether or not a PE or DVT is more likely in the US than everywhere else. The US hospitals have more than their share of sanitation problems so I don't think it's fair or even accurate to assume the US has the best record of hospital caused complications. There are plenty of US hospital horror stories to go around.
Kerry
(deactivated member)
on 8/20/08 9:50 am, edited 8/20/08 10:00 am - AZ
on 8/20/08 9:50 am, edited 8/20/08 10:00 am - AZ
I would rather have a DVT or PE in the USA compared to Mexico or other countrys. I went to Mexico and did consulting work over there and those hospital are not even up to standards like the USA. I am a health information professional and I did not like what I saw at these mexican hospitals. I had to pay for my first RNY and I had my surgery in the USA . I have worked in hospital for over 30 years and I know there are sad storys here but not like some other countrys. If people want to go out of the country thats okay with me but this is my opinion.
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