Revision/New surgery TMI

 On July 26th, 2012 I had a "revision" RNY.  I say revision because in 2007 I had a lap band, and in 2008 I had the band removed.  It took a lot of looking for a revision specialist that would take my case.  In addition to the RNY, I had 2 large hernias (and when he went in he found 2 more) and also scar tissue from the removal.

The surgery took 9 hours.  I was in the sICU for days afterwards because they couldn't get my blood sugars under control.  When all was said and done, I think the RNY was the easiest part of the operation.  He said the hernias were bad and there was a LOT more scar tissue than expected.

I wish I would have seen this board before hand.  I would have liked to inform myself MORE about post-surgery.  I know my surgery wasn't typical, and results will vary... but this is what I learned:

I expected pain, but I did not expect the sheer amount of pain I had.  I read on these boards, "oh I was home day 2 walking around" --not me.  I didn't even get out of ICU until day 4 because of the pain and complications.  People were posting to this board on day 2, happy, COHERENT... I couldn't concentrate on anything for more than 2 minutes.  

The ICU is a horrible place to be if you aren't in a coma or REALLY SICK.  This place made me the most angry because I could hear all the bull**** going on outside my room- horsing around, ignoring call bells- it was a mess.  They sat me in a chair at 1:00PM and I coudln't stand up or move, so I needed to call a nurse every time I wanted to do anything, but they rarely responded.  My PT said, "okay sit here for an hour" and I wound up sitting there until 8 PM.  It didn't really matter because of all the pain medicine, but this one girl nurse who was checking on me kept telling the other nurse about all of her meals, which i considered pretty inconsiderate when I couldn't even have water.

I couldn't shower.  I couldn't (still can't) wipe my own butt or crotch.  I can't tell you how much dignity I left in that hospital room.  To have to have a nurse wipe your butt WHILE you have your period... not be able to change your clothes by yourself, having to sit in your own menstrual blood because you couldn't position your pad correctly, because you can't bend over.  There was so much pain, and my nurses didn't seem to want to do anything... I think that was the biggest problem I had.  I would hit the button and nobody would show up for 20, 30 minutes.  I digress... that just made me mad, but they were likely busy...

I am sorry you went thru all of that. You should file a formal complaint with both the Hospital Patient Advocate and your surgeon. Try to keep holding on to the fact that it is all a bonus now. Now your healing has begun and your weight loss is begining. Now comes the pay off.

Sending you a big ol' HUG....that's terrible what you went through.

Amanda,

I'm assuming you had an open procedure? Wow, what you went through sounds like hell, but I am glad to hear you are safely home and recovering.

I agree that you should speak to the Patient Advocate, or better yet, write a letter so you do not get sidetracked or emotional. I know from working in healthcare that it's terribly easy to get into back and forth banter with co-workers. But patient care should always come first. And sensitivity to the patient is a part of that. I guess every hospital and every unit has it's own "personality" and this one's was unacceptable. And so is sitting in a chair for 8 hours. PT needs to be upbraided for that one. I certainly hope that no one did anything that made having to go through the embarassing process with cleaning yourself any worse than it was. If so, that's really really unacceptable. Like 10 out of 10 on a scale of unacceptable.

I'm sure you know all that. And it probably helps just to share it all here. So all that being said, keep your eyes on the future and your recovery!! Congrats on your new start!

This why I will never leave anybody I love in a hospital alone.  My DH could have died had I not spent the night with him.  

I don't think some of them want to help "those people that did this to themselves and want and easy out."  Yep, heard that.

My DD had a sleeve and they put her in with a burn patient.  (Our hospital uses the burn unit for baratrics when it isn't full.)  She had a roomie that would call her family at 3am (and almost anytime).  She spent her whole time talking about food.  What food she had, what food she wanted, what food she hated, what food her family should make, what food they made,  in other word FOOD.  She knew the DD was baratric and the skinny B**** was just being mean because she didn't want any one in HER room.

She would make theDD's DH leave every time she took a pee.  So instead of him and I taking turns taking care of her, I had to stay.  As you say they would have put her in a chair and left her.  I would help her walk, if up to them, she may have been helped once every 8 hours or so.

When my sister got her sleeve I went to help her to when her kids and DH had to go home to sleep.

So very sorry you had to go through this.  Being in that much pain is bad enough, but not to get proper help, RAISE HECK!