Horrific Experience, 2 months in hospital, 3 major surgeries and 1 more to go

Sorry this is long'

In October I was rushed to the hospital (an hour away - Gastro doctor said I needed to NYC and not to my local hospital and my surgeon is in NYC), so I went there.  I had been constipated and had abdominal pain for about 5 days and nothing worked, so my Gastro doctor sent me for a CT scan that afternoon and I had a bowel obstruction - not sure what else or what caused it - it is a big blur.  I was rushed into surgery and it was fixed and thought all was fine.  After a week they sent me to rehab to get my strength back and recover. Well, all went downhill from there and that is when everything became a  total blur for me- I don't remember about 1 - 2 weeks.  They tell me that I got much sicker and eventually was unresponsive.  They rushed me to the local hospital and ran tons of tests.  Decided I needed more emergency surgery but they couldn't do it. I then had a perforated colon, was septic and if I had the surgery at that hospital I had about  a 20% chance of surviving.  So, they transfered me back into NYC to the original hospital.  My surgeon was out of town but one of his associates operated.  They gave me a 50% chance of surviving.  They started the surgery - cleaned out my insides, fixed the perforation but I was too sick to complete the surgery.  They left my abdomen open, covered it with a bandage and put me in ICU for 3 days but left me unconscious.  Finally 3 days later when I was a little stronger and they felt I could get through the remainder of the surgery, they completed it.  I am not sure which procedure they removed part of my colon but I do still have the remaining part.  They were forced to insert an ileostomy, a feeding tube into my remnant stomach and they didn't close the wound.  I was in the hospital for almost 2 months.  I am still recovering - in pain all the time and looking forward to having the iliostomy reversed on February 15th - after 3months.

It has a been a long, terrible ordeal.  I am very lucky to be alive, although when I was lying in my hospital bed at the beginning, I didn't feel so lucky - I just wanted them to let me die. They put me on antidepressants and brought in psychiartrists to try to get me through it.  I was so weak, I couldn't even move my leg 1 inch by myself. They had to move me, it took about 2 weeks before I could lift my legs from the floor to the bed to get in bed myself and after that 2 weeks, I took my first step.  Relearning to walk was really tough, I thought my legs were going to give out on me.  The most embarrassing part was when the aides had to come and wash me, I am very modest and didn't like that at all.  After about a month in the hospital they transferred me to another hospital that specialized in wound care and I was there for about 10 days until I had a complication with my wound, stool was actually backing up into the wound.  So, I had to go back to the original hospital for more tests to make sure I didn't need more surgery. We were hoping it was something that could be repaired when I had the reversal but it turned out that all was normal and 2 days later the leaking stopped.  I remained at the hospital until I was ready to go home in mid December.

When I got home, I had daily nurses, aides and physical therapists come to my apartment to help me recover.  It has been a real tough and painful recovery.  I have to wake up every 1- 2 hours overnight to empty the iliostomy, so sleep is hard to come by.  I can't stop losing weight.   I had gotten to goal in 2009 of 160, although would have like to get to 150 if possible but was happy where I was.  Over the next year, I gained about 8 pounds to 168.  While in the hospital, I lost 28 pounds to 140 pounds, and now I am at 132.  I am eating alot (for me) and even eating high calorie foods like quiche, macaroni and cheese, pizza, fritos or a couple of cookies at night but I can't gain weight.  I need to try to get back on my protein hot chocolate but it is too much liquid at one time and makes the iliostomy go nuts, so I dont drink it nearly as much as I did before.

I am really looking forward to February 15th for my reversal surgery and hopefully things will get back to somewhat normal after that.  I will be in the hospital for 4-5 days this times.  I can handle that after 2 months last time.  For those of you with tailbone pain, don't try staying in bed for 3months, it is tortune.  I am sitting and sleeping on a coxxyx pillow - just makes it bearable.

Thank goodness I have been able to drive locally for the past 2 weeks.  Atleast I can get to the store for necessities and  not rely on everyone else for things.  I live alone and it wasn't easy.

Thanks for reading this and please don't ignore constipation or abdominal pain.

God, what a horrifying experience!  I'm so glad you seem to be on the other side and healing.  Did your surgeon perforate your bowel during the surgery to correct the obstruction?  Or did that happen because of the obstruction?

I hope your FINAL surgery goes well - good luck, and you'll be in my prayers!

No, my surgeon had nothing to do with the perforation. He is an excellent surgeon and did a great job.  The surgeon that did the first surgery for the bowel obstruction was my WLS surgeon.  I think after a week in the hospital they sent me to Rehab (time lines are a bit fuzzy for me).  While I was in rehab (don't remember this at all because this is when I got really sick, colon perforated and became septic) - the doctors tell me they did a terrible job of taking care of me and let me get constipated again - did nothing to help things along and things just went south from there.  A friend of mines husband was a patient there and she said that she came in to see me and I was totally out of it and called a nurse. That is when I was rushed to the local hospital ER where they did all the tests to determine the perforation and septic shock.  I was them transfered immediatly back to the hospital where my first surgery and WLS was done in NYC.  My WLS surgeon wasn't available but his associate was, so she did the emergency surgery where they tell me it is amazing that I survived.

Oh my goodness! I've been thinking about you and wondering where you were. Sounds like you got great care during that scary and painful time. Please keep us posted as you can or if you want to PM me, I'll share my cell phone number with you so we can talk and I'll keep folks here updated.

((gentle hugs))

--gina

 Ohh  my heart goes  out to U  dear  Rebbekah .  (((((()))))))  U are  in my prayers .    

And You have taken such great care of Yourself too vitamin wise  ....  and  have given us all such great caring advice ... it just seems so UNFAIR .

Please  know  that You are LOVED and APPRECIATED  and  PRAYED FOR here  and  whatever we can do for You , Dear  , I for  one am happy to do .   I'm going to  PM  You with my E-mail address and I'd  be happy  to drive out to Monsey for a visit  or to help in any way  that  I might be able to  .  

    Keep  Ur chin up  beautiful  Lady  , see U soon  .....  love  , Ava

My goodness!  What an ordeal....thanks for sharing your story, it could happen to any of us!

I certainly hope you are well on your way to a FULL recovery!  Praying for you!!  Hang in there!

OMG - you've been through more than anyone should have to go through. 

I pray your next surgery will be your last!

Thanks for sharing your ordeal - Its truly an eye opener. 

We thinnk we are around the corner with complications after the first few months.  Thanks so much for letting us know that none of us are "home Free", ever. 

I'm swinging for you to make a full recovery and for the next surgery to be your last.

Prayers, Prayers and more Prayers headed your way. I dont even have the right words to describe how I feel. I pray that this last surgery is your last!

Thank you so much for sharing!  We are all happy to know that you are doing better.  I hope this next surgery will be your last.  I'm also thankful for you that your Dr.s had the knowledge to know they were not prepared to care for you and transferred you somewhere that was better equipped too and you accepted it.  Often times people are afraid to go to larger facilities and will rely on less experienced surgeons to do a mediocre job in return for a more "comfortable atmosphere".  I'll be swinging for you!