Sugery and Beyond

I wake up from surgery in the recovery room, listening to a nurse talk about tattoos. I have to give my comment in stating that sitting for a 12 hour tattoo is stupid. It is the same price in most cases if you spilt up the time. (After my journey is over, I'm getting one more tattoo)

Anyway, I am taken back to my room. I am not allowed to drink anything or have ice chips until the doctors determine that the surgery went according to plan and that I don't have any leaks from the stapling of my new stomach. Praise the Lord, I didn't. I was able to drink and slip on "food" that was in liquid form - so soups mainly. I really didn't feel like eating or drinking much the first few days while I was in the hospital. I had the small incisions - total of 7 of them. Moving around was difficult, but I needed to walk around if I wanted to get better quickier.

Three days after my surgery, on Friday July 16 I went home. To help with the pain I was given children's tyenol, children's gravol, and pure codine. Now I'm not too sure what happened but I just got sick. And Sick, sicker and worse. But because it was a gastric bypass I just assumed that was the way it was supposed to be. I would take my dose, fall asleep for about an hour and then be wide awake until my next dose. This continued friday into Saturday. Finally on Saturday I called my Aunt Elaine who is a retired RN. She didn't know I was having surgery much less the RNY Gastric Bypass so it was a bit of a surprise when I phoned. She came over and continued to watch me for the next day.

By Sunday night it was clear that something was seriously wrong and I needed to go into emergency. So we called the hospital where I had my surgery and it was an 11 hour wait. Decided to go to the local "mini hospital" Well that was a mistake. Talked to the Triage Nurse there and it was a 5 or so hour wait, but there wasn't much they could do and well, she said my body was just throwing up because it need to lose weight. She said her comment AFTER i just finished telling her I had Gastric Bypass surgery.

After I was told that there wasn't much to be done, we went back home. My aunt and my mum went to see if they could find me other gravol that may work. While they were gone, I threw up but it wasn't the normal throw up that I had been doing for the past three days. It was green and bile. Literally. It was my bile.

After I threw up that last time, my body calmed down a little and I slept. I actually slept for most of the night. Waking up once or twice until the morning. In the morning I decided that we needed to call the Clinic. My surgeon was going to be in that morning so hopefully he could shed some light on what was going on in my body. My aunt called the Clinic for me and they requested that I come right in.

I went in and had to convince them that I haven't been eating myself sick for the last 3 days. My Aunt (Bless her) had written down everything I was drinking and exactly when I was taking my medication so they figured out pretty quick that something was really wrong. They sent me for another leak test and xray. After those were over, I was admitted into the hospital.

As soon I was taken up to my room, I was approached by one of the other residence doctors and was told that I needed to signsome forms so they could take me back to surgery. Forms signed and off I went. While I was in the OR waiting for all the prep to be done - since they didn't do it on the unit like they were supposed to - I was told not to worry that if I woke up with the breathing tube still in, it didn't mean that all went to hell in a hand basket.

I woke up with a breathing tube in, my hands tied, and in the ICU.....