Thursday, July 06, 2006

How I spent my 4th (a repost from my post on the PW board)

On Tuesday, the 4th, I woke up feeling sick. Like I had a cold and was sick to my stomach. Then I vomited up some blood. :barf: I called my surgeon and he said to call him if it happened again. It did, of course. So we drove two hours to Shreveport and I had another scope/EGD. He found a bleeding ulcer. He fixed it all up and I was good to go...
OR SO WE THOUGHT! I get home (again, two hour drive) and immediately start vomiting and pooping blood (sorry for the ickiness). I'm so weak I felt faint. I was also sweating so much I was drenched. Gary was off filling my prescriptions. Well, since I live in a backwards town, EVERY PHARMACY was closed!! I was so scared because I couldn't breathe and I had blood everywhere. Gary came home and we immediately went to our local ER. I figured they'd give me the medicine and I'd go home. WRONG
First, the ER doctor was a jerk. He told me that gastric bypass patients couldn't vomit. I told him that was not true, it was a common side effect and I had been vomiting blod. Then he gave me a very rough, VERY ROUGH, rectal exam to see if I was bleeding (never mind the toilet bowl full of blood). He said that the meds the doctor prescribed to me were not commonly used -- as if my doctor was out of touch with modern medicine.
In the meantime, they try to start an IV on me. THREE times. Finally one nurse got it in my inner elbow. That sucked. The doctor comes in and says that he's transferring me via ambulance to the hospital in Shreveport. So, Gary comes home and gets some clothes and off I go in the back of an ambulance.
At the hospital my view or the IV blew, so they had to try another. But since I'd been stuck so many times, none of the nurses could get an IV started. They even had the flight medics come in and try. Nothing. This is 3am. By this time, I've been vomiting blood for over 12 hours. I'm dehydrated. They put off calling my doctor to ask for permission to start a PICC line (no clue how to explain it other than they used an ultra sound in radiology to find a vein in my arm then thread it to my chest or something like that). So, I finally get the PICC line at 10am. By this time I've been sick for over 24 hours. I'm so dehydrated. Oh yeah.. AND I HAD MY FREAKING PERIOD.
So, finally, I get hydrated to a point. The nurses keep pestering me to pee. The good news was that I had no more vomiting or pooping. The bad news was that the doctor wanted to keep me and monitor my blood count. Over night last night, it dropped from the 10's to the 8's (the hemoglobin I think). Soooo, today's adventure was me sitting for four hours bored out of my mind getting two units of blood. My first transfusion. My blood pressure kept going up and down.
Did I add I caught a very bad chest cold while at the hospital. I wheeze when I breathe now. So tomorrow I have to call my local doctor and go in.
The good news: Gary's command was super supportive and he was able to stay with me the whole time. I believe I've lost a total of 59lbs, but have to weigh in and confirm that. Right now I'm bloated from all the IV fluids so I'm going to wait until Monday.
So finally I'm home. I can't breathe well and am coughing. I'm still sort of sick to my tummy but I think that's from not eating more than anything. My period is crazy heavy since I received a few heprin shots. But I'm home. The bleeding has stopped. I pray this is the last complication I have.

3 comments:

Mimi said...

I am so sorry to hear that you were so ill. I was wondering what was up, I wish that it would have been better news. I know how you feel about small town hospitals, the one near us is no more than a band aid shop. They don't even take most health insurances, which is so stupid considering my hubby works at the biggest employer in this area and the won't take our insurance, urgh. Anyway, take it easy and I really hope you get to feeling better.

Carie said...

I am so so so sorry you have been having it so rough, I so hope thats the end of the bad problems :( when I go in to the ER (way to often) they can never do an IV either...the last time they stuck me 24 times...I was hysterical from the pain and I was pleading and begging Ken to just take me home, he was going to kill those people, when they finally got it in they missed the vein and flooded my arm, man it sucked...I hate hospitals...

I am still keeping you in my thoughts and hoping and praying for a speady recovery for you

Susan Davis said...

Hi Lin. I've been away from home for 3 weeks, but I've been checking your blog almost every time I'd get online. I'm encouraged by your weight loss, and I really pray you stay healthy so you can enjoy it. It is so awesome, truly amazing, that you've got the motivation to exercise on top of your surgery. You go girl! You're doing great! Love ya!!!