Bonita
New Member
I thought long and hard before placing this thread because I really didn't want to put pre bypassers off or frighten them, but after speaking to others I decided to go ahead anyway because this surgery is not a walk in the park. Things do go wrong and although what happened to me is rare at least anyone reading this considering surgery will know what to look out for should it happen to them.
I had my bypass on the 20th of May 2009. I was extremely lucky to have Mr Amir Khan at Walsall Manor as my surgeon, after doing the research it quickly became obvious that he is by far one of the best and a lovely man taboot when you meet him, so I was settled, not at all worried and really looking forward to it.
I knew I would have to spend a couple of days in the high dependency unit because I suffer with chest problems and also have a condition called IIH (too much fluid in spine and around brain) but again I wasn't bothered by that either as I knew I was in the best place, Walsall has something of a reputation as being the centre of excellence for this type of surgery.
Anyway I had my op and although I did spend two days in HDU I don't remember much about it. I was tranfered to ward 11 a couple of days later with a bit of a chest infection but they soon cleared that up with lots of antibiotics. It was a bank holiday so many of the normal staff weren't working and we had a lot of bank nurses on that didn't seem to know what they were doing, but apart from that they certainly kept on top of my pain relief and a doctor was never that far far away should you need one.
I was discharged seven days later with bags of tablets and of course the Clexane injections that I'd worried so much about pre op, how silly was I, they don't hurt one bit do they?
Being a bit bored of milk and Oxo I stupidly bullied hubbie into taking me to Sainsbury the following day. I'd been locked up all over that lovely bank holiday, seen none of the sun, felt fine and just needed a bit of air, so off we went.
I didn't push it, walk fast or overdo it, but just as we got to the tills I had a coughing fit. At the time I thought 'this doesn't feel right, I'm sure something went pop', but after a couple of minutes it settled down and I thought nothing more of it.
The following morning I ambled round to out local shop with hubbie to get some milk. It really is only round the corner, so again I didn't think I was overdoing it but as we left the shop I looked down and was horrified to see that my white top was covered in blood.
Hubbie panicked and virtually carried my home then called an ambulance. They took me to my local A&E where to my embarrasment we realised that all this blood was coming out of the tiniest little hole in my scar. 'We think its a bit of fluid not blood from the surgery' they said'. 'Its not life threatening, we will just stitch the hole and you can go home'. 'Thank god' I thought. Anyway thats what they did and home I went.
However the following day I noticed the blood was seeping a out of another hole further down and again it seemed quite a lot, so I went back to A&E. This time they just dressed it, said it would settle down and to come back if it got worse.
The following morning I got out of bed and couldn't believe my eyes. The whole of my nightdress was covered in blood as was the bedding. Hubbie took one look and rang and abulance again.
This time they decided to keep me in, gave me a scan and said that I had a small collection of fluid under the scar. They thought that one of their surgeons would make a small hole and insert a drain for a few days. 'That makes sense thought I'. But their senior doctors had other idea's, after keeping me there for three days they decided that I was a Walsall patient and had to return there.
So back to Walsall I went. There were no beds on ward 11 so I went to IAU for the first two days during which time Mr Odogwu one of the nicest surgeons I have ever met came to see me and decided he was going to open the scar up and see what was going on, which he did there and then on the bed with a local anaesthetic. He didn't hurt me in anyway but poor hubby went green and ran while several nurses came running to watch. I don't suppose they see that sort of thing very often.
Mr Odogwu was so gentle but he had to make the hole big enough to put at least one hand inside and it soon became apparent that I'd got a lot more than just a small collection of fluid going on. He found what he said was the biggest Heamotoma he had ever seen.
He filled a bag the size of a small carrier bag with blood clots but said that I would have to go back to theatre to have the rest removed as they were behind my stomach and round my back too. He thought that when I coughed in Sainsbury I may have started an internal bleed that obviously had been bleeding for a number of days. He then fitted a Stoma bag on the wound and the following morning I went back to theatre.
Mr Odogwu I have to say is an amazing guy, he came to see me everyday after that even though I wasn't his patient. Anyway in theatre they opened the complete scar, washed me out, found three bleeds, two small ones from the surgery itself and a larger bleed from the inside of the scar. They then stitched me back up and put in a number of pressure stiches which go from one side of my stomach to the other and are pulled very tight to ensure the scar holds.
The rest of that day and the following day I was fine, felt no pain whatsoever, in fact I didn't even use the post surgery morphine once and was up and about no problems. That was until about 6pm the following evening. My stomach started to swell and the pain was unbelievable. Leela the staff nurse phoned Mr Khan extremely concerned and he advised that they removed one of the pressure stitches, which is what they did.
I have to admit that for an hour or so it did help a little but then started again. Around 10pm that evening I staggered to the loo but when I got up from the loo sickeningly my whole stomach burst open. Screaming I didn't know what to do. I grabbed handfuls of paper towels and carried on yelling hoping that someone would come quick.
One of the staff nurses Tina came running in and I'm shouting at her to press on my stomach to stop the bleeding when she said she couldn't because her hands were too small they were disapearing inside my stomach. That was enough to start me being sick which made things worse because everytime I heaved I could feel more stitches popping inside.
By this time there were nurses everywhere, I could see the bood seeping under the door and into the corridor and I was getting more and more frightened.
Then entered super nurse. Those of you that went to Walsall may remember the young oriental staff nurse Cristy. Was I glad she was there. She took control instantly sending the panicking nurses out then rolled a towel, packed it into the wound and wrapped rolls and rolls of elastaplast around me to keep it in place, then wheeled me back to my bed.
I remember being very worried about going back onto the ward because there were three ladies there who were only one day post op and the last thing I wanted to do was frighten them by looking like something out of Alien.
I must have passed out at some point because I remember nothing more until dinner time the next day by which time I'd had four pints of blood and was then hooked up to fluids yet again. I could also feel a rasping in my chest again which worried me.
Over the next couple of days I came down with a second dose of Phuemonia only on my left lung this time so had to have loads of antibiotics again. The doctors left my stomach open while they sorted out my chest as obviously I couldn't go back to theatre with a chest infection.
For over a week this is how things stood, the chest infection like the other one cleared very quickly once the drugs were in place but then I developed problems with the dressings and packing they had placed on my stomach.
Four days ago hubbie demanded a private meeting with Mr Khan. He wanted to know what had happened and why. Mr Khan said these things happen very rarely but they do happen. He wanted to take me back to theatre and restitch it yet again the following day (remember I am still open and can actually see my stomach and the surgery that he had performed on it which is why hubbie was concerned and upset).
I expressed concerns about having yet another anaesthetic and told them I wasn't too pleased about it at all. After all one anaesthetic when you are my size is dangerous but three in three weeks is asking for trouble, especially when you have chest problems to say nothing of the Cranial and Spine pressure I'd had no medication for because it affects the anaesthetic.
They then decided that I had to have a Lumbar Puncture and draw some fluid off my spine ready for theatre. That they did on my bed on the ward which was a bit silly because if you have ever had one you will know its the most painful thing you can ever have done. I screamed the place down, but after two attempts they managed to draw 10mls of fluid and said I'd be fine for surgery.
The following morning staff nurse Sunny said I was nil by mouth yet again and definately going back to surgery, a little while later Mr Khan came and confirmed this but said his college Mr Zed Khan would have to do it because he was off on holiday, lucky for some..lol
Half an hour later another surgeon came and said that he thought I should have a Vac dressing fitted which would suck the wound back together and of course suck all the nasty stuff out because it was still bleeding quite a lot. I thought even though it meant another week in Walsall this sounded like a good plan but Mr Zed Khan came about an hour later and said that while it was actually bleeding we couldn't use a Vac dressing.
He agreed with me about the anaesthetic and after a long talk we decided that I should come home with the district nurses coming twice daily to pack the wound, then return to Walsall next Fri so that they can review the situation and make a decision. It also gives me an extra week to strengthen up a little in case I do have another anaesthetic.
So thats how things stand now. Almost every day I have asked myself if it was worth putting myself through this and I have to say the answer is a resounding yes. Yes I've had a rough time but I knew it wasn't going to be a picnic. I've already lost a lot of weight and know that although I do have problems they are doing everything on their power to sort it out.
Another thing thats worth mentioning is that during my prolonged stay on ward 11 I met lots of lovely bypassers most of whom had their ops and went home relatively problem free. My Neice also had this op done on the 27th of May 2009 at Telford and is making an amazing recovery, so with that in mind I must stress that what happened to me is rare, in fact Mr Khan said he's only seen it on three occasions.
The hardest thing I am finding to cope with at the moment is finding stuff that I can get into this little pouch of mine. Anna said I have to have as high a protein diet as I can tollerate because of the healing but I can't tollerate anything sweet (not even if sweetened with sweetners) so the Fortimel is out of the question.
I've been liquidising fish with cottage cheese but its vile and really hard to get down so I would be gratefull for any suggestions.....
I do hope that I've not upset anybody by sharing this with you and can't stress enough that most bypassers are in and out recovering within three days, just be aware that if you are concerned that something isn't right go straight back to your bariatric team and don't waste your time running to your local hospital like I did.
Take care
Bonita
xx
I had my bypass on the 20th of May 2009. I was extremely lucky to have Mr Amir Khan at Walsall Manor as my surgeon, after doing the research it quickly became obvious that he is by far one of the best and a lovely man taboot when you meet him, so I was settled, not at all worried and really looking forward to it.
I knew I would have to spend a couple of days in the high dependency unit because I suffer with chest problems and also have a condition called IIH (too much fluid in spine and around brain) but again I wasn't bothered by that either as I knew I was in the best place, Walsall has something of a reputation as being the centre of excellence for this type of surgery.
Anyway I had my op and although I did spend two days in HDU I don't remember much about it. I was tranfered to ward 11 a couple of days later with a bit of a chest infection but they soon cleared that up with lots of antibiotics. It was a bank holiday so many of the normal staff weren't working and we had a lot of bank nurses on that didn't seem to know what they were doing, but apart from that they certainly kept on top of my pain relief and a doctor was never that far far away should you need one.
I was discharged seven days later with bags of tablets and of course the Clexane injections that I'd worried so much about pre op, how silly was I, they don't hurt one bit do they?
Being a bit bored of milk and Oxo I stupidly bullied hubbie into taking me to Sainsbury the following day. I'd been locked up all over that lovely bank holiday, seen none of the sun, felt fine and just needed a bit of air, so off we went.
I didn't push it, walk fast or overdo it, but just as we got to the tills I had a coughing fit. At the time I thought 'this doesn't feel right, I'm sure something went pop', but after a couple of minutes it settled down and I thought nothing more of it.
The following morning I ambled round to out local shop with hubbie to get some milk. It really is only round the corner, so again I didn't think I was overdoing it but as we left the shop I looked down and was horrified to see that my white top was covered in blood.
Hubbie panicked and virtually carried my home then called an ambulance. They took me to my local A&E where to my embarrasment we realised that all this blood was coming out of the tiniest little hole in my scar. 'We think its a bit of fluid not blood from the surgery' they said'. 'Its not life threatening, we will just stitch the hole and you can go home'. 'Thank god' I thought. Anyway thats what they did and home I went.
However the following day I noticed the blood was seeping a out of another hole further down and again it seemed quite a lot, so I went back to A&E. This time they just dressed it, said it would settle down and to come back if it got worse.
The following morning I got out of bed and couldn't believe my eyes. The whole of my nightdress was covered in blood as was the bedding. Hubbie took one look and rang and abulance again.
This time they decided to keep me in, gave me a scan and said that I had a small collection of fluid under the scar. They thought that one of their surgeons would make a small hole and insert a drain for a few days. 'That makes sense thought I'. But their senior doctors had other idea's, after keeping me there for three days they decided that I was a Walsall patient and had to return there.
So back to Walsall I went. There were no beds on ward 11 so I went to IAU for the first two days during which time Mr Odogwu one of the nicest surgeons I have ever met came to see me and decided he was going to open the scar up and see what was going on, which he did there and then on the bed with a local anaesthetic. He didn't hurt me in anyway but poor hubby went green and ran while several nurses came running to watch. I don't suppose they see that sort of thing very often.
Mr Odogwu was so gentle but he had to make the hole big enough to put at least one hand inside and it soon became apparent that I'd got a lot more than just a small collection of fluid going on. He found what he said was the biggest Heamotoma he had ever seen.
He filled a bag the size of a small carrier bag with blood clots but said that I would have to go back to theatre to have the rest removed as they were behind my stomach and round my back too. He thought that when I coughed in Sainsbury I may have started an internal bleed that obviously had been bleeding for a number of days. He then fitted a Stoma bag on the wound and the following morning I went back to theatre.
Mr Odogwu I have to say is an amazing guy, he came to see me everyday after that even though I wasn't his patient. Anyway in theatre they opened the complete scar, washed me out, found three bleeds, two small ones from the surgery itself and a larger bleed from the inside of the scar. They then stitched me back up and put in a number of pressure stiches which go from one side of my stomach to the other and are pulled very tight to ensure the scar holds.
The rest of that day and the following day I was fine, felt no pain whatsoever, in fact I didn't even use the post surgery morphine once and was up and about no problems. That was until about 6pm the following evening. My stomach started to swell and the pain was unbelievable. Leela the staff nurse phoned Mr Khan extremely concerned and he advised that they removed one of the pressure stitches, which is what they did.
I have to admit that for an hour or so it did help a little but then started again. Around 10pm that evening I staggered to the loo but when I got up from the loo sickeningly my whole stomach burst open. Screaming I didn't know what to do. I grabbed handfuls of paper towels and carried on yelling hoping that someone would come quick.
One of the staff nurses Tina came running in and I'm shouting at her to press on my stomach to stop the bleeding when she said she couldn't because her hands were too small they were disapearing inside my stomach. That was enough to start me being sick which made things worse because everytime I heaved I could feel more stitches popping inside.
By this time there were nurses everywhere, I could see the bood seeping under the door and into the corridor and I was getting more and more frightened.
Then entered super nurse. Those of you that went to Walsall may remember the young oriental staff nurse Cristy. Was I glad she was there. She took control instantly sending the panicking nurses out then rolled a towel, packed it into the wound and wrapped rolls and rolls of elastaplast around me to keep it in place, then wheeled me back to my bed.
I remember being very worried about going back onto the ward because there were three ladies there who were only one day post op and the last thing I wanted to do was frighten them by looking like something out of Alien.
I must have passed out at some point because I remember nothing more until dinner time the next day by which time I'd had four pints of blood and was then hooked up to fluids yet again. I could also feel a rasping in my chest again which worried me.
Over the next couple of days I came down with a second dose of Phuemonia only on my left lung this time so had to have loads of antibiotics again. The doctors left my stomach open while they sorted out my chest as obviously I couldn't go back to theatre with a chest infection.
For over a week this is how things stood, the chest infection like the other one cleared very quickly once the drugs were in place but then I developed problems with the dressings and packing they had placed on my stomach.
Four days ago hubbie demanded a private meeting with Mr Khan. He wanted to know what had happened and why. Mr Khan said these things happen very rarely but they do happen. He wanted to take me back to theatre and restitch it yet again the following day (remember I am still open and can actually see my stomach and the surgery that he had performed on it which is why hubbie was concerned and upset).
I expressed concerns about having yet another anaesthetic and told them I wasn't too pleased about it at all. After all one anaesthetic when you are my size is dangerous but three in three weeks is asking for trouble, especially when you have chest problems to say nothing of the Cranial and Spine pressure I'd had no medication for because it affects the anaesthetic.
They then decided that I had to have a Lumbar Puncture and draw some fluid off my spine ready for theatre. That they did on my bed on the ward which was a bit silly because if you have ever had one you will know its the most painful thing you can ever have done. I screamed the place down, but after two attempts they managed to draw 10mls of fluid and said I'd be fine for surgery.
The following morning staff nurse Sunny said I was nil by mouth yet again and definately going back to surgery, a little while later Mr Khan came and confirmed this but said his college Mr Zed Khan would have to do it because he was off on holiday, lucky for some..lol
Half an hour later another surgeon came and said that he thought I should have a Vac dressing fitted which would suck the wound back together and of course suck all the nasty stuff out because it was still bleeding quite a lot. I thought even though it meant another week in Walsall this sounded like a good plan but Mr Zed Khan came about an hour later and said that while it was actually bleeding we couldn't use a Vac dressing.
He agreed with me about the anaesthetic and after a long talk we decided that I should come home with the district nurses coming twice daily to pack the wound, then return to Walsall next Fri so that they can review the situation and make a decision. It also gives me an extra week to strengthen up a little in case I do have another anaesthetic.
So thats how things stand now. Almost every day I have asked myself if it was worth putting myself through this and I have to say the answer is a resounding yes. Yes I've had a rough time but I knew it wasn't going to be a picnic. I've already lost a lot of weight and know that although I do have problems they are doing everything on their power to sort it out.
Another thing thats worth mentioning is that during my prolonged stay on ward 11 I met lots of lovely bypassers most of whom had their ops and went home relatively problem free. My Neice also had this op done on the 27th of May 2009 at Telford and is making an amazing recovery, so with that in mind I must stress that what happened to me is rare, in fact Mr Khan said he's only seen it on three occasions.
The hardest thing I am finding to cope with at the moment is finding stuff that I can get into this little pouch of mine. Anna said I have to have as high a protein diet as I can tollerate because of the healing but I can't tollerate anything sweet (not even if sweetened with sweetners) so the Fortimel is out of the question.
I've been liquidising fish with cottage cheese but its vile and really hard to get down so I would be gratefull for any suggestions.....
I do hope that I've not upset anybody by sharing this with you and can't stress enough that most bypassers are in and out recovering within three days, just be aware that if you are concerned that something isn't right go straight back to your bariatric team and don't waste your time running to your local hospital like I did.
Take care
Bonita
xx
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