LisaG
Disappearing slowly
Friday 26th March
I arrived at the Whittington Hospital at 6.45. The reception opened late at about 7.15 and everyone checked in (for all sorts of surgery). About 10 minutes later we were all called through and led to the Patient Admissions Unit. I was allocated a bay with a bed and some chairs and told I was 2nd on the list for my bypass.
Various people came to see me including the anaesthetist and assisting surgeon. My surgeon (Dr Heath) popped his head in to say hello. The anaesthetist was the most helpful person and went through exactly what she was going to do, what I would see and where I would wake up etc.
I ended up waiting a very long time as the person before me ended up having complications with their surgery. Eventually I was called for at about 2.15. I changed into my gown and sexy stockings, was given a jab in the tummy and walked down to theatre. I said goodbye to my boyfriend at the doors and went through (few little tears here).
I entered a small room with lots of people and they put a lovely hair net thing on me and took my dressing gown and slippers away.
I was led through to the operating theatre and had a good look around at everything. I lay on the bed/table and the doctors made sure I was in the correct position. My gown was opened at the back and arms slipped off but left on. They gave me a nice warm blanket and then attached various wires to me. I was given a mask with oxygen and told to inhale until my oxygen reached a certain level (this can take up to 30 minutes). It was a little difficult to breathe at first but I was quite relaxed and soon got into it. Within 5 minutes my head went dizzy and I must have slipped off into sleep.
They hadn’t even put the cannula in my hand yet to give the anaesthetic so there was no counting back or anything.
After what felt like 15 minutes I heard the anaesthetist calling my name and telling me it was all over. I felt incredibly cold and my chest was a little sore. Apparently I came round so quickly they hadn’t had time to remove tubes or equipment to this was then all taken away. I was still rather out of it so didn’t really feel them take the tube out of my throat. After this I was taken through to recovery but must have fallen asleep again as I don’t remember any of that but woke up again properly in ICU attached to all the machines in there.
Apparently my operation took 3 hours including recovery so that was good.
I felt absolutely fine when I woke in ICU – I felt like I had a stitch in my shoulder/chest and was told it was probably the way I’d been lying. I wasn’t in any pain and felt generally quite well. I sat up quite soon and began sipping water. My temperature was high and I felt hot so the nurse bought me a fan which really helped. They took blood to test for infection but the results would take 2 days.
I didn’t really sleep the first night – drifted in an out for minutes at time and generally talked nonsense to the nurse.
Saturday 27th March
Still felt fine. Continued drinking. Found it so easy to drink water and had 3 jugs within 24 hours. Didn’t think this was normal and kept asking if I’d actually had the op…I had!
Had some visitors and sat up to talk to them easily. Temperature kept going up and down but all okay.
Got out of bed at about midday and into the chair. Nearly fell over and felt very dizzy. Sat for a few hours and then went back to bed as was so tired.
Developed hiccups in the afternoon which didn’t go for at least 24 hours! Quite painful and became a bit more difficult to drink.
At about 4ish I was transferred the ward (Betty Mansel). The nurses and my boyfriend helped me into a chair whilst they prepared my bed and then I pretty much went off to sleep for a while. The hic cups continued and I became wheezy. I still had oxygen but they decided to put me on a nebuliser at this point. I was woken every hour for various tests and drip top ups etc and generally started to feel quite rough and incredibly nauseas. Was given lots of anti-sickness jabs.
Sunday 28th March
Nausea continued very heavily, hiccups continued for a bit then I started vomiting and couldn’t stop. I vomited every time I moved or smelt anything. Going to the toilet was the worst. I vomited when I sat up in bed, again when I sat on the loo, again when I stood up from the loo and again when I got back into bed. The smell of the paper towels and general disgustingly dirty bathroom made me vomit even if I thought about them. Still had a catheter in but unfortunately had diarrhoea so kept having to go back! Was a complete nightmare. On top of this I was suddenly not able to take down any fluids – lots of pain and them immediate vomiting. The nurses on this day were awful. They kept making me drink even though I was vomiting all the time and just ignored me all day telling me to get on with it when I asked if there was anything they could do.
One of my drains decided to leak too so I was covered in blood, gunk and vomit and no one would help me change or look at the leak. Eventually I managed to pull the curtains and tried to change myself. Very difficult as I had 2 drips in also. At this point one of the ICU nurses came to check on me and was appalled at the state she found me in. She had a go at the nurses, helped me get dressed and made the nurses change my bed.
I decided to sit in the chair a little later (which I had sat in when I arrived on the ward) and asked a nurse to help me. She was horrible and seemed incredibly put out. Made a big deal of getting a bigger chair as she thought I was too fat too fit in the one provided! Made me feel very ashamed. Later as I was slipping in out of consciousness through vomiting the same nurse stuck a piece of paper on my forehead. I didn’t really understand what was going on at the time and it was only several hours later I realised what had happened and managed to take it off. I asked why they did it and someone explained the nurse said it was supposed to cure sickness!
Nurses wouldn’t give me any more anti sickness jabs saying that they needed to wean me off it.
The doctors were eventually called and from this point on everyone became a bit concerned and kept regular checks on me. They told me to go back to nil by mouth and had more drips.
Monday 29th March
Vomiting and nausea continued all day. Felt so awful and regretted everything. Cried all day and night. Various doctors came to see me. So much blood taken and various cannulas in. All veins in arms collapsed and completely covered in bruises – due to a total of 51 needle insertions. Hands swollen like balls.
Dr Heath came by and sent me for a gastrographin x-ray. Wheeled down in my bed, had to stand on platform and drink dye whilst they x-rayed my bowels. Was awful and vomited most of dye back up as soon as I swallowed it.
Was told they would repeat it in a few hours and then again in the morning.
A few hours later back down to x-ray but was given plain x-ray whilst lying on table.
At about 8pm Dr Heath came by saying there was a blockage in my bowel and that it may be on back to front, may be twisted or that he may have sewn through a blood vessel causing a blockage of blood. He was going to review the DVD of my op and was almost 100% certain that he would operate again in the morning. I was devastated. On a plus side Heath prescribed a much stronger anti sickness immediately and the nurses gave it to me there and then. They tried to say they didn’t have any but Heath said he knew for a fact they did!
Tuesday 30th March
Morning came and Dr Sufi came by. I actually felt a little better (much less nauseas) and he said I looked so much better and was hesitant for Heath to operate again. He rang Heath and told him what he thought and they agreed to let me try fluids again whilst they investigated the blockage further. They would decide by lunch if they would operate that afternoon.
I tried ever so hard and actually managed to take down 2 cups of fluid without vomiting. The docs were pleased and said they’d see how I go during the night. If I managed to keep drinking they would probably let me go home the next day. If not, it would be 2nd op.
The night on the ward was awful. At about 11.45 a woman had a heart attack and the crash team came. All hell broke loose. I was in so much pain and started vomiting again, the 19 year old girl beside me that I befriended started vomiting and needed the toilet and an older lady I had befriended nearly passed out. I helped the young girl by giving her pots to pee in and pots to vomit in, closed her curtains and helped the other lady back to bed. I found the young girl’s alarm (which she hadn’t been given because it was tangled with various wires down the back of the wardrobe), put it beside her and settled her back in bed. She went off to sleep in a few minutes and I went back to bed. The nurses, settled the woman who had the heart attack and came back to see the young girl…she was unconscious! The crash team were called back again and the nurse had to resuscitate her by pumping hard on her chest and giving her mouth to mouth. The poor nurse was crying and screaming and I just didn’t know what to do. I cried so much and took my other friend away up the lounge area. We both sat there shaking for a while until we heard that she was okay. We came back to our beds and the poor young girl was in tears and in such shock. There was a major investigation the next day and it turned out her IUV had not been flushed after her anaesthetic so when they put a drip in it forced more anaesthetic through her body! Shocking. Needless to say I stayed up all night for fear of what might happen if I slept. It was probably the worst night of my life and the screaming and pumping will haunt me forever!
Wednesday 31st March
Sufi and assistant surgeon came round again first thing and told me that they thought the blockage was an ileus – large amounts of gas trapped and causing swelling. They told me to continue drinking little sips.
At about midday I was told I had done really well and they thought I could go home! I’ve never been so relieved in my life.
They prepared all my meds etc. and I waited to be dismissed. At 2ish my dad came to see me and I just cried and cried with relief to see someone I loved. At about 4 they told me I could go. They still hadn’t changed my dressings since I’d asked the day before so the dismissing nurse did it….and good job too as I still had big stitches where my drains were!
So there you go. I’m so sorry this is such a long story but I really wanted to let people know the truth about how horrific the whole thing was. I know I’ll probably feel different in a few months but right now I regret ever having this surgery. If I could have had just a glimpse of how much pain and suffering (physical and mental) that I would have to go through I would have tried so much harder to do it myself through diet and exercise. I really thought that this was my last option and that I’d tried everything I could have possibly tried but now I’m just not so sure.
I arrived at the Whittington Hospital at 6.45. The reception opened late at about 7.15 and everyone checked in (for all sorts of surgery). About 10 minutes later we were all called through and led to the Patient Admissions Unit. I was allocated a bay with a bed and some chairs and told I was 2nd on the list for my bypass.
Various people came to see me including the anaesthetist and assisting surgeon. My surgeon (Dr Heath) popped his head in to say hello. The anaesthetist was the most helpful person and went through exactly what she was going to do, what I would see and where I would wake up etc.
I ended up waiting a very long time as the person before me ended up having complications with their surgery. Eventually I was called for at about 2.15. I changed into my gown and sexy stockings, was given a jab in the tummy and walked down to theatre. I said goodbye to my boyfriend at the doors and went through (few little tears here).
I entered a small room with lots of people and they put a lovely hair net thing on me and took my dressing gown and slippers away.
I was led through to the operating theatre and had a good look around at everything. I lay on the bed/table and the doctors made sure I was in the correct position. My gown was opened at the back and arms slipped off but left on. They gave me a nice warm blanket and then attached various wires to me. I was given a mask with oxygen and told to inhale until my oxygen reached a certain level (this can take up to 30 minutes). It was a little difficult to breathe at first but I was quite relaxed and soon got into it. Within 5 minutes my head went dizzy and I must have slipped off into sleep.
They hadn’t even put the cannula in my hand yet to give the anaesthetic so there was no counting back or anything.
After what felt like 15 minutes I heard the anaesthetist calling my name and telling me it was all over. I felt incredibly cold and my chest was a little sore. Apparently I came round so quickly they hadn’t had time to remove tubes or equipment to this was then all taken away. I was still rather out of it so didn’t really feel them take the tube out of my throat. After this I was taken through to recovery but must have fallen asleep again as I don’t remember any of that but woke up again properly in ICU attached to all the machines in there.
Apparently my operation took 3 hours including recovery so that was good.
I felt absolutely fine when I woke in ICU – I felt like I had a stitch in my shoulder/chest and was told it was probably the way I’d been lying. I wasn’t in any pain and felt generally quite well. I sat up quite soon and began sipping water. My temperature was high and I felt hot so the nurse bought me a fan which really helped. They took blood to test for infection but the results would take 2 days.
I didn’t really sleep the first night – drifted in an out for minutes at time and generally talked nonsense to the nurse.
Saturday 27th March
Still felt fine. Continued drinking. Found it so easy to drink water and had 3 jugs within 24 hours. Didn’t think this was normal and kept asking if I’d actually had the op…I had!
Had some visitors and sat up to talk to them easily. Temperature kept going up and down but all okay.
Got out of bed at about midday and into the chair. Nearly fell over and felt very dizzy. Sat for a few hours and then went back to bed as was so tired.
Developed hiccups in the afternoon which didn’t go for at least 24 hours! Quite painful and became a bit more difficult to drink.
At about 4ish I was transferred the ward (Betty Mansel). The nurses and my boyfriend helped me into a chair whilst they prepared my bed and then I pretty much went off to sleep for a while. The hic cups continued and I became wheezy. I still had oxygen but they decided to put me on a nebuliser at this point. I was woken every hour for various tests and drip top ups etc and generally started to feel quite rough and incredibly nauseas. Was given lots of anti-sickness jabs.
Sunday 28th March
Nausea continued very heavily, hiccups continued for a bit then I started vomiting and couldn’t stop. I vomited every time I moved or smelt anything. Going to the toilet was the worst. I vomited when I sat up in bed, again when I sat on the loo, again when I stood up from the loo and again when I got back into bed. The smell of the paper towels and general disgustingly dirty bathroom made me vomit even if I thought about them. Still had a catheter in but unfortunately had diarrhoea so kept having to go back! Was a complete nightmare. On top of this I was suddenly not able to take down any fluids – lots of pain and them immediate vomiting. The nurses on this day were awful. They kept making me drink even though I was vomiting all the time and just ignored me all day telling me to get on with it when I asked if there was anything they could do.
One of my drains decided to leak too so I was covered in blood, gunk and vomit and no one would help me change or look at the leak. Eventually I managed to pull the curtains and tried to change myself. Very difficult as I had 2 drips in also. At this point one of the ICU nurses came to check on me and was appalled at the state she found me in. She had a go at the nurses, helped me get dressed and made the nurses change my bed.
I decided to sit in the chair a little later (which I had sat in when I arrived on the ward) and asked a nurse to help me. She was horrible and seemed incredibly put out. Made a big deal of getting a bigger chair as she thought I was too fat too fit in the one provided! Made me feel very ashamed. Later as I was slipping in out of consciousness through vomiting the same nurse stuck a piece of paper on my forehead. I didn’t really understand what was going on at the time and it was only several hours later I realised what had happened and managed to take it off. I asked why they did it and someone explained the nurse said it was supposed to cure sickness!
Nurses wouldn’t give me any more anti sickness jabs saying that they needed to wean me off it.
The doctors were eventually called and from this point on everyone became a bit concerned and kept regular checks on me. They told me to go back to nil by mouth and had more drips.
Monday 29th March
Vomiting and nausea continued all day. Felt so awful and regretted everything. Cried all day and night. Various doctors came to see me. So much blood taken and various cannulas in. All veins in arms collapsed and completely covered in bruises – due to a total of 51 needle insertions. Hands swollen like balls.
Dr Heath came by and sent me for a gastrographin x-ray. Wheeled down in my bed, had to stand on platform and drink dye whilst they x-rayed my bowels. Was awful and vomited most of dye back up as soon as I swallowed it.
Was told they would repeat it in a few hours and then again in the morning.
A few hours later back down to x-ray but was given plain x-ray whilst lying on table.
At about 8pm Dr Heath came by saying there was a blockage in my bowel and that it may be on back to front, may be twisted or that he may have sewn through a blood vessel causing a blockage of blood. He was going to review the DVD of my op and was almost 100% certain that he would operate again in the morning. I was devastated. On a plus side Heath prescribed a much stronger anti sickness immediately and the nurses gave it to me there and then. They tried to say they didn’t have any but Heath said he knew for a fact they did!
Tuesday 30th March
Morning came and Dr Sufi came by. I actually felt a little better (much less nauseas) and he said I looked so much better and was hesitant for Heath to operate again. He rang Heath and told him what he thought and they agreed to let me try fluids again whilst they investigated the blockage further. They would decide by lunch if they would operate that afternoon.
I tried ever so hard and actually managed to take down 2 cups of fluid without vomiting. The docs were pleased and said they’d see how I go during the night. If I managed to keep drinking they would probably let me go home the next day. If not, it would be 2nd op.
The night on the ward was awful. At about 11.45 a woman had a heart attack and the crash team came. All hell broke loose. I was in so much pain and started vomiting again, the 19 year old girl beside me that I befriended started vomiting and needed the toilet and an older lady I had befriended nearly passed out. I helped the young girl by giving her pots to pee in and pots to vomit in, closed her curtains and helped the other lady back to bed. I found the young girl’s alarm (which she hadn’t been given because it was tangled with various wires down the back of the wardrobe), put it beside her and settled her back in bed. She went off to sleep in a few minutes and I went back to bed. The nurses, settled the woman who had the heart attack and came back to see the young girl…she was unconscious! The crash team were called back again and the nurse had to resuscitate her by pumping hard on her chest and giving her mouth to mouth. The poor nurse was crying and screaming and I just didn’t know what to do. I cried so much and took my other friend away up the lounge area. We both sat there shaking for a while until we heard that she was okay. We came back to our beds and the poor young girl was in tears and in such shock. There was a major investigation the next day and it turned out her IUV had not been flushed after her anaesthetic so when they put a drip in it forced more anaesthetic through her body! Shocking. Needless to say I stayed up all night for fear of what might happen if I slept. It was probably the worst night of my life and the screaming and pumping will haunt me forever!
Wednesday 31st March
Sufi and assistant surgeon came round again first thing and told me that they thought the blockage was an ileus – large amounts of gas trapped and causing swelling. They told me to continue drinking little sips.
At about midday I was told I had done really well and they thought I could go home! I’ve never been so relieved in my life.
They prepared all my meds etc. and I waited to be dismissed. At 2ish my dad came to see me and I just cried and cried with relief to see someone I loved. At about 4 they told me I could go. They still hadn’t changed my dressings since I’d asked the day before so the dismissing nurse did it….and good job too as I still had big stitches where my drains were!
So there you go. I’m so sorry this is such a long story but I really wanted to let people know the truth about how horrific the whole thing was. I know I’ll probably feel different in a few months but right now I regret ever having this surgery. If I could have had just a glimpse of how much pain and suffering (physical and mental) that I would have to go through I would have tried so much harder to do it myself through diet and exercise. I really thought that this was my last option and that I’d tried everything I could have possibly tried but now I’m just not so sure.
No wonder you found it hard to write it all down! 
