Emergency Surgery

I spend the next 24 hours on clear liquids and things seem to be going well. The following day is Thursday and I still remember being in such a dazed stupor. Lots of people come to see me but I don’t remember much of anything. I am started on full liquids today and the tube feeds begin and things start to not go so well. I feel nauseous with everything I put in my mouth and every little movement I make. I keep trying to walk and eat just thinking it is the effects of having surgery. I don’t remember the separation of days from this point on. All I remember for the next two days is excruciating pain and vomiting. Luckily for me, Dr. Rasmussen is on call for the weekend and I am relieved. 

At some point, the tube feeds come to a halt and I am no longer allowed to eat or drink. Dr. Rasmussen comes to see me Sunday morning and orders a CT scan. I have to drink the contrast for the CT scan which seems like a near impossible task when all you’re doing is vomiting. The CT scan is done later that morning. I also get moved into a bigger room since my nurse says it looks like I will be here longer than expected. I wait all day for Dr. Rasmussen to come back. The nurse pages him and she comes back and lets me know that he will be by later to talk about the scan. I wait and wait and finally in the evening have a slight melt down just as he comes into my room. He lets me know the details of the scan, none of which I remember. He says we are going to surgery again.

Everything happens very quickly from this point on. I am back in the OR within the half hour and meeting the whole new staff. I am given versed a lot sooner this time around so I remember very little. The last thing I remember is sliding over onto the OR table and freaking out that I am going to throw up and aspirate in surgery.

I wake up in PACU to another familiar face and don’t remember being in too much pain this time around. I am wheeled up to my room and it’s around 10:30 pm. The surgery was about 3 hours. I spend the rest of the night resting comfortably.

 Here is the incision from the second operation and new placement of feeding tube!

Shows a few more of the small incisions that were made!

The next morning Dr. Rasmussen comes to see me again and we talk about what he did in the surgery. I had some sort of small bowel obstruction/intestinal twist that wasn't allowing anything through. He had to pull the tube and replace it with a new one but higher up in the intestines. He also pulled the intestines to the abdominal wall and stitched them in place so they can’t move or do the same thing again. We are both hoping that this one does the trick. I spend the rest of the day feeling pretty good and also not eating or drinking.

The next morning is Tuesday. I have been in the hospital for 7 days. I was only supposed to be there for 2. I am going crazy and don’t know if I can make it many more days. When Dr. Rasmussen comes in the morning I tell him that he has got to bust me out of the hospital. He laughs at me but I am being totally serious. He says we will first try to introduce clear liquids. If that goes well, we will start the tube feed and then add a full liquid in. If all of that goes well, I can go home in the afternoon. He seems very reluctant to let me go home and that any of this is even going to happen but at this point I am very determined. I do everything he wants including having another IV infusion round of magnesium and potassium. I struggle a little with eating but am assuming with time it will get better. I ask the nurse to call Dr. Rasmussen to see if I can get discharged. The nurse calls him around 4 in the afternoon and I get to go home!

I am to spend the next week recovering and increasing the tube feeds daily until my follow up appointments. I feel like I have been run over by a train and am mortified by my new scars but am happy that I am still alive and am improving daily. I am grateful for Dr. Rasmussen and feel like I owe him my life. My family jokes that they got to see him so much in the past week, he is now part of the family! Now to gain my 20 pounds!!

This is my cute niece, she came to see me early on!