ThinnerTimes - Gastric Bypass and Lap Band® Forum - View Single Post

U2Rocks · 06-23-2005, 11:33 AM

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've been on and I thought I'd give everyone an update

I had my Lap RNY done last Wednesday, on June 15. I was 301 on June 7, and after a week of a pre op protein diet, I got down to 291 before the surgery.

Procedure went well, and I passed my leak pass with flying colors. Stayed one day in SICU due to my sleep apnea, and then was moved to the regular surgery recovery unit. I started taking small sips of water immediately with no problems and by the second day was doing ok with sugar free jello and crystal light and some broth...not much pain..thought I was in the clear.

Of course, with all the drinking I was doing, by GI system was waking up and a lot of gurgling going on. I went to have my first bowel movement that evening, and passed quite a bit of dark blood. I thought this was normal, as that some would have been made it's way into my intestinal track, but after two more movements, each with more and more blood passing, I pulled the little chain thingie in the bathroom to call the nurse. She came in and looked and said, "We need to call your doc!" He immediately had me moved back to SICU. All of my vitals were rock strong, yet I was continually passing the blood. He said it was so dark, that it was old, and that some bleeding had probably started and stopped on it's own. I continued to pass blood almost every 45 minutes. At one trip to the toilet, I came very close to blacking out. CBC's that were drawn earlier showed that my counts were quite low. They had already started giving me at that point.

My doc ordered a red tag test to determine if I was still bleeding. Before they could do that, he wanted a central line put into my arm because I was really puffy from all the fluids they had been giving me and it was getting tough to find veins for them to stick. That procedure in itself was actually a very minor surgical procedure in itself that you have to sign a consent form for. Well worth it in my opinion, because you can get all your fluids through it, and it's got a little outlets so that they can pull blood from you anytime they need it without having to stick you a zillion times.

Anyway, the red tag test consisted of them drawing some blood, and then passing it through a machine to make it radioactive. They then injected the "glowing" blood back into my central line, where afterwards, I had to lay under a special xray for an hour so that it could track the course of the radioactive blood. The radiologist would then be able to verify whether or not my bleeding had officially stopped. Thank God, it had. I went back 5 hours later for another picture and it verified it. That made me feel much better, but I was still passing blood with my yucky stool and that freaked me out. The doc told me it was dark, because it was old blood that just got bogged down in my intestines, and then once the water hit it and things got going, it started to come out. Had it been fresh, red looking blood, then he said we would have had need for great concern. Over the next day, the bowel movements were less frequent and less bloody each time. FYI, I ended up being given 4 units of O+ along with 2 units of FFP (fresh frozen plasma). Yeah...real fun!

Anyway, my counts started to come back up on Saturday, and by Sunday I was allowed out of the SICU back to the regular recover area. Got to go home Monday around lunch.

I had my first follow up appointment with the doc today, and my latest CBC showed my counts still continuing to climb. When, I weighed in, I had lost 16 lbs down to 275 lbs. Still no problem, with liquids today. I'll be trying my first protein shake for supper tonight.

I'm hoping that I don't scare off a bunch of you pre ops out there, but everyone should know that some serious complications can happen. It didn't quite hit me until I got home, but I was soooooooooo glad to be back. It really dawned upon me just how much I had risked. When I got home, I broke down and cried like a little girl and just hugged the hell out of my pregnant wife, and later my boys when I saw them.

My doctor asked me today if I regretted doing it. I told him that part of me did because of my fear of other compilcations...ulcer and obstructions and such, but part of me didn't because of all the cool stuff to come if all goes well. He said he'd ask me again in 2 months after I'd dropped more weight...=)

Whoa! I've written a novel...I'll shut up for a little while....

Hope everyone is well.