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I went to the castle on January 25th. The doctors gave me a good checking over, listening to lungs, heart, etc. Right before they started to wheel me back I had a severe panic attack (which I am not prone to), and began second guessing the surgery. My husband and I spoke with the doc and decided to proceed. I awoke after the surgery, which took place at a center, not hospital, where an overnight (one night only) facility was available. I was in a lot of pain, even though the surgery was done laparascopically.

After taking a good long nap, I woke late that eveing and began having trouble breathing, it hurt to take a deep breath. The nurse assured me it was from the gas build up in my abdomen. The next day, the nurse began my discharge and un-hooked my IV and everything. She then took my BP, and gave me a finger stick. She came back in and said the doctor told her to hook the IV back up, and was on his way in to see me.

When my doc arrived, he said my blood count was low, and I was having some internal bleeding, which is fairly common. He said I had lost about a baseball size ball of blood, and discharged me home. The bumpy ride was a nightmare! It felt so good to have my own bed!

As the night went on, I took my Percoset and Valium religiously. At about 2AM I noticed that the pain meds weren't doing anything, and I began to feel worse and worse. I had been getting up on my own until that point. I hated to wake my husband to ask for help to the restroom, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. I'm a tough cookie, and just figured that the blood and gas were to blame and kept popping my pills to no avail.

By about 5AM the pain was so bad that I could barely move. My husband took my temp and it was 102. We called the docs message service, and my husband was on hold for 30 minutes. When he finally got through he explained the situation and we were told the doc would call us back ASAP. We waited another 30 minutes and he had still not called. At this point I was fading in and out, and my hubby said that's it I'm taking you to the ER, to which I replied I can't move, I can barely breathe, please just call an ambulance. The ambulance arrived quickly, and I knew the situation was bad because they were lights and sirens the whole way.

When I got to the ER, the doc was called AGAIN, and I was moved to the top of the triage chart. Blood tests were done, and they immediately began giving me a blood transfusion. A xray was ordered and they said it showed I had double pnuemonia (rare for only a little over 36 hours after sugery). The ER nurse said the pnuemonia was caused from all the blood in my abdomen causing pressure on my lungs, and possibly blood leaking into my lungs. I was fine prior to surgery and had been running around like a mad woman trying to accomplish various things before my surgery, so no coughing or fever prior to surgery.

The CT scan showed a large hematoma on my left side. The ER doc kept waiting for my doc to come, or even give any response, and it seemed they were extremely frustrated with him. He showed up 7 hours after I arrived in the ER. Once he came he decided to keep filling me with blood and platelets because he was afraid that by opening me up it would only exacerbate the bleed. They kept giving me Dilaudin which only worked for about 30 minutes, and here it would be another 4 hours before I could have more. I lay there begging for relief to no avail, in fact, I was in so much pain that it hurt to cry. The ER nurse was very upset with my doc, and explained she did not know why he did not do more for my pain because an abdominal bleed is about the most painful thing a person can go through. She actually wept, and I could tell that she was made of stalwart material.

They started me on antibiotics, which after about an hour or so made me to completely lose control of my bowels. I began messing myself and not even knowing it until I felt the stickiness on my rear and back. When my doc got there, he ran around throwing his hands up in the air, looking like a fool, and the nurse even said it seemed he did not know what he was doing. They finally moved me to a private room where I lay defacating constantly on myself, begging for pain relief. I made the night nurse call my doc several times, and he refused to change anything. I honestly thought I was dying and started to put a will together when I realized I had nothing to give.

That morning my primary care doc showed up and said I am now in charge of your case. He looked like an angel in his white coat, and I began to weep. He immediately started a morphine drip, and I thank the morphine Gods for the relief. The pain was so bad I WANTED to die to end it. Every day I had Ct scans, xrays, blood work, and I was not getting better. They put in a central line because my veins were collapsing. All the while I continued to defacate on myself.

After 5 days they said the hematoma was finally shrinking and the pneumonia was beginning to turn around. Those 5 days were so hard, thinking about my 3 sons growing up without me, it was unbearable. My gyno came every day, and just sort of 'slurked' about the room. He said I must have had pneumonia prior to surgery, but isn't that something they would have heard when listening to my lungs prior to surgery? To add insult to injury, they decided to do a colonoscopy which revealed no explanation for the BM problems. Lucky me. They just said due to my IBS and the strength of the antibiotic and all my body had been through that the antibiotic was just to much for me. They said they had to leave me on it though because it was what was needed, side effects be ****ed.

I spent 9 days in the hospital and went home on complete bedrest for 2 weeks. I am so exhausted, and a bit depressed. They left my ovaries, removed the cyst which was NOT cancer, and said I had severe adenomyosis.

<oops! site guidelines prohibit discussing legal issues!>

I am so confused, tired, and to be honest, even though I am glad to be alive, I am very very sad.

Love to All,
Nikki

I am sorry you have had a difficult time.

I had internal bleeding after my LAVH as well. My surgery was on a Tuesday and the internal bleeding became evident on Thursday when I was suppose to be released. Since I was still in the hopsital it was taken care of proptly, but I was in the hospital 10 days and my recovery was several months.

Please try to take it easy and follow your doctor's orders. You will need all of your strength to recovery and get well.

I wish you the very best and am sending many s your way!

Sweet Nikki,

I read your post and could only imagine what that experience was like for you. I am so sorry that what should have been a routine surgery turned into the nightmare that it was. The first and most important thing you need to do is recover. Gather strength from those around you, from here at hystersisters where there are abound as well as love, concern, prayes, support. I hope you have family and/or friends who can bring meals for you, and that your DH will be the best support of all. <oops! site guidelines prohibit discussing legal issues!>
For now, try to focus on resting and gaining your strength back. We are concerned!! And let us know how you are doing!!

Susan

I think you should give yourself a few weeks to recover. <oops! site guidelines prohibit discussing legal issues!> I hope you have a speedy recovery with no more setbacks.

Nikki,

I'm soooo sorry that you've been run through the ringers like you have . <oops! site guidelines do not permit discussing legal issues!> I hope that you can comfortably continue on the healing process...especially after this mess. Try (and I know its hard) not to concentrate on it. You need to focus your energy on healing. <oops! site guidelines do not permit discussing legal issues!> I wish you the best of luck and will be including you in my prayers.

s,
Char

(((Nikki))), I'm so sorry that you had complications after surgery. I hope that you are on track now for your recovery and that you'll make a full recovery. We're here to support you as you regain your strength.

(((Sisters))), please remember the site Guidelines when replying. They state, in part:

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Legal Issues and Lawsuits: You agree to not discuss suing hospital personnel, medical professionals, medical facilities, employers, etc. You also agree not to use this website as a place to recruit others to help you in any legal action or data gathering for legal action.

Thanks in advance for understanding the need to remove inappropriate comments so that this thread can keep within the Guidelines agreed to when registering on this site.

s

Hopefully you're now on the road to recovery!

Feel better soon!
diana

Please do not go back to that dr. I am so sorry you have been through this.

Hey Nikki,

What a nightmare.

I was readmitted, about 10 days post surgery, for pneumonia in both lungs. I didn't have a bleed. But the pulmonologist explained to me that because of surgery your lungs can become prone to pneumonia.

Pneumonia before your surgery surely would have been picked up on pre-op testing.

I was only in the hospital for 4 days on IV antibiotics, and I've been home about a week and still taking my oral antibiotics. (Yep those antibiotics, especially the IV ones do a number on your bowels.)

Now I'm fullly under the care of my GP, and he's doing a good job monitoring the situation. I'm getting regular blood work, check ups, and am scheduled for a lung x-ray tomorrow.

My advice, rest, rest, and rest some more. When I got home from the hospital, I literally laid in the recliner for days and only got up to use the commode chair (a good idea if you're weak, I'm still using mine at night so I don't have to make the trek to the bathroom.)

I complained to my doctor about the fatigue and he said that pneumonia can really knock you for a loop, and look what you've had, pneumonia, internal bleeding, and the surgery. Don't try to tough it out...cut yourself some slack (a hard thing for us women to do sometimes), realize you've been through a harrowing situation, and take it EASY. You have good reason to be sad, it was a scary, emotional roller coaster ride you just had. And if you find yourself crying a lot, go ahead and have a good cry. I find it seems to help on some level.

Hope you start to feel better soon.

I'm sorry you had so many problems. Not all stories are trouble-free, as you know first-hand. That's why I sometimes cringe when I see post that "waiting is the hardest part" -- because sometimes it isn't.

As someone who has dealt with a couple of pieces of your story (large abdominal wall hematoma and lots of post-op antibiotics), let me add my (((cyberhugs))). Please allow yourself the time to heal fully. It will take time to get your strength back after this, but I believe things will improve with time.