One night I left work and didn't return that school year. I was in the hospital for 6 weeks and as many floors. I had left all my stuff at work and basically got it in August when I set up my room.
We ended up in the emergency room again because I was vowiting and bloated. The GI doctor that had put in the stents was called and came in. They decided to rush me to emergency surgery since there seemed to be a blockage in my intestines. The blockage turned out to be the stents mixed with the tumor. In my mind the tumor was the size of a watermelon, and I don't mean the small pureheart ones! Instead of taking everything out I was given a colostomy. They wanted my bowels to be empty to prevent infection internally. So for about three to four days I had waste coming out through a bag on my left abdomen. It was awful! My stool was so firm it wouldn't go through the hole, no matter how much I drank. When it hit that hole it would push the thick, plastic part of the bag off. So I had a mess to deal with. I was also put on no food and eventually nothing by mouth.
I was taken back into surgery and let me tell you those surgical rooms are not like they portray on tv. There are racks that roll around with supplies, lots of machines and they are absolutely FREEZING!! My doctor liked to do his surgeries late at night. When I came to in recovery I remember being wrapped up in blankets. They wheeled me to my room and I got to sleep. The next day, of course I was not feeling great. My husband was trying to work, handle our 4 dogs, and be with me. I got to the point that I would tell him to not bother coming to see me- I was afraid he was going to get into a wreck.
That night things took a turn for the worst. I remember waking up and being hooked up to a heart monitor, oxygen and other gizmos. There were tons of staff in my room all talking. I felt like I had been hit by a truck! I remember no one even acknowledged me until I yelled out "Am I dying?" One kind nurse came over and said no they were working to keep me alive but all of them were trying to figure out the best course of action. I think I passed out because when I came to I was upstairs in Cardiac ICU. I was connected to every machine in the room. My husband was at home during all this and I remember the nurses telling me they were in contact with him. I was terrified and had no one there to hold my hand and keep me calm. I was given tons of medicine through my IV. Two days later the GI doctor came in and said I looked so much better. I was not white like a ghost. I told him I felt somewhat better- relatively speaking. After one more day in ICU I was moved to a regular ward.
Back in the ward I was sitting up and talking. The colostomy had been closed, the stents and tumor removed along with lymph nodes and I had Jackson Pratts to drain the fluid in my gut. I was still given a ton of medicine through IV, but I wouldn't eat much. After a bite or two I would say I'm full. My stomach didn't like me. The nurse noticed that the drainiage in the Jackson Pratts was turning from a white liquid to a sluggy, gray-green liquid that stank. My husband happened to come that night to see me after work. The doctors took me off of anything by mouth that entire day. That evening I was taken back into surgery. When I awoke in recovery I was incubated and freaked out! I was taken up to ICU again and this time I stayed a week. No one could find my husband and he wasn't answering his phone. He had gone to my room and fallen asleep in a chair. They found him in the morning when they went to move my stuff to ICU.
In a different ICU this time I had a wretched nurse!! She was so mean and I obviously couldn't talk. I tried to feel what was on my face and she screamed at me that if I touched it she would restrain me. I asked to speak to a doctor by writing a note. She told me no there was no doctor going to come talk to me. I wish I had reported her. The hospital praises itself on caring nursing care and she was far from it. I was alone and terrified- not know what had happened. I thought I had a reaction to the anesthesia. My husband came up and she told him it would be best if I would just go to sleep. Oh I wanted to flip her off. I tried writing notes to my husband but my writing was really shaky from all the drugs in my system. When the Respiratory people came in around 9am, they told me I could remove the tube. I was so GREATFUL! They couldn't tell me why I had, had it. At this point I was told I would be in ICU until my heart stabilized. I was having trouble maintaining a regular heartbeat. I'll share more in my next post about the next 5 weeks of life in the hospital.
