May is usually a fast paced race to the end of the school year for my family. I usually need to be able to run errands, pick up kids, etc. This May was far from usual. In September of 2014 I started having some minor health issues. The difficulties were enough to annoy me, but not enough to run to the doctor. These issues were not life threatening, just irritating. In January my issues went from irritating to worrying. I dealt with it. (I was having excessively long monthly periods with very heavy bleeding.) In March I finally went to the doctor and he recommended a hysterectomy. I was so ready to be done with health problems that I was okay with the idea of a hysterectomy. He gave me information on the various kinds of hysterectomies that are done now. (Did you even know that there were multiple ways to have a hysterectomy? Partial, take the Fallopian tubes, take the cervix, take the ovaries, etc. Then there is the type of surgery you could have. Abdominal, vaginal, laproscopic, or da vinci laproscopic. Choices, choices, choices.) My doctor recommended the da vinci laproscopic surgery taking everything but my ovaries. That way I would have an easy recovery and not need to take any hormone therapy. Easy recovery and no hormone therapy? Easy choice, I can totally deal with that. I decided to go with his recommendation and be done with the health issues. I was told that the longest I would be in the hospital was two nights.
Fast forward to May 1st, surgery day. Before my surgery, I was slightly anemic from the excessive bleeding I was having during my monthly cycle. I have never been cut open before in any way so I was VERY nervous. The pre-op nurses and staff did a lot to try to calm me down, but they did not really succeed. As a precaution the nurses had me sign the form saying I would be okay with blood if I needed it. (Remember this, it is important.) I remember going into the operating room and then the next thing I remember is the doctor telling me he had to open me up because I was bleeding a lot and they had to find the bleeder. He called in another surgeon to help him find the bleeder. I got TWO units of blood during that surgery. I was moved up to my room and was very out of it for the rest of the night. I was very nauseous, but I thought it was from the extra trauma me body went through. (My surgery started at 10:30 am and I went up to my room around 5:00 pm.) During the night the nurses noticed a lot of blood in my urine. (I had a catheter.) They called the second surgeon and he decided I needed a test done first thing in the morning. The original surgeon came in Saturday morning and said he did not think anything was wrong, but I was still going to have the test done just in case. I went down to x-ray about 9:00 am. They injected a dye into my IV to see if there were any leaks in my urinary system. (At this point I had two IVs.) It was not comfortable. I hurt, but I dealt with it. They had to call my nurse down because the catheter got a clot and was not draining. Fun right? It gets better. I was taken back up to my room. Ten minutes later, my nurse came rushing in the the telephone. The original surgeon was on the phone. There was a problem and a urologist would be taking me back to the operating room that afternoon to see exactly what was wrong.
My mother was planning to bring my kids up to see me. My nurse recommended that she not come until about 6:00. He thought I should be back in my room by then. At 2:30 pm that afternoon I was taken back down to the operating room. They had to open me back up again because during the first surgery the doctors nicked my bladder and ureter. The urologists had to cut the damaged part of my ureter off and reattach it to my bladder. (I had three urologist in the operating room.) They had to cut my bladder open to reattach my ureter. After the surgery was over I got ONE unit of blood. (It was at this point that I started figuring out that anesthesia makes me nauseous. I threw up in the recovery room. Not fun.) I was taken back up to my room about 7:00 pm. I remember my mother saying that she would leave and come back the next day because I was so out of it. I do not remember much more about that night.
They came in every morning to take blood and check my iron levels and red blood cell count. On the day of my surgery, pre-surgery, my red blood cell count was low, but not dangerous. My iron level was low, but again not dangerously. Post-op, my numbers dropped but that is why they gave me the two units of blood during the surgery. The day after my first surgery after the first TWO units of blood, my levels were even lower than the post-op numbers. After my second surgery and third unit of blood, my numbers continued to go down. I was given TWO more units of blood the day after my second surgery. All told I received FIVE units of blood. (As I found out just this week ONE unit of blood equals about ONE pint of blood. An adult has about TEN pints of blood in their bodies. I needed about half of my blood volume replaced.)
I was in the hospital from the day of surgery, Friday May 1st, until Thursday, May 7th. I had a catheter in from the day of my first surgery until five days after I got out of the hospital. I had a stint in until June 4th. I had a third surgery then. My surgery was at about 8:00 am and I was home by 11:30 am. I was given something to help me avoid the anesthesia nausea. (They gave me a patch. It was supposed to help me avoid the nausea.) The surgery was fine. The nausea was not. I was nauseous going home, but they pain was not too bad. When I got home the pain got worse and the nausea got worse. About 3:30 pm, I started throwing up. I took the patch off because I was worried that it was making my nausea worse. I continued to throw up. At about 6:00 pm, I asked my neighbor to take me to the ER. I was at the ER until after midnight. I was given another IV and medicine to help with the pain and another medicine to help with the nausea. I was also given two bags of IV fluids because I was VERY dehydrated. I was still nauseous until about June 12th. I still have burning in my side where I had the stint.
I am doing better. I am feeling better. What was supposed to be a simple surgery turned into a massive ordeal. I have an incredible family and friend support system. My church called and checked up on me periodically. People brought my family dinner, so I would not have to worry about it. A friend let my mother bring my kids to her house every morning very early to catch the bus for two weeks. Other friends drove me to doctor's appointments, the store, and took my kids to their activities so they did not have to miss anything.
