2013 - Laparotomy
They carried out the laparotomy and done an adhesiolysis. Where they found that the small bowel was densely adherent to the extensive abdominal/pelvic Endometriosis.
For the first time ever when I woke up I put my hand to my nose. I had not need to do it because I could feel it before I done that. I then turned round to the nurse and said something about having an NG tube. I do not know her reply. Maybe I did not give her time to reply because pretty much straight away I asked what the time was. It was about 10.30pm
I felt very groggy. I was in recovery for a very long time. I think it was because my blood pressure was high and would not go down. When I came round they said that if I was in pain then I should press a small green button that they had given me that would give me a shot of morphine. I did have to have a few shots of this because I was very sore. You cannot overdose on the morphine because once pressed the button cuts off for 5 minutes. I would doze off for a bit and when I woke up I would press the button and doze off again. Even though I do not remember it I must have still been on the oxygen because there is a photo of me the following morning with the oxygen mask still on. After several hours in recovery my blood pressure had still not settled. I remember saying that it may be because of the NG tube causing me to stress out. I just wanted to get back to the ward and see my husband, if he was still there as it was getting late now it had gone 1.00am.
I was taken back to the ward at 2.40am. I was right the nurse told me that my husband had to go as he had work the next morning. Which I understood and had not expected him to wait until these early hours of the morning for me to come out of theatre. They told me he waited until gone midnight.
I was then told by the nurse that had come up with me from recovery that because of the time of night and that I had been in recovery for so long that if they had known that my husband was on the ward they would have let him come into recovery. The thing is the nurses on the ward were not told this and therefore no one said that my husband was waiting on the ward. They also did not realise I was in recovery for so long they just assumed the operation was a long one. That night I had regular observations (checking my stats).
I could not bring myself to move as I felt so uncomfortable so it was lucky I had a catheter. I felt so week I had now not eaten properly since about 11th February and it was now 1st March. When I was re-admitted I was given an information sheet about why some hospital in-patients have a small appetite and poor dietary intake. This was very informative but for now I was still nil by mouth.
I am sure the next part is just before I was discharged the first time, but then it may just before or after the second operation. When they weighed me I had gained weight. I asked how this was possible as I was nil by mouth. The nurse said that this was because I was on IV fluids.
That morning the nurses helped me get out of bed. They showed me the way that people with spinal injuries get up. Roll onto your side with the bed slightly up and sit up. I would use the bed to help me raise. I also had to take the morphine. I soon learnt that although 5 minutes is a very short amount of time when you are in pain and you need your next dose of morphine it is a long time. I had 2 nurses help me into the chair next to my bed whilst they changed my sheets I was also helped to wash in the chair and to get changed I was then helped back into bed.
I relaxed that day. I tried to read my kindle but still could not concentrate enough. When the surgeon came to talk to me I noticed that there were 5 or so others with him. I am unsure how many times previously there had been more than one person with the doctor. Other times I do remember hearing more than one voice as well as the nurses was when my bowel was paralysed and before my laparotomy but it did not register that there was more than 2 or 3 people in the bay with me. Anyway he explained that I had a severe blockage of the bowel caused my Endometriosis and that the Endometriosis was like cement, nothing was going to make it pass. They said that it could happen again but if it does unlike this time where they were able to save the bowel they would have to remove that part of the bowel – where the small bowel meets the large bowel – as there is now a lot of scarring there.
The thought of this scares me but then I know that next time it will not get as bad as before because the signs will be spotted sooner. Or I hope they will. But what I can be sure off is that if they have to do it again it will mean that I will have to have another NG tube. But that is in the future and I do not have a Chrystal ball so it is a mystery so back to now.
The doctor said that I was allowed to drink a small amount to see how I got on but sips only. This was because we did not want to overwhelm my stomach and digestive system after everything that had gone on. I was still feeling very nauseous and the nurses had to aspirate my tube to remove the bile from my stomach that had built up. I soon got used to the feeling before I needed it aspirated and would call them to do it and not long after I got used to that feeling I got used to the feeling of aspiration. I did not like it but it worked and made me feel better. I do not mind doing things I do not like as long as it is going to work. I was still very sensitive to movement of my NG tube but I was getting used to it or as used to it as you could get with a tube going down your nose and into your stomach. The doctor said that it may need to go down a bit more for it to work and that the nurses should do this. I am sure from how I have spoken about the NG tubes you can imagine the fear in my eyes as he said this. I think that day my aunt came to visit me but I cannot be sure when people came and when they did not as I am very fuzzy over the next few days, this is probably due to the anaesthetic and morphine. I am getting my information from texts that I sent to people.
At around 3.00pm the physiotherapist came to see me. She asked if I could go for a short walk just to the end of the bed. I said OK but she would need to support me and push my poll with the drips attached to it as it was too heavy. Like I said I was so week and the poll had the machine for my morphine and fluids. When we got to the end of the bed I asked if I we could go a bit further. She said yes if I felt up to it. We walked past one of the beds and up to the nurse’s station. Where they were impressed I was up and about. I had to use the morphine to ease the pain whilst I was walking and I was shattered by the time I got back to bed. The physiotherapist said that I had done really well. She gave me breathing exercise to do several times a day – breathing deeply in and out. She also asked me to do a walk and stretches about 4 times a day. I thought that I could barely walk that short distance and would need the rest of the day to get over it let alone another 3 times, I said OK. She did not tell me what exercise to do but did ask me to force a cough. Something I have never been able to do. I told her this but I tried none the less. It was pathetic and had to practice that as well. By the time she left I was very sore and even more tired but glad I was able to do it.
During that day my old neighbour came to see me. She said that she popped into see me a couple of times the night before to see how my scan had gone but each time she came in I was not there. She said that she was worried. I explained what had happened. She was looking really well by now. A few days later she was discharged and popped in to say good bye and that she hoped that I felt better soon. Also not to leave until I was completely better. I said to her I would not, it is such a downer when you are sent home and then have to be readmitted and only someone that that had happened can truly understand that. I said to her it was nice meeting her (which it really was) but in the nicest of ways I did not want to see her again as in I did not want to see her in the hospital again.
For the first time ever when I woke up I put my hand to my nose. I had not need to do it because I could feel it before I done that. I then turned round to the nurse and said something about having an NG tube. I do not know her reply. Maybe I did not give her time to reply because pretty much straight away I asked what the time was. It was about 10.30pm
I felt very groggy. I was in recovery for a very long time. I think it was because my blood pressure was high and would not go down. When I came round they said that if I was in pain then I should press a small green button that they had given me that would give me a shot of morphine. I did have to have a few shots of this because I was very sore. You cannot overdose on the morphine because once pressed the button cuts off for 5 minutes. I would doze off for a bit and when I woke up I would press the button and doze off again. Even though I do not remember it I must have still been on the oxygen because there is a photo of me the following morning with the oxygen mask still on. After several hours in recovery my blood pressure had still not settled. I remember saying that it may be because of the NG tube causing me to stress out. I just wanted to get back to the ward and see my husband, if he was still there as it was getting late now it had gone 1.00am.
I was taken back to the ward at 2.40am. I was right the nurse told me that my husband had to go as he had work the next morning. Which I understood and had not expected him to wait until these early hours of the morning for me to come out of theatre. They told me he waited until gone midnight.
I was then told by the nurse that had come up with me from recovery that because of the time of night and that I had been in recovery for so long that if they had known that my husband was on the ward they would have let him come into recovery. The thing is the nurses on the ward were not told this and therefore no one said that my husband was waiting on the ward. They also did not realise I was in recovery for so long they just assumed the operation was a long one. That night I had regular observations (checking my stats).
I could not bring myself to move as I felt so uncomfortable so it was lucky I had a catheter. I felt so week I had now not eaten properly since about 11th February and it was now 1st March. When I was re-admitted I was given an information sheet about why some hospital in-patients have a small appetite and poor dietary intake. This was very informative but for now I was still nil by mouth.
I am sure the next part is just before I was discharged the first time, but then it may just before or after the second operation. When they weighed me I had gained weight. I asked how this was possible as I was nil by mouth. The nurse said that this was because I was on IV fluids.
That morning the nurses helped me get out of bed. They showed me the way that people with spinal injuries get up. Roll onto your side with the bed slightly up and sit up. I would use the bed to help me raise. I also had to take the morphine. I soon learnt that although 5 minutes is a very short amount of time when you are in pain and you need your next dose of morphine it is a long time. I had 2 nurses help me into the chair next to my bed whilst they changed my sheets I was also helped to wash in the chair and to get changed I was then helped back into bed.
I relaxed that day. I tried to read my kindle but still could not concentrate enough. When the surgeon came to talk to me I noticed that there were 5 or so others with him. I am unsure how many times previously there had been more than one person with the doctor. Other times I do remember hearing more than one voice as well as the nurses was when my bowel was paralysed and before my laparotomy but it did not register that there was more than 2 or 3 people in the bay with me. Anyway he explained that I had a severe blockage of the bowel caused my Endometriosis and that the Endometriosis was like cement, nothing was going to make it pass. They said that it could happen again but if it does unlike this time where they were able to save the bowel they would have to remove that part of the bowel – where the small bowel meets the large bowel – as there is now a lot of scarring there.
The thought of this scares me but then I know that next time it will not get as bad as before because the signs will be spotted sooner. Or I hope they will. But what I can be sure off is that if they have to do it again it will mean that I will have to have another NG tube. But that is in the future and I do not have a Chrystal ball so it is a mystery so back to now.
The doctor said that I was allowed to drink a small amount to see how I got on but sips only. This was because we did not want to overwhelm my stomach and digestive system after everything that had gone on. I was still feeling very nauseous and the nurses had to aspirate my tube to remove the bile from my stomach that had built up. I soon got used to the feeling before I needed it aspirated and would call them to do it and not long after I got used to that feeling I got used to the feeling of aspiration. I did not like it but it worked and made me feel better. I do not mind doing things I do not like as long as it is going to work. I was still very sensitive to movement of my NG tube but I was getting used to it or as used to it as you could get with a tube going down your nose and into your stomach. The doctor said that it may need to go down a bit more for it to work and that the nurses should do this. I am sure from how I have spoken about the NG tubes you can imagine the fear in my eyes as he said this. I think that day my aunt came to visit me but I cannot be sure when people came and when they did not as I am very fuzzy over the next few days, this is probably due to the anaesthetic and morphine. I am getting my information from texts that I sent to people.
At around 3.00pm the physiotherapist came to see me. She asked if I could go for a short walk just to the end of the bed. I said OK but she would need to support me and push my poll with the drips attached to it as it was too heavy. Like I said I was so week and the poll had the machine for my morphine and fluids. When we got to the end of the bed I asked if I we could go a bit further. She said yes if I felt up to it. We walked past one of the beds and up to the nurse’s station. Where they were impressed I was up and about. I had to use the morphine to ease the pain whilst I was walking and I was shattered by the time I got back to bed. The physiotherapist said that I had done really well. She gave me breathing exercise to do several times a day – breathing deeply in and out. She also asked me to do a walk and stretches about 4 times a day. I thought that I could barely walk that short distance and would need the rest of the day to get over it let alone another 3 times, I said OK. She did not tell me what exercise to do but did ask me to force a cough. Something I have never been able to do. I told her this but I tried none the less. It was pathetic and had to practice that as well. By the time she left I was very sore and even more tired but glad I was able to do it.
During that day my old neighbour came to see me. She said that she popped into see me a couple of times the night before to see how my scan had gone but each time she came in I was not there. She said that she was worried. I explained what had happened. She was looking really well by now. A few days later she was discharged and popped in to say good bye and that she hoped that I felt better soon. Also not to leave until I was completely better. I said to her I would not, it is such a downer when you are sent home and then have to be readmitted and only someone that that had happened can truly understand that. I said to her it was nice meeting her (which it really was) but in the nicest of ways I did not want to see her again as in I did not want to see her in the hospital again.