Dont ignore abdominal pain!

[Mysstwalker]

Saturday afternoon, I started having pain in my abdomen right in front, above and below my belly button. Not too bad, thought it was because of wearing my belt rather tight just to be able to hold my darn jeans up lol. Chris took me out for dinner that night, during dinner still was hurting a bit. Got home around 10pm, got into my robe and put a heating pad on my belly, seemed to ease it a bit so chalked it up to the belt and pants. Went to bed, about 2:30am woke up hurting REALLY bad, started throwing up foamies and saw a bit of blood in them.

I couldnt feel anything that resembled a hernia, which I have had fixed before, so I was pretty sure that wasnt it. Called my surgeons answering service, doctor told me to get my butt into the ER now! Went, they admitted me about 4am after a cat scan, suspecting a bowel obstruction. Had an upper GI series, that didnt show anything, I threw up constantly during it, the lower bowel pictures showed no blockages but things werent moving as easily as they should as my doctor told me. About 2pm Monday, in my hospital room doped up on painkillers and full of iv fluids, doctor comes in and says he wants to do exploratory lap surgery to find out what the hell is wrong and what is causing the pain. Im ok with this, I trust my surgeon with my life. Was out like a light by 3:30pm, surgery evidently took a couple of hours.

From what my doctor told me, I had scar tissue and adhesions again, squeezing my intestines and pouch area closed, especially the intestines. He told Chris after surgery that he is glad he got it when he did, because it was on the way to being really bad. I just finally got discharged last night, and I feel extremely weak and in pain and just generally crappy, but that horrible pain is gone. He wasnt able to do it LAP when he saw the mess inside, so now I have another 9 inch vertical incision to add to my many others. Please please PLEASE, if you are having pain, DONT ignore it, get it checked out! It may be a stuck gas bubble, or something else, or something really bad in my case, but that is what our surgeons are there for, to help us and take care of us!

[pattysparkle]

....sorry to hear that, glad you got it in time and you are home now....
Take care of yourself.

Patty Ann

[bonnielougreen]

what a horrible mess to be in ,, thanks for the warning, I wouldnt have had any idea what to do,, heal fast friend,,
Bonnie

[Moons_Mom]

Good advice,

I am sorry you had to go through such a traumatic surgery. How smart are you for knowing you didn't to be seen right away.

Thank goodness you're doing okay now.

Good Luck.

Susan

[Dovelette]

Oh I hate to hear stories like this...even at 5 years out I realize that we will ALWAYS have to worry about these things. But being stuck in Africa, I worry that I won't be able to get medical care if it DOES happen.

Then again...without WLS things can happen too! SO glad that it worked out ok in the end.

[StephanieK]

Originally Posted by Mysstwalker

Saturday afternoon, I started having pain in my abdomen right in front, above and below my belly button. Not too bad, thought it was because of wearing my belt rather tight just to be able to hold my darn jeans up lol. Chris took me out for dinner that night, during dinner still was hurting a bit. Got home around 10pm, got into my robe and put a heating pad on my belly, seemed to ease it a bit so chalked it up to the belt and pants. Went to bed, about 2:30am woke up hurting REALLY bad, started throwing up foamies and saw a bit of blood in them.

I couldnt feel anything that resembled a hernia, which I have had fixed before, so I was pretty sure that wasnt it. Called my surgeons answering service, doctor told me to get my butt into the ER now! Went, they admitted me about 4am after a cat scan, suspecting a bowel obstruction. Had an upper GI series, that didnt show anything, I threw up constantly during it, the lower bowel pictures showed no blockages but things werent moving as easily as they should as my doctor told me. About 2pm Monday, in my hospital room doped up on painkillers and full of iv fluids, doctor comes in and says he wants to do exploratory lap surgery to find out what the hell is wrong and what is causing the pain. Im ok with this, I trust my surgeon with my life. Was out like a light by 3:30pm, surgery evidently took a couple of hours.

From what my doctor told me, I had scar tissue and adhesions again, squeezing my intestines and pouch area closed, especially the intestines. He told Chris after surgery that he is glad he got it when he did, because it was on the way to being really bad. I just finally got discharged last night, and I feel extremely weak and in pain and just generally crappy, but that horrible pain is gone. He wasnt able to do it LAP when he saw the mess inside, so now I have another 9 inch vertical incision to add to my many others. Please please PLEASE, if you are having pain, DONT ignore it, get it checked out! It may be a stuck gas bubble, or something else, or something really bad in my case, but that is what our surgeons are there for, to help us and take care of us!

My sister has been extremely ill since March from scar tissue from an ulcer. She has been on iv nutrition since and they are finally doing surgery next week to basically redo the surgery. She will be on a feeding tube for about three months while everything heals up since she is underweight now. She's almost 5 years past surgery.

[VAbornGApeach]

Glad your doctor was right there with you and didn't just "wait and see."

Hope you feel better soon.

[wanttobethinagain]

Thanks for the advice glad to hear you are home get better soon