So, I was in the hospital...

[[BTF]EyEsTrAiN]

So, I had to go to the hospital 4 days ago because of severe abdominal pain. Felt like a spiked baseball was rolling around in my stomach. I get there by ambulance at around 7:30am, and holy shit the ride sucked. Every little bump just added to the pain level. They get me there, then set me up for a CAT scan. After the first scan, they can't find anything conclusive, so I have to take another one with the contrast this time. In the meantime, I'm getting vial after vial of blood taken. Finally get the other one, and I don't hear anything for a few hours. Doctors start filtering in one after another and start giving me possibles for whats going on. I hear things from it might be food poisoning to part of my colon having a decrease in blood flow. Finally, the last doctor comes in and tells me they have to cut me open and perform surgery to find out what is actually going on, and I'll be heading off to it in about an hour. Man, that is some scary shit.

Now, the only thing I've ever been to the hospital for before was an appendicitis about 5 years ago. Very routine surgery, quick recovery time, ect. When they tell you they are about to cut you open, and they don't know what to expect when they do, it can mess with your head something fierce. So, they prep me up, take me in, and put me under.

I wake up a few hours later to a shit ton of pain. I've got tubes coming out of everywhere; an IV, a catheter, some kind of tube running out of my nose from my stomach, and a different tube coming out of my stomach. The plus side is, they could fix it and know now what was going on. Apparently, I had some kind of bacterial ulcer that had perforated and I was leaking gastrointestinal fluids into my system. Not pretty. If I hadn't had surgery when I did, I wouldn't be around to be even typing this. The doctors don't even understand why I had it at all. It wasn't anything I ate, just kind of randomly happened.

So, four days later and many tubes removed, I'm finally home recovering. I have a nasty 6 inch scar that goes straight up my stomach through my belly button. It doesn't have staples or stitches, but some new kind of skin "glue" that holds it together. Definitely makes you think about your life and how easily random events can totally screw your health. Just thought I'd share my little hospital experience with everyone.

Oh, and if I find who invented catheters, I will break one off in his eye. Fuck those things.

 

[quadz]

Damn, man...

Glad they were able to find/fix it though...

Welcome back

[Quest]

damn eye, that does sound pretty scary. I too have had a similar surgery like that, & yikes- when they rip your stomach open like that, it feels wonderful for quite a while. That really is a freaky thing that happened, but im glad you had a good team looking after you that figured out what to do. Glad to have ya back and kicking & hope you recover soon.
Take it easy man

[[BTF]Jehar]

Geez man, glad to still have you with us.

[Sgt. Dick]

Glad to hear your doing better.  

You never know how fast something like that can happen.

A few months ago I had some serious pain in my upper belly to lower chest area.  I had never had any pain like that.
I went to the ER and they did all the test, mainly looking at my heart.  All the test came back good and since I wasn't in pain anymore they sent me home the next day.  They never determined what it was     The only bad thing that happened on that ER visit was that I found out I have reactions to the dye they use for some of the test.  After one of the test my throat tightened and my airway was almost completely closed, I could barely breathe for a few minutes.  It was very scary gasping for air and couldn't hardly get any.

I felt fine so the next day I went to work and all went well until that night.  The pain came back, but I knew my heart was fine so I stuck it out until the next morning.  I went back to the ER and I told them the heart is fine its got to be something else.  They did a ultrasound on my gallbladder and said that it looked a little "muddy/merky looking".  They decided to release me and told me to setup a appt. with this gastro doc.  When my wife got their to pick me up, I was throwing up like crazy.  I had a guy there with a wheelchair impatiently waiting for me to stop throwing up so he could roll me out.  He finally gave me a barf bag and rolled me out while I was throwing up     My wife called the gastro doctor while we were driving home and they said they could see me in 3 weeks.  The lady on the phone could hear me barfing and said if any openings come up she would call.  The next afternoon the dr. office called and let me come in.   After my doctor visit they wanted to schedule me for this certain test, when we called about the lab said they could schedule it day after tomorrow.  All this time, I'm either sleeping or throwing up  

My wife's sister knew a ER doctor at our other local hospital and she told him what was going on with me and he said send me there and they would admit me and find out what was wrong.  I went there got admitted, had the test the next morning and it showed my gallbadder had shutdown, I had surgery that afternoon.  Plus the ER doctor gave something so GOOD    i'm afraid to find out what it was, cause I would be a addict real easy.

I was suppose to have my gallbadder removed laproscopically, they make 3 or 4 small holes and remove it.  The procedure should take about 90 minutes.  My wife knew something was up when it got to be 3 hours and I hadn't came out yet.
They tried to remove it laproscopically but it was hardened and very thick walled, so they eventually aborted that procedure and opened me up.  I have a nice 8-10 inch slice from my side around to the center of my stomach, plus the laproscopic holes  

When the doctor explained what happened with the surgery I told him that because of my wife's cooking everything inside me is thick-walled and hardened  

So I have my gallbladder removed and I have this suction drain ball coming out of my stomach.  I knew something was up when the nurse that night said "hmm that don't look good"   I guess its not suppose to look slimey and greenish-yellow  
I stayed in the hospital for 5 days as they were hoping for my drainage to clear up, it didn't.  The took me down and ran some test and it showed I was leaking bile inside and the doctor told me they were gonna have to go back in.  The first day after the first surgery was hell so I thought HOLY SHIT NOT AGAIN.  As it turned out they did not open me up again, they put me under and went down my throat and put a bypass around the leaking area.  Other than a sore throat it was a breeze.  I had to go back 6 weeks later and have them remove the bypass and re-rout it back to normal, and all went well with that.  I took at least 6 months to really feel fully recovered, but all is good now.

Here is my biggest pet peeve about the hospital stay, other than them waking you up every 3 hours to take your temp or blood  
The day after my first surgery was very painful and I had the cough that would not go away.  Coughing with 10 inches of staples in your stomach ain't fun    They give you this morphine and a button to push when you need some.  It will only let you have the morphine every so often.  The DAMN machine has a display on it and when you push the button to soon it shows "Denied"    At least let me think I'm getting some.

[[BTF]EyEsTrAiN]

Thanks for the get well comments guys, they are much appreciated 

Damn Sgt, you had all kinds of crap to go through! I had that same suction ball looking thing coming out of my stomach too. It worried me a little because I was afraid I'd go to move and squish all the stuff in it back inside me haha. I had the little morphine button as well, for the first night, I'd press the button and pass out for about 15 minutes, wake up, then repeat.

I know what you mean about them coming in every few hours to get vitals or blood from you. Luckily, I had some really nice nurses that seemed to genuinely care about what was going on. I think it was because I'm relatively young to have something like this happen to me. One even sat and talked to me for a while one night cause I was feeling a little down due to all I had been through. And yeah, coughing REALLY sucks, especially when you get the coughs that are sudden and you don't have time to prepare for them.

If I get a little time between laying back getting some rest, I may post up some pics of my newly acquired scar. 

[[BTF]Gator]

Glad to hear you both are ok.

Get well Eye.

[The Happy Friar]

Definitely makes you think about your life and how easily random events can totally screw your health.

maybe it wasn't random!  Many times things happen for a reason.   

Glad to hear you're ok.  I've heard hospitals suck.  I haven't had the pleasure of going to one for more then my family members since I was ~10 or so, so I don't really remember. 

Either way,  & 

[[BTF] Reflex]

Welcome back,  glad they figured it out. 

[[BTF]Sigma]

Glad to here you're ok. Get well soon!

[peewee_RotA]

Glad to know that everything is alright. Now we just have to fix those nagging migraines caused by all that Eyestrain.

[[BTF]EyEsTrAiN]

Here is the nasty scar:



And yes, my belly button now looks like a vagina. 

[|iR|Focalor]

Chicks dig scars, and jello is awesome.

[[BTF]EyEsTrAiN]

Speaking of jello, can you guess where this wonderful looking fluid came from?

[The Happy Friar]

Speaking of jello, can you guess where this wonderful looking fluid came from?

digested jello! 

doesn't look like a "scar."  Looks like you had a c-section the wrong way & an extra large cut.