Pamela, I was getting very worried about you.

That is excellent that the general surgeon, on advice from the nurses, has taken swift and decisive action.

:hug:

Pam,
Do you know if the general surgeon think the haemotoma may be from the fusion surgery?

Sure glad they are finally arranging for treatment of these issues. Hope and pray you will soon be on the way to feeling much better.


Gerry

Brought this topic up because Mesh has been known to cause infections. You appeared to be dealing with an infection of sorts. It appears tho that your general surgeon getting involved; thanks to the caring nurse, has figured out what is going on.


Gerry

I was in such shock Gerry I didn't think to ask, I was feeling very poorly & had just been trying to explain one of the many ways in which I use to control bowel blockages from home to the nurse, DB didn't see I was trying to have a serious conversation and kept interrupting & saying stupid things, so I had turned to him and said quite sharply, can you just shut it please. I went back to the nurse to carry on the convo & his assistant appeared, swiftly followed by him. (One thing as DB noted, they are going to be giving me injections now of something so I don't get constipation- why can't we get these at home?)

I think from memory he said the hemotoma is on the spine.

They gave me this injection shortly after in the stomach muscle and within minutes I was on the loo & it was loose / light.

Atm I've had to get them because the picc line flesh immediately surrounding it is now inflamed & I've got a cold compresss on it. I think they would all be happy if me and my box of problems

Pam,
You really were right to the point with DB.......It obviously worked...

The fusion, then adding hernia/mesh.... really dealing with a lot of issues here.

Good to know you are not going to have to worry about an obstruction of the bowel. Seems like you are now getting the attention to very important issues. Hopefully your fever/temperature is under control .

Thanks for the updates. We care....you're a very "special" lady.

Gerry

Sigh and now there is nothing again, I seem to have had my flurry of activity and now nada; dr Narula arrived expressed his concern, left with statement I'll go, you look to be in a great deal of distress...(I'm in flipping agony)

Pathology arrive, they are supposed to have taken blood for COAG, path used her 2 attempts & couldn't get blood, I said it can be drawn from the Picc line but you need the nurses who have been trained. Nurse comes in, says no sorry, she's on plasma - disappears, another nurse appears & disconnects the plasma so now I'm on nothing. Meantime physio turns up & says Shiite you look terrible & I can see your in pain, he gets a nurse who gives me pain relief temgesic (not working)

Main nurse comes back over an hour or more has passed she's on her own, still doesn't connect the plasma, notices I've made my bed - Had to, bad night, blood, vomit, staining and sweating I said I've had my shower as I had to clean up, I know they will be here soon for the coag bloods & I couldn't get back into that bed in that state, main nurse on verge of tears, very frazzled, also feel guilty to have let me down, admits she saw me taking care of the bed. I said please don't worry, we're all in this together.

On-call doctor arrives (wow beautiful lady) she can't get blood from veins in my arms /wrist / back of hand, another pathologist arrives, she has 2 attempts, nothing. I ask for a heat pack thingy, I stick it on my stocking foot. Suggest everyone breathe, wait a moment, enjoy the smell of the flowers, they look at me like I've lost it. I say to the on-call doctor you're allowed to draw from the foot, pathologist blanches and says we're not, I say no but she is. On-call doctor sees where I'm going with this, whips off the stocking dock & while the pathologist is onto her main room with a "I can't get it voice" oncall can't either, & voila, oncall sings triumphantly got it....

Everyone disappears, head nurse comes to my room and says I'm going to call you trouble from now on, but your blood has gone off and they will be tracking it do you should be called down to surgery soon. I agree & suggest given they will need to again knock me out and need a vein, can I have another hot pack for my other glove, so when I go, both hands will have heat packs on & a better chance of getting vein access.

Meanwhile still no plasma reconnection and my pain has worsened..... I'm over this, the oncall doctor came back in a few moments ago & said thank you for taking control in there

I asked head nurse 4 hours ago should I be fasting - no answer as yet, soft nutritional food has just arrived, I ask am I allowed to be eating that, should I be fasting, she doesn't know, I'll go ask...


Post Edit
Harsha with on-call doctor arrive, he says I'll be down to surgery soon, I say to him as the food is there should I be fasting. He says yes. Tick one. I also said to him is the oncall doctor his, he said yes, so I said you should be proud, she is very professional & competent. He says thanks. Then he says, we want to get your numbers right (I have no idea what that means) we'll drain the abcess & you might need more blood but I can stop the methotrexate (makes you go to the loo!!) I'm away for a few days now so I may get you back in to my rooms as I'm hopeful you willl be home by then. (Whew so am I) I have no clue when I'll go home, I hope to be out by Friday.

Nursing staff come in, suddenly there is loads of them, yes your fasting, well remove the food & the water jugs, I ask if the one specifically prepped for me with lemon can remain, and given I'm the one who keeps asking about fasting I'm unlikely to drink it. Everyone agrees.

Nurse goes to connect plasma, I say no, I'm fasting, we all laugh. A very frazzled morning indeed. I can barely keep my eyes open, think I'll sleep. Feel I've won the marathon....

Pam; It all sounds disastrous and exhausting ......gooooood grief!!!!!!!!

haha and the original main nurse has been in and connected a saline drip. 2 more nurses came to give me meds needed before I have the procedure, they give me the 2 tabs & say, oh gosh, you can't your fasting. I looked them in the eyes, picked up the tablets, took a 10ml tablet dispenser & put 5 mls water in it, opened my mouth and poured it along with the 2 x10mg endo. I said I don't care, you've got me on a saline drip, 5-10mls is not going to break the bank.

They've never ever been this disorganised....normally things he like clockwork

Pam,
Exactly what is the procedure you are having??? So much going on. Seems like so many of the staff are confused as well. You seem to be more in charge than those meant to care for you. Does not appear there is any coordination with multiple surgeons...

You previously mentioned the inability to bend in the future without serious consequences due the inability to fuse the S1 area. Have you heard any more about that? Appears there are too many "cooks" (surgeons) and the inability to coordinate with the staff.

Pray things will soon settle down and you will be ready to go home.


Gerry

Hi Gerry, I had to have the hemotoma lanced and drained while awake. It hurt quite badly. They drained about 10mls of bloody looking stuff & than attach a drain for further draining overnight. Initially to be aspirated every 4 hrs but then they got a msg not to touch it at all treat as highly infectious. I told them this morning while the pain yesterday was lessening today it's back and worse.

If anyone were to ask me I wouldn't say I've had spine surgery, not much seems to have gone wrong with the spine surgery and given how gadget things have gone with my gut, chances of Narula attending to the L5/S1 surgery down the track seems very remote. I've not seen Narula today, not much he can do..