simple surgery, now incoherent
 

A good friend of mine for 30 years has gone through a bad experience
and is now not responding and my friends and I are not sure what to do next.
Here is the story.

At the end of December, my friend had gall bladder surgery. this surgery is
considered low-risk and standard nowadays. A week later, she experienced
excruciating pains in her abdomen and was rushed to the hospital where they
discovered a gallstone still lodged in her bile duct. The bile had been leaking
into her abdominal cavity for a week. They performed surgery, removed the
gallstone and placed 3 drains in her cavity to drain out the bile. She was in
the hospital for 3 weeks before being sent home. She went back in 4 days later because the antibiotics that she was on caused a severe reaction. She stayed in the hospital another 10 days and during that time hadn't eaten solid foods nor really kept anything down. They removed one of the drains, so now she only had 2. They discharged her and she was sent back home again.

Over the next few days, she threw everything up she tried to eat or drink. She went to the doctor, told them she was throwing up and they re-admitted her for a third time. The doctors told her had they known she hadn't eaten solids, they would have never discharged her. This was last Friday, the 15th. Over the weekend, they discovered that she had additional liquid that was causing her to vomit because it was sitting on top of her small intestines and causing a reflux-type reaction. On Monday, Feb. 18th, a third drain was placed into her side to drain this fluid.

She has not been the same mentally since. My friends and I either spoke to her or saw her last week and she is incoherent, babbling, hallucinating and
essentially not functioning. She had been on morphine the day after the 3rd
drain was placed (Tuesday, the 19th). They stopped the morphine as of that day and she hasn't had any medication. she hasn't eaten, they removed her IV on Thursday and essentially she's been sleeping and not functioning ever since. We saw her on Saturday and her right arm is swollen, she's sleeping all the time, she cannot feed herself and you have a hard time waking her up. They did CT's on her brain, took multiple blood tests, etc. and all her tests have come back negative. It's like she's given up.

She has not had contact w/her family in 15 years. Her friends are her family.
She refused to allow us to contact them these past 7 weeks. This past Saturday, we called her family. She cannot make any decision about her own well-being and we're not sure what to do. Her family is supportive and has come to visit.
During this time, we've expressed to the doctors to have a Psych consult, but had been denied. Finally, they relented after seeing that she shouldn't be acting this way after getting a drain placed.

I'm just seeking any advice as this is new to me and my friends and we haven't ever experienced anything like this. I can see how she could be so depressed.
She's been in the hospital for 7 weeks, she's estranged from her family, she is
very obsessed about work and now she's not working and her co-workers are moving along w/o her, and her friends aren't able to spend as much time w/her because we have families and jobs. We get down there as much as we can, but we aren't w/her 24/7.

Can you advise on websites, anyone we can speak with?

Has she asked anyone to take responsibility for helping with her care?
Sounds like a medical & power of attorney is needed.
She is all alone in that condition?
Nobody living near to her is close & trust worthy?
does she have a will or trust made, or who is her beneficiary of Life ins?

If she is coherent & talking these questions need to be asked- plus she might want to makes changes...

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/est..._attorney.html

she doesn't have a will - she signed HIPPA forms for us to answer any q's. Now that her family is involved, they'll get more answers and can push more. She can't make any decision in her present state and is still in the hospital. Thanks for the info on the attorney. this will help.

Hi eaglesfan... I responded on your other thread inquiring about your friend's sistuaiton, so thanks for sharing this. I have a dear friend who's Father went through a similar experience. He went in for GB surgery, and was in an out of the hosp for one yr and 3 months. It was one thing after another and he just never came to terms w/it.

He was in his 70's and just gave up. He wouldn't admit it, but he just wanted to be left alone and was tired of being sick.

It was extremely hard on my friend, as the Dr's, familiy and many friends' tried to reassure him that he was getting better, but he just didn't care and his body was working against him instead of w/him b/c of it. Minor things turned into major med problems, b/c of his wanting to just lie in bed.

I truly do believe that someone professional should be called in. Your friend sounds very depressed. I truly feel bad for her and for all of you who care about her. I applaud you for trying to help her. You are a good friend.

Hi Eaglesfan,
 

I don't believe gallbladder surgery is a simple surgery all of the time. I had it but they had to open me up due to a mass and it took me over a year to heal. I also had to have an appendectomy due to tumors.

It sounds to me like she has more going on then they are finding. After my gallbladder surgery, I most likely would have died if it hadn't been for my PCP. I couldn't get well from it. He even said he'd never seen anyone have such a hard time with gallbladder surgery as I had.

I also had the gallstones that had to be removed. I now have a pain in my right side if I stand up too long and they can't figure out what it is.

I would definatly say she is having mental issues dealing with the surgery. Depression sets in and people can't fight it at times.

I hope they do find out what is going on with her soon.

Welcome to the group.

Ada

dreambeliever128,

i can't imagine what you went through after the surgery. a year to heal and you are still experiencing pains. I'm so sorry to hear that.

thanks for the kind words. she is still in the hospital and not getting much better. it's very frustrating because all the doctors aren't really reviewing her chart and talking amongst themselves. she's got 6 docs ranging from infectious disease to psych to neuro to general surgery. her mental state has not improved and she has developed a second blood infection from her pic line. we are trying to meet w/the docs this week to review her case.

again, thank you for posting and I hope you are feeling better these days.

drugs...
 

used in combination, often can give results like this.

The H2 blockers, like Tagament/Zantac are often given high dose to GI patients,
and as we age, they tend to cross the blood brain barrier and cause
delirium.

here is a thread that discusses that situation:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...light=delirium

Certainly morphine can also cause bizarre effects all by itself in some people.
(some people cannot tolerate opiates, they are called dysphorics).

Hi, Eaglesfan! :Wave-Hello: Welcome to NeuroTalk!

I'm sorry for your friend's situation, but think that you must be a terrific friend. Kudos!

I'm not sure how to advise you, but please feel free to join in anywhere here at NT and vent when you need it. :)