Our Very Own Hospital Escapade: Part 2, A Turn for the Worse

We waited in the hospital room with our eyes glued to the clock.  Finally, 3:30PM rolled around and I was transported down to surgery.  We were told that the appendectomy would take 30-60 minutes, but the nurse told us that oftentimes, it took as little as 15-20 minutes once they got started.  K and I prayed, he kissed me, and followed the nurse to the waiting room.  I don't remember a thing after that, just waking up in my hospital room with my husband sitting next to the bed.  I was pretty groggy, but I felt good.  My surgeon let me know that they weren't able to take out the entire appendix as it looked as though it had perforated (burst) in the past and walled itself off, attaching to my colon and causing that inflammation.  He thought that it had probably burst again recently, causing my pain. 

My awesome nurse got me up and walking around the hallways early the next morning.  I still didn't have an appetite and my diet was limited to clear liquids (think Jello and Italian Ices.)

My folks came to visit that morning and we enjoyed chatting with them for a few hours. Later that evening, I began to feel awful. My nurse was especially adept and after checking my vitals, called the internal medicine team about my condition.  She also contacted the surgery team.  My temperature was 103.4, heart rate was high in the130s, blood pressure was low (85/50), my white blood cell count (WBC) was elevated (this is a marker of infection which they assumed was from my appendix and colon)  In other words, I was septic.  Sepsis requires a number of criteria to be met:

RN.com

My surgeon came in, examined me, and told me that they needed to go back in and likely take out part of my colon and small intestines.  I was in so much pain that I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to feel better.  They scheduled my surgery for the afternoon, but I continued to decline and they bumped me up to the morning.  I remember talking with K, knowing that I was really sick.  I kissed him and we said our goodbyes, just in case. They had to place a new IV as my first one had occluded (clotted off) and then they gave me the anesthetic.  I woke up around 4:00PM and promptly fell back asleep until 9:00PM.  I felt pretty awful at that point and just wanted to sleep.

Of the next three days, I remember very little.  My abdomen hurt and I was continually nauseated.  I had two more different IVs which also clotted due to the "vesicant" medication I was receiving, (vesicant: damaging to the vessels) namely: potassium and phenergan. 

Me getting a CT scan, the fluid hanging in the IV bag on the right is potassium.

The PICC nurse was called to place a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) and I was so grateful!  It meant that my blood draws could be done through the PICC line and that hopefully, it wouldn't clot off because of where the line dripped the medications into my larger vessels.

AHRQ PSnet

My surgeon came in every day to check on me and examine my belly.  At some point, I asked him about B12 supplementation (why did I do that, my med school friends? 😉) but he said that he only took out six inches of my terminal ileum and eight inches of my cecum.  So I'm no longer the proud owner of an appendix or of fourteen inches of small intestine and colon.

More to come, including my experience with an upper extremity DVT (blood clot in my arm) and how it feels to heal in a hospital.

For His Glory,
KCE