Re: Laprascopy complications question

From: Dena Lomax (denalomax@hotmail.com)
Wed May 24 14:24:06 2000


Dear Nancy-- Just curious---Are you from Ohio? I am and live in Shelby, a small town mid way from Columbus and Cleveland. I currently am seeing a physcian (anesthesiologist) in Columbus at Riverside---he is great!! Please let me know how close we are-----we are all in this together!! In Friendship, Dena Lomax

>From: "Nancy E. Hale" <nanny@mailserv.nbnet.nb.ca>
>Reply-To: adhesions@obgyn.net
>To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS <adhesions@forum.obgyn.net>
>Subject: RE: Laprascopy complications question
>Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:46:40 -0500
>
>I have several posts that I want to respond to.
>
>First, JIM - I had a diagnostic lap done in March in which the surgeon used
>CO2 to inflate the abdomen. The only side effect I had from the gas was a
>bit of upper chest/shoulder area pain for a day or so after the
>surgery. Not really pain, just discomfort. I was warned of the
>possibility of this prior to surgery.
>
>The only other problem I had with the diagnostic lap was that the lower
>incision was slow to heal. I had a rather large bruised area around that
>incision post-op, which I assume to be from the fact that the gynecologist
>who did the surgery went in looking for endometriosis and instead found
>severe dense adhesions in the right side of the abdomen from an
>appendectomy 38 years ago. He did lyse some of these adhesions during the
>surgery (I was under for an hour and a half instead of the half to
>three-quarters he had suggested to me prior to surgery), but the majority
>of the adhesions involve the bowel and intestine and he was not prepared to
>convert to a laparotomy or to tackle this area at the time as he has little
>to no experience in bowel surgery. I am waiting for another appointment
>with a general surgeon to schedule further surgery.
>
>Since the diagnostic lap in March, I have started experiencing sharp,
>stabbing pains in the navel area, which I did not have prior to the lap. I
>am assuming that I have new adhesions forming around the navel incision,
>but have no proof of this.
>
>Second, Chris - I too was put on a drug similar to elavil, mine being
>Amitryptilene. I found no benefit from it whatsoever, except that I did
>sleep a lot which helped to some extent. But it was not a restful sleep,
>as the drug did nothing to combat the pain. I also tried Indocid
>suppositories, which I reacted to with nausea and dizzyness. I am
>currently on 2400 mg of Ibuprofen a day to attempt to keep the pain at a
>tolerable level. Most of the time it works - thank God I have a cast iron
>stomach, as I have no side effects from that high a dose. I do still have
>break-through pain, which puts me to bed in a ball.
>
>I am also trying to keep my mind busy and ignore as much break-through pain
>as I can. I have been sewing and crafting, and did get a little bit of
>work done on my car yesterday (although that did not help painwise), and
>have also been repairing computers - last week I completely wiped and
>reprogrammed a friend's laptop and corrected a CMOS programming error on
>another friend's desktop, as well as doing an estimate on an upgrade for a
>third person. When I take on a project, I do not put a time frame on it,
>as I don't know how much work I will be able to tackle before I keel over
>from pain.
>
>Third, Toni, - I can understand your feelings of hopelessness and fear of
>surgery. When I went for the cystoscopy in December, I was terrified of
>being put to sleep and not waking up. When I had the diagnostic lap in
>March, I was completely calm and relaxed about the anesthesia. Now,
>however, my GP wants me to have my adhesiolysis done in the local hospital
>- which is definitely small-town, and almost every week there is an article
>in the local paper about how the hospital needs money for repairs and
>upgrades. I am scared to death of having surgery in this hospital, as I
>don't know how good the anesthesiologist is, if the hospital is equipped to
>do a conversion to laparotomy if necessary, or how experienced the general
>surgeon I am going to see is when it comes to dealing with adhesions on the
>bowel and intestines. If the organs should get damaged and peritonitis set
>in, would the local hospital be able to handle that without shipping me to
>Fredericton, which is 65 miles away - an expensive ambulance ride at the
>least.
>
>Someone else mentioned sex - I'm not sure about anyone else, but if my
>Other Half gets that look in his eye, he'd better be looking at someone
>else, because he isn't coming near me!!!! The pain is worse during and
>after for about two days to the extent that even the 2400 mg won't touch
>it, and the pleasure just isn't worth it.
>
>My greatest joy right now is that spring has sprung in the Great White
>North (LOL) and the birds have returned in large numbers. I have a feeder
>outside my living room window for the song birds and two feeders visible
>from my kitchen window for my hummingbirds. The other evening I counted 10
>large bluejays under the living room window, and I have had mourning doves,
>American goldfinches, evening grosbeaks, rose breasted grosbeaks, chipping
>sparrows, white crested sparrows, cow birds, starlings, grackles, and even
>one lonely little indigo bunting, all of whom serenade me into
>relaxation. My four cats, who are house cats, not allowed outside, sit in
>the windows for hours watching the birds. The youngest cat will eventually
>give herself brain damage as she insists on attempting to catch the birds
>through a thermal glazed window - head first. I also have a pair of wild
>rabbits that have made their home in my back yard, and enjoy watching them
>trim my lawn.
>
>This has turned into a bit of a rant, but my point is that I don't rely on
>the medical profession to help me deal with this. You have to take comfort
>in the things that you can and try not to dwell on the things that
>frustrate you. Constant debilitating pain does cause depression, which
>seems to intensify the pain. If we can't get the pain cured, we have to
>live around it the best way we can.
>
>Nancy
>ICQ 9683431
>


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