Any one have experience with complications while in hospital after sur
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mlorraine…..seems that one more hurdle has been overcome. Great news! I am hoping for the infection to continue to decrease.
Best wishes,
MarionThank you all for all your stories. they really help.. Happy to report that although they are still treating My mom for the bacteria in her blood, pnemonia seems to be be gone and looks like they are sending her home tomorrow so she has done very well dispite some of the complications.. we are also very grateful that she was eligible for the surgery. Best wishes to everyone.
Hi,
Talking about complications, I hope no one has to suffer what my Mum did. After having the resection, she was very fine. However after 3 days, she had a serious bleeding inside. We did various CT scans and angiogram, X-ray to check and then it was ok (she got some injections for stopping bleeding).
Then, she also got a bowel obstruction which prevent her from eating and drinking. She had to stay at the hospital for 2 months with infusion for feeding, directly to the vein. She had a tube fixed to her nose to suck the stomach juice out 8 times a day.
During that 2 months, a lot of infections which came from the tube or the infusion line occurred. And finally, when we were about to think about a re-surgery, it was through.
Anyway, it was still a succesfull surgery and she is still ok now, no recurrence so far. Of course, we had a follow-up adjuvant chemo for 6 months.
Trust this is helpful and hope all the best for you.
Minh
Sallypa…. Complications following a major surgery such as a resection are not uncommon and generally are treated with good results. A Saturday release from the hospital would have been quite unusual, though. This is a tough surgery to recover from and most people stay for at least 7 to 10 days in the care of the hospital. (I believe that the average stay is about 7 to 20 days.)
I am sending all my good wishes your way and who knows, your sister may just break the rules and be able to go home sooner than expected.
Best,
MarionHeavy pain meds can make her fall asleep mid-sentence. I hope your sister quickly recovers from surgery. Best wishes!
my sister had a successful surgery on monday. tuesday was incredible. she was sitting up and even went for a short walk. today however was different she was upset. she has a 102 degree fever and her hemoglobin count is very low. she has always had low levels and drs havent found the cause. they say if it goes lower she will need a transfusion. where as yesterday she seemed so strong today she was very tired. she would fall asleep in mid sentence. im not sure if this is a result of the surgery or something else. we will see what happens tomorrow. we are taking turns staying over night with her. after yesterday we thought she might be home on saturday but now are not too sure.
Glad your Mom’s surgery was successful. My Mom had a resection last July at Univ. of Maryland. Her surgery was also a success (they removed the entire left lobe of her liver), but post-op was rough. She was in a lot of pain that first night, then the next morning I think they gave her too much pain med because she was sleeping so deeply we could not wake her up to do her breathing thingy (a spirometer I think it’s called?) That’s what helps get the lungs inflated better after being under anesthesia. (I know I worded that wrong and spelled it wrong – my sister is the nurse but I’m not!)
Her complications were very high blood pressure, low magnesium, and some spiking fevers. They ended up moving her to the step-down ICU after the first day. She was there over 5 days. Just like Maggie, my sister and I took turns staying with her so she was never alone. She was awakened almost every 2 hours for taking vitals, etc. That part was very rough for her, she ended up with that “sundowner sydrome” where she just had no idea if it was day or night. Luckily, one complication she did NOT have was the incision site – starting healing beautifully from day 1 and didn’t cause her much pain except when laughing or coughing.
My Mom was in the hospital over the 4th of July. She was sleeping that evening, so my sister and I walked out into this area of the floor with big windows overlooking the Inner Harbor. We saw the best fireworks from the best vantage point ever! But weeks later, Mom told us she ended up waking up during the fireworks, her back was to the window so she saw the firework’s reflections on the glass door of her room. She thought she was dying and on her way to heaven with all the colorful lights. Poor Mom.
Once she was home, she slowly but surely recovered. Within a month, she was OK’d to take our long-planned week’s vacation to OBX with the entire family!
Hang in there with her. It’s such a major surgery and takes time to recover.
I had post-op complications. A huge abscess formed and the doctors had to open me up again (7 days post-op) to drain it. I wound up staying in the hospital 23 days. Also had a tear in one bile duct as a result of the first surgery to remove my tumor.
Betsy
Hello Lorraine and welcome to our family. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS on your Mom’s successfuul surgery. Any bile duct surgery is a big surgery therefore some complications can be expected. These things can all be taken care of although it is added stress to everyone. Teddy had a staff infection after his Whipple 5 years ago but once they identify the strain of infection they are pretty quick to get it under control.
Again it is excellent news about the outcome of her surgery. Wishing her a speedy recovery.My mother (68 yrs) had her surgery in July this year and I was with her most of the time in the hospital. My sister and I took turns to be with her. She did not have pnemonia but for the first 3 days after surgery, I feel that it was the most critical for her, when I now look back. She almost had cardiac complication on the second day. She was very closely monitored during the first few days, ie. temperature and blood pressure measurement every 1-2 hours by the nurses, measuring urine output to make sure her kidney is functioning properly. Because my mom is also a diabetic, so she was also on insulin and glucose by iv for a while. So her blood sugar was also closely monitored. However, the nurses were very busy, so my sister and I had to keep a close eye on her. In fact, my mother had very little rest , because of all the things that need to be done to make sure she is not developing any complications. My mom did indicate that she needed someone with her 24 hours also because she was very afraid.
Maggie
My Mom, 78, was recently diagnosed with bile duct cancer.. She just had surgery on thursday at John Hopkins, they removed her bile duct and 1/3 of her liver.. They tried several different pain meds and right now she is doing well with pain but she now has pnemonia and a staff infection. Has anyone had this experience. we feel like we have to be in her room 24 hours a day watching everything going on, not sure if these new issues could have been prevented??? appreciate any input..
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