Been married 33 years. My wife has had stomach issues for the last 12 years, constant bouts with throwing up and IBS . Last Monday and Tuesday a week ago her stomach pain got really severe.
Wednesday morning took her to a doctor to get checked out. White blood cell count was 22k where it should be 10k or less. They sent her straight to the emergency room for more testing and Cat scan.
Turns out she had a strangulated hernia which caused a blocked colon.
So emergency surgery commenced within about 3 hours last Wednesday the 16th. Surgery went better than expected, perfect in fact. After surgery she felt better than shes felt in 12 years. no more cigs ,she said she's done smoking (45) years and to throw her stash out.
Monday the 21st she was to be discharged around 9:30 am and I'm there waithing for the paperwork and we're in her room visiting with a friend that stopped in.
All of the sudden she stopped talking and her jaw was just quivering and she had this blank stare. I got the nurse in to look at her and everything seemed fine except she couldn't speak. After about 8 minutes she was able to speak again and everything seemed normal. This event happened 9 more times from then until 2:00 that afternoon as they kept her at the hospit for observation.
I had stayed with her all the time as I was worried, at 2:38 she started having another spell and then it turned into a full blown seizure. Now if you've never witnessed one, i'll tell you now ,you really dont want to.
her arm came out and made a tight fist and she just locked up and quit breathing .I was telling the nurse to get somebody now, right now. My wife, you could see every vein in her face and arms and she turned the darkest shade of purple you could imagine. Then she went limp . I yelled to the nurse, you need to call a code RIGHT NOW! She fell back ,as she had raised up during the seizure and was laying there blue. Like a corpse. Not breathing. I've got tears now as I type this.
About ten people rushed in at once. That damn code thingy gets you help fast. They told me to leave and I refused. They all did what they were trained to do and got her breathing again. probably within about 3 minutes.
another doctor came in and asked me to leave and I willingly did so as I was spent. I knelt in the hallway outside the room and cried. I had just witnessed my wife die.
but she wasn't dead.
They got her stabilized over the next couple hours ,awake and alert and ambulanced her to amarillo to a major trauma center.
So she's been there since Monday evening and has these episodes where she can't speak and lose function of her hands ,arms for 5-20 minutes out of every hour , sometimes three events per hour.
They don't have a diagnosis that they've shared with me. you can't get a straight answer from anybody ther, nurse can't tell you which doctor is due to come in or what time. the hospital is like the twilight zone and a bad nightmare combined.
Our only daughter is going through high school graduation ths week and it's been the big event on my wifes calendar for the last 6 months. She won't get to see it.
I have no idea if the doctors can fix this or if i'm bringing home a vegetable.
Was with her all morning and she was able to speak fairly well for about an hour and then back to jibberish, she has lost her personality and talks in circles, maybe medication is causing that ?. shes at the new hospital which I like much better but it's like starting all over. The nurse shift just changed so she knew nothing ,said the doctor would come through some time this evening. No orders for an MRI when I left. The previous hospital was wanting one done soon.
Got home to get my daughter ready and the hospital calls on my home landline and asked for my wife , I said she's a patient there at your hospital. They said yeah we tried her room but someone was in there. I said well did you think she magically flew home from her room or what ? She said we need her insurance information. I said so your telling me the previous hospital didn't send it with her ?? No , we have no information.
It was the same way talking to the nurse. No information sent with her other than she was suffering from a seizure disorder. So I had to tell her the whole story. Geez!
Damn, that is brutal... Our health care system does move at the speed of an inefficient snail.
My ex was diagnosed with maybe cancer and it took her nine weeks to get the first test, and then several more weeks to hear back. All that time, she had no idea what the state of her own body was.
Good that she was able to speak fairly well for an hour.. that is a good sign, man! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin:
Was with her all morning and she was able to speak fairly well for about an hour and then back to jibberish, she has lost her personality and talks in circles, maybe medication is causing that ?. shes at the new hospital which I like much better but it's like starting all over. The nurse shift just changed so she knew nothing ,said the doctor would come through some time this evening. No orders for an MRI when I left. The previous hospital was wanting one done soon.
Got home to get my daughter ready and the hospital calls on my home landline and asked for my wife , I said she's a patient there at your hospital. They said yeah we tried her room but someone was in there. I said well did you think she magically flew home from her room or what ? She said we need her insurance information. I said so your telling me the previous hospital didn't send it with her ?? No , we have no information.
It was the same way talking to the nurse. No information sent with her other than she was suffering from a seizure disorder. So I had to tell her the whole story. Geez!
shes in our prayers buddy, hoping for the best man
has anethstisia ever messed her up before ? sorta sounds like a reaction to being put under, a friend had a bad reaction to having surgery and it got better after some therapy and time. hope this is all it is, good luck [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin:
Was with her all morning and she was able to speak fairly well for about an hour and then back to jibberish, she has lost her personality and talks in circles, maybe medication is causing that ?. shes at the new hospital which I like much better but it's like starting all over. The nurse shift just changed so she knew nothing ,said the doctor would come through some time this evening. No orders for an MRI when I left. The previous hospital was wanting one done soon.
Got home to get my daughter ready and the hospital calls on my home landline and asked for my wife , I said she's a patient there at your hospital. They said yeah we tried her room but someone was in there. I said well did you think she magically flew home from her room or what ? She said we need her insurance information. I said so your telling me the previous hospital didn't send it with her ?? No , we have no information.
It was the same way talking to the nurse. No information sent with her other than she was suffering from a seizure disorder. So I had to tell her the whole story. Geez!
Our health care system sucks!
Right, so remember when I said if you need anything to call? I’m amending that to exclude taking a beating on behalf of a hospital that you inevitably want to dish out. :-).
Stay polite but insist on getting your wife the care she deserves. [Reply]
Its hard to even imagine what you're going through HF, such a drastic turn of events must be one helluva shock... all the best to you, hang in there [Reply]
Wow Hog, I have really nothing to offer emotionally outside of stay strong.If there's hope for recovery find the best hospital you can and keep your wife there because as you said it's a nightmare trying to get nurses and doctors communicate between shifts let alone hospitals. I've been thru similar and it's nervous breakdown kind of shit.Stay strong. [Reply]