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.
Our health care system SUCKS!
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My father had some similar issues after he had a stroke overnight that took his ability to walk, talk, and eventually keep his own trachea open so he could breathe. We took him to the Neuro ICU at St Luke's on the Plaza. They were on their shit there and took amazing care of him. After he left there, the strokes that he'd suffered eventually took him causing heart failure at the rehab place they sent him to up North.
The stroke froze my Dad to where he couldn't breathe because his brain wouldn't allow him to keep his airway open, so they had to stick an oxygen tube down his throat and eventually he had a trache tube surgically placed into his throat when he came to.
Are they sure it isn't a stroke? My Dad had one while he was sleeping and just felt like shit the next day. The bad thing about strokes is that you only have a short 3-4 hour window where they can give the patient something to stop the clotting. Since it happened to him in his sleep he missed that window, as I would imagine many do. Ask them how her Vertibrial and other arteries are in her neck and head.
I feel for you, nobody should ever have to witness that, and like you it happened when I was in the room and I had to get help quickly because he was a non-responsive vegetable. I pray that she recovers and this is just a warning sign.
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My prayers and thoughts are with you, your wife, and daughter Hog. God Bless and I hope all works out. Stay strong bud.
Hopefully, they figure it out. Not sure if they asked her to fast pre-op, but it's not uncommon to have a seizure due to hypoglycemia post-operatively (esp. if opioids are introduced) and I have to wonder if they do have her levels under control in that regard... You just never know in some hospitals... She may very well have also had a CVA (stroke)... Interesting they haven't found some evidence yet given the time frame. They should be able to tell within 48 hrs.
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