OT: My Holiday Surgery :-(

[Robot_Quentin]

Greetings!! I've finally been able to get back on line after a miserable month recovering after surgery over the holidays...

To make a long and boring story shorter, I had a colonoscopy about a week before Christmas. I've had probably 15 of those scans over the years since I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis around 1992... Anyways had the procedure on a Monday and went home like I always do to sleep off the anesthesia. I woke up with just terrible indigestion and abdominal pain, which is semi-normal post-op symptoms. Then it does not get any better for the next 3 days, although I was feeling recovered enough to go to work on Thursday. This "indigestion" was still very prevalent, but I was NOT normally prone to having it at all, even after a huge spicy Mexican dinner!

I figure something must be going on, so I call the doc and he sends me for x-rays to just to be safe. Then I get the call at 11pm at night that there seems to be a tear or perforation in my colon somewhere. Go directly to the ER, do not pass GO, do not collect $200...

Yikes... Well this story is going on longer than expected, BUT for reasons beyond my control I had to undergo basically an almost complete colon removal surgery... The doctors said that I could've died from sepsis like soldiers on the battlefield getting shot and their inner guts poisoning their insides. YIKES. They couldn't believe that I had no fever, or hadn't been throwing up for 3 days straight.



The recovery was long and difficult, but the main reason I'm telling this story is to make sure that if ANYONE has ANY kind of strange abdominal pain, to please get it checked out immediately!!!!! It could possibly save your life... I feel pretty certain that it saved mine. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Sorry you had to go through so much, RoboQ - but it's great to have you back and healthy! 

[Robot_Quentin]

Thanks MB... I think it's just good to be here period!

I'm a little behind on the WP, but I'm trying to catch up soon! PT is just too short it seems!!

While stranded in the hospital with only a smartphone, it's amazing how many DS episodes you can find for free on YouTube or Daily Motion (I think its called...)! Quite a bit.

[Uncle Roger]

I am glad to hear that you are doing better, RQ. I'm sure that was no day at the beach. Try to relax and get your strength back. Dark Shadows will keep until you're ready.

[Gerard]

You've got more bravery than I do!  Hope all goes well with you!

Gerard

[Josette]

Wow!  How scary!  So glad you came through it!!

[Midnite]

So glad you are doing well!  Wishing you the best of health for many years to come.

[Patti Feinberg]

I'm glad you're on the road to recovery. Thank God you DID call your doctor!!

I've had major stomach maladies for better part of 15 years. Go to a doctor, you lie on the exam table, they push down on your (for lack of remembering the official name) your solar plexus, it's uncomfortable, and they automatically say gall bladder.

Once, I went to the local surgeon. He didn't ask me ANY questions, said to make appt for colonoscopy. When he came near where I was to pay & make colon. appt., I asked him what he thought. Swear, "We'll remove your gall bladder". I wonder if it had been my arm, would he amputate that???

Finally, went to my PCP, said I didn't think it was gall bladder. Heidelscan (sp), gall bladder perfect.

Oh, yeah, and just in the last 6 months.......I am now officially allergic to chocolate. Just straight chocolate/candy; I can eat chocolate cookies, etc, but no chocolate candy. aaaaahhhhhhh

Like I said, I'm sorry you went through this, and hope you feel better than ever very soon.

Patti

[Robot_Quentin]

Oh Patti that is awful... BUT your teeth are probably thanking you. 

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. I appreciate it immensely!! Each passing week things have improved, so I'm hopeful that things will just keep going up and up from here.

But in all the turmoil of my guts being ripped apart, I understand the stories I've read on this forum of DS being at least partly an emotional crutch if you will... When everything is going to hell, for reasons I do not understand, the show can STILL transport me away from everything and bring me back to a happier time of my childhood of watching it with my grandmother and great-aunt.  David Selby speaks of this fact in one of the DVD interviews I'm remembering.  I realize all of this is preaching to the choir in this circle!!    That's why we love it so.

[Patti Feinberg]

I like it here specifically.

So, something like this has no bearing on DS; with the HUGE exception of we are family (hey, we're all called COUSINS on this board!!)

I remember everyone being kind & helpful when I had to have an amnio.

I can think of at least 2-3 cousins, who through the years, have lost parents.

I love that most of us have been posting together for 15+ years; I feel safe here.

Patti

[Annie]

Thank God you got thur this my dear will continue to pray for your recovery
Love Anne 😘

[Robot_Quentin]

Thank you Annie. I'm grateful for so many kind souls like yourself on this forum!!

The internet is filled, it seems, with self-serving jackasses with the education level of an 11 year old.

[Patti Feinberg]

I FREAKIN' LOVE YOUR AVATAR!!!!


Patti

[Robot_Quentin]

Awesome! Thanks Patti!  You too could have your very own sticker for your vehicle and/or fridge:

I think I saw on there they have buttons too! 

http://www.cafepress.com/movieandtvtees.1585203745

[MagnusTrask]

Thanks for the account RQ.  I try to take the same attitude as you during these things.  I would say that too often the internet jackasses, the ones who throw the often unelaborated-on word "stupid" at people as if by doing so they prove they themselves aren't... and the doctors responsible for our lives... aren't as far apart as we would hope.

Good posts, thanks for the warning, which I for one will remember, and I hope you're stable and getting relief.