Update...

It's been an interesting nine days since the lap-band surgery. Basically, the surgery went well. It's what happened afterwards that is overwhelming.

As they were taking me to my room from recovery, the main fuse of the elevator blew. I was stuck with 2 nurses in between floors on the elevator for 1 1/2 hours. We all remained calm, and they worked up an extension cord to the elevator, so the nurses were able to keep track of my vitals, etc. The only thing that ticked me off, is that the nurses told other staff to tell my mom in the waiting room that I was stuck in the elevator. They didn't tell her anything...they kept telling her I'd be up in a little while... My mom thought that "a little while" in Michigan was quite different from what it would be in California. The maintenance staff gave me a teddy bear, which I nicknamed "Elly" after the elevator and some gift cards. They say this is the first time the elevator has broken down with a patient on it in the history of the hospital. Just my luck!

I had horrible care in the ward of the hospital. First of all, they combined two floors because the census count of the hospital was low, to save money. They put me in a what is usually a private room, with a women with a respiratory illness (I think pneumonia)... since I was post-op surgical, this is a great risk for infection and illness to me. This woman was the worst roommate ever. She had up to 6 very loud visitors for over 5 hours. They had no respect that I was in the room. She took up 2/3 of the room, crowding me. She butted her nose into every conversation I had...I had no privacy.

The nurses were not surgical nurses. I had a labor/delivery nurse. I had some unusual side effects of the surgery, such as exotropic eyes...where I see two visual fields and my eyes don't converge. I called my nurse, and asked her to note it in my chart for my surgeon to see. I found out yesterday, that it wasn't even noted in my chart. The doctor's orders were for me to be walk and be escorted every hour with the walking, after 5 hours of recovery. I was the one who at 3 a.m. asked to walk, and I did for over an hour. I was not escorted, as the doctor ordered. There were other things, such as my IV went dry, and I called, but nobody came for 30 minutes to give me a new IV bag.

Then at 6 a.m. I was given my meds and this bottle of liquid to drink. I was told I was having a GI series, and I thought it was some kind of laxative in preparation for it. Then at 9 a.m., I am sent down to radiology. There is a long talk of where my order was. The radiology people then left me for about an hour alone on the x-ray table. When they came back, we figured out what had happened. I was supposed to be in radiology for a swallow study. The bottle of liquid that I thought was a laxative, was actually the contrast liquid that I was supposed to swallow for the swallow study. And my surgeon told me yesterday, that they gave me too much of the contrast liquid to begin with.

So, the swallow study couldn't be done, and I was told I'd probably be spending another night in the hospital. Luckily, my surgeon came and sprung me from the hospital in the late afternoon, without a swallow study. Generally, my recovery has been good. What is surprising is that my shoulder hurts badly...it's a side effect of the anesthesia, and my incisions look good.

I've lost at least 4 lbs. this past week--the surgeon thinks it is much more, as I am retaining water, and yesterday he put me on diuretics. I am up walking -- I am walking a mile a day, and I am supposed to walk 2 miles a day by the end of the week. I just finished also giving myself 2 injections a day of heparin. My big accomplishment yesterday, was that I was able to put on my own socks!! I have been on a clear liquid diet for a week (broth, jello, etc.), and today I got to start "opaque" liquids, i.e. yougart and cottage cheese, milk, applesauce.

My mom went home to California today. I really enjoyed having her here. It made me realize how much I love her and my brother. I am hoping that we can come back somehow to live together in the next few years.

As far as the hospital goes, I have written a letter to the hospital administration and today, I mailed it to the nursing supervisor, etc. My surgeon is furious about what happened to me, and is threatening to pull all the bariatric surgery from this hospital. As far as elective surgery goes, bariatric surgery is the most profitable program the hospital has. It could be interesting what happens because of my bad treatment by the hospital.

As far as Medicaid/health care reform and my legislators, nobody is calling me back or answering my emails. I had to fill out a stack of forms the day after discharge for Medicaid. I still have another stack for medical transportation with Medicaid for my out-of-county visits to doctors. Nobody does their jobs around here, and nobody cares what happens to me.

It is horrible that I have had 2 surgeries in 2 weeks, am oxygen and power dependent for my medical equipment and the State of Michigan, in all it's wisdom, allows me $420 (of my $1500 disability and sub teaching income) to live on this month, when they know my rent alone is $495. But not one action has been done to help me or change the situation. The government rewards laziness and people who have never worked, not ill people like me who have paid taxes for 30 years of working.

Generally in good spirits, but writing this is getting me down... I'll update again soon..