The LOOOOONG awaited surgery report

Okay now for my surgery report…
I went into prep at 9:30 and everything went well except we found out that Im what you call a “hard stick”, which means that my veins are not very easy to find for putting an IV, but after 4 attempts in different areas by an anesthesiologist who supposedly was “very good” WE FOUND ONE(more on this later). WOO HOO
I was rolled into surgery (the first time) at 11:30am on Wednesday, Dec 16th, I even came out on schedule because “everything went perfectly”.
Well maybe not for the next 5 hours they were doing everything they could do to try and stabilize me, as my blood pressure went as low as 65/35 (if you didn’t know THAT’S BAD). I could see on the faces of the 2 nurses who were working on me, that every time they took my BP, they were very worried. At about 6pm they all (now there were 5 of them) decided that I needed to be admitted into the hospital, and there was even some talk that I may need to go back into surgery.
To shorten this at 730pm I had to go to a holding area (it may have been ICU, I’m not sure) because they didn’t have a room for me yet. At 12:30am I was being transported to my room, and in my bed by 1am. AHHHHH REST, RIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! I didn’t hardly sleep all the rest of the night because when I did finally get to sleep, each time, someone would come in for some different reason (they should really synchronize this stuff).Well at 7am they told me that it looked like I would be getting a blood transfusion as I had lost so much because of internal bleeding, I thought okay cool that’s easy enough, its better than going back into surgery. 10am Doctor comes in says all the same stuff. At 10:30 they start speed feeding me IV fluids. As the day goes on no blood…
Now at 1am Friday the 18th here comes the blood a full 24 hours after getting my bed. They put in 2 units and that doesn’t bring my hemoglobin numbers up much (still between 8-9), I went in at almost 15 and below 8 Drs and nurses like to panic, I guess. LOL (and after all this for some reason I’m still laid back and in a good mood) :D
Dec 18th 10am they decide they are going to take me back into surgery. So at 2pm they begin my 2nd transfusion of 2 more units of blood. right before that happens my IV goes bad so they have to put in another one (BTW REMEMBER I am known in the "medical" world as a hard stick, so after about 20 minutes of poking around they find a... good IV). But there is another problem my IV is LEAKING. HAHA They fix it 2 times and we think that it’s all good, so we begin the transfusion and I notice some red fluid in the area of the IV. Yes that’s right it’s NOT FIXED it’s LEAKING AGAIN. And yet I still have a good attitude...
Well after fixing it 2 more times we get to move on. LOL At 3pm they take me down to surgery to “take a look inside and see what’s up.” At 5pm we begin surgery as it is I already have 9 count 'em 9 "lap" holes from the 1st surgery, they go back in thru 2 holes I already have then "add" 2 more. WOO HOO 1 short of a dozen.... Well they find I have 2 "bleeders" they say they are both in fatty tissue that they cauterize. I recover very quickly this time, so fast that I actually walk from the transport bed in the hallway into my room and climb into bed by myself at 7:30pm.
BTW - I find out after because I now look at my arms they "had" to put in another IV because my last one that was put in was too small for surgery, and being that its sooooooooo easy to put an IV in me I had the leftovers of at least 9 more IV attempts "that I could see (3 in one hand, 2 in the other, 1 in each wrist, and 1 more in each forearm)," HAHA But I still have a good attitude :)
On the Sunday 20th they decide ...to transfuse 2 more units of blood for which, Yes that’s right we need to start a new IV WOO HOO. Well, about midnight we finish the last unit of blood, and at about 3am on Monday the 21st they check hemoglobin and I’m at 8.8 at 9am I’m at 8.9 and the Dr. says that if at the next check I’m stabile I will be on my way home. At 3pm I’m at 9.0 he says that I’m good to go home, and at 6pm I’m on the road SLEEPING ALL THE WAY home, with a good attitude still intact. HOWS THAT FOR A FUN STAY IN THE HOSPITAL?!?!? :D
Well to finish up I had my follow up on the 31st (New Years Eve) and the Dr. said everything looks great. We found out the last hernia was a complete failure and the hernia had grown to about the size of a silver dollar and he used a patch that is over 6" in diameter to fix it. Oh yeah I weighed 317 (on 16th) going in, coming out I weighed 354.5 (on 21st) from all the fluid they pumped in me, and on the 31st I weighed 314.5 HOW IS THAT FOR YO-YO DIETING (I spent a lot of time peeing) I ended the year with 122 total lbs lost, from April 15th when my weight loss class began. Since that time my weight has been pretty stabile up 5 lbs or down 5 lbs, but I can’t seem to get to my short term goal of under 300, but I am sure I will get there, soon (FINGERS CROSSED).

NOW I'M ENJOYING THE RIDE
Dennis