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Original poster

Nan went in for keyhole surgery, is now on a ventilator in intensive care......

88 replies

zephyrcat · 21/04/2006 11:25

Is there anyone remotely medical or who knows anything like this around??

She went in 2/3 days ago to have her gall bladder removed by keyhole surgery. Everyone else who was in for it went home the same day. The nurses told my Mum she had been feeling very sorry for herself, refusing to co-operate or eat and she was shouting out in pain. They scanned her and discovered she had some internal bleeding so took her back to theatre last night. My Mum has just said she is now in intensive care on a verntilator - they tried to take her off it but she couldn'\t breathe so she's back on it and sedated. :(

I'm just wondering what could have gone that wrong??

OP posts:
Sparkerleur · 21/04/2006 11:29

How worrying for you all. Thinking of you. Unable to help medically but wanted to bump for you. x

Bugsy2 · 21/04/2006 11:30

If she had to go back into surgery, any number of things could have happened ZC. I think speculating online could be unnecessarily frightening, so I'm not going to do it.
Your Mum needs to kick up a fuss & ask to speak to the Consultant ideally, or at the very least the Registrar, responsible for your Grandma's ops.

nailpolish · 21/04/2006 11:32

Sad zeph

does your nan have any heart problems? chest problems? maybe it kicked something off, could be a number things

I AM NO EXPERT REALLY but it sounds like nan was a bit confused, shouting and refusing stuff. this could have been caused by an infection (high temp can cause confusion). she could easily have caught an infection in her wound (however small)

if she has a lot of internal bleeding her bp could have dropped etc

you really must speak to the nursing staff and reassure yourself, get lots of info and you will feel better

best of wishes x

Original poster
zephyrcat · 21/04/2006 11:36

Just re-read my post post and it sounds like I'm expecting a medical diagnosis online! I didn't mean it like that, I'm just a bit ignorant about these kind of things and wondered if anyone had come across anything smiilar. My Mum is going to the hospital after work tonight so I won't find anything out until she gets back, they aren't going to wake her up at all today.

OP posts:
charliecat · 21/04/2006 11:40

Not gall bladder related at all but my elderly friend went a bit funny and he had a clot on his brain and op went fine and he was meant to be recovering then he did the same as your nan, moaning, wouldnt eat, shouting even, and the knocked him out and put him on ventilation.
This went on for about 2 weeks with them trying to bring him back to normal and eventually he was ok.
Hes not the same as before the op, but he alive and glad to be.
HTH a little bit, it was very scary :(

schneebly · 21/04/2006 11:41

I am afraid I dont know about anything medical but just wanted to say that I hope she is okay and am sending a big (((hug)))

edam · 21/04/2006 11:44

So sorry to hear this Zephyrcat. Has your mum spoken to the consultant yet?

Flossam · 21/04/2006 11:49

ZC, don't panic too much. I am sorry you nan is so poorly. This can happen, not uncommon. She could also have a bit of an infection as NP said, or possible the gallbladder might have a leak too. She may or may not need to go back to theartre depending on whether the bleeding or any leak stops of its own accord. If she did have a leak, (a big if BTW) all her bloods would be going a bit haywire. The venitlater and the sedation will be helping her to have a bit of a rest for a day or so. Talk to the drs and try and ascertain what is going in if you can. I hope you have some better news soon and your nan makes a full recovery.
xxx

Flossam · 21/04/2006 11:50

'going on'

Original poster
zephyrcat · 21/04/2006 11:58

Thanks everyone :) I'm not sure if my Mum has had much info yet or if she will find out tonight - she must have been told not to worry as she is at work today and not going until tonight.
To be honest we all thought she was being her usual self with the non-co-operation and shouting as she is quite like that and will take to her bed for a month with a cold!

OP posts:
nailpolish · 21/04/2006 14:36

zeph your nan sounds great, i hope she is ok soon, keep us updated Smile

sparkler1 · 23/04/2006 21:19

How's your nan Z?

Original poster
zephyrcat · 27/04/2006 20:39

Hi - sorry I missed you Sparkler, thank you for asking :) Well it's been a very strange week!! They told my Mum that when they too kher off the ventilator, if she could breathe they would keep her in ICU for 24 hours. Mum rang them the next morning and they said 'Oh she's fine, she's had tea and toast and is going up to the ward'...eh?!?! Anyhow.... she went back to the normal post surgery ward which she promptly cleared out by being obnoxious to everyone, keeping everyone awake etc so all the other patients complained and were moved out!! Next day they put her onto morphine and gave her a pump so she could self administer the doses as and when. She has had a drain in which Mum says has been filled with blood every day until yesterday when she said it was more like bile. Apparently when they took her back to surgery they expected to find that they had nicked her bladder or her bile duct but they hadsn't and said that as far as the keyhole surgery went, it went well. They took her off the morphine yesterday so Mum is going to see how she is tonight. The consultant will not talk to Mum or tell her anything because he needs my Nan's permission first but obviously as she's completely off her face on morphine she can't give consent Angry Luckily my Mum is a medical secretary and has access to the hospital computer so she is able to look up all her test results... she had an x-ray today and it is showing that she has some fluid on both lungs and a 'leak'...seems a little strange that they aren't doing more to find out where the leak is coming from!! So as it stands she is not with it, she thinks that she's been in hospital for 8 weeks, that her Sons are Lords and their wives are Ladies!! She's on a drip, she won't eat or drink, has a catheter, bed sores and is on oxygen.

Mum thinks that she has let her self go so much since my Grandad died in '97 that she hasn't got the will to get better and her body is just giving up :(

OP posts:
Original poster
zephyrcat · 27/04/2006 20:39

Blimey! Sorry that was a bit of an essay!!

OP posts:
Aimsmum · 27/04/2006 20:45

Gosh, zephyrcat, that doesn't sound to good!

I hope you nan picks up soon and your mum get some proper information from someone soon Smile

Wembley · 27/04/2006 20:47

zeph so sorry to hear about your poor nan. Your mum needs to insist on speaking to someone from her team of doctors - they can speak to her they don't need your nan's consent if she is unconcious or not with it. Your poor family must be going through it at the moment. Did she go in with bed sores or are they a new thing? Don't worry too much at the moment about drinking as she is on a drip and this will keep her hydrated, and the descrition of the drain sounds normal. As for the rest you need to speak to someone! I hope she picks up!! :)

hulababy · 27/04/2006 20:58

So sorry you are having to go through all this :( Hope your nan starts to improve soon.

Original poster
zephyrcat · 04/05/2006 12:27

I'm stumped again!! She seemed to be better, they removed the drain/drip/oxygen etc, she was sitting in the chair and talking....not back to normal by a long way, but better. They told my Mum they were working towards getting her home, arranging for a carer to go in 4 times a day etc... this was a few days ago..... i've just emailed my mum and she says she is worse now and is having breathing problems because of a partially collapsed lung but they still don't know why!?!?!

My Nan's doc is ringing the hospital this afternoon so hopefully they might actually tell her something that she can tell my Mum (they work together)

So what are the implications of a callapsed lung??

OP posts:
Original poster
zephyrcat · 04/05/2006 19:14

Apparently now one lung is partially collapsed and the other has some fluid in it. She is back on a drip as she is now dehydrated. The drain is back in as they say that there is a new collection of fluid where they took the gall bladder out...so 'something' is leaking but they don't know what Angry. They keep telling my Mum that they don't know anything - she assumes that they are saying that because there is not a specific thing - just all different things going on. They wouldn't tell her doctor anything either when she rang the hospital [ahock]!!

However, they don't realise that my mum has access to the hospital computer and all her test results etc and she has discovered now that when they took her back for the second surgery to try and find the leak, her body went into shock and filled with fluid. My Nan won't get out of bed or try to get herself mobile so the liquid is not dispersing, making everything a whole lot worse.
My Mum seems to think that it is looking more and more like her body is shutting itself down :(

(Sorry for rambling - I want to try and keep a record of everything that is going on! )

OP posts:
tuppenceworth · 04/05/2006 19:29

zephyrcat - I really feel for you! Four years ago my dad went into hospital for a simple thyroidectomy and he ended up in intensive care on a ventilator following respiratory failure. It was totally unexpected! When my sister and I first walked into ITU we just cried and cried at the sight of our dad on all these machines and worst of all he had a great big safety pin sticking out of his nose to stop a tube from going up it! His fingers and toes had turned blue from the dye they used in the operation and he looked like he'd been making blue icing. He looked bad and wasn't expected to make it through the first night. Four years on he still here, large as life. He came out of ITU three days after going in and he came home four days after that.

It's a hell of a shock when you see someone you love in intensive care, especially when it wasn't expected. All I would say is that she's in the best place and the best hands and I hope she's ok!

Wish there was an emoticon for a big hug!

tuppenceworth · 05/05/2006 23:35

How's your nan doing Zephyrcat?

Original poster
zephyrcat · 06/05/2006 10:13

Hiya Tuppenceworth - thank you for your post, that's really reassuring to hear. It is very scary and also very confusing that something simple could bring on something so serious! I spoke to my Mum last night and she said that she was slightly better again last night as they had drained the fluid off. My Mum printed off her scan results at work and it stated that there was an area of fluid in her pelvic region approx 14.5cms in depth by 11cms in width Shock That's an awful lot of fluid to 'mysteriously' appear?! Anyhow, she was breathing a bit better as that released some of the pressure against her lungs, ut she is still on oxygen 24/7 although she keeps taking it off.
Mum said that she could tell she was feeling better last night night because she was being evil Grin She said to my Mum she'd been in hospital 10 weeks and when mum tried to tell her no she said "DON'T you argue with me!!" Then she told Mum that she had said to one of the young male student nurses "What are you doing? Are you walking around because you are working or are you a wet dish-rag?!" Grin

The scan that showed the fluid also said that it could be either a haemmorage, which would mean it's all blood or have something else in it and the word was something to do with blood poisoning but have forgotten it!
Mum thinks it may be bile but surely that is really not good as bile is an acid??

OP posts:
Original poster
zephyrcat · 06/05/2006 10:14

Does anyone know of a good medical site where I can look some of this stuff up?

OP posts:
biglips · 06/05/2006 10:16

oh no...im soooo sorry to hear about your Nan xxx Sad

NotAnOtter · 06/05/2006 10:20

Z sorry for what you are going through...my gradpa sadly died in January after a very short inllness - i demanded to know what was wrong/being done etc etc. Who is your Nanas next of kin - surely if she is not fully compos mentis (sp)they must have to tell some one??I just kept ringing and hassling and i must say the staff were great and kept me well informed. Good luck i hope you get some answers and that she gets well soon!