Mrs. C.

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Lynda 20 years, 11 months ago

Hi Mrs. C, I remember talking with you in the chat room the night b4 your surgery and wondering how you are doing? Sorry to hear you had difficulties after the surgery. I look forward to seeing an update from you soon. I had my surgery on the 12th, so I was following you especially.

Tracy_Jo 21 years ago

Hey Mrs. C! Just wanted to say I was thinking of you and you are in my prayers for a speedy recovery. Hopefully your road to health will be paved with peace and joy. Yours in health, Tracy :0)

christied 21 years ago

Hey, girl! I know this is a little belated, but I wanted to let you know I"m thinking of you. Sounds like you had a rather "expletive-deleted" bad time of it. I'm glad all is going better for you now and can't wait to hear your giggly voice in chat again:)Keep your chin up. I know if anyone can handle the pressure (haha, I know)it's you! Christie

ALLYSON C. 21 years ago

BRANDI, IM SO GLAD YOUR HOME AND FEELING BETTER!! GLAD YOU COULD FINALLY PASS GAS!! YOUR HUBBY DID A GREAT JOB ON THE LAST UPDATE. DONT FORGET TO WALK WALK WALK. HOPE TO SEE YOU IN CHAT SOON. ALLY327

Judy N. 21 years ago

Wow!! All I can say Brandi is that you don't do anything half heartedly!! Guess you were gonna get your money's worth!! Seriously, I'm glad you're on the mend and that all seems to be working out. I'm so sorry you had to go through all the ordeals but glad to hear you're a hero in your hubby's eyes. Take it easy and rest while you can. Cankles

Cindy in NY! 21 years ago

WoooooooooooHooooooooooo Brandi!!! So glad you are home and are feeling better! You've been through a lot and I pray that your recovery is very swift! Welcome to the looking side! *big gentle hugz* Cindy in NY!

Ms. Ang 21 years ago

I received an email from Mrs. C's husband,Randy. His email says its all. Enjoy! Hi all, This is to let you know that after a really rocky weekend Brandi was released from the Hospital early this evening. She is home now and resting well. Thank you all from Brandi for the well wishes. For all of you who were previously unaware this supposedly simple 3 day deal turned out to be a real ordeal for poor Brandi. First of all, the evening after the operation Brandi began to experience severe gas pain in her lower abdomen and she was yet unable to expel it. The hospital staff tried multiple medications but all were unsuccessful. Brandi had a very long and painful night and to make matters worse the on call doctor (not Dr. Vierra) was not being very cooperative (or compassionate for that matter, but that is a different subject altogether) and allowed only token treatments for the gas pain, which did not help at all. The next morning Dr. Vierra came in and found out what Brandi had been going through. To say he was a little concerned is like saying the Grand Canyon is just a hole in the ground. If there is one thing Brandi, or I for that matter, did not want to see it was a concerned look on Dr. Vierra's face. After a battery of x-rays Dr. Vierra determined that there were no visible problems and that he suspected Brandi was swallowing air excessively. Here is a quick medical fact for you all, the average human swallows a teaspoon of air every time he/she swallows. If you are wondering why I added that, it is because as I previously mentioned Brandi was doing this excessively and as a result of her no longer having a normal sized stomach and her bowels not moving her upper intestines began to accumulate gas. And because the gas was not being pushed out, her upper intestines began to dilate, expand, and slowly excrete the gas into her abdominal cavity causing the severe gas pain. Now the excessive swallowing was not entirely Brandi's fault. You see Brandi was not allowed to consume any water for eight hours after the surgery. Whenever her mouth got dry (which was often as you might imagine) she would swallow, and because it was hard for her to swallow with a dry throat she would swallow big gulps. So you can see how this got to be a problem. Dr. Vierra's initial treatment was to have Brandi walk her butt off in an attempt to break up the gas in her body and hopefully stimulate her bowels to move it along. Unfortunately this did not prove successful. Dr. Vierra felt he had no choice but to do a laproscopic exploration into her body to find out if there was something wrong that did not show up in the x-rays . So once again Brandi was taken to the OR and a very stressed out family sat in the waiting room, again. An hour later Dr. Vierra came in with news that everything had gone well, but he was unable to find any problems at all. As a result Brandi had an NG tube inserted. Here is another medical fact for you, NG stands for nasal/gastirc and is a 1/4 inch flexible plastic tube which is inserted into the nose, fed through the nasal cavity, pushed down the esophagus, and down into the stomach. The tube that is outside the body is connected to a pump which pulls any substance out of the stomach (liquid or gas). This was done to allow Brandi's upper intestines to catch up on it's neglected gas removal duties. The description of the NG tube alone is painful, but this can only pale in comparison to the actual experience that poor Brandi had to go through with this (the look of pain on her face alone made me want to break down and cry). To try and equate this pain I give you a quote from Brandi "I would rather go through child birth ten times than have another NG tube put in". Brandi had yet another long and painful night. On Sunday morning (not a very happy Mother's Day :-( ) Dr. Vierra came in to check on Brandi. She had traded gas pain for the NG tube (don't ask me if it was fair trade). He ordered another series of x-rays which showed that her upper intestines had indeed contracted to a normal size. He attempted to give Brandi some medications for her NG tube but nothing helped. I think out of compassion alone Dr. Vierra decided to take out the NG tube and risked Brandi having another go at letting her body handle the gas. Brandi was ordered to stop consuming anything and to walk her butt off again. This by itself was not a problem. The problem was that CHOMP's staff is apparently very literal when following Dr.'s orders. Dr. Vierra had ordered Brandi to receive Zantac and antibiotics via IV, have her catheter removed, then she was to go-a-walking. Dr. Vierra wrote that in that order. The hospital staff followed that, in - that - order! Here's the problem; given that is was Sunday and there was minimal staff available in the hospital pharmacy, the medications Brandi was to receive took a total of six hours to complete. Brandi was unable to get up and walk until nearly 3 PM, and by that time she was exhausted and was feeling gas pains again. To say Brandi was upset is an understatement, in fact to say Brandi was utterly p'd off would still be an understatement. But with the threat of another NG tube looming over her head she pulled off a feat and did some laps around her wing (I will tell you this is the most magnificent woman I have ever seen). By Sunday evening Brandi was still not passing gas and things started to look bleak. To make matters worse Brandi's parents, who had been watching Kaden during all of this, had to be at work the next day so I had to leave Brandi and head back home to take care of him (oh if I hadn't mentioned before, during all of this I had been camping out in Brandi's room so that she would not have to be alone). Fortunately Jeff volunteered to stay behind and keep Brandi company. Still I felt far from at ease being over 30 miles away from Brandi but what else could I do? I tell you that was long night for me. Monday morning I received a call from Brandi. During the night Brandi had started to pass gas. Yea!!! You never saw a happier (or is it demented) group of people so thrilled by the fact the someone could fart. Dr. Vierra saw Brandi that morning and ordered her to start consuming clear liquids, broth and jello. By that afternoon Brandi was doing exceptionally well. At about 4:30 PM Dr. Vierra checked up on Brandi and was convinced that she had made a real turn around and authorized her release. Well that brings us up to date. As I said, Brandi is doing well. She is eating (is that the right term?) her broth and drinking her water and oddly enough seems very satisfied with it all. As usual Brandi hates not being able to things for her self and is already getting a little edgy but I am sure this will only serve to speed up her recovery. I apologize for the preceding novelette but I think it is important that you know what went on so you can appreciate how much she had to go through for this, but if her diabetes and her kidney problems go away or at least get better than they are now, it will be worth it. Brandi had a very trying ordeal and I think she deserves a medal for how she handled it. Where a lesser person would have given up, Brandi, as usual, persevered and saw her way through. Again, Brandi thanks you all for the well wishes, she dearly appreciated and needed it. Randy Casey

Elaine G. 21 years ago

I just wanted to say congratulations on your surgery. we all hope that you have a quick and wonderful recovery because from here on out you have a wonderful thinner happier more healthy life ahead of you. And the rest of this journey is going to be an experience. Hopefully the best experience of your life. You are going to take steps from now until forever that will be such a huge difference(and a whole lot lighter) God bless you. Hope to see you in the chat room shortly

Amanda G. 21 years ago

My thoughts and prayers are with you. Congrats and hope to see you soon in the chatroom. Amanda (AZ)

Lisa H. 21 years ago

Hey girl hope all is well, I am mailing you a card and pic's, on monday. hurry and get better, and back in the room I miss you! Love Lisa