On May 14th, 1999, exactly one year after my update story, I was working on my wife's car after eating a cheese steak.
It's now about 7pm. After doing more tinkering under the car things began to go wrong. I began to feel some abdominal muscle strain so I stopped working for a moment. Began again after a 5 minute rest. Got the job done but did not feel very good. I had a small pain just under the last rib on my left side.
The actual pain started around 7:30 PM on May 14th. By the time I got back into the house around 8pm, I knew I did something wrong. I took 2 Excedrin, no help after 15 minutes. I took 2 Axid, and again no help after about 15 minutes. I went to rest but could not find a comfortable position. The pain was getting worse. It's about 8:30 now and I am thinking of calling the doctor but decide to give the medicine a chance. By 9pm the pain had doubled and my wife urged me to call the doctors office. I agreed and called the office at 9:05pm. The office was closed but there was someone there to take information and would have a doctor call back. I waited till 9:25 but no call. I decided to head to the emergency room. Good thing too, as you will see later on.
Once at the ER, I went through the usual ER sign in junk and sat down. When called for first examination , I stood and went into the nurses office. She new I was in some severe pain and after a few quick questions, took me directly into the ER.
It is now about 10PM, Friday night, and I am being x-rayed and examined. First of 8 morphine shots was given around 10:15PM. The x-rays were confusing to the ER staff. Nothing seemed to be in its correct position. What they did see was an apparent herniated stomach through the diaphragm that extended up and behind my left lung. The pain continued to get worse as time went on. More x-rays were taken and the 2nd of 8 morphine shots was given.
The one year resident decided to call in some help. He called in an associate of the surgeon that did my original Fundoplication. They were concerned about my chest and Colon. What I did not know at the time was that they were preparing for a Colostomy and the possibility of having to open my chest cavity.
By 2AM Saturday morning, I had received 8 shots of morphine and was nearly floating to the OR :) . I was moved to the operating table and within about 2 seconds, I was out cold.
The surgeon was concerned about losing the stomach. More than 1/2 of my stomach had perforated through my diaphragm and was sitting behind my left lung. The stomach was strangulated and black, due to lack of blood flow. Six to 7 hours is about all the stomach can handle, in this state, before permanent damage occurs. The surgeon enlarged the hole in the diaphragm and pulled the stomach back through. Expecting the worst, he called his associate, my original Fundoplication surgeon, and asked him to assist in the removal of part of my stomach.
By the time he arrived, about 40 minutes, the stomach pinked up. It looked okay. They stitched the hole in my diaphragm . They stitched their way out of my stomach cavity and stapled me shut with 21 staples. By 4:15 AM, I was in recovery.
I spent 2 days in ICU and 3.5 days in a semi-private room. This time, unlike last time, I felt the nurses were more in touch with me and the procedure I had just went through. The care was excellent, however, the nurses were absolutely brutal when it came to IV's. My arms are black and blue from elbow to wrist. My right wrist has a swollen vein and hurts like hell. Four days after leaving the hospital, I developed 3 lumps, infected nodes, in my left armpit. My doctor tells me it is from the IV's. An Antibiotic and warm compresses for 2 weeks should take care of everything except all the arm hair that was pulled out by the roots. My hands were completely hairless as a result of their actions.
I am probably one of very few people that had the equivalent of the Laproscopic and the Open Fundoplication. The only thing different this time was I did not have swallowing problems.
I am going back to work on June 7. That's 3 weeks and 3 days after surgery. Everything seems to be working and healing just great. I have recovered very quickly. I am still 14 pounds under my pre surgery weight but that is okay with me. I am not losing any more weight like I did when I first left the hospital. The wrap took a beating but they said it looked just fine. They said I may feel some burning sensations until the wrap settles down again. This is similar sensation to what happened in my update story of 5/14/98.
Well, here's the theory. Recall that I cannot burp and that my stomach has been bloating up every day since the Fundoplication 4 years ago. Every day was the same. I get up in the morning and the stomach is flat. As I eat meals during the day, that stomach fills with air and food causing it to expand. This expansion actually made me look like a swallowed a basketball when I would turn sideways. My doctor believes that over the past 4 years, this constant bloating has been putting continual pressure on the bottom of my diaphragm causing it to develop a weak spot. This weak spot burst when I was working on the car, after eating dinner.
For now, I am eating much smaller meals but eating many more meals. Prior bloating was about 3 1/2 inches over the day. By eating smaller meals the expansion has dropped to 2 1/2 inches and I can feel the difference. I will also be looking into foods and how they relate to each other. I am told that certain foods help other foods digest faster while others simply take forever to digest. Faster digestion would help me out considerable.
Well, 6 weeks after surgery and things are fine. I have been back to work for 3 weeks now. I started with 4 hours, than 5 and now 6 hours at work. Next week I hope to get back to full time.
I've also been working out on the treadmill and the cyclone. Haven't went back to the weights yet.
I've been to a dietitian. Unless I went to a totally out of touch facility, it was a waste of time and money. They told me I was currently doing all that I could do. They new nothing about foods helping other foods digest or what foods to eat at certain times of the day. They mentioned to stay away from foods that produce gas and don't eat fast. NO KIDDING!
Most of the post surgery aches and pains are gone except for the occasional one that shows up here and there.
I hope this is all over now, the doctor assured me that after his repair of my diaphragm, it will not happen again...
It is now 16 weeks after surgery and something new has happened. For some reason, sneezing has become a painful problem. Feels like a knife is cutting me open (horizontally) about an inch below the breastbone. Doctors office on Wednesday (9/8/99). The scar is still mildly sensitive but healing very well. Occasionally, eating is still an uncomfortable pleasure.
I haven't started working out with weights yet but I am looking forward to starting again soon.
Well, it looks like the weights have to wait. It appears that I now have what is know as an incisional hernia. It is about 1 inch above the naval and slightly to the right. It is very small but hurts like hell since everybody has been pushing on it lately. I guess I have another visit to the surgeon in the near future. I want to say it started with a sneeze and it may have but I don't know and neither does the doctors. Naturally, my wife thinks differently but the doctors won't back her up. She thinks I've just been over working myself. (Taking a moment here, hmmmm!) Nope, I don't remember doing anything that caused pain there, just a sneeze. Really!!
I can't image this being anything worse that what I have had already so I am guessing it should be a "Walk In The Rain", Right?!?
Like the song says, "Never Ending Story"...
Note: If you read my story dated May 14 1998, the answer is that on May 14 1998, when I coughed, I began the process that would eventually lead to the torn diaphragm. The damage is what was causing the shoulder pain because from the day I left the hospital, the shoulder pain has not returned. Well, that is until the incisional hernia appeared. The shoulder pain is back but an upper GI did not reveal any diaphragm damage this time. Hopefully, it is all being caused by the hernia. Looking forward to getting it repaired.
Well, I had the surgery on Oct. 6, 1999. I was expecting a small incision to repair the hernia but was surprised to see that the incision started about 2 1/2 inches above the naval and curved 1/4 way around the naval.
I was told yesterday at my one week checkup that it was observed that I had the possibility of 2 more incisional hernias.
Mesh was put in place from the naval to about 4 inches up. It's about 2 inches wide and sutured in place.
(Post hernia surgery) The jury is still out on the shoulder issue. I still feel something there. Could be caused by the swelling after the surgery. I hope it goes away.