Surgery gone wrong

March 18th I went in to have my endometriosis removed via laparoscopy. My doctor was going to make two small incisions for robot arms to get in there and take care of it. First he had to put a trocar in . A trocar is a tube for a camera. It has a sheath with a sharp end that penetrates the skin and linings of the body, then they pull it out and leave a tube in you so they can get cameras and other tools in there. Unfortunately the trocar was not getting through so the doctor got a longer one. This trocar penetrated but hit my iliac artery in the process. I began to bleed internally without anyone knowing. My vitals then dropped and they noticed the blood. The stopped, cut me open and found it. They waited an hour for a vascular surgeon. I'll spare you most of the gore, you can see some of it below though, and tell the main points. My artery is healed, I have a huge scar. I spent a week in the hospital with 2 days in ICU. It was very unexpected and scary. I can't imagine how my mom and husband felt when a nurse had to tell them they were fighting to save my life because of the accident. I feel very blessed that they could fix me up, that I had such wonderful people to help care for me and pray for me and that I am now well enough to go back to work. What a crazy, unpredictable world we live in.

Check out that triple chin!! So during the surgery they filled me with 4 units of blood and like 12 pounds of fluid. Oh and if you look at my arm you can see that they restrained me. They were afraid I would pull at my tubes and such. To be honest, I think I would have. I definitely wanted to pull that thing out of my mouth and the three IV's they had in me.

Here is a picture of the lovely tube down my throat. What a way to wake up. Brent says I really didn't react, but I remember gagging, panicking and thrashing around. It's hard to do that when you're still loaded up with drugs but thats how I remember it. Well after being scared out of my mind and not feeling like I could breath, Brent told me where I was and I fell back asleep. The second time I woke up I was more prepared and by the third time I got the hang of breathing and the fourth time I actually wrote down some questions and had conversations that way. Eventually they turned off my breathing machine and removed the tube. It didn't feel that great but I had worse as the days went on. By the way, can you see how huge my stomach is in this picture. Oh my goodness!

Ok, see those small red tubes?? Those are coming out of my stomach and draining blood and other fluids from my body. Those tiny holes are what I was originally supposed to leave the hospital with. Two tiny holes!!! instead I have these 48 staples and 2 drains. I got one drain taken out when I left the hospital. A doctor came and slowly pulled it out. I didn't feel a thing but i was nervous so I called my nurse, Strawberry, in to be with me for moral support. The doctor sewed up the hole without numbing me first. She was shoving that needle around and then she was yanking that string tight. I swear she lifted my body up off the bed she was pulling so hard. I was sweating and hurting. I never want to do that again. The second drain came out a week later so it had been in there for two weeks. The whole was crusty, pussy and scabby and the drain was clogged and barely draining. The doctor asked me to cough and she yanked it out but I couldn't and once again I almost flew off the table. It hurt so bad. Even now, 5 weeks later that part of my body gives me trouble.

Here is my tiny looking, yet huge IV hole. In the ICU I told my nurse that my neck was sore. He responded by telling me I had an IV there. Way to gross me out. Good thing I was drained off all emotions in the hospital. No freaking out or crying happened till my last day and when I returned home. The hole was as big around as a pencil and I now have a scar on my neck. I hope it eventually fades.

Here I am trying to wash my hair. Spending a week without washing would have been horrible. This is probably day 3 or 4 without clean hair, or body. Gross! My mother-in-law helped me this time. My friend Sharee helped me another. This stuff did not leave me feeling clean and fresh though. My aunt Kendra finally helped me wash with real soap. We used my water pitcher and a bucket and I sat in my bed and leaned forward. It actually worked out well and I finally had clean hair.