Re: I've got an ulcer (they don't think it is CAUSED by my WLS, though)

[Guest guest]

Boy Sandi, I sure am sorry about your situation.

Please be very careful and follow the doctor's orders

as you stated that you would. Keep us posted as I am

concerned about you and your health as well as what to

do to avoid or try to avoid getting ulcers of any

type. I hope you feel better and get some rest.

Pam Marsh

--- " Sandi H. " sandiantoytrain@...> wrote:

> I've kind of been out of touch from the computer for

> a few days.

> And here's why:

>

> Sunday morning, I fainted. I was sitting on the edge

> of my bed and

> fell forward and hit my face on the TV tray (I keep

> next to the bed)

> and cut my lip and bruised my forehead and knocked

> my glasses out of

> adjustment (not breaking them, though). My husband

> was right there

> when I fell, and he tells me I was only out for less

> than a minute;

> he didn't even have time to call 9-1-1. (But this

> really scared the

> sh**t out of him!)

>

> After recovering, I went downstairs and ate a little

> food (protein

> drink), thinking it might be low blood sugar, but I

> still stayed so

> weak that I ended up going to the emergency room.

> They found I had

> a low blood count and I had been passing blood in my

> stool. (I

> didn't take it seriously when I saw I had a BM with

> black stool on

> Saturday, I thought it was just a reaction to some

> very spicy food I

> had eaten earlier in the week.)

>

> They admitted me to the hospital, and because of the

> low blood count

> they gave me 2 units of blood Sunday night. Monday

> afternoon they

> did an upper endoscope and found I have an " acute

> duodenal ulcer

> bleed " . I was given two types of medicine (Prilosec

> & Carafate) to

> help heal and avoid future ulcer problems. I stayed

> in the hospital

> one more night (on that darn hard hospital bed with

> an IV needle

> sticking in my arm, it was hard to get comfortable

> enough to sleep

> through the night).

>

> The gastroenterologist told me that the ulcer is

> located just past

> my pouch in my small intestine. (He assured me that

> he's done lots

> of these endoscopes to gastric bypass patients.) He

> suspects that

> there might be some bacteria there that caused the

> ulcer, he took a

> biopsy sample, but I won't have the result of that

> for a week. He

> didn't think it was caused by stress or spicy foods,

> though.

>

> I got to go home this morning (Tuesday), the doctor

> actually said I

> could go back to work tomorrow, but I think I need

> to be sure, so

> the doctor gave me a release from work for tomorrow

> too, and if I

> feel good enough, I expect to return to work on

> Thursday.

>

> Now that I'm home with the discharge instructions

> (you know what I

> need to do for myself now that I'm out of the

> hospital) I got to

> figure out a schedule for the medicines (that I need

> to take on an

> empty stomach) and my meals & vitamins. It's much

> more restrictive

> than before, and because I don't want to mess up on

> these meds (I

> really do NOT want this ulcer), well, it really

> keeps me on my

> eating plan. NO eating between meals on this plan!

> That's a good

> thing, I guess (LOL). Also, because they only fed

> me clear liquids,

> I might have lost a few pounds this week. Another

> good thing!

>

> Tomorrow I want to try to get back on my exercise

> schedule. I hope

> my husband feels comfortable enough for me to go

> back to the gym

> tomorrow, he's a little protective of me. As I said

> before, seeing

> me faint really scared him! After all, he thought

> this WLS surgery

> I had almost 14 months ago was really going to

> improve my health,

> and it did, overall, but neither of us expected me

> to develop an

> ulcer, and a bleeding one, at that!

>

> I need to go back to my PCP (primary care physician)

> next Tuesday

> for further follow-up, and to find out the results

> of the biopsy.

>

> I know this " note " is a little long, but hey, I do

> tend to tell lots

> of detail (make that ramble).

>

> Oh, yeah, tomorrow I really need to get my glasses

> re-adjusted. I

> did kind of smash them a little, and they're really

> out of

> adjustment. I've been using my old glasses, but

> they're not quite

> as good a prescription as the ones I smashed.

>

> --Sandi H. (Citrus Heights)

> Surgery by Dr. Leo (San Diego)

> weighed 315 at orientation (May '03) -- BMI 60

> 252 at surgery (06/03/04) --BMI 46.1

> last weighed at 177.5 (07/16/05) --BMI 33.1

> (I've lost a total of 137.5 pounds!!!! 74.5 pounds

> since surgery.)

> I'm 5'1 " tall.

>

>

>

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