surgery - update - he's in a stupor???

sallyjoy

Hi guys, Thanks for all your encouragementover our good surgery news. Althought the dsurgery seems to have gone well, hubby does not know what is going on, its like hes still trying to come out of the anesthesia. forgets stuff, pulls O2 off, takes clothes off, trys to get out of bed without help. they have a 24 hr nurse by his bedside . I thought he'd be more aware today, but its not any different than yesterday... he thinks hes going swimming today, etc... Dr says maybe he had a small stroke or its the anesthesia. I was planning on going home today or tomorrow, now I dont know what I am doing. I cant leave him like this and the boys start school on Monday. Guess I'll have to wait and see what the dr orders today. Please keep us in your prayers and thanks for being there for us.
God Bless....
Sally Jo

kangatoo

Sally Jo--in my post to your recent post I mention about my reaction to anaesthetic. I hope I am right as the doctors are also suggesting and that a small stroke is not the cause.
I had an epidural which only partially worked, had a great deal of trouble with pain control and the morphine. Jen said that I too hallucinated and even at times did not know she was there. Much of it is a blurr to me but I do remember some parts of it. On the early hours of a sunday morning(4th day after surgery) I was lucid enough to realise that the morphine was causing a lot of my problems--I actually begged the nurses to take me off it and try another painkiller. Up to that time Jen and all my visitors were very concerned that I was in trouble.Within 12 hours of coming off morphine I made a dramatic recovery--so inproved was I that I was able to go home on the tuesday. Jen and my surgeon were absolutely astounded at my recovery!--all in the space of 48 hours.
Now , I am not saying this is the case with your hubby --but anaesthetics can cause some very strange reactions. Hopefully that is what is happening to your hubby--we pray that it is nothing serious. Do understand Sally Jo that this surgery is as major as open heart surgery--it takes a long time for the body to recover.
How far is home?
You must also take care of your family and yourself. I actually sent Jen home(70 miles away)-I insisted on it-well--asked the nurses to tell her so. She was neglecting herself and needed time to recoup--she went for the weekend then came back. There were plenty of other friends who looked in on me and kept her updated.Your hubby will understand if you need to be elsewhere--AND--he is in good hands Sally.
All our luv--kanga n Jen

Kanort

Hi Sally Jo,

I'm so grateful the surgery went well and will be praying that all of this confustion is anesthesia related.

Please keep us posted.

Thinking of you and your family.

Kay

steved

Congrats on the good news but it does sound like you are having a rough time just now. I had my op a month ago and my wife has only recently really talked about how wierd I was for the week after- not really with it and like I had had a changeof personality. Was just part of recovery for me and was made worse by teh the high dosesof morphine.
After a major op there is ahuge number of things taht can causea confusion like your husbands- a small stroke being only one. Changes in his blood chemistry, low blood count due to blood loss in surgery, small infections and the drugs are just some of the others. There is a good chance it will pass fairly quickly with time but it is just a matter of being patient and doing your best to cope with how stressful it all is. We'll be thinking of ouy and do let us know how things progress,
best of luck, steve.

Unknown

Sallyjoy, I'm so glad that the surgery went well and I will continue to pray that the days ahead get better. My Bert did not react to well to morphin....while not delusional, he was somewhat in a stupdor, couldn't think straight, felt terrible, couldn't even get up when they wanted him to get up. They cut the morphine and he was on a roll. Keep us posted, okay.

Hugs,
Monika & Bert

sallyjoy

kangatoo said:

Sally Jo--in my post to your recent post I mention about my reaction to anaesthetic. I hope I am right as the doctors are also suggesting and that a small stroke is not the cause.
I had an epidural which only partially worked, had a great deal of trouble with pain control and the morphine. Jen said that I too hallucinated and even at times did not know she was there. Much of it is a blurr to me but I do remember some parts of it. On the early hours of a sunday morning(4th day after surgery) I was lucid enough to realise that the morphine was causing a lot of my problems--I actually begged the nurses to take me off it and try another painkiller. Up to that time Jen and all my visitors were very concerned that I was in trouble.Within 12 hours of coming off morphine I made a dramatic recovery--so inproved was I that I was able to go home on the tuesday. Jen and my surgeon were absolutely astounded at my recovery!--all in the space of 48 hours.
Now , I am not saying this is the case with your hubby --but anaesthetics can cause some very strange reactions. Hopefully that is what is happening to your hubby--we pray that it is nothing serious. Do understand Sally Jo that this surgery is as major as open heart surgery--it takes a long time for the body to recover.
How far is home?
You must also take care of your family and yourself. I actually sent Jen home(70 miles away)-I insisted on it-well--asked the nurses to tell her so. She was neglecting herself and needed time to recoup--she went for the weekend then came back. There were plenty of other friends who looked in on me and kept her updated.Your hubby will understand if you need to be elsewhere--AND--he is in good hands Sally.
All our luv--kanga n Jen

Thanks guys, for being here for me... I am getting pretty tired and may go try to get a nap and come back. I have a rentaal house a block away. Hubby is much the same...They did take him off the pain meds to see if thats the problem, Dr seems stumped... He was not on morphine, but some duragesic patch and same med in IVs, so hopefully he'll start to come around. He is supposed to be up wallking and deep breathing and he wont/cant do either... There is very little sound in his right lung and he has a slight fever, so now they are worrying him about pneumonia and he just drifts back off to sleep. He gets mad if I try to get him up or to use the breathing machine.... I have to go home soon as school starts for the boys in a few days. He was supposed to be released tomorrow or Sat. which i cant possibly fathom.. hes to start solid food tomorrow, but he hasnt even had more than a few sips of soda and icce chips so far. This is just another bump in the road, I know, but I am just really tired and need some rest. I just dont want him getting pnuemonia! Ah well... I guess we'll have some laughs after he comes out of this stupor, but for now we'll just have to keep praying. Thanks for letting me vent guys I'll keep you posted...
Sally Jo

jsabol

Hi Sally Jo,
I'm so sorry to hear about the post op complications. We just had an extremely similar experience with my sister when she underwent an emergency laporoscopic appendectomy last month. Technically, she could have been discharged the next day, but she was in a "post-op delirium" for the next 5 days. She is in Wisconsin, and I am in Boston, so there were many urgent calls back and forth from her MD's and friends to me. She was just out of it, thougt it was 1994, slurred speech, swearing, combative and uncooperative behavior, leaning to one side when she tried to stand, couldn't find her mouth with her toothbrush. Pulled out 3 NG tubes, 2 IV's. When I heard that she was in wrist restraints, I nearly lost it. She was worked up for a stroke, with negative findings, and they stopped all narcotic pain meds (luckily, pain was not a major problem) Finally, the neurologist gave her a few small doses of Haldol...a powerful anti-psychotic med, and she cleared very quickly. Don't know if anyone has suggested that option. It was very scary at the time, since it seemed that her problems were already caused by the meds, and adding more and very potent ones felt counterintuitive. Good news is that she is really fine now, still a little shook up by what she recalls of the situation, but back on track with no apparant residual bad effects. It was a very long five days; be sure you are taking care of yourself in the meantime. Thinking of you both. Judy

carmen07

sallyjoy said:

Thanks guys, for being here for me... I am getting pretty tired and may go try to get a nap and come back. I have a rentaal house a block away. Hubby is much the same...They did take him off the pain meds to see if thats the problem, Dr seems stumped... He was not on morphine, but some duragesic patch and same med in IVs, so hopefully he'll start to come around. He is supposed to be up wallking and deep breathing and he wont/cant do either... There is very little sound in his right lung and he has a slight fever, so now they are worrying him about pneumonia and he just drifts back off to sleep. He gets mad if I try to get him up or to use the breathing machine.... I have to go home soon as school starts for the boys in a few days. He was supposed to be released tomorrow or Sat. which i cant possibly fathom.. hes to start solid food tomorrow, but he hasnt even had more than a few sips of soda and icce chips so far. This is just another bump in the road, I know, but I am just really tired and need some rest. I just dont want him getting pnuemonia! Ah well... I guess we'll have some laughs after he comes out of this stupor, but for now we'll just have to keep praying. Thanks for letting me vent guys I'll keep you posted...
Sally Jo

Sally
Sorry to hear about Hubby stupor. Hopefully just the anesthesia and not mild stroke. Hubby did get dehydrated in hospital. He slept most of the time. they started him on foods third day also, but he was real out of it. Started to see improvement on that Friday after his Tuesday surgery. Was shocked when they told him he was going home on Sunday and frightened because he was so weak. But I have to say that he recovered much better at home.
Keep us posted and I pray that he will come out of his stupor soon. Hopefully you can get him to walk tomorrow.
Try to get some rest.

belinda25

Hey Sally Jo,

Hopefully hubbys reaction is the anesthesia and it will pass over time. Just remember that there are good people looking after him so try to stay strong and look after yourself and your boys too.

I will be praying for you that this is just a small bump in the road and before you know it your hubby can go home with you!

Belinda

cindybob

Dear Sally,
I sure hope that things are better now. My surgery was a year ago, the week the kids started school (And I'm a teacher.) Anyway, just hearing how stressed you are with getting your kids to school and taking care of your husband makes me feel so many things, (grateful, sad, happy, everything.) I hope that your husband's mind comes back to you soon. I had a great experience with an epidural until they decided to go to pain meds instead. It was miserable and I was so sick. I was crazy. I don't remember much at all, but the stories are wild. I do know that it took my mind much longer to come back to me than I anticipated. Anyway, I'm praying for you and your family. Hang in there.
Just having been in your hubby's shoes makes me feel so grateful to you. My husband also took great care of me. Friends came to babysit me when he had to go home to take the kids to school.
I do remember the breathing treatments being SO hard to do. But I'm pretty sure I did them. I will pray that there is no pneumonia.

Cindybob