Complications.... What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

                  I am just dropping a line... It's been a while since I've updated. Mainly because this month I have spend 15 days in the hospital. I got my sleeve on April 1st... I was in the hospital for 5 days and when I came home I took it easy for a few days, and when I got back to my old life, I thought I felt better. Well, I went to my PCP on Wednesday, April 10th, just for a a followup and I wanted her to check my lungs. I was struggling to breathe slightly. She listened to my lungs and said they sounded clear. I was thrilled and relieved. But I kept feeling worse and worse.                                                                                                                                                                                    On Saturday, April 13th... Breathing hurt so much and I couldn't sleep or get comfortable. I sat on the edge of my bed for hours. On Sunday, I realized I couldn't wait anymore and I called my surgeon's on-call... They told me to rush to the ER. I went to the ER at the hospital I had my surgeries. Within a short time, a chest Xray and a CT Scan were done... and they found that my spleen cavity was filled with fluid and my left lung was surrounded inside and out with fluid... making it almost collapse completely. The pain I was feeling was because of a severe infection and being forced to breathe with only one lung. I was admitted and put on IV anti-biotics every 6 hours. I was on painkillers around the clock too. On Monday,  I got a chest tube inserted through my ribs into my chest and over 2 liters of fluid drained immediately in the Procedure room which was so painful they had to shoot my full on Fentenal.(not sure of spelling)...just so I could move back onto the stretcher. It was awful! On Tuesday, I got a tube put through my ribs into my spleen cavity(The place where my spleen used to live) They removed a ton of puss since that was where the infection started. 

                Over the new week, I tried to recover... I had daily blood tests to check my white blood cell count, daily chest xrays( which they came to my room to do, Nice!), I got a blood clot in my left leg and they ultrasounded that right in my room too... I started feeling stronger everyday. But the Infectious Disease dept came to see me after testing cultures from my infection. They said that the infection was a rare strep bacteria which was resistant to the IV Anti-biotics. So they spoke to the CDC and started me on another Anti-biotic regiment which I am still on. They still may call me if these anti-biotics don't work on the cultures in the lab.

               It can take 4-6 weeks for my left lung to complete bounce back and re-inflate.... so I am taking it easy and doing breathing exercises every hour. I do love my sleeve so far though! No Regrets!