Please HELP! 7 days post op

Support
1

Okay guys, I really need your help! well atleast those of you who have had surgery..

I had surgery the 17th, my family was told everything went JUST fine, and in recovery and ICU they had me on a morphine drip which aslmost killed me.. I apparently DON"T do morphine.. My heart rate kept dropping to the 40's and it made my apnea SUPER bad.. My blood oxygen levels dropped to the 70's frequantly. I stopped breathing SEVERAL times and hour. I would wake up after a certain amount of time and my head would feel like thunder and lightning and then I would fall back asleep only to stop breathing again and the same thing... I told the DR and the nurses and they just said "hmmmm" anyways, my sister and husband took turns the first 2 nights staying UP ALL NIGHT LONG so they could shake me and tell me to to breath.. Finally, a fabulous nurse named Jaimie started her shift and I told her the same things I had told the others and she looked at the chart and the morphine drip thing and said you've had 30mgs of morphine in 1 hour" and took me off it immediately.. Once I got all the morphine out of my system, I started to feel better. I was released on Friday around NOON time and at the time I felt pretty darn good considering the circumstances.. I was taking the SAME and ONLY the same meds there that I am taking now... BUT I feel like crap!!!!!!!!! and it's getting worse by the day. I'm extremely light headed, and I have been having "kaleidoscope" vision in my left eye off and on and the worst part is the HEADACHE! I can only lay FLAT with NO pillow and now movement and not talking and not NOTHING in order to feel decent.. If I do anything like talk stand up sit up my head just kills me despite being MAXED out on my pain meds all the time.. I take them religiously, and they only barely take the edge off. I called and they told me this is NORMAL.

IS THIS NORMAL???????

I fell worse now then I did when I left the hospital Friday, how can it be normal..

Please help me out here guys!

2

Ohh Luv, I wish I could give you the answers, I havent had the surgery, so I cant say, but it sure doesnt sound normal to me. How can it be if you are in that much discomfort and pain? But then again, you did just have BRAIN SURGERY, and things may take a while to get back to normal.....your body has to adjust to the new blood and cerebal fluid actually flowing properly....Im just kinda quoting what I have read....hugggggs, I hope you feel better soon hon

T

3

I had surgery in 2008. Yes, some of this is normal. I can't stress enough that you need to rest, rest, rest, and rest some more! You should be doing NOTHING at this point but sleeping, eating, and sitting around. When I had trouble with my eyesight, my doctors told me to not watch alot of TV and not to try reading. You need to give your eyes a rest. I don't want to scare you, but when I got no relief except laying flat with no pillow, I had a CSF leak. Are you nauseated and vomiting too? If you're not, you are probably just experiencing the results of the surgery. Maybe your head laying flat is because of the incision and your body getting used to the new flow of fluids. I would wait a few more days and if you don't feel better, call your doctor again! I do believe the vision stuff will get better. There are so many complications possible with Chiari and surgery. Sometime when they open you up and move stuff around it causes new symptoms! The only advice I can give you is to stay down and don't do anything until you are feeling better. Do you have someone there to take care of you and help while you recover? I hope everyday gets better!

Carla

4

Hi..

Just wanted to say hey and see how you are feeling tonight??

Hope you are resting and able to eat and drink.

Peace,

Lori