My PD Surgery Experience

[george40]

This surgery... hmmmmm  ... I went to the hospital, and was prepped for surgery. I decided to ask the surgeon are you going laproscopic, I had prayed earlier and felt to ask this question. The Dr. says, no its not necessary. Then says so far, he has not had to do one laproscopically. Lo and behold, I had the surgery and woke up a couple of hours later only to hear the surgeon apologizing that he could not get the catheter in. For some reason the catheter kept hitting my liver and they decided they would not risk damage to me. The OR room we were in was not equipped with laproscopic equipment otherwise they could have completed the surgery successfully.  Perhaps some organs were repositioned when I had my kidney transplant back in 2002. So, guess what? Next week they want to do it laproscopically. Meanwhile, I have to heal up from this surgery from yesterday. Needless to say, I am in pain. 

I will post the follow-up next week.

[RCA]

Sorry to hear about your terrible experience!  What technique did the doctor try?  Was it percutaneous? 

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Sorry to hear that George. Hope the surgery soon heals and the next time they get it right.

[monrein]

Nothing worse than your basic unnecessary "procedure".  Sending healing thoughts your way George.

[peleroja]

Sorry to hear about the extra surgery.  Hope you heal fast and everything goes well next time.

[G-Ma]

 

[george40]

Thank you all for your support. It has meant alot.

[george40]

Praise the Lord, surgery No. 2 went well!  To be honest, my nerves were racked for this one. All went well. Thanks for your support!

[RCA]

 

Yeah!  Did you just have local anesthesia?  How are you feeling now? 

[G-Ma]

 

[george40]

Hi RCA, they put me all the way out! Hmmm, the surgery was on thursday, and now 2 days later, I still have some abdominal pain and the anesthesia is still lingering around some. Overall things are going well.

Yeah!  Did you just have local anesthesia?  How are you feeling now? 

[Restorer]

I was put all the way out for both of my surgeries. The first one was on a Friday morning, the wooziness from both the anesthesia and the pain meds stuck around until Sunday afternoon. The second surgery, I was in worse condition, and the anesthesia made me nauseous. All the various pain meds they used pushed me over the edge a couple times - fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone. My stomach was more settled by the time I went home the next day, but the pain made it hard to walk for a few more days. Both times, my general abdominal pain was gone within a week (and that's with an exit site and a 2-inch incision the first time; then the same exit site, a reopening of the almost-healed 2-inch incision, and two keyholes for laparoscopy the second time).

I tell you all this mostly so you can predict what's coming and how you might feel.

Also, the exit site shouldn't stay red very long (longer than 2 weeks). The first time for me, the redness and pain around the exit site was gone after 1.5 or 2 weeks, but this time it's been 2 and a half weeks and it's still red and sore. I'm going to have it looked at on Monday.

[RCA]

that's with an exit site and a 2-inch incision the first time; then the same exit site, a reopening of the almost-healed 2-inch incision, and two keyholes for laparoscopy the second time).

Restorer...why did you get a 2 inch incision?  Did the doctor use the dissective/surgical technique?  Ouch! 

I'm definitely going to ask the surgeon which technique he will use.  I've read about the peritoneoscopic technique that can be performed under local anesthesia rather than general anesthesia with a smaller scope and puncture size. 

Hope you have a speedy recovery and the exit site heals quickly! 

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Glad to hear all went well. Keep us posted.

[Restorer]

Restorer...why did you get a 2 inch incision?  Did the doctor use the dissective/surgical technique?  Ouch! 

Yeah, he did. I would have specifically requested laparoscopic, but he said that's what he would use at the consultation before the first surgery. Then when I went in, they said, "Oh yeah, and we'll be putting you under all the way." I still didn't realize that meant they weren't doing it laparoscopically. The second time, I never even saw the surgeon beforehand, as it was supposed to be just a laparoscopic untangling operation, but they were going to put me under anyway. But it turns out they decided to replace the catheter, and did it the same way,

It pretty much looks like this:

  |                      |
  |     ----  0          |
  |      o               |

The 0 in the middle is my belly button, which is actually a fraction of a line lower than the incision. The exit site is the 'o' below the incision.

[RCA]

Thanks Restorer for the explanation!  Nice diagram : )