EGD #3

Email February 13, 2015

Patrick before surgery

Patrick had a really tough time today. He began getting nervous last week about the anesthesia and just got worse this morning. The nurse we saw first was shocked and surprised as he normally is so happy-go-lucky. The gown even stressed him out.  They even had to give him medication to relax him before taking him back.

Mom and I waited and thought he'd get by without being banded but we were wrong...he had to be banded. She left one varice because it was too small to band.  We are due back in another 2 months for surgery #4.

This time you can tell that these surgeries are taking a toll on his body.  It took him longer to come out of recovery and even now he looks so pathetic.  He just wants to come home and is in and out of sleep.

(They did not bring us back until after an hour after surgery...we went back to recovery and waited another hour before we started to wake him up.  They say it normally takes about 30 to 45 minutes to become awake).

After surgery we were discharged and came back to the hotel when Patrick's fever spiked and he just became disoriented and we could not keep him awake. I called the doctor and they were immediately concerned about internal bleeding...his blood pressure kept dropping during recovery but they thought he just kept stirring during recovery causing this drop.  

Patrick's vitals were good but she was able to see something was wrong and that he looked like he felt "punky."  She checked the charts and dosages were ok and was unable to determine what was wrong...and again Patrick's case is 'complicated.'  We need to continue to watch him tonight...and need to check in with the on-call liver doctor through the night.  As we left she said she has been doing this for 20 years and Patrick is the only patient she has brought back in because she was worried about him. 

He is now awake...has eaten a little bit of soup but his fever continues.