shirley denmark chitjian
My glorious journey began on 5/16/00 with Dr. David Provost. I had my Laproscopic Gastric Bypass and as usual, did not get it right! I was in the hospital 5 days and had to have a blood transfusion.
I went home on Sunday 5/21/00 and was feeling tired but okay. On Monday, I started feeling very bad, nausea, headaches, and pain in stomach. I tried to be "tough" and ride the storm. Well, anyway by Tuesday, I was as white as a sheet, could not get up and down, fever, shakes, vomiting (at this point I was not drinking anything. because even a sip would make me violently ill).
Wednesday morning, 5am, sitting on my front porch after 2 hrs of sleep, unable to move, vomiting, swollen stomach and could not even sit down on the toilet to pee. I spoke to doctor office and nurse advised me they were calling in a prescription for stronger meds.
Now mind you... I was communicating to my doctor and nurse, however, I don't think I was very descriptive on how bad it really was. Anyway, that evening my friend Rhonda Cook came over and my sister (Diana) had just taken my temp, which was 103. It had gone up from 101 less than 1 hour ago. Rhonda insisted that I page Dr. Provost again and tell him EXACTLY how bad I was. He called me back and I told him everything, he said for me to come to Zale, ASAP to be admitted to the hospital.
That evening, it was discovered I had a LEAK in my stomach and that emergency surgery was needed in order to save my life. The type of LEAK that I had was not like any the doctors had EVER seen before.
So, here I am in excruciating pain, so unbearable that I wanted a gun to shoot myself. Asked Rhonda.. I said to her " Do you have a gun?".... Dr. Provost comes in that evening, mind you it is midnight and he had to bring in his entire surgical staff to operate on me.
He tells me I have a leak and he is going in to patch it up. I asked about the pain and he tells me it will be gone... This was on May 24th... Next time I spoke to Dr. Provost or anyone it is June 2nd! I woke up with an OPEN incision (no staples, no sutures took 2 months to close), 6 tubes in my stomach, and on life support system. But, I was ALIVE and no longer in the PAIN that I had experienced before the emergency surgery.
Dr. Provost told my family and friends that when he opened me up he could not believe what he saw... Like a bomb went off inside of me... I had 5 LITERS of fluid juices inside my gut and was loaded with PERITONITIS (infection). My family was informed if I had waited 6 more hours I would have died. My surgical incision was left open because of the infection and took 2 ½ months to close completely!
I was in ICU for 12 days and hospital floor for 25 days. I was miserable, lonely, sad, could not believe I HAD DONE THIS TO MYSELF, crying, angry, lost, and did not understand why. Who did I have to blame for this mess? Me? My family? God? Doctors? Who could I blame? Then I realized there was NO ONE to blame. It was the luck of the draw. I was LUCKY to be alive and getting GREAT care from these WONDERFUL Doctors and Nurses.
I had many angels on my side during this ordeal, the 1st one was my friend Rhonda Cook, who knew something was not right. My 2nd angel was my sister Kathleena who drove up from San Antonio after hearing the devastating news and basically got me to breathing. You see the life support system does not like me and everytime I go on one I get worse... So she basically irrated the "hell out of me" until I started to breath on my own.. 3 days later, Dr. Provost removed the life support... Kept me intubated but breathing was all my own... The next angels that came to see me were: Cyndi Fisher, Kim Deimling, Penny Baird, and Deb Brown. They helped me get through a time that was both scary and demanding.
I had no food or liquids for 6 weeks.... I was on TPN (IV) the entire time. I only lost 19 lbs. in the hospital but I gained a lot more.... I learned who my true friends were, made new friends, learned new respect for the medical profession, and above all, patience.
I could lay there and feel sorry for myself or I could fight and have a positive attitude. I choose the fighting and positive attitude. Yeah, I had bad days, but they became fewer and were replaced with more good days...
I am now 200 pounds lighter, feel great and thinking back to that time in the hospital. Well, let’s just say I am very grateful. I understand know why I had to go through that experience! It was so I could help others get their surgeries, approvals and basically a shoulder to lean on.
I am PROUD of my family, friends, medical staff and myself. I would DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN! I would not want one thing to change.... Except, maybe not having to drink that darn "contrast" for my gastric scan!
There is hope for all. CIGNA & AETNA HMO’s approved me for all my surgeries, including the reconstructive/plastic surgeries. I had to fight them all the way, but I succeeded because I did not accept the denials as the gospel.
Anyone who needs help getting through his or her trials of WLS, please know I would be glad to talk, listen or help in anyway I can. Please don't give up on yourself, don't blame yourself or anyone else... there are always reasons something happens to us... That, which does not kill us, will only make us STRONGER!
Shirley Denmark
5/16/00 Lap
5/24/00 Emergency Surgery (Leak)
Dr. David Provost
8/20/01 Tummy Tuck
5/06/02 Arms/Butt/Thighs/Hips
Dr. Patrick Pownell
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/md/POWNELL.htm
200 pounds gone!
130 inches gone!
PS... IF YOU WANT PLASTIC SURGERY, YOU NEED TO FIGHT FOR IT AND NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, THAT IS ALL I CAN SAY AS FOR AS ADVICE GOES!!!!
