As you know the surgery was scheduled for Tuesday at 2pm with the hope of only removing the tumor from the kidney, not the entire kidney. Piece of cake, worst case scenario I am home Thursday. Things did not go as planned.
The surgery was a great success - Dr B was able to remove the tumor, and the balance of the kidney that remains is viable and working properly. He was very excited to tell Sharon how well it had gone.
People react differently to general anesthesia, some get sick, some are happy, some are loopy, I generally come out of it feeling groggy but ok. Tuesday night, that was not the case I had more nausea than in the past. My JP drain kept filling up, and the site where the drain entered my stomach was leaking. Not unusual, but needed to be closely monitored. I got to my room about 9pm and was not feeling any better, and not only nauseous but really just not right. I kept closing my eyes trying to go to my "happy place" and I could not get there. I convinced Sharon to go home and get some rest that I would be good to go in the morning, so she left about 9:30.
The drain kept filling up and as it turns out I was bleeding into my abdomen. My pain level was getting worse, and my blood counts were getting screwy all the while my pulse kept increasing and my blood pressure kept dropping. At about midnight, I asked for something for the pain but narcotics were out of the question because of my blood pressure was so low so the only thing they could give me was Tylenol.
Nurse C gave me 2 Tylenol and the moment I took them I felt like I was going to throw up. I sat up to grab the bucket and then as the nurses later named it, The Event occurred.
12:14am I sit up to vomit.
12:15am I am unresponsive, no pulse.
12:16am CPR is administered, and a Code Blue is called.
12:17am Defibrillator is about to be used.
Here is what happened from there....
Nurse C: inches from my face calling "Craig? Craig!!!"
Me upon opening my eyes: "what is going on?"
Nurse C: "how do you feel?"
Me: "pretty good, better than I have felt all night" Looking past her I see about 20 people in the room.
Me; "What happened?"
Nurse C: "you were unresponsive, no pulse, we started CPR"
Me: "Really? well I didn't see a bright light so I guess it wasn't my time."
Nervous laughter throughout the room.
From there a myriad of tests were done.
6 blood transfusions later and more tests than I can count here is what we know. I lost over a liter of blood after surgery. I had a microscopic bleeder and the drain is based on suction so it kept sucking blood out of me not allowing it to coagulate. The drain was changed from suction mode to gravity mode. Because I had lost so much blood my heart was working overtime trying to pump the blood volume I had left to my body. My resting pulse was well over 120 and even had spikes at 160 and 180
A CT scan showed no microscopic bleeder, and an ECHO Cardiogram showed my heart is very healthy. No cardiac event, basically I passed out from the blood loss.
Since last September, I have had 4 surgeries, 4 ribs removed, skin and muscle graphs, part of my kidney removed, and two types of Cancer. BTW they got all of the cancer from my kidney.
Psalm 23:4-5 tells us:
4
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5
You prepare a table before me in
the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup
overflows.
In reflection, I have walked through 4 dark valleys in my life. My dad dying when I was 16. Hannah being diagnosed with Leukemia almost 5 years ago now, and while the last 9 months has actually been 2 dark valleys in many ways it seems like one long one.
God says that we walk through the valley, not into it. He also promised to be with me and comfort me. On the other side of that valley is a table that has been prepared for me. I have to get through the valley to get to the table. With each step I get closer to the table.
Eucaristia.
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