July 16th was the day in my life I did something to address my high cholesterol, my high blood pressure, my pre-diabetic state, and my elevated chance of getting cancer - I had lap-band surgery at St. Mark's hospital. I must say that all went well and I was well taken care of. My sweet family brought & sent magnificent flowers to brighten my spirits. Some of them came to visit me and watch "So You Think You Can Dance" which was fun. All was well with me and the world until . . . I was sent home.
Despite the fact that I had filled out several forms noting my allergy to codeine, I was prescribed a pain-killer that contained that ingredient. I had been running a low-grade fever in the hospital that was left untreated when I was sent home. These two items spelled a recipe for disaster. Once home, I immediately started to go downhill. Eventually I was so sick, nauseous, and light-headed that I could not even drink water. Nor could I get myself up off the bed. By Monday afternoon my temperature had climbed to 104.8 degrees. I was one sick cookie. Of course my doctor was on vacation and an inept nurse was trying to get his colleagues to help this patient they didn't know from Adam. It was a living nightmare. I got some antibiotics to treat the fever Tuesday after spending two days with a bag of ice on my head in agony. Tuesday afternoon my body decided to try to expel the offending codeine by giving me bouts of diarrhea about every 2 hours for the next three days.
I wound up back in the hospital getting fluids because by body was so depleted from the nausea, fever and aforesaid diarrhea. Thanks to Jeff for staying by my side through this and to Clark for getting me home from the hospital the second time.
Since I am no longer being poisoned by medicine to which I an allergic and with antibiotics having treated whatever infection was causing my fever, I am feeling good. However, I can tell that my stamina has taken a severe hit. I need to rest after doing almost nothing. And almost any task seems too rigorous for me. Let's just hope that given time, the promised benefits of this surgery make it all worth the ordeal.
