Surgery Day and Throwing up BIle

Surgery Day and Throwing up Bile

 

 

    Finally, the day of surgery, June 26, 20012, age 30. I woke up and vomited bile. I felt like I had a mild pancreatitis. I didn’t know what to do. Should I call and see if it was safe to have surgery? Could surgery even be canceled? My sister had to be at the hospital earlier that morning, as her surgery was before mine. Certainly, some surgeries had already taken place. I figured there wasn’t much that could be done so I just got myself ready. When I was in the waiting area getting ready for surgery, they told me they may need to put a line in my leg. I said, “Absolutely not!” I had heard of another transplant recipient who had needed a line put in her leg for her lung transplant surgery and she had nothing but problems from it, including blood clots. I told them repeatedly how angry I would be if I woke up to find a line in my leg. I informed them I had a port and certainly someone in the hospital should be able to access it. I told them I didn’t care if I ended up with 5 peripheral IVs in my arm, they were not to put a line in my leg. They told me they would try their best not to. I was then wheeled into surgery. It wasn’t until I was on the operating table that I told the team of surgeons about vomiting up bile. They said don’t worry you’ll be fine and they put the anesthesia mask on my face. They did end up putting several peripheral IV's in my arm.