 The Scary Truth | |
ummmm.... Now please dont get frightened but I think I better tell a little about what happened to me.
When I came out of surgery I too had trouble taking a deep breath, basically because it would hurt where the surgeon had dug around - ie. the port area, slightly under my ribs and my diaphragm. I used my spirometer and that really helped me get used to taking big breaths - it still hurt a bit - like a stretching feeling. All of this was completely NORMAL!
However, on the Wednesday night (I had surgery on the Monday) I quite suddenly got short of breath. I thought it was just a little asthma so I used some ventolin spray and waited a while - but it didn't seem to work. I was still short of breath a few hours later, and I knew something wasn't right. DH called the hospital and the sugeon wanted to see me first thing in the morning - the nurse thought I may have pneumonia. But, when I came in, my doc did a chest X-ray and Barium swallow - and pneumonia and band slips/problems were ruled out. But because I couldn't take a deep enough breath the X-rays couldn't rule out a pulmonary embolism (or PE - blood clot in the lungs) so he sent me to another hospital for a lung scan. The lung scan revealed that I probably (not 100%) had several small PEs.
Therefore I was readmitted to hospital for one week, during this time I had lots of medication, injections and blood tests to make sure my blood was thin enough. Now, 20 days post-op, I am still on anti-coagulant drugs and will be for the next 2-5mths. My surgeon will not give me a fill until I am off the medication because that could cause bad complications with my port.
BUT, my point is this, if you are short of breath, not 'its painful to breathe deeply', but 'I am unable to take a full breathe' then please contact your surgeon! PE's can be life threatening!!! Remember that PE's are only dangerous if you dont know you have one! (Also look out for localized swelling in the legs which could indicate a blood clot - also very dangerous as they can move to your lungs).
Please note though that this is not a 'band' complication but a general surgery complication. And my surgeon was not shonky or anything - he gave me blood-thinning medication before surgery and had electrode thingies on my legs during the surgery - it was just 'one of those things'. I was his first patient to have this problem and he has done over 1000 bandings. So it is rare - but it does happen.
Please err on the safe side. Its ok if it hurts to breathe, but if you physically cant take a deep breath, please call and talk to your doctor. | 