Because my father does. He’s due to see his surgeon in the next few days and I am curious to hear about other people’s experiences and to see if there are any questions he and my mother should be asking (not asking for medical advice).
Background. He’s 66 years old and with the exception of high blood pressure has never had any medical issues other than a cold now and then. The blood pressure has been treated fairly effectively with medication though it still tended to the high side of things (IRC: 130-140/80-85).
He is also about 40 to 50lbs overweight. That said, he’s never led a sedentary lifestyle. He walks to work (about 1.5 miles away) and often times walks back, as well. He also bike rides 2-3 a week and plays tennis once a week (he’s an excellent tennis player so his tennis game wasn’t lobbing moonballs back forth, he and partners are always out for blood). Other than these two issues, his regular doctor has told him that he is (or was) in good shape for a man his age.
He does not smoke and drinks only lightly
In any event, shortly after Thanksgiving, he was admitted into the hospital with diverticulitis (1st time this has happened) along with an obstruction. For about the first ten days, his GI doctor tried to resolve the situation without surgery. He was on antibiotics and had a nasogastric tube in to drain things. After that, it was decided that he needed surgery.
His surgeon removed 5 ft. of intestine and gave him a colostomy. Additionally, a large wound was left open in the center of his stomach to drain. According to the surgeon, my father was a “mess inside” but tolerated the surgery quite well. Shortly after the surgery, he developed a fever and rapid heart rate. After they upped the strength of his antibiotics, his temperature and heart rate went back to normal.
About another ten days later, my father had a a second surgery to remove adhesions and another 5 inches of intestine. Again, the surgeon said he tolerated everything well and that the surgery went smoothly. He also got a second colostomy so his his stomach looks like: left side: colostomy, middle: open wound, right side: colostomy.
He was in the hospital until January 2nd, recovering from the surgeries and getting rid of the extremely nasty e-coli infection that caused all of this. On January 2nd, his doctors thought he had recovered sufficiently enough to be moved to a nursing home for physical therapy.
It’s now January 21st and he has made little recovery. He feels absolutely lousy. He’s not so much in pain as an overall general feeling of being uncomfortable. His weight has dropped from 219lbs when he was admitted to the nursing home to currently, 182lbs. He is always dizzy and “cobwebby” when he is on his feet. He is also always extremely tired. Additionally, he has no appetite which is more than unusual for someone who would usually gladly hoover out a refrigerator. Today, he canceled his appointment for a haircut at the nursing home because he didn’t feel up to it.
The doctor in charge of his care at the nursing home feels that “he has been through a lot” and doesn’t seem to think this is unusual. OTOH, his physical therapist thinks that he should have made more progress by now and that maybe something is wrong.
He is due to see his surgeon in the next couple of days. My mother is also going to speak to his GI doctor.
In terms of care, we can’t do much better than this, his hospital, doctors, surgeon and nursing home are all highly rated and have all been extremely attentive to his situation. And we know he has been through a great deal but at the same time, we can’t help feeling there should be some measurable sense of progress no matter how slight since he started rehab…and there is none.
One thing I’m going to do is find out if his blood pressure medication has changed. His blood pressure is now the lowest it’s been in a while (120/80). I thought, perhaps, if his prescriptions were changed that might account for some of his symptoms.
Other than that, if anyone has had a similar experience, I would love to hear about recovery time etc.