Jessica Pitt
2015 was a difficult year for me. After already having excision surgery for endometriosis and adenomyosis in Atlanta, GA that July, I then had a hysterectomy on November 5th in Omaha, NE. (Sepsis and Surgery)The hysterectomy was performed via robotic surgery. I was then hospitalized for three days following the procedure. Looking back, there were clear signs something was not right. I had a fever the entire time and was unable to pass urine, which meant they kept inserting and removing catheters.
On the third day (Saturday) I was released. In the morning I felt better. By the afternoon, I started to feel very sore and tired. I left the hospital with a 100 degree temperature. My mom drove me home. I remember every bump on the road sent excruciating jolts of pain through my abdomen. When I finally got home I tried to rest. Luckily my Mom stayed. She said my breathing reminded her of a fish gasping for air. I awoke after the nap. The pain was worse. When I asked for pain medication she suggested I try getting up first. My eyes looked delirious, she said. When I mustered what little strength I had to get out of bed, I almost collapsed. It felt like someone had just hit me in the stomach with a bag of bricks, I said. Something is not right. We need to go back.
Not even three hours out of the hospital and I was back to the ER. I was so weak and sick that men had to help carry me to a wheel chair. I could not walk. When the nurse measured my vitals they said my resting heart rate was 196 beats per minute. I had a fever of 104 and my belly was very distended. The ER doctor must see a lot of people with pill problems. She concluded I was withdrawing from the pain pump in the hospital but admitted me for observation.
The next morning a nurse looked me over and and said she thought my condition was more serious than that. The on call doctor came and agreed. They performed CT scans and MRIs, finding that my entire abdomen was swollen with fluid from an infection. A team of doctors from around Omaha came that Sunday and told me my condition was very serious and they needed to perform surgery right away.
The surgery lasted several hours. In the reports it says I had severe sepsis from two different E Coli strains in my bloodstream, likely caused by robotic hysterectomy and subsequent UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) I had fluid throughout my abdominal cavity and my lungs were collapsing. They cut a 12-inch incision on my abdomen, closed with 32 staples. They inserted a pump that drained the fluid for days from my abdomen along with a NG tube that pumped my stomach for 5 days. The surgeon told me he washed my organs three times. I was put in ICU for several days. All told I was in the hospital for roughly 20 days.
My mother had to bathe me as I could not walk or stand on my own. The recovery was long. It took 9 weeks for me to walk without using a cane. I began losing my hair in large sections every day. Developing painful adhesions, gastrointestinal/bladder issues that caused me to return to the emergency rooms and doctors 6 or 8 different times the 8 weeks after being released. I am thankfully finally better. I feel very fortunate the outcome was a positive one for me as I know there are many who were not as lucky.
The whole experience has given me a new appreciation for life and just how fleeting it is. Love the people you have while you have them. I would also like to add that if you, or someone you know is considering a surgery with robotic surgery, please do some research. There are many fatalities and hospitalizations from sepsis related to this machine. I truly believe had I done some research on this machine, none of this would have happened to me.
