Tina Morrow

In 11/2008 I had bariatric surgery, a sleeve gastrectomy. I had 3/4 of my stomach stapled and I was left with a small “banana-shaped” pouch as my new stomach. I left the hospital after 48 hours with no known complications. Within 24 hours of returning home, while napping, my husband could not wake me up. He called 911 and I was rushed to a level 1 trauma center. (Sepsis and Surgery)

I had sepsis, which was caused by a single internal staple becoming detached and the stomach contents spilled out of that area the acidic contents, compromising the entire remainder of the internal staple line. I was in a coma for 2.5 months and in ICU for a total of 3.5 months. During this time, I had approximately 11 surgeries to wash out the abdominal cavity. My abdominal area was left as an open wound, as it could not be closed due to the severe inflammation of the intestines. This created a huge abdominal wall hernia. I had to be on a wound vac for 6 months, before they could do a skin graft to cover the open wound.

After leaving ICU care, I was in two different rehab facilities for different levels of care. It was not until 6/2009 that I was finally able leave a hospital/rehab environment and live with my daughter while I still had in-home wound care and in-home physical therapy. As one of the problems I currently have is memory loss, I cannot exactly remember when I was able to return to my own home with my husband.

The last surgery I had was approximately a year after my skin graft placement had completely healed and I needed to have the abdominal wall hernia repaired and the abdomen finally closed. There was only one surgeon in my hometown who could perform this repair on such a large hernia. The remaining issues I have to this day are permanent bilateral polyneuropathy, which is attributed to the trauma. I also have memory loss of events in blocks of time surrounding before and after the 11/08 surgery. I had already been diagnosed in 2005 with clinical depression, but I do believe that it has worsened over time since 2008.

My biggest frustration is that I don’t seem “normal” to myself in my behavior and manner. Close friends who I have known since a very young age say that I have changed. I appear to be detached and don’t act like myself. Since I just recently read an article in AARP from the New England Journal of Medicine in regards to post-ICU trauma problems, I have requested a neurology consult and I want them to MRI my brain and compare it to an MRI I had before my surgery so they have a baseline comparison. I want to see if what is happening to me is apparent on radiologic imaging. Maybe, they can have some treatment for it. In the meantime, I am seeing a psychotherapist for depression/anxiety issues. But, right now there is nothing for the other symptoms I have of irritability, fogginess of the head, and memory loss.