I went through a similar experience with one of my many colonoscopies. Two weeks following the colonoscopy I was becoming excessively fatigued and having flulike symptoms. During bowel care my brother noticed some bleeding, but this occasionally happens. I told them if it recurred the next time I would go into the hospital. Unfortunately, the next night I began bleeding rectally and had to be rushed to the hospital. Talk about somebody being on my side, my brother was just about to leave when a lightning bolt struck near the house and shorted out my telephone system. I live alone and my only lifeline to the outside world is the telephone, therefore my brother had to stay for the night. I am extremely grateful he was there when the telephone system went out. If he hadn't, I would have bled to death during the night. Anyway, following an extremely frightful night in the ER and ICU, in addition to two blood transfusions, I had a colonoscopy performed approximately 24 hours l! ater to repair the damage. They had removed a polyp in the previous colonoscopy and it was leaking from that site. Thank goodness they were able to repair the damage and I slowly recovered my strength over the next six weeks.
Your experience with the DVT is eerily reminiscent of mine. I noticed swelling in my leg and called in for advice. I was told to elevate my leg and wait until the next day to come into the hospital. I should mention that I called approximately 15 minutes before the daytime staff was due to leave for the day. Late that night as I was becoming increasingly worried about the swelling in the leg, my then roommate came home and diagnosed the swelling as a DVT. I was extraordinarily lucky to have him there and even more lucky that he was a doctor and convinced me to disregard what I had been told and go to the hospital immediately. That particular hospital stay was six weeks long and another frightening experience. They had new prepared to leave after three weeks, but my wheelchair (ironically the reason why I was in bed at the time) was still in need of repair. They did not want to let me go home without having a functional wheelchair. Sorry for the tirade, but all of the inco!
mpetence
I have witnessed over the years is perplexing and aggravating. However, it seems lately that some of my care seems to be getting better. I did complain bitterly about the lack of education on DVTs when I was rehabilitating and I noticed that they have now incorporated it into the process and even have a educational board with pictures to help individuals which were not informed of this potential life-threatening problem.
Billy from Tampa
C2-3
9 years post
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