2 more kilos down.
BMI 36.
and the bruising is almost all gone, If I can only get Little Benny to stop dive-bombing on my abdomen!
I saw one of my patients today who had a band put in 3 weeks before I did, he also knew I was going for the band.
He presented because his abdominal and back pain was getting worse and there was a 3 cm diameter red swollen patch around the portal site. He is NIDDM and gets acute on chronic pancreatitis.... Bloods WCC 17xE+05 (94% neuts with reactive lymphocytes and a shift to the left), CRP 75 ESR 128 - too bad the surgeon who ordered the bloods 3 days ago didn't actually check them (or bother to cc a copy to me - are you taking notes here my specialist colleagues?) !!!! Reminds me, I had better phone the surgeon on Monday (it is about midnight Saturday at the moment maybe I should phone him now?)* Actually I might wait until I find out of the patient survived the weekend or not.
This means his portal site (where the band gets inflated or deflated) is infected, this means his band probably had to come out, and his morbidity is pretty damn high and that is before the laparoscopic/open surgery to remove everything and then the barrage of antibiotics etc...
It is a stark reminder of what can go wrong with surgery and how bloody lucky I have been!
Thinking of you
BJ**
Benedict
* Q. What is the difference between God and a Surgeon? A. God doesn't think she is a surgeon***
** in a blokey, macho way of course!
*** (actual conversation heard between two cardiothoracic surgeons after a successful CABG without the consultant being there) "Q. What is the difference between God and a Cardiothoracic Surgeon? A. God wishes he was a Cardiothoracic Surgeon"
(I kid you not!)
