The plan
Date: Nov 5 Plan: quick elective surgery for some abdominal pain Plan duration: 2 hrs -----What really happened
While getting prepped for the surgery one has to be given general anaesthesia and antibiotics. I was given a test dose of ceftriaxone (a common antibiotic), small dose in IV. The nurse asked me - if you feel nauseous or any irritation let us know.
Within 30 seconds I had burning sensation all the way from my pelvis to my throat. Externally I had turned red, swollen and it was constricting my airway. There was a flurry of activity in the OT, I could hear everyone get frantic and call more doctors. This was me going into an anaphylactic shock.
In and out of consciousness I saw 15 senior doctors in the room in matter of minutes. Heard BP stats - 50/30. Doctors were putting cannulas in my hands adding drips and medications to my body. One doctor held my legs straight up so my BP doesn’t fall further.
Felt like an episode of House MD, once I woke up with a doctor almost hitting and shouting “Chhavi, stay awake.” If patient goes unconscious, it is almost impossible to get back.
The original procedure was forgotten and I was taken to the ICU after some medications started taking effect. I still had no idea what was up. I took a selfie and looked pretty swollen up, and knew I would definitely not be out of hospital in a day as planned.
I couldn’t sleep, that night or the next. There were many many continuous monitors on me for measuring ECG, BP, blood oxygen, heart rate + a continuous IV drip of medicine & Oxygen support and endless other infusions + regular blood tests. I was just going in and out of sleep (or unconsciousness). I had been complaining of a heaviness on my chest throughout. They eventually took a chest X ray - showing congestion in chest and bilateral effusion (water filled outside of lungs). More medications.
Plan B which I was told later was to transfer me and put me on ventilator. Thankfully it didn’t come to it.
Day 3 - I got out of bed for 5 mins and even with support, fainted (I think it was low BP, my mom thinks it was a seizure - it was actually arrhythmia). Unconscious for idk how long. Back awake in bed. Got an echo done then. Heart’s ejection fraction was at 20% (should be 65%+). This was a case of heart failure - this worried the hell out of everyone.
This was diagnosis of cardiogenic shock from cardiomyopathy (mostly from the anaphylactic shock). Along with this my heart rate was reaching 200 bpm. It was out of control for the existing hospital.
Got transferred to a bigger hospital - in Cardio Critical Care Unit. They were very very cautious with any medication and were testing in small areas. Due to this concern any medication that was being given was in low quantity. Here I was allowed to gradually eat semi solid food.
Till now I was not really feeling the seriousness of everything and thought I would be ok and out of things in a day or so. It was here that I felt I’m not in my life and have crossed the multiverse and entered a parallel universe.
Day 5 - I got some additional abdominal pain, but the biggest shock for me was when I got a vision impairment. Whenever there was something moving, I felt I could see the whole trail of that movement (remember trailing cursor we all tried in old windows). That was a super super scary night. I didn’t sleep all night, I just prayed. I was just trying to get away from ominous thoughts and felt like I fought my way from an external world back to where I was. this is the most scared I’ve EVER been.
Day 7 - I had a continuous hands, legs pain due to cannulas - got almost 10 of those on hands and legs. At that point doctors decided this is not helping and decided to put a central line (it is putting a tube on the main vein which connects directly to the heart) - this helps in getting the medicine in the right amount into the blood stream and also reducing pain in other parts of the body - but it is risky as any infection even nearby can be severe for the body.
It was finally after this line was added that I got a 5 hr sleep that night after almost a week. During this whole time there was a medicine 24*7 getting pushed into my blood stream - Norad, hopefully with low side effects.
Everyone around me in the CCU were people above the age of 50, that’s the normal heart disease age :)
After this my oxygen support was removed
Day 9 - With oxygen in control, the medicine concentration was reduced gradually and I started sleeping ok. Just waking up 2-3 times in a sleep of 7 hrs at night. Much much better than before. My electrolytes were low so I was getting many supplements - potassium was the major one.
I had some regular new symptoms, which at that point were very less than what I had faced earlier.
Day 11 - Doctors were nearing removal of the continuous Norad medicine. But my BP was not rising above 80/50. They were very cautious to remove any support. But with gradual monitoring they did end up removing the medicine. Then they had to keep me under monitoring minimum for 24 hours.
All my food was non salt - sodium, chloride were borderline on the edge of the range.
Next 2 days I was asked to move around a little bit, I started to walk somewhat in the ICU itself. That really made me feel much better than just lying in bed all day. My medicines were moved from IV to oral to prepare for the discharge.
I was then discharged after a repeat echo. The echo came to be better than the one when I was admitted.
Have been discharge with advise for healthy food, some walking but no exertion, lots of liquids, no stress at all and some follow ups. Heart function is expected to be normal in 4-6 months while getting regular checkups.
Once ok to travel - I will go to Delhi for a full checkup in a big hospital with all facilities. If everything goes ok, will be back in Bangalore. 🙂
A 15 days unexpected distance from my normal busy, hustly life put everything in perspective. When health is at stake everything else, and I mean EVERY SINGLE THING becomes unimportant. When health is normal, our brains bothers us with 100 new problems, but from a very high perspective - all of that doesn't matter.
All that matters is you have the support - emotional, financial, physical, medical, mental - when you need it. Else nothing really is worth it.