Monday may 19th 2014 i had my Spleen removed. We always knew it was heavily enlarged,a bit smaller than an A 4 sheet of paper as opposed to a normal fist sized Spleen.
Due to my blood clots and other medical issues i have there was a small chance (20ish %)that my clots might move during surgery and go where the surgeon didnt want them to go as it would have certainly been good night vienna for me.
Obviously they didnt move as i spent 6 nights in hospital and ive been out a week tomorrow.
As i said earlier we all knew my Spleen was enlarged, but none of us knew infact how enlarged it actually was, the 1st Doctor to visit me after my Op said it was MASSIVE, the 2nd Doctor said it was HUGE, My Surgeon held his hands apart to show me how large it was, approx 1 and a half times the size of an A 4 sheet of paper.If that had ruptured id have bled out very quickly.
My spleen was removed also to help cure a couple of other problems i have which would have eventually killed me,sooner rather than later.
I have a near 10 inch scar across my belly(as opposed to 5 inch the surgeon thought i would have originally) and about 30 staples which are coming out on monday.
I have to take 1000mg of penicillin v daily for the rest of my life to fight off potential life threatening infections,but if having the spleen out cures some of my other problems then it will be worth it.
Dont mention the pain.
Hoping for a long hot summer as im off work for a minimum of 3 months.(no driving allowed though for 6 weeks!!)

Good luck to anyone who has recently had surgery or will be having it soon.

Good job, I had my appendix out a few years ago - nothing like the risk that yours was and I was terrified when the anesthetist put that mask on.

Glad to hear all went well. I've had my gall bladder removed (the only op that didn't involve replacing anything ) Isn't it amazing all these internal organs we can live well without, makes you wonder why we have them in the first place

Molly will be glad to have you around for the 3 months (and Mrs Cornish too!)

Take it easy. xx

wishing you all the best mate, puts life into perspective. Keep on keeping on friend. Let the sun shine, your sprits soar and the stars glisten.

Glad to hear all is well and I hope it carries on for you too.

Always nice to hear some good news, wishing u a speedy recovery.

That's great news Cornish. Life can be very fragile, and is so easily taken away. Enjoy the summer, and your future!

Well would you look at that, even the NHS couldn't get rid of you!





Only joking! Glad you've got through it. Now is the hard recovery part. You've just got to make sure you don't try and rush it.

How was coming round from the anaesthetic? One of the last times I had one I was singing all sorts!

Do you have to avoid travelling to certain countries now?

What exactly does the spleen do

Thanks all.
first few days i had really weird hallucinations, definitely the combination of drugs and possibly anaesthetic. I took molly for a walk down the hospital corridors and another time my bed was perched on a sea cliff with the ground under me moving and falling into the sea, yet the bed didnt move LOL .
The Spleen plays a major part in your immune system(other organs like liver take over when you lose yours, but you are still prone to getting infections that before wouldnt affect you but now could be serious and potentially life threatening.it gets rid of your dead blood cells i think, it also gets rid of toxins from your body, without the spleen some of those toxins remain and can cause problems, touch wood and hopefully they dont affect me.
Before my OP , id lost weight as the Enlarged Spleen was pressing against my other organs and stomach and making me feel full so not being able to eat as much as i used to .since being in and out of Hosp ive lost more weight and am down to 10 stone now as opposed to my ideal weight of 11 1/4 to 11 1/2 stone.My GP says i am allowed to eat anything to get the weight back on as being underweight delays recovery.
Ithink 3 months off work is very conservative estimate, its going to take me over a month before i ll be fit enough to walk a few hundred yards at a half decent pace and not that of a shuffling old man like i am now.

I have got a pic of my scar but i wont post it as it some people might be squeamish. LOL.


WSL.
Yes there are countries i wont be able to travel to now, believe it or not but certain parts of Spain are out of bounds due to high cases of Malaria.Because of my blood clots i cant fly for more than about 4 hours anyway so if i did want to go abroard again it would be mainly mainland europe/ greek/spanish isles i could go to.
I ve got Devon and Cornwall tho and im still happy staying down here holidaying for the foreseeable future.


Prior to my OP i had to have HIB, meningococcus and pnuemoniacoccus injections and as said before im on 1000mg of penicillin a day for life as well as my usual drugs.
as Gloria says " I Will Survive"

I was once on Tramadol - never again - and filled a whole crossword book in with the answers backwords!

Don't underestimate the impact this is having on your mental health as well! I was surprised how a long stay in hospital affected me.

Yep , i had Tramadol and morphine combo in hosp plus a weeks supply of Tramadol when i came out of Hosp.I wont be asking for any more.

Glad to hear you're on the up now after the op.

Tramadol - I too have been prescribed that ... only took a small number, didn't like how I felt whilst taking them.

I'm on them every day as well as co-codomol. They don't effect me like that at all. Its amusing seeing Mr HWS if he's been in pain with his back, take just one of my co-codomol, he feels like he is flying. After years of taking Tramadol and Co Codomol 4 times a day my body has already taken its beating. I had Fentanyl patches and Oromorph for 18 months while I was waiting for my replacements - they take you to another planet Mind you, I do know how a drug addict feels, coming off both of these two was horrendous.