Cindy Sheehan underwent surgery, had two blood transfusions

[boolean]

http://michaelmoore.com

Holy shit. Anyone know what kind of surgery one would have for starvation/dehydration?

[Pavulon]

1. No surgery

for dehydration. Maybe a central line insertion. Still very serious.

If she had an unrelated condition the diet could have brought it out.

hope she is ok/.

[WhiteTara]

6. Pavulon, she wasn't dieting. She was on

a liquid fast. IE, she was starving herself to death, just as the others in front of the wh are doing. This is to stop the war, not lose weight. Just so you are clear on what is happening. :)

[femmedem]

2. She had uterine bleeding.

And will be having a biopsy. I'm worried.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0812-05.htm

[ananda]

7. Oh God..

.. uterine bleeding and a biopsy sounds ominous.

I pray she comes out of this OK.

Sue

[femmedem]

10. Maybe not so ominous.

Right after I posted, I did some quick google research and learned that "dysfunctional uterine bleeding" isn't too uncommon and not necessarily dangerous. Let's hope she's fine.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. I am thinking positively

I believe if it was indeed very serious I would have heard something by now.

Just say some prayers. Her health is probably poor and she is most likely at that age when women have these types of problems. Nothing out of the ordinary. If she had been in better health, it would have been a minor problem.

[femmedem]

16. Glad to hear it's probably nothing.

And glad to know we'll get updates from you if necessary. And big thanks for going to Camp Casey. Big, big thanks.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. You are welcome

I have friends already there. I am sure they will call me if anything serious develops. And if I get that call while I am on the road, I will call a DUer who has promised to post for me.

Just say some prayers. That's the best thing we can do now.

[Horse with no Name]

22. Probably worst case scenario will be a hysterectomy

Best case scenario...hormones.
Chances are if she has severe enough bleeding to necessitate transfusions, they will probably do a hysterectomy.

[pitohui]

23. it is indeed quite common and need not portend doom

it is controlled in my case by medication, i know of another relative who was so bothered by it she did have a hysterectomy but no further problems in 3 decades

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. A biopsy is very routine in these situations

And uterine bleeding is not uncommon in women her age. Let's not borrow trouble.

[ananda]

3. Cindy's surgery..

.. was gynecological I believe. That's what I read in an article posted here yesterday.

Of course, I could still picture them putting in a feeding tube like they did with the suffragettes,
but I don't think that was it.

Sue

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. They made her eat in Seattle

when she went to the ER there.

[DesertRat]

4. It was a gynecological procedure

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060813/5068178.asp

[Greeby]

5. Shit

I knew this hunger strike was a bad idea, and somebody would get themselves hurt or killed for nothing. (C'mon, we're not dealing with politicians who can be pressured here)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. It may have saved her life...

If she had not ended up in the hospital because of the dehydration, they may not have found this other problem.

Good thoughts and speedy healing Cindy!

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. She had a D&C

It is a gynecological procedure and is not uncommon for women her age. I have had 2 of them and both were outpatient. I would imagine that had Cindy not been in poor health due to her fast she would probably not have been hospitalized for this.

I am getting ready to leave for Crawford but am closely monitoring my email for alerts on Cindy. I will update DU if I hear anything new.

In the meantime, prayers are probably the best thing we can do for Cindy right now.

[LA lady]

13. Fairly routine

I am guessing it was a d and c (dilation and curettage). Not uncommon for women of our age. I believe her liquid fast included protein drinks so probably the heat brought this on. Good that they caught the bleeding early.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Yes it was a D&C

[RebelOne]

20. I also had a D&C, but I was 30 at the time.

I had very heavy bleeding and my lower abdomen swelled as if I was 6 months pregnant. I think it was brought on because I was starving myself to lose weight. I was taking diet pills and eating next to nothing. I am sure the fast that Cindy was on has a lot to do with it.

[bdamomma]

18. geez, Cindy has sacrificed so much

I hope she gets better, we need more Cindy Sheehans'.

[earth mom]

19. Wow this is sad after all she's gone through! Sending healing vibes and

prayers your way Cindy! Get well soon! :grouphug:

[BrightKnight]

21. Continuing with her fast would be a very bad idea.

I can't support anything that would endanger her health.

Her razor sharp wit is her most effective weapon. fasting will not help that.

She is in a strong position. People will listen to her. If she makes the right simple commonsense statements she could make a difference.

She will not be able to repeat the impact that she had last year but she does not have too. you can cover a lot of ground with small steps.

War profiteering and corruption should be discussed. She should talk about wanting peace and prosperity.

----
Catholicism, Islam and other religions have fasting traditions that do not endanger your health. If she continues I hope that she focus on spiritual purification and take care of her heath.

[fed-up]

24. transfusion may have been for anemia caused by intrauterine bleeding

After going to the clinic a few years ago after our campaign the doc said my fatigue/mid cycle bleeding was probably caused by being close to the age of menapause. I pushed her and said I didn't think so and that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. She finally did a finger stick to test for anemia, and I was at 8.5 (norm is 12-16), if I had been at 8.3 or lower they would have hospitalized me and done a transfusion. The anemia was probably caused by the blood loss from the mid-cycle bleeding that had been going on since about June, but I had been too busy working on our GE-Free campaign to go to the doc. The cause of the bleeding was a cervical polyp which was removed during an in office visit.

My mid-cycle bleeding continued intermittently for the next year and a half so I finally went back to the doc (after DU member wood-sprite had recently done a post on uterine cancer and similar symptoms) and again the doc said it was probably due to being close to menopause. I got home and was NOT happy with her answer so I called back and asked to be scheduled for some kind of exam to be screened for uterine cancer. I decided on a sonogram instead of a biopsy since a biopsy may miss a cancerous area, but a sonogram will show abnormal thickening of the lining of the uterus (which would indicate cancer) and would show anything else abnormal in the uterus.

I just had the sonogram last week and am awaiting the official report from the doctor, but I peppered the technician with questions while she was doing her thing and did find out "there was nothing alarming" and that the lining of my uterus was normal and that I have either a fibroid or polyp which is probably causing the bleeding. Further reading on my part tells me that my estrogren will go down as I reach menopause and that will decrease the size of fibroids.

I also want to thank whoever posted the article on onions and polyps a few weeks ago as for some reason I had been craving onions the last few month and they appear to have the ability to shrink polyps!

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, just adding some info to possible causes for CIndy's transfusion.