I need to hear "went well" stories....

I am in the very early steps of my journey and I've been reading alot....that can be good and bad...but I see alot of horror stories about people's surgeries.  Does anyone out there have a "my surgery went great!" story?

I would love to hear it!
Thanks
Jill

Jill,
Mine went very well.  I expected the worst and got the best.  I felt like I had done millions of situps, but needed no pain meds and was walking about 4 hours after surgery.  I did not have any complications or anything.  I am 9 days out and walking 2 miles daily.

All I can say is I nearly siked myself out b/c of everything I read, but it made me expect the worst.  I ended up recovering rapidly.  Whatever you do, get your protein in after surgery!

Good luck!
Linda

Everything went well!  The only real pain I had was from the incisions, I never had problems getting in fluids and transitioned to mushies just fine, and then of course to soft and regular food.

The only thing I would reccomend is to get an abdominal binder if the hospital doesn;t give you one. I didn't get one in the hospital and picked one up a few days after surgery.  It would have saved a lot of greif in the first few days.

I had no real issues.  While on the morphine drip I was overwhelmingly tired, barely staying awake, but had energy as soon as they took me off of it.

The worst part for me was not being able to take a shower until almost 3 days after surgery - after they removed the drain.  Some people are allowed to take a shower earlier, but my doc wouldn't let any of his patients.  It was a wonderful shower.

I agree that the abdominal binder was very helpful at the beginning.  They already had one on me when I woke up from surgery.

I must admit the time in the hospital was really very boring.  I walked the halls, did some work, and read a lot of OH on my tablet PC.

Oh, I'm in my mid 40s.

 If I knew, how well it would go, I'd have done this years ago.  Getting this surgery was the best thing I've ever done.  Everyday I feel better and better, I have more energy.  Recovery was pretty easy as I didn't have any problems with getting liquids down or with soft foods.  

hi jill, writing for my wife.
she got her sleeve at noon today out of surgery 12:45 setting in a chair at 2 walking at 2:30 getting released at 8  tue. morning. just a little uneasy from the gas but doc says thats normal.

I keep say that I can't belive how easily I went through the surgery and hospitalization!  I must sound like a broken record!  The evening of the surgery I work up with the I and drains and O2 and thought "what have I done?"  I really said that.  But I was able to walk with help from the NA every 4 hours.  By our 3rd walk at 4:00 AM when she was bringing me back to the room I asked if I could walk some more!  (I'm a nurse.  I know that walking post-op prevents a lot of complications)  That day got better when they removed my drain.  The removal wasn't painful, just felt strange.  No pain meds needed at all after that milestone.  After that I walked on my own and even cleaned up my room a little bit and visited with my family and another sleeve patient.  The next day I had the best shower of my life and went home!  It just kept getting better after that.  By day 4 I was taking 30 minute walks aroung my neighborhood twice a day.  It seems like even a lot  the friends with horror stories have no regrets once they start feeling better.

I would suggest sitting in on the support groups at a few of the hospitals in your area that offer the surgery.  I went to 2 different ones and found them rreally helpfull.  I met people form 5 weeks out to a few years out of different surgeries and they were great about sharing their stories.  Don't be shy.  It's a huge step, but I'm so happy I did it!

My recovery went well. The worst thing was that I turned out to be allergic to the Vicodin pills I had for pain after surgery. The good news: I had so little pain I didn't need them. Getting up and down was uncomfortable (not even really painful, more a pull) for a few days, but:

I could walk as much as I wanted. I used a stuffed dog on my big incision to keep it from feeling "pully" but that was all.

I could slowly drink plenty of fluids, including protein supplements.

I have never (not once) had any vomiting or nausea.

The good thing about reading here is that you know what to expect. It makes the normal recovery less scary.

Good luck!

My surgery went really well. Very little pain. Just some gas pain.The worst part was the dry mouth for the first 24 hours. I could not have any liquids until the next day. But once that was over, I dit not have any problem drinking. I am 2 weeks out now and I feel great.

I was scared because I was the second biggest patient my doctor has sleeved. I did and am doing great! (knock on wood lol). I left the hospital the next day, very little pain, no dehydration, everything on schedule. I had a moment of "what have I done?" on the fifth day out just due to being emotional. I am almost 7 weeks out. My only problem is that I feel like my loss is slower than it should be. I have lost 36 pounds total, had a 2-week-long stall at week 3. Good luck to you!!