Sleeved and home (long)

Jun 12, 2011

I finally got some energy to sit up with my laptop. I went to the hospital at 11:30 am on Friday. I was in pre-op and ready to go by 1:00. I really didn't want to go through it, but I made myself just suck it up. I was extremely happy though because the first thing they did was weigh me, and I was down 12 lbs from my pre-op. When the scale said 335, I almost fell over. That's 85 lbs in one year. That's about the time I was like WHY am I doing this - clearly, I can do this. But whatever, I know why I spent all this time preparing for this surgery,so I went with it.

I went into surgery about 1:00. All of the staff was wonderful, and there were way too many cute guys to keep track (nurses, anesthia people, etc). Yes, I obviously hadn't been drugged at that point. When they started pushing my bed towards the OR, I started hyperventiating. All I could remember was being told to wait for the happy juice. As they opened the door to the OR, I covered my eyes, and wouldn't let go. I remember hearing my surgeon talk (hadnt actually seen him that day) and asking me what I was doing...I laid there for a minute, made the mistake of peaking, and seeing all sort of disturbing things, so I quickly closed my eyes. Next thing I remember was a mask over my face, three breaths, and that was that.

Waking up in recovery really was weird. First waking up, my first words were "WTF happened to me, I'm in pain, help" - at first the nurse was just sitting there typing, so I said it again. Finally she handed me the pain button, which I promptly pushed. She told me I could only do it every 12 minutes later. Having just woken up, 12 minutes means nothing, so every 2 minutes, I'd try and push it, and she'd come over to remind me it wouldn't work. Finally she told me I could push it whenever the blood pressure cuff inflated since it was every 15 minutes. That worked better. I was in recovery for a while because they couldn't find an empty room. Didn't bother me since there were a lot of nurses there and I felt better. I didn't have any sore throat from the tube, but the oxygen thing in my nose was bothering me, and I was told I would have to have it there all night. I was also told I wouldn't be able to have anything for my dry mouth all night. I was grumpy after that. I felt hungry, but was in so much pain, eating was the last thing on earth that I was thinking of.

About 4-5 I think I finally got a room. BY MYSELF. Thank god. I couldnt stand the thought of sharing a room. But, the bed was super uncomfortable. I did not sleep a single hour in the hospital. Makes for one long miserable night. Nurses were distant - they came in maybe once an hour, or every two hours. I had some problems with my blood pressure being really high, but I was in a lot of pain for whatever reason. Mostly my back and neck that were killing me from having to be in the bed. I kept getting up and switching between a chair and the bed, but every up/down made my stomach hurt. It felt like I was kicked brutally in the stomach area. They'd usually have me push the pump and come back in 20 min to see if it got better. It did - a little. They did allow me to take the oxygen thing out because I just couldnt handle it, and I didn't have any problems. I also asked for the catherter to being taken out which they did right away. It didn't really hurt coming out. They also gave me lemon swab things for my mouth which was a god send.

I had to ask them to walk - no one asked me to, or told me to get up and walk. Kind of irritated because I wanted to walk more than I did. By morning, they let me have my IV run on batteries so I could use the bathroom and walk around on my own. That was good because I couldnt stand the thought of laying or sitting anymore.

About 10:00 when I told them i had family coming, she brought me my first little 30 CC cup of water, and told me to drink it in 30 minutes. I was so thirsty I drank it in 15. Little constant sips but it didn't feel uncomfortable so whatever. I dont think their discharge instructions were sufficient, but I got the number to the post-op bariatric nurse for all of my Qs. Finally, I got cleared to leave. Getting dressed in my own clothes - painful. OMG. It's hard to put pants on. My stomach is all swollen and weird looking. My incisisions ( I have 6) don't hurt at all, and they are glued, so I don't have any staples. Massive bruising though. 

Drive home was painful. Whatever. I was grumpy as hell because my mom, my sister and 2 kids are all in my one bedroom. When I got home, I couldn't get in bed, so my mom ran out and got me a recliner. I can't sleep in it (which means I'm now on three nights of NOOOO SLEEP whatsoever). I walked and sipped for a few hours with no problems. Had about 12 oz of propel zero. Then, the naseua set it. OMG. It was short lived, but intense. My mouth watered up like I was going to vomit, but it was like my insides don't work enough to actually vomit. Then it went away. And then, the gas pains started (at least I'm hoping that's what this is). I can't stand up straight. Only position I can get the pain to go away is laying back in the recliner.  I'm starting gas medicine, but walking is sporadic now because it hurts too much to stand up straight. I did manage to get in the shower (and boy did I need it) but that was super painful.

I'm going to try better to sip on protein more than the propel so I can get some nutrition. I can't feel my stomach at all, so I can't really guage whether I'm taking too big of sips. I doubt it though, I'm using a little medicine syringe that came with my pain meds. I' doing about 1tsp every couple minutes.

I'm praying these damn gas pains will be gone by today or tomorrow so I can actually start getting up (i know I should walk them out but I'm just not there yet) and walking around more. I could deal with the soreness and surgery related pain, but not this other stuff.

My family has been sitting in my 1 bedroom apartment, fighting, eating snickers and drinking starbucks drinks. THEY SUCK. I could care less  about the food since I have absolutely no desire to eat, Stil rude though.

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