- Username: HarmonyRose88
- Location: Wadesville, IN, USA
- Member Since: 5/1/2006
- BMI: 49.2
- Surgery date scheduled
- Surgery Type: RNY (09/10/08)
- Surgeon: Erik Throop
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October 1, 2008 on October 1, 2008 1:57 pm
Today marks 3 weeks from the day of my surgery, and it seems like the month of September just flew by! I consider myself a very lucky woman that my whole surgery experience was as textbook as it was. Never having had any type of procedure, I did not know what to expect. We arose early that Wednesday morning, because my surgery was at 7:30 am, and we had to be at the hospital at 5:30. I was a little nervous, but not nearly as much as I thought I would be.
My husband, Don, and I were shown into a little room where I undressed, and they started my IV, etc. I spoke to the anesthesilogist about my bad airway, allergies, etc. It seemed very quickly that I was whisked away to the operating room, and scooted over onto the little narrow table. After that, I remember very little, until I woke in recovery. My main impressions of that was being in a painful half-conscious state. A former employee of ours became a surgical assistant as an adult and I vaguely remember her speaking to me. My first wide awake time was when I got to my real room at about 11:30. I was soon surrounded by all 3 of my children, my daughters in law, and my husband.
The aides and nurses started taking my vitals, giving me shots, etc. I was very impressed with Dr Throop, and the flawless surgery he performed, but I soon found out that this group of nurses, with a few exceptions, were not the professionals that I expected to have. I was supposed to get ice chips every hour (1 ounce), but I always had to call at least three times, and it sometimes took 2 hours to get them. Many of them were not even from that floor, and did not know anything about bariatric surgery except to read the orders on my chart.
I asked to get up and walk by 1:30 that day, and it wasn't all that hard. I walked 3 times that first day, and nine times the next day.
Let me say here to anyone who might be reading this, and has not had their surgery yet: If possible, you may need to have someone with you as much as possible to be sure you receive the proper care. Luckily, I felt pretty good, and argued with them myself. I never had one second of nausea, blocked gas pains, or any of the other side effects that so many complain of. I was blessed to have had such a relatively easy time.
I went for my leak test on Thursday morning, and took a shower. Again, a nurse said that I should go and do my shower, and just walked out, leaving me without any assistance, with thigh-high compression stockings that I guess I was supposed to take off and put on unassisted. I pushed the call button and said that I would need a little help, but still stood up and waited for more than 15 minutes before someone arrived. She said, "sorry, I just met someone in the hall and started talking, etc." One day after surgery, and I had to stand there and wait! I could have passed out, for all that they knew!
They also had no clue as to what to let me "eat" or drink. I asked for a popsicle, and I got a 2 oz plastic cup with SF lemonade frozen into it like a brick! When I asked for broth, I might as well have asked for lobster fresh from Maine! And they brought me pudding and yogurt with fruit in it, which definitely isn't right for not even 2 days out. So I mainly had one cup of jello, water, and some apple juice until I left on Friday morning. Pretty sad, eh?
Since coming home, I have gotten stronger every day, and have never felt all that badly. I got prescription liquid pain meds to bring home, but only took one dose. I did take a couple of small sips of liquid tylenol a couple of time the first couple of days, but didn't need it long.
I thought that I would need some help for a few days, and I DID let my family assist me in getting up, etc. But I was fine very quickly. I went back to Dr Throop on the 10th day after my surgery and he said I was doing great. I never had any issues with my little incisions and they are now almost healed up.
I walked as much as I could inside the house for a few days, and was soon walking outside. I find that I am sleeping better than I have in a long time. About my only problem is in drinking enough water, etc. I have been drinking Fruit20, kool-aid, apple juice, decaf tea, popsicles, etc. I drink a protein drink based on CIB (SF) every day,with added protein, dry milk, and skim. It has 47 grams of protein. I drink some Isopure, but not as much as I should. I haven't experienced any problems yet eating, etc. I eat a protein laden version of scrambled eggs every day, with added cottage cheese, finely ground turkey, dry milk, and seasonings and melted cheese on top. I can eat about 3 ounces of this at a sitting. I do mashed potatoes, with more cheese, little wedges of Laughing Cow cheese, SF pudding, SF jello, and SF applesauce. I am not going to eat anything before I should.
If anyone who is thinking about surgery, or has questions, etc, I would be more than happy to discuss my experience as I go along. All I can say, is "so far, so good!".
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September 7, 2008 on September 7, 2008 7:19 am
I only have a couple of days left before my surgery, and I have a lot of things to do in that time. My common sense tells me that everything will work out fine, as it has for so many others, but I am still nervous. I went out and stood on my upper deck for a little quiet reflection this morning. Looking out over the lake, I can feel a little hint of autumn in the air, and very soon, the trees will be changing color in preparation for this beautiful season. I hope to see many more autumns, and that is a very good reason to have this surgery and enjoy a much more healthy me for some time to come.
We celebrated my grandson, Alexander's, first birthday party yesterday. I looked at him, as he is trying to figure out this big crazy world that he has been born into, and desperately prayed that I would be around to see him go into all the stages of childhood and beyond.
I am a very lucky person to have lived the life I have had so far, and I appreciate it very much. My husband and I have had 43 years of ups and downs, several businesses and jobs, and so on. I wouldn't go back and change a thing, because I have always felt blessed. Going into our "golden" years, I feel that this surgery will give me that extra "edge" to do so much more. I will make another posting as soon as I can, and let everyone know how I am doing.
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My Story
As of January 18, 2008, I was 63 years old, with three grown children and three grandchildren. I have nearly always had weight issues, although I was 100 pounds lighter about 20 years ago. A life style and profession change were all factors in the 90's which led me to gradually gain this weight.
We bought a restaurant in the fall of 1990, and a second one the following year. Not only was there a wide variety of unlimited food, we worked very long hours, during which it seemed necessary to "graze" during the day just to keep the energy levels up. It has always been very easy for me to gain weight, from childhood, so year by year, the pounds creeped up. I began researching weight loss surgery at least three years ago, when I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and started having leg problems. I had also gradually developed blood pooling in my legs from so much standing at the cash register every day. I went through the entire process of testing, etc, until the Spring of 2007, when the package was sent into my insurance company, and was denied. As crazy as this sounds, it was because I could not produce a photograph of me (from a doctor's office) for the year 2004. I made several phone calls, to no avail, and decided it just was not supposed to happen.
My husband and I are "retired"; both from the restaurant business and he was also retired from General Electric in Mt Vernon, Indiana. So he is now on Medicare, and I am on that supplemental policy that kicks in for spouses until I am also 65. Well, I was told that the coverage would change from Blue Cross of Alabama to Anthem this year, which it did in January. It was now a very simple procedure to get approved, because all of the testing I had completed was still good for this time period. So now, surgery is coming up on Sept 10, and hopefully, I will sail through it fine.
For just some basic information about me: My husband, Don, and I will be married 43 years in August, and he used to be my high school art teacher. We have 3 children: Todd who is 40 and works at the Princeton Toyota plant. He is married to Sheri, and is stepfather to her three teenagers, with a son of his own, Payton 13, from a previous marriage. My second son, Sean, now owns the second restaurant, the Silver Bell, and lives next door with his wife, Amy, and 2 children, Madeleine, age 2 and Alexander who will be 1 on Sept 5. Babysitting them is now my "day job". (We no longer have the first restaurant, which was in New Harmony). My 90 pound thirty year old daughter, Heather, is a web designer with an advertising firm in Evansville, and has a super boyfriend, Dan.
I strongly feel that losing all of this excess weight will make my life much easier and hopefully, longer. I have recently discovered that I now have the beginnings of type II diabetes, which is another great reason to have the surgery. We love pets, and have too many! We have 5 dogs, 3 cats, 4 birds, and a turtle. We have lived in our current home less than 2 years and still are working on improvements, both inside and out. I would love to hear from other bariatric patients from anyplace, but especially from this area.
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