Jaime P.
Sleeved..and apparently couldn't come at a better time.
Jul 23, 2014
Yesterday (7/22) I had my surgery scheduled at 3:30pm. Because it was late in the day, I ended up getting pushed back until 6pm (18 hours of no food or liquids sucks). My doctor came in and talked to my mom and I about what was going to happen during the surgery and because of the revision from lap band to sleeve, the surgery would take 2 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours. 5 hours later I woke up in the recovery room and moved to a private room. The surgery ended up taking about 4 hours in all. Here's where the "couldn't have come at a better time" comes in - I have had 3 lap band surgeries from 2008 - 2010 due to complications so we were expecting some scar tissue.
According to my surgeon, there was a lot more that expected. Apparently it was on the outside of the band, in between the band and my stomach, all around the area that attaches the band to the tubing, and more at the port site. Because of this scar tissue, my stomach opening was very close to being closed despite no fill in my band. They were not even able to fit the bougie in my stomach without shaving a lot of the scar tissue out first. Now I know that I wasn't crazy about why I had been throwing up and food getting stuck despite not having a fill. Also, he found that my stomach had folded onto itself after my last band surgery sometime. It took more time to remove all the stitching from the previous surgeries and the "cob webs" that were starting to grow and hold my folded stomach together. Scary thought! He was able to get my stomach straightened out (he said it was like an accordion) and was able to successfully create my sleeve to hot dog size (34 French I believe).
I was up and walking within 30 mins of being in my room and walked several times today around the floor. I was sipping water and ice chips late into the night and after two hours of sleep, was able to have my full liquid breakfast , lunch, and dinner. I had no problems with water, broth, popsicles, and a tiny bit of black coffee. I'm not sure about jello since I only had a few bites before giving it to my mom. I was released tonight and was able to go home less that 24 hours after surgery. My pain was literally the worst I have ever felt in my life (no babies or other surgeries beside bands) - I don't take well to pain killers, and it took three different kinds to really find one that actually helped. I'm still in a fair amount of pain, but had my meds filled so I'm able to control that more.
I've been trying my first protein shake tonight, but it is pretty slow going. Hopefully I can finish it and head to bed. I'm also hoping that the pain subsides fairly quickly. On the plus side, I ended up not having a drain at home because my surgeon does not like them and he said all looked great before they took out the one from surgery. Happy Dance! Another plus, I've lost almost 14lbs since my pre-op diet started and it will only go down from there. Can't wait to see my results and I'm so happy to be back on the loser's bench.
-Jaime
