..and a snip snip here... and staple staple there...

Jun 30, 2011

It has never felt so good to be back in my own PJs!  Not that my hospital stay wasn't good.  It was way above my expectations.  But, there is nothing like the creature comforts of being home.  So, here I am 2 days post op, officially on the loser's bench and loving it!

On Tuesday morning my mom and my sister took me to Highland Hospital.  I was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am with surgery at 12:30.  They took me in to my little "pre-surgery cubby hole" where I was told to remove all clothes, jewelry etc and don the very fashionable hospital gown and booties.  The staff nurse poked me with needles, asked me lots of question (mostly my name, birth date and what procedure I was having done), and began introducing everyone who would be taking part in my internal rearrangement.  A very nice hospital volunteer stopped in, shared her experience with the Lap Band surgery and brought my family beverages.  This was sweet and but also kind of cruel since I had been unable to drink anything all morning.  Coffee smells so much better when you aren't allowed to have any.  Then my anesthesiologist came in and was very pleasant, but concerned about my nose ring.  Ugh, so I tried to remove it, but it was stuck and I didn't much want to rip it out of my head.  So he agreed to let me keep it. 

Then before I knew it they were wheeling me off to the operating room.  So here's what I remember about the procedure.  The anesthesiologist put a little oxygen mask over my mouth...  And then we were in the recovery room and  he was saying "Everything went well."  So I lost a few hours, gained a few staples, and awoke to soreness.  I faded in and out of consciousness and somehow got to my room where my mom and sister were waiting for me.  The first thing I noticed where flowers, and yeah, I am a total girl.  I ooed and ahhed over my little boutique and then noticed I had the cutest little black stuffed kitty cat sitting next to them.  It was sweet.  Then the nurse came in and gave me morphine.  I remember my family hugging me goodbye and then waking up sometime later as my vitals were checked. 

This was the pattern of my first night.  Sleep, woken up for vitals, morphine, sleep, woken up by random noise in the hall, sleep, more vitals, walk around the nurses station, morphine, vitals, sleep...and so on.  I had a semi private room and my neighbor had the same procedure, but seemed to be up a lot more than I the first night.  So I think I got pretty lucky in terms of general comfort.  I had a lot of soreness and pressure, but nothing unbearable.

The next day it was more walking and napping.  Finally around noon I was given my first water to sip.  Let me just say, this was water of the gods.  Never had anything been so refreshing.  Even my little baby sips were filled with joy.  Over 24 hours with zero water was torture.  Later that evening they hooked me up with pudding and crystal light.  I couldn't eat much, but I tried.  I did much better with my yogurt this morning.  Ate 1/2 of it...woohoo!

This morning I was feeling so much better.  I was doing laps around the nurse's station, lost the IV, and was able to put on my own clothes.  I was discharged around noon and on my way. 

Just to note, the best words of advice I received pre-op was to bring a pillow to hold against my stomach on the drive home.  SO TRUE.  I am grateful for that wisdom, because I held tight to my pillow and it really eased the pressure over bumps and pot holes (thank you NY). 

I think I brought way too much to the hospital also.  So if you are reading this and haven't gone in for surgery yet, remember... less is more.  The first day I was out of it.  The laptop, the books, the magazines, I think I read a chapter in my book, never even opened the lap top case and why did I bring three different outfits??  The most important thing I brought was my Beary Manilow, which is my cuddle bear, and he made everything better.  Some how everything feels better when you got something furry to cuddle up with.  My night nurse, who was awesome, decided we needed to name my new kitty Lola to go with Beary.  Yep, I am immature.  Yep, I am comfortable with that

So now I am home, all showered and cozy.  Been up walking and trying to get in my requirements for my liquid post op diet.  It takes me over an hour to drink a protein drink and it took almost as long to eat my strained cream of chicken soup earlier.  I feel like I am sipping and slurping pretty much constantly.  But, its ok.  I got this. 

Hoping the rest of my recovery smooth sailing!

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