notoriousgrannyD
the hospital experience
Oct 18, 2012
Started out shaky, they had originally had me first, then third, then first and after we show up at 6:30 am, they settled on second - which meant an extra 2 hour wait. grrrrr (actually it more like tears from being so emotional, how embarassing)after admission, i was taken into the prep area, was weighed (15 lbs off on the liquid diet, immediately felt better lol) was shown to my cubicle where I changed into my gown, put my clothes into the bag provided and settled in. IV was started, Heparin given in my arm, vitals done and hubby was allowed into sit and wait. this proved annoying so i sent him to go eat, poor fellow. after a 4 hour wait in which I read and listened to my Ipod, they came for me.
we walked to the operating room, was introduced to the team, laid on the table, joked around a little, breathed a little into a mask ......... and woke up feeling muzzy and a little nauseated. they immediately took care of that and the pain It was done!. Next thing I remember we are going to my room and YAY - I got a private, not sure why, I did sign for a semiprivate with my MB blue cross and ended up with 218 - super room!
I went to the OR at 11:00 am and was wheeled into my room at 2:30. I had a student nurse named Liz who was in with my surgery and then was assigned to me the next day so I peppered her with questions about the surgery (size of stomach and whether it was made of steel, which I was pretty sure of due my inability to give up any food which i have consumed) She was great, very helpful and considerate and will make a great nurse when she is finished.
I started sipping water within the first couple of hours and got some torodol in my IV every 6 hours, morphine if I was hurtin in between, so I was pretty comfty the whole time. I was up walking in the evening, walked twice and that was enough. I did have to pee alot, every two hours, all night but other than that, I slept well - no nausea or vomiting (that was one of my big fears)
The next morning I was on crushed meds (as we were already planning my discharge and I needed to prove I could tolerate them and 90 mls of fluid an hour while awake- I think.......a little blurry here) My liquid of choice was apple juice and water mixed together. We put my crushed tylenol (so gross!!) into jello so it didn't bottom out in my med cup. This worked pretty good but nothing can disguise the taste ...... ugh. Also had their version of vanilla protein shake with a packet of beneprotein mixed in, got it down but really, does everything have to be so yucky??? It's like "let's pick the grossest tasting stuff and get that for the patients" - then need to work on that for sure.
Had visits from the Bariatric dietician, the nurse practioner from the program, physio and one visit from Dr. Denis (who is a "fellow" to the program and of course, Dr. Andrew.
I got my walking papers, sick note, prescription for pain meds and instructions for an alternate 2 week visit (doing it by phone with the nurse prac. and having my incisions inspected by my regular doctor, cuz I am not driving 14 hours round trip just for that! haha) and Dr. Andrew agreed.
I was ready to go with shoes on by 2:30, exactly 24 hours after arriving in the room. I asked what the timeline post op usually was and they said most are gone 24 - 36 hours post op, if they are ready. The hotel is comfty but boring, thank god for the computer and TV. I walk a little but probably should being doing more.
but bascially that's my whole story ..........kinda boring...... but that's good.
