* * * * Post Surgery * * * *
3/22/05 - My Surgery date

I just haven't gotten around to posting to my profile for a while, so I'll recap. My surgery went extremely well. Before my surgery, I spent some time talking the anesthesiologist and told him many times that I get sick with anesthesia. He assured me that he would take care of me... gotta trust a young guy with a snoopy print hat :-D Well he kept his word and I want not sick from the anesthesia when I woke up from surgery. They had me walk into the surgery room. I thought that was funny, but they explained that people had said that it would be easier to walk in and climb up on the table than to be wheeled in and then have to scoot from one table to the other... I have to agree, but it was still kind of odd. Boy was that room cold, but once I got on the table the covered me with warm blankets and then it was lights out for me.

I was told that my surgery was only 2 hours long which is good. My Nurse, Helen (from my Doc's office) said that my 24 lbs pre-op wieght loss helped shrink my liver and make things go easier.

I never had any pain after surgery, I felt great.

The next day on 3/23/05 I finally when in for my leak test, they made me drink a little of the icky contrast medicine. After my testing, I felt nauseated and got sick. Helen said that it could be from the anesthesia that was still in me. They had to give me a shots of nausea medicine through out the day, when I would drink, I would feel a wave of nausea, but I didn't get sick.

Te next day 3/24/05 they told me to take things slowly and try not to take the nausea medicine today. They wanted to make sure that I could keep things down on my own. Things went fine and I was able to drink my soup and tea and and I Loved the Jello! By the end of the day they weren't sure if they were going to let me go home, because I wasn't eating that much. Well make up my mind... take it slow, or get it all in. So at my next meal and I made an effort to drink and eat everything they wanted me to and TA DA! I was parolled! They let me out. I got home on 3/24/05 in the evening.

I have to say that they nursing staff at Alta Bates/Summit in Oakland are excellent. The nurses have to attend a barriatric training before they can work with the patients. It was great having my mom there with me, after a while she was expert and unhooking me and hooking back up to everything so that I could go to the bathroom or take my walks.

My Dr's office is right across the street from the hospital and his nurse, Helen, stopped by at least once a day to check on me. She knew what I needed and would take care of me. It was a great experience.

I did find out that my mouthguard that I use for sleep apnea does work well. When I didn't have it on in the recovery room, they keep saying that my "sat" levels (oxygen saturation levels) would drop really low and then pop back up again. When I was finally coehrent enough, I told them about my sleep apnea and my mouth piece. Once I put that in, I didn't have any more problems.

3/13/2005
Boy this has been a bad week, on March 9th. My cousin passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday. Most of our family lives in the central valley and I am nearest relative. I have had family in and out of my house the last few days and have driven 45 minutes to his apartment nearly everyday to get something for his mom. He was a great guy, friendly funny and full of life, I'm going to miss you Paul! Paul was an only child and his father passed away before he was born. It's just him and his mom. She is just devastated! My mom is staying with my Aunt (my cousin's mom) right now. My mom and aunt and sister-in-laws, But my mom is the strong one in the family and she is the one everyone turns to in a crisis. Our family has had almost 1 death per year in the last 10 years, enough is enough!

Things have been so hectic, I'm not following my eating plan, but then again I'm not really over eating either. I haven't been drinking much water either. My surgery is 9 days! I was hoping to be in good shape and ready for surgery. Now I feel like I'm going to be in a rush like I've just run the bases and I'm sliding into home. I'm took of 2 days from work last week and I'm taking another 2 this week, I'm feeling the time pressure there as well.

My mom is planning on staying with me after my surgery and I'm going to need her for a while, I kind of feel guilty taking her away from my aunt because my mom is really needed over there right now.

People have asked me if I am more nervous about my surgery in-light on my cousin's death. It actually affected me the opposite way. It shows everyone that death can happen at any time. I'm hoping to extend my life by having this surgery. I am in pretty good shape, other than my weight, so I think I am in good shape for surgery. It's better to have it now, than later when maybe I'm not in such good shape.

Gotta run now, tomorrow is my Husband's birthday and we haven't done anything to prepare for it.