attahgirl

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spent a week up at my parents house to recoup after being released from the hospital on nov 29th and things were good.   the soup thing admittedly was hard as was getting in enough 'food' and hydration.

i finally had my first post-op poop at 8 days out from surgery date, thanks to 1 dulcolax pill. i'm dreading going through that but the dr says i seem to be slow going in that department and if i can't do it on my own every 3-5 days, that i have to take something to get it out.

my sister brought me back to philly on thursday dec 6th (fyi - riding in a car post-op is easier than you think!!  i strapped a pillow to my stomach -held down by the seatbelt -and did fine on a 2 hr drive each way!)

thursday night, about an hour after my sister had started the trek back up home, i was sitting next to my cat and i started thinking *WHEW she must have done something fierce in the litterbox*

the smell didn't go away... and randomly my arm rested against my stomach and i felt the sogginess.  my main incision had opened up on one end and started to drain.  it soaked through part of my shirt AND a hoodie before i noticed it - and the fluid coming out was whitish/pink and smelled HORRENDOUS.

i panicked and called the dr's answering service, who paged the on-call at the hospital and had him call me back regarding it.  he told me to just clean it up and keep sterile gauze on it to absorb any more fluid that might come out and to take my temperature to be sure i wasn't running a fever.  temp was normal so he said it would be ok to wait until my appt with the dr the next morning to investigate it further.

then i asked what on earth could make that fluid smell like cat poo?! and he told me it was likely " liquified necrotized FAT from around your organs".  EWWWWW.

well i cleaned it up and saw the dr in the AM the next day who told me it was normal and this was supposed to happen. they just hadn't mentioned that it would be like a water balloon exploding when it finally opened to drain!  he stuck a q-tip doused in hydrogen peroxide into the opening and told me to keep gauze/etc on it as it would drain intermittently for about a week or so.

it's been 3 days since then and now the other side of the incision opened to drain as well.  good. i hope the stuff gets out of me and i hope it stops - because its gross as hell and kinda hurts.

in other news:
- i'm easily fatigued
- i'm painfully achey and sore all over
- sneezing causes me to feel like my insides just ripped apart
- i have not dumped or thrown up at all

now food/drink news!

things i can tolerate:
-baked potato (plain)
-mashed potatoes
-egg (scrambled or over easy)
-yogurt
-soup
-sugar free ice pops, jello, and pudding
-guacamole
-low-fat cheese
-sugar free oatmeal
-sugar free kool aid
-tablespoon of wendy's chili

i have only had two instances where i feel like i ate too fast and then felt sort of backed up and a little nauseous.  i've never eaten to the point of feeling like i over-ate NOR have i not thoroughly chewed everything that was going down the hatch.

i know i'm almost 2 weeks out and i should not be on smushy food yet - but the soup thing was killing me. i just wasn't eating AT ALL because i couldn't stand soup anymore.   so i figured the better compromise is to eat a tiny bit of SOMETHING to keep the metabolism going, instead of just drinking all day and not eating.

the protein thing has been a nightmare. the kind i got post-op tasted horrible and every kind i tried after that was just icky as well.  so i ordered the Unjury unflavored kind after hearing such good talk about it - i swear, it really better be tasteless! -
and of course, UPS managed to screw up delivering it to me. so i've been trying to get SOME protein in (thank you eggs and some plain baked potato mush) until it gets delivered  - they say it's on the truck to arrive at my job tomorrow.

speaking of work!

i went back in for a couple hours friday (i work doing tech support for software - so i sit in a chair and do emails/phone all day - not a physically active job) and i'm doing half-days this week to get back into the swing of things.

my dad offered me to come recoup at his casa in BRAZIL with he and my step-mom.  so i'm thinking about it... but i dont know yet - i think i will wait until my incisions are completely done draining and i'm back at a point where i can relax in a pool by the ocean if i want to.  i don't want to go and be miserable because i can't enjoy things like swimming.

ok. this is a huge update, because i was terrible at updating this whole week.  i will try to be better.  

ps. in 7 days postop, i was down 16lbs.  so by now i'm probably at 20+lbs down.  i don't see any difference yet, bc the dr says it disappears from around your internal organs first before you 'see' results.   i hope they come soon though.   cuz my muscles are so sore from carrying around this tired heavy body right now!

i'm back home after my 2.5 day stay at pennsylvania hospital following my laparoscopic RNY with Dr Wernsing!

he said i didn't have ANY complications - not even the ones average patients get!

the biggest shock in regards to pain was that it felt like a brick was sitting on my ribs and i was unable to take deep breaths for the first day. they said that was partly due to the pressure from the gas in my abdomen and partly due to the top two incisions which were made right below my ribs to get the diaphragm out of the way while they worked.

i had my 3 shots of heparin (blood thinner) every day in the hospital, and they even let me take the shot in the numb part of my right upper thigh (thank you meralgia paresthetica!)

the catheter wasn't as bad as i thought it would be - it was uncomfortable and every time the nurse would touch or move the bag, i felt like i was going to pee the bed.  taking it out wasn't painful at all.. she just deflated the balloon part and said "cough". when i gave a light cough, she just let it slide out and it didnt even burn.

the bed was the worst part for me. laying in the bed was uncomfortable and my assbone was killing me. i found that laying as upright as possible helped my ability to take deeper breaths and end some of the soreness... but on the 2nd day, i moved to the chair and that was much better. especially considering i didn't want to risk it taking 15 painful minutes to get myself out of bed if i had to pee.

i managed to take in some broth and some 'thawed' jello twice and found that the jello is a great vehicle to take the broken up percocet in so it doesn't make me nauseous.

the morphine in the hospital really didnt do much aside from make me sleepy, but the toradol was the best! it's the 'breakthrough pain medication' that they gave me when i said my pain level was a 7 on the scale.  that stuff definitely helped so much, but they can only give it to you once every 6 hours because it can mess with your kidneys.

today on my 'lunch' liquid tray, the hospital staff actually put packets of SUGAR for me to add to the tea!  i quickly notified them that RNY patients cannot have sugar and they brought it back.  the nutritionist was shocked that they mistakenly gave it to me but thankful that i didn't happen to try it out.   

i'm sticking with room temperature liquids right now and doing small amounts at a time.  i've heard horror stories of people trying cold beverages and it creating contractions in the pouch and subsequent nausea -which i want to avoid having.   the DR prescribed reglan just in case things make me nauseous though, so that's good.

in all honesty, i thought i'd be able to tough it out and go back to work on monday ... hahahahahha yeah right. i already told my coworkers that i will be out next week and that i'll just work from home.

i'm super tired though - so bedtime!

so - tomorrow morning at 9:30a is my time!  i'm excited and with all the poop-flinging that's been going on in the forums, i've actually become less nervous and less scared of what challenges lay ahead in this life.

i chose RNY because lapband was not suitable for me. it would have allowed me to continue eating the bad things i eat, just in lesser quantity.

i chose RNY because the duodenal switch is not suitable for me. it would have allowed me to continue eating the bad things i eat, just in lesser quantity and with more malnutrition due to malabsorption.

at the end of the day - my goal with this surgery is to be able to change my eating habits for life.   it if means little to no sugar for life - then so be it.  if it means that i can't have that piece of cake or that sugary drink in a few years --- good.  because for me, it's not about one piece of cake or one sugary drink.  if it was only about that, then i wouldn't be getting ready to hop up on the OR table.  

it's funny how i was a little nervous for tomorrow - but now i feel more confident that this is a good decision.

surgery date: Tuesday November 27th!  i'm super excited.  my friends keep saying, it's going to come up so quickly, but i can't wait!

IBX (Independence Blue Cross/Blue Shield) is known for quick turnarounds, and they'd told me before that their approval/rejection process takes about 2-3 days.. so after my surgeon's office submitted it monday afternoon -- by this afternoon (Friday) i just couldn't wait any longer!

i called them and they said they'd received an APPROVAL late thursday and that we're good to go!!!   i was as giddy as a little kid and ran around my office high-fiving my bosses/coworkers with the news.

my surgeon's wife is preggo and her due date is around when I had hoped to schedule my surgery (mid/late november) - so the office is going to check and see if insurance will still approve me if we bump the date to early november.  if not, then early december it shall be.   at this point - i am just glad that my last hurdle is simply picking a date haha!

i really can't wait to have this done and join you losers!

went to my primary care DR today and acquired my letter.. walked it over to the surgeons office and asked to be called if they were going to require more after the nurse practicioners looked over it.

didn't get a call today - so i'm guessing it was good and that it went out to the insurance!

i'm hoping that i hear something next week at the earliest :)

hurrah!!

My primary care DR has been really busy lately, so he will be giving me my letter of medical necessity tomorrow and i'll bring it over to the surgeon's office.

i'm hoping the surgeon's office will be able to submit it tomorrow and that i'll hear back sometime next week (crossing my fingers!)

so now it'll be the waiting game and hoping i get approved and get a surgery date!

So far, to date, I've passed the following:

- Psychological Evaluation (Required by Insurance)
- Cardiologist Evaluation (Required by Hospital/Surgeon)
- Pulmonologist Evaluation (Required By Hospital/Surgeon)
- Attended 2 Support Group Meetings (Required by Hospital/Surgeon)

I am seeing my primary care Dr tomorrow morning to get my Letter of Medical Neccessity and then the surgeon's office will submit for approval with my insurance company so I can get a date!

I'm a little worried that since my current primary care Dr has only been seeing me since my move to Philadelphia (a few months ago) that the insurance will kick back a rejection until I can go nag every other doctor I've had for the past 2-5 years for records as well.   But crazier things have happened, so here's hoping my Insurance reviewer will let the information I provide be just cause to approve me.

I know my Insurance requires that I complete 3 months of a Dr Supervised Weight Loss/Excercise Program, which we "officially" began (after hearing their requirement) on August 14th, 2007 - which means according to what the Insurance company told me - that they will precert me if I meet the requirements, but will not allow me to have a date prior to November 14th, 2007 (exactly 3 months from the program start date).  Again, when I hear back on the approval status, I'll know how rigid they intend to be on this.  

Here's hoping!