Puppie

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

The LiveJournal WLS community does a thing where every Friday, people post their Pros & Cons for the ending week. I just posted my first P&C!

Figured I'd mirror it over here. So! My first P&C below!

Cons:
* Still can't stay awake longer than 3 hours.
* Pain at the drain site that got infected.
* Sneezes and coughing are ouchie.
* I have 2 weird, hard bumps at incision sites. Doc says it's fluid and to rub it with vitamin E to encourage it to break up.
* Taking pain med at bedtime so I can sleep. Laying in bed at night I feel kinda achy all over my midsection and back.
* Remembering vitamins has been hit-and-miss because of all the time I spend asleep.

Pros:
* The hard bumps don't hurt. They're just weird.
* I caught the drain site infection at the very beginning before it got too deep.
* Hiccups and burps no longer hurt.
* I can take normal swallows! I can't gulp, but I don't have to take little teeny baby sips, either.
* My tastes haven't changed, which is a positive because before surgery I liked every protein shake I tried, and now I still like them all.
* I can swallow pills no problem. I only have to cut the horse pills.
* Doing very well at staying hydrated and proteinated. Very proud of myself on this point.
* Re-jiggered my med/vitamin schedule so I will hopefully do better this week.
* Released to soft foods. I'm a little scared, but I think I'll try my first food tonight -- softly scrambled egg. Wish me luck!!!
* Down 9.5 pounds since surgery.

RNY 02/12/08
285/252/242.5/160
St. Louis, MO

I'm up at 2:00 am again, but this time not because I'm in pain. This time I'm in discomfort. I haven't had a bowel movement since before surgery and now it's finally getting ready to visit me. I suspect this will be like birthing a bowling ball, but at the same time it should be really good once I'm through and done with it.

I was thinking of going to the library today -- I'll probably still go. Libraries always make me have to poop.

just wrote a post on a WLS board in response to someone who was trying to figure out whether or not to tell about her WLS or keep it private. Here's what I wrote:

I've told basically everybody, because I figured it would be obvious. "Gee, she was out for surgery for a few weeks and now weight is melting off of her at a rate I've never seen in real life before... Wonder what she went out for? Gee, what a mystery!" :-P

However, I did massage my approach. Once I was decided, when telling (generally in the context of "why are you going out of work, I hope you're ok, I can't be without my beloved Puppie!") I emphasized my desire to be free of comorbidities. To impress that this was a medical procedure, not a vanity procedure. I didn't want someone NOT knowing about my sleep apnea, fatty liver, GERD, hiatial hernia and family history of diabetes, and thinking this surgery was only about becoming a size 10. I wanted to tell but I also wanted people to understand I'm trying to save and improve my life.

And I've gotta say, I've been seriously pleased with the overall reaction I've gotten so far. I've yet to receive one negative response -- everyone was nothing but supportive.

I was worried about breaking it to my dad, but once he realized that I knew my sh!t about this and I knew it cold, he became very comfortable. His only concern was that I understand exactly what I was walking into.

One really great thing about being completely open is that you get to bask in a warm pool of love and the combined prayers and good thoughts of everyone who cares about you will really lift you up. That's been one of the best things about this whole experience so far, is really feeling the deep love from my family, my real-life friends, my internet friends, and my colleagues. I realize in a way that I never did before just how loved (and lucky!) I truly am.

ETA: Just birthed the bowling ball. Holy cats. Nearly passed out. (Does everybody else feel a sense of ridiculous accomplishment after accomplishing something like this? Or am I just a total weirdo?) :-P

Good news. I went to the surgeon's office this morning and I was right on the button. I had a small infection at the drain site. So they pulled the drain out (THANK GOD!) and gave me antibiotics. They checked me thoroughly and said that I had no other infection sites and the one that I had? Was very shallow -- the infection had just begun and was not deep at all -- deeper into the site it actually looked really good.

The sutures from the drain had started to grow into my skin, and I think that was part of the pain. She said, "Well, I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that the sutures have grown into your skin a bit, so it's gonna hurt when I snip them. The good news is that means you're healing really well."

The minute they took that drain out and re-bandaged me up, I felt TONS better. What a relief!

 Why yes! It IS 2:00 am here! I just gave up on sleep because I was just tossing and turning and going "ow! ow! ow! ow! ow!"

Yesterday morning I felt so good. But THIS morning? Soooo not. The place where the drain is placed, the place that is still bleeding, has gone from being vaguely hurty to hurting like a sonofabitch. And now I've got nasty pain in another incision point that didn't have pain before.

My doctor's notes say to call the doctor if: I have bleeding at an incision point, unrelieved pain, a feeling of warmth at an incision point, or a fever of 101. The only one of those things that I don't have is the fever. (But then, how much of a fever could I spike when my dad keeps his house at sixty-fuckin-four degrees?)

So yeah. Right now things aren't looking super. All signs point to infection (which, no biggie, just clean the wounds out medically and give me some antibiotics). But OW! OW!

OH GODDAMN IT ALL TO HELL I JUST SNEEZED! AND SNEEZED AGAIN! Come on body, was that really necessary right now?

So the surgeon's office opens at 8:00 and I imagine I'll be getting a return call by 8:10. I hope this doesn't mean another overnight at the hospital, but fingers crossed it just means antibiotics and going back on the pain med syrup that I'd stopped taking.

I just took a good slug of my pain syrup and now I'm going to lay on the couch and watch Cheaters on tv, because that's better than laying in my bed, staring at the ceiling, and thinking, "Ow!"

Today is my 3rd day home...

Today I report that I didn't take any of my pain meds all day and I feel just fine. I also stayed awake all day! (Because I didn't take the meds, no doubt.)

The violent burps have changed into farts of death. Oh well -- they pump you full of gas to do a laproscopic surgery and it's gotta come out somehow. At least the farts don't hurt the way the burps did, lol.

I think I may have started ketosis already, because I've got an icky taste in my mouth. But that just encourages me to sip, sip, sip my fluids, so I suppose that's good. It's easy to become dehydrated at this stage of the game.

I splurged on so many protein choices beforehand, but now I'm glad I have all the variety. Hmm, shall I have strawberry protein powder mixed into Crystal Light Lemonade? Shall I have a half-and-half chocolate-and-cappucino? Or maybe a fruit punch protein bullet? Oh so many choices! Yum!

I'm becoming much more flexible now -- I was able to actually pick something up off the floor today, which was cool. And I'm now able to do most of the twisty stretching that I'm used to, so that helps relieve the random discomfort in my back. I can also lay on either side in bed, as long as I roll over slow. Can't wait to get my drain out so I can lay on my stomach with the help of some pillows. I'm not supposed to get the drain out until the 20th, but I'm going to call the surgeon on Monday to see about getting it out, because I've got bleeding around the insertion point. And nothing is actually draining out into the drain, so I think it's proved its point and can go away now.

I think I feel good enough now that tomorrow I'll take a wee walk around the neighborhood, outside in the fresh air.

I sleep for a few hours, then I'm up for a few hours, sleep for a few hours, rinse and repeat.

The wi-fi I'd been hijacking seems to have disappeared, so now I can only internet when my dad is *not* internetting, and I have to do it from downstairs. Oh well.

I feel like I'm getting in quite a bit of water. It's not the full 64 ounces yet, but it seems like a lot considering I *just* came home from surgery. That's good though -- most people struggle to stay hydrated and I seem to be doing ok at it. I'm even getting in 2 protein drinks a day. Hopefully I'm not doing something wrong or overloading.

I've been having some seriously violent burps. Hoo-ee! They pump you full of gas to do the laprosocopic procedure, and afterwards it's all gotta come out somehow. AAAARRRRP!

I'm really pleased that my tastes didn't seem to change post-surgery -- at least so far I still like water and I still like all the protein drinks. It would be really hard to do what you need to do if you woke up with an aversion to water and to sweet tastes, like some people do.

I'm also really pleased with how things have been with my dad. He's been really leaving me alone and giving me more space than I thought he would. Maybe after watching me nod off in the middle of a conversation in the hospital, and me saying to him, "Talking hard, no more" because it was making me nauseous -- it's shifted. But he lets me wander upstairs and just stay in my room for a few hours without calling for me or wanting to know what I'm doing all the time. He's not watching everything I drink/take like a hawk. He lets me play on my computer without needing to be all in my business about what I'm doing. He's not doing his dad thing where he asks me an endless series of questions in a dubious tone of voice, focused on the idea of "Are you really taking care of your business?" It's been super nice.

The pain was not too bad, really. The pain is more like you did 6 thousand sit ups. It's not a sharp pain, except for when you're getting up or laying down, and then you can hold a pillow against your middle to splint it. I had a lot of discomfort in my back from not being able to move around and not being able to stretch. That got dramatically better with each hour that went by.

The catheter didn't hurt or bother me at all. I had been worried about that, but it was nothing. Didn't even hurt to get it removed.

The first time I took a walk around was DIVINE! Just to be able to sit up and stand up after a whole day of laying flat on my back, ohhhhh it was gooooood. 

This total dingbat nurse patted me hard right on my incision. Then she said, "Oh, that wasn't too smart, huh" Uh, YOU THINK?!?! Then she patted me on my foot, on my hand, on my head, while I played zone defense over my mid-section. She told me stories of other patients that she had hurt by patting them in areas that they shouldn't have been touched. I think she's a menace who cannot control her pathological need to pat people, and she keeps hurting patients but still not learning to control herself -- I will be discussing Stephanie in the Holding Area on my customer survey, you bet your ass.

Talking was difficult, partly because my throat was so dry, so I had to push the words out from my stomach. I would try to accommodate people, but sometimes would just say, "Talking hard. No more."

Anytime I had too much activity, too many people coming in to see me at once, too much talking that I had to do, or too much physical moving around, I would get nauseous and the nurse would have to give me meds for it. Anti-nausea meds put you right to sleep. I was going through a cycle of awake-nauseous-asleep for a while there.

Bar none, the worst part of the whole experience was the sudden Effexor withdrawal. You just can't do that to somebody! The room spins had already begun before surgery, even. After surgery I had episodes where the room was spinning violently, I was also VERY jumpy -- every unexpected noise that made its way to my ears caused me to startle and my heart to palpitate -- I was basically on the edge of a panic attack throughout Tuesday and most of Wednesday. When I went for my leak test and therefore was around other patients, it was horrible -- I wanted desperately for them all to evaporate. I was trying to shrink myself into nothingness, away from the intrustion of other people. (And the bariatric unit wanted me to share a room with somebody! HA! There was no way! I burst into tears at the mere suggestion!) PLUS, the lack of Effexor made it impossible for me to deal with this situation of being without Effexor, so every time the room spun or I got nauseous, I would get frustrated at this situation and start to cry. I cried a LOT. I was in such a terrible headspace throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, until I finally got my first Effexor on Wednesday night. I was already putting effort into my physical healing, and here I also had to put effort into my headspace -- it sucked. I'm totally writing them a letter, demanding that they make a liquid version for IVs so people don't have to go through that.

Now I'm home, a bit sore, taking my pain meds on the clock, sleeping a lot, sipping as best as I can and having some violent burps. I'm right on schedule. :-)

I went to the laundromat today. (I discovered that the coin-op machines that my landlord installed in the basement are crap. They beat the ever-living shit out of the clothes -- clothes that were wrinkle-free entering the laundry process came out looking like a badger had slept in them. For a week. I specifically buy wrinkle-resistant clothes, so that was quite a feat.)

So. Off to the laundromat today where they have nice, front-loading, non-clothes-beating-up machines.

What a weird feeling it was today to put everything in the dryer! Usually I have about 25% of my clothes that I fish out of the washer and dry on the hanger at home, for fear of shrinkage. But today the only thing I kept out of the dryer was the lingerie bag of bras and hose. I machine-dried some shirts that had never seen the inside of the dryer before!

I looked at some of these work shirts and realized, well, even if it does shrink a ton, by the time I go back to work the shrinkage will probably make it fit me *better* because I'll be so much smaller by then.

Unexpected benefit of weight-loss surgery: losing one's fear of the dryer.

TWO MORE SLEEPS TILL MY SURGERY!

Omigosh, y'all.

There's another board that I've been part of for a few years, a non-WLS-focused board.

I just found out that my internet friends have bought me 6 weeks of laundry service! The service will pick up my dirty laundry from my door and bring it back to me all clean and folded!

My internet friends had heard me worry about my ability post-surgery to lift my laundry up and down the stairs and out to the laundromat. So they put their heads together and solved it for me.

I. AM. SO. LOVED.

I am currently a pile of liquid goo, puddled on my couch.

If we just get back to us the energy that we put out into the world? Then I'm an incredibly lovely soul, to get this back.

And there are still more treats in the works that I don't get to know about yet!

I. AM. SO. LOVED.

What a wonderful way to go into this surgery, knowing that I am so supported by so many people.

Even though my surgery is next Tuesday, I'm not on liquid diet right now. My surgeon only asks certain patients to go liquid in preparation; presumably based on their individual circumstances. (I probably didn't have to go liquid b/c I've lost 33 pre-op pounds and been completely sugar-free since September, which should help shrink up that liver.)

So. Right now I should probably be deep in Last Supper Syndrome, but I'm the opposite. I'm sick to death of food. I'm annoyed that my stomach is still big and can't be satisfied with just Isopure and Nectar.

I've got some wonderful foods in my freezer -- frozen salmon, and french-cut green beans with slivered almonds, and I should be eating up that stuff now, since it they'll probably rot from freezer burn before I get the chance to eat such foods again. But I keep opening my freezer, looking around, and going "ick".

Just so sick of food. Bah.

Am I the weirdest person in the history of ever, or what?