Can everyone tell me as specific as they can how the first 3 days post op are?

That's awesome. Thank you! Do I just go to your page or add you 1st lol? I'm still somewhat of a beginner.

Stelisa

Nope, my profile is public. Just go there and start reading.

I was expecting to be in incredible pain as so many here had spoken about.....I kept waiting for it to happen, and it NEVER did.  I was never above a 4 for pain and kept up with my drugs to stay on top of my pain.

I didn't have any drains, but my biggest complaint was the ng tube in my nose that goes down your throat into your stomach.  That had to stay in for 2 days and my throat was sore and dry.  They ordered me some Chloroseptic and that really helped a lot.

I did want my family there when I first got to my room because I was scared of the pain I was going to be in, but I never was.  I slept for the first 3 days and never turned the tv on til the 4th night.  I am a very social person, but I really didn't want visitors, I was very sleepy and just tried to rest as much as possible before I got home to 4 kids, 3 dogs and 4 cats!!!

You will be fine.  The pain meds they offer should keep you from being in much pain and if they don't, let them know and hopefully they can find something that works better.

Great thank you!

You can get stories of experiences that range from posting on the internet an hour after surgery to feeling like death warmed over for weeks on end. It's just so variable between us. There's really no way to prepare you for what your experience will be. Some of us are a lot more mobile and in better health going into surgery. Some are going to have a hard time with a hangnail. We all experience and deal with pain in our own way. For most of us the first few days are rough. I had pain and I needed adequate pain meds. I slept for 4 days when I wasn't being probed and checked by nurses or having to walk the halls. Getting in and out of bed was very difficult. I was also very nauseated and found out it was my pain meds causing it. They were adjusted and the nausea went away. I also encourage you to click on profiles and read as much as you can. Your experience will be yours and it will differ from everyone elses in some way.

 My first 2 days were awful.  I was given a pain medicine that I have a reaction to (not allergic, but it causes biliary spasms), even though I told them ahead of time I have sensitivities to the drugs in that class (and specifically listed the med they gave me as an example).  SO- when I woke up from surgery, and they were pumping me full of Morphine anyways, it was BAD.  The pain from surgery was bad, the pain from the reaction to the Morphine was bad, and mixed together it was unbearable.  I was also vomiting constantly, nothing but stomach acid.  They did not have me on an antacid or anti-nausea at first.  It took several days for them to FINALLY listen to me about the medication, and to stop giving me random things to try to "fix it" and just give me what I knew would stop the reaction, and then switch me over to the pain med and anti-nausea med I knew would work.  LOTS of arguing, frustration and yelling on my part the first 2 days...  Once they got things switched over, things were fine.  I was able to get up/down on my own no problems, I walked the halls quite a bit on my own, I had visitors (although I would fall asleep on most of them because of the pain meds, my mom got very worried and offended by this apparently...), I would sit in the chair during the day by the window, play online or watch movies, I got up and straightened my room up, and I slept well.  By day 4 I was feeling pretty darn good, and they discontinued the IV pain meds and gave me liquids.  Everything was fine, and I went home that afternoon.  

Omg you poor thing! I'm glad they finally fixed it and I see you're weight loss has been incredible since then. Congrats!

Mine was not as bad as I thought, to be honest.  The hardest part, for me, was getting out of bed, the tummy muscles are sore, but I didn't find it unbearable at all.  I only took pain meds one day after leaving the hospital, and then stopped them completely.  I was tired, and other than walking laps around the floor, didn't do a whole lot.  Had my sister visit and a few phone calls, but mostly slept.  Couldn't concentrate enough to watch tv or read.  I had two minor episodes of OMG type pain, like stabbing above my ribcage, lasted only a few minutes (maybe 5), but then went away. 

My sister had a tough time with some pills by mouth that the nurse gave her, it got stuck in her esophogus and gave her some real discomfort.  They gave her two and they shouldn't have so soon after her surgery, with the swelling and all, she wasn't able to digest them, etc.  It kept her in the hospital an extra day because she wasn't able to drink/eat for the good portion of a day after that.

That's great to know! I'm prepping for the worst so anything better will be great lol.

I enjoyed reading all these responses...it made me feel this heightened mix of excitement and fear.  It's tough not knowing what you can really expect and I have thought about it a lot too... like for instance how much will I miss my kids/will they miss me etc... I'd better warn people about the falling asleep on them thing...I could see people in my family being offended as well.  I am sitting here in a situation where my surgery to come is REAL now...it really IS going to happen and it feels completely different then I expected....all these years and especially this last year fightign for this and then giving in to that fact it might not happen and here we are!!! Tuesday I am being put on the schedule and will have a date...  eeeps! :D 

I am glad I found my way back here...I will be reading and reading and reading here this weekend I have this mental trippy thing to deal with LOL