Your Hospital Story

I have no recollection of the recovery room at all. My first memory is waking up to my husband and friend chatting away. I was in and out of it for about half the day. The remainder of the day and evening was spent getting my butt out of bed to walk the halls. The pain meds kept me pretty comfy. So the next morning the nurse aid asks if I want a shower. Yes mama! So she helps me get my gown off points me in the shower to the shower stool. I gladly sit down turn the water on and am thanking God for water. So I wash up as best as I can let the water rinse me off. Now I'm completely pooped call out for the nurse aid and no response.. So I sat there for about 10 minutes dripping wet and cold and realize I'm on my own. LoL I dried myself as best as I could and the nurse walked in to find me sitting in the chair gown half on and half off looking a sad mess! I napped for about an hour before hubby came in. Walked the halls on and off and went home around 6 that day.

My stay wasn't too bad.  But there were some annoying things, for sure.  I don't really remember much of the recovery room except for them bringing my husband in and him giving me a little kiss and asking how I felt.  Apparently after that he asked if he could take my picture and I said yes!?!  He then texted it to my mother.  They both got a laugh out of that, I looked like death warmed over.  I don't remember that part!

The ward I was in was one that was largely for bariatric patients, and I was really hoping to have a fellow bariatric patient as a roommate, but no such luck.  I had a girl in her early 20s who had completely shattered her ankle in an obstacle course race.  When she wasn't whining and crying (loudly) that her pain meds weren't enough or that she couldn't go to the bathroom, she was ordering everything and anything off of the "room service" menu.  I had really bad nausea for the first few days, and just listening to her order cheeseburgers and french fries and chicken ceasar salads and then - even worse - smelling the stuff she was eating, was a nightmare.  And should we even discuss the fact that because her leg was screwed in and pinned to a board of sorts she couldn't get up to go to the bathroom when she finally could go?  Ewwwwwwww.

They gave me some blue dye stuff the day after my surgery to check for leaks in my inner-workings, and one sip of the stuff caused me to start heaving and throwing it right back up.  I was scared to death everything in me was going to rip apart.  And my lips were blue for 2 more days, everyone kept commenting on it.

I slept a lot, as much as I could with my roomie talking to everyone she could think of on the phone (again, loudly).  When I wasn't sleeping I was watching a lot of the Game Show Network, old episodes of $25,000 Pyramid and Match Game.  



 

Oh good lordy...it was years ago!

Um...let's see. I had the normal check in experience. They knocked me out. I awakened to...EXTREME NAUSEA. They had to give me lots of anti-nausea meds.

I was told that they did a hiatal hernia repair. This, coupled with the fact that it was my first surgery ever...is probably why I HURT LIKE HELL!!!

I personally don't come out of anesthesia well so I didn't wake up fully until about 12-ish hours post op (surgery was 8 am I awakened about 9-ish pm). I was told I had a bunch of visitors.

I could not walk well at first or even sit up well. I did walk eventually (my pastor made me. the hospital staff did not!) and it hurt like hell. Moving anything but my toes or fingers seemed to hurt. And I felt bloated.

They did the barium swallow and I cried the entire time because they made me stand up straight.

I had no desire for food. After the barium swallow they told me I HAD to ingest something to be released. So I took two bites of green jello. I would not touch the pureed meat. I remember being surprised at how utterly un-hungry I was.

My band surgery was textbook. I was in little pain and was up and walking about an hour after I woke up. No biggie.

My revison to rny... an entirely different experience. I dont remember much in recovery. I remember them wheeling me into my room and my Mother in law (who took me in for surgery) telling me she was going to head home and asking me questions like should she take my wallet. I couldnt even think straight. That was when someone from the billing department came in and said something to the tune of "Honey, your insurance denied your hospital stay, you need to call them) SURE, Im on it!

I remember having a button in one hand and something else in the other. My reaction was to squeeze it for some reason and I finally realized it was a drain. The other hand had the pain pump.

I didnt have any visitors as my husband had just started a new job and I was almost 2 hours from home. Fine cause I was out of it anyway. LOTS of pain. I'd hit the button on the pain pump then pass out again. I had a cathetar so I didnt have to get up and go to the bathroom. I thought about getting up to walk, but...really, I was drugged! lol I think someone came in to help me get up, but the pain was just too much. they said I should hit my pain button something like every 10 minutes, but when I hit it I was out again for 30.

The next morning, they came to take out my cathetar (which I was terrified of cause I never had one) that was nothing and to take me for my GI test. It was quite a painful ordeal to get into the wheel chair. I made it and made it downstairs for my tests. I tried standing and had a hard time. They tried to send me back to the room and I said, Hey, IM here now, so lets just get it over with. They refused and said they were afraid I would pass out. Sent me back to my room...

Oh, and that thing on the toilet? I didnt know I could move it. LMAO!! I didnt know what it was either. 

My recovery was rough. 

 first 2 days were boring. apparently i talked to my parents and the surgeon in the recovery room, i don't remember a thing until i was being wheeled to my room. i loved my morpheine pump. my friend said i would be having a conversation, fall asleep for 10 minutes, wake up and continue where i left off lol.

2 days after surgery my iv vein collapsed and the nurses kept shrugging it off. luckily my sister was there and flipped out until they really looked at it. all the fluids were pillowing between my skin and leaking out. so they eventually pulled out the iv and had like 4 nurses trying to find a new spot to start a new one. even my hands were bad so they ended up putting one in my thumb! that collapsed after a half hour or so too, so they decided to just leave me with no iv since i was leaving in the morning anyway.