Labs, stuff, and ?'s

kelly_hope
on 8/9/11 11:38 am - Marysville, WA
 I'm not quite at 3 months, but I got my labs back. 

Everything was perfect!! Each and every single vitamin and mineral was in the middle of the acceptable range. I didn't get a copy of it, but I will at next week's NUT visit. 

I'm having back surgery October 4th. I was gonna wait til the end of the year, but I couldn't stand the thought of waiting four months with this kind of pain. My doc said this was her worst fear for me. That despite losing weight, despite becoming more active and exercising, the pain is just the same and even getting worse because I'm tending to overdo things. The surgery is on both sides of my spine as I have a herniated disc on one side and bone spurs on the other. Both of which are resting on my nerve roots, ergo the pain. The surgeon says this will mean more extensive muscle damage during surgery and more of a recovery time. The last back surgery I had (2001) kept me down for over a month. Yikes. 

I'm worried about gaining weight after surgery due to not being active. But I figure I will stick to high protein meals, lots of protein shakes and that should keep me safe. Right?

I'm worried about my pouch. I worry that I have stretched it. I'm able to swallow pills without any issues. I had no choice a couple days ago and tried it and had no issues. Does that mean I've stretched it out? I've heard that you shouldn't ever swallow pills again. Is this true, if so, why??

I went shopping for new tops and I've gone from a 3XL to an XL. That is so cool. And fun!! 

Thanks ladies! Love and peace to you all. 
 KELLY RNY  34yo 5'5" HW 288 SW 274 CW 188 GW 140
           
          


Price S.
on 8/9/11 11:50 am - Mills River, NC
kelly, breathe, you will be fine.

I have been swallowing pills, big pills from day 1.  no problems.  Swallowing pills doesn't mean you have stretched your pouch.  You have to eat lots of dense foods, overeating them to stretch your stoma.  Your pouch basically doesn't stretch much at all. You can eat more because the swelling from surgery is gone.

I have been very limited in what I can do since my knee has been bad.  i have still lost weight.  It isn't any fun to have to be down but it won't make you gain weight if you stay on your program.  I'm looking at knee replacement in November and not looking forward to having to be away from my ponies but in the long run, i have to get rid of the pain.

Get your copy of the labs and post them.  Gina is great and seeing what is going on.  Then keep a spreadsheet so you can follow trends.  You want them to stay ok, not be going down and still in the ok and not be caught.

Congrats on the new clothes.  it is fun, isn't it.

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rbb825
on 8/9/11 4:20 pm - Suffern, NY
I don't know where you heard that you can never swallow pills again but that is not true.  Most of us are told not to swallow them for the first month while things are still swollen and healing.  For the first month, the stoma size is really tiny - the size of an M & M and with swelling, most surgeons say no pills.  I have heard of some say they swallow pills right away which I don't thimk is a good idea since that puts pressure on your staple line wile healing but you are 3 months out and there is no reason you can't swallow any size pill.  I swallowed horse pills at 5 weeks.

The only way to stretch out a pouch so early out is to way over eat - eating very large portions and often.  If you are losing the weight you are, you didn't stretch your pouch.  This is usually the occurance for people that are gaining weight back.

I am sorry to hear that you are in so much pain and need to have another spine surgery.  In the meantime, do they have you are good pain meds?  If you are having nerve pain, do they have you on neurontin?  That should help with the nerve pain - it really does help.  I have herniated discs and prior to losing weight was on neurontin and it really helped.  Losing weight has helped my back somewhat - atleast with the nerve pain part  - still have the rest of the pain but due to immune system problems, I can't have surgery.  I wear a duragesic patch and take percocet as needed for pain,  What I don't understand, is why are they telling you ahead of time that you are going to have extensive muscle damage after surgery?  Everyone in my family - father, both brothers, 3 uncles, and multiple cousins have all had major surgeries for herniated discs - many of them were very complicated surgeries with rods, screws, fusions etc and no one ever had muscle damage.   I don't see how they can sa it is going to happen ahead of time?

Make sure for a month before surgery that you eat a very high protein diet to help prevent infection and promote healing.  Then post op, continue the same.  Normally at 5 months out you should be getting in about 80 grams of protein but for you, I would make sure you get atleast 100grams.  Also make sure you iron and ferritin levels are optimal, not just normal. 

 

kelly_hope
on 8/9/11 7:48 pm - Marysville, WA
 Ok, you are awesome! Thank you for all the great advice. And yes, I'm on neurontin... I don't know what I would do without it!! It saves me from insanity. And I'm on percocet. I'm worried that I won't  get enough pain relief after surgery due to my use of pain meds now. I'm going to tell them. For my RNY, they just upped the meds I got post op. Hopefully this surgeon will do the same.

About the muscles... I may have heard him wrong, but maybe he just said my muscles could get messed up.. not would. Does that make sense?

I will definitely up my protein. Should I up my iron intake? What does iron do for me in regards to surgery?

Thanks again!!! And I'm sorry for your pain too. It sucks... really it does.
 KELLY RNY  34yo 5'5" HW 288 SW 274 CW 188 GW 140
           
          


rbb825
on 8/9/11 9:41 pm - Suffern, NY
As far as pain control after your surgery, make sure they know that you are always on percocet.  While in the hospital, ask for the PCA box - but not with morphine, ask for dilaudid.  Dilaudid actually works better than morphine - I had it after my gastric bypass and several other abdominal surgeries I had for postop complications this past year.  It was a life saver.  I also came home on Dilaudid tablets, so if the percocet tablets aren't strong enough which they probably won't be post op, ask for dilaudid.  I was on really high dosage but 4 mg is usually the dosage they give orally.

I would question your surgeon about the muscles next time you see him just for clarification.  I know there can always be complications but you just want to know that they are in a rare instance and not common.

As far as your iron goes, any surgery you can lose blood.  Sometimes they actually ask you to give your own blood ahead of time in case you are in need of any.  So, the higher your levels are ahead of time, the better off you will be.  I personally feel that carbonyl iron would be fine for you and much cheaper than heme - proferrin.  Yes, proferrin does work better but if you take a decent dose of the carbonyl iron, you can get perfectly good levels with it.  You haven't said what dose you are taking and what type you are taking?  I recommend you take anywhere from 120-180mg of carbonyl iron - that would 2-3 of the tender irons (60mg capsules) - preferably 3.  It is a short period of time and you want to get a good jump on things.  That is what my NUT starts patients on.

Thankfully my pain has gotten a bit better this past week.  What I thought was a continuation of pain from my abdominal surgeries and horrible back pain, turned out to be kidney stones.  2 weeks ago I had surgery to blast them and the pain has gotten alot better.  The pain will never be gone but it is better.  Now I have to go back in 2 months to have the stones blasted from the other side but they aren't as bad on that side.

I wish you luck with your surgery and feel free to PM any time with any questions or concerns.

 

kelly_hope
on 8/11/11 6:27 am - Marysville, WA
I had the dilaudid after my RNY, like you and was sent home with some pills, tho it was only 2mg. I wondered about that because the 2mg did nothing for me. I'll definitely be talking to the doc about it. This is one thing I do not want to deal with.

Right now I'm taking 2 60mg irons a day. I will find the carbonyl and get started on that. Anything to help.

Kidney stones are awful! I've seen my dad go through it and he was miserable. Here's hoping its the end of your pain for you.

Thanks for the advice and I probably will pm you at some point. 
 KELLY RNY  34yo 5'5" HW 288 SW 274 CW 188 GW 140
           
          


MajorMom
on 8/9/11 7:03 pm - VA
When I had back surgery they took 2 pints of my own blood and they needed more before they got me off the table. I would boost those protein shakes and start taking Proferrin ES (heme) iron now to build up your protein and iron stores. Vitalady carries Proferrin or you can order it from other online sources. You split the tablet into 2 pieces and take it. Nothing wrong with taking more than 1 at a time. 

--gina
 

5'1" -- HW 195/SW 187/GW 115 July 08/CW 121 Dec 2012
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kelly_hope
on 8/9/11 7:49 pm - Marysville, WA
 Thanks Gina! I will look into that when hubby gets paid. 
 KELLY RNY  34yo 5'5" HW 288 SW 274 CW 188 GW 140
           
          


italianspice
on 8/9/11 9:18 pm - Eastlake, OH
Just sending out a little support! You got great advice already.
Sorry you are going through this, but sounds like you will be prepared.

~Maria

SW 230 Preop 205 GW 130 LW 131 CW 135 Ht 5'1"

vitalady
on 8/10/11 4:28 pm - Puyallup, WA
RNY on 10/05/94
Congrats on your loss!

How many vials did they draw when you had labs?

Michelle
RNY, distal, 10/5/94 

P.S.  My year + long absence has NOTHING to do with my WLS, or my type of WLS. See my profile.

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