ROBERT E.
SURGERY 9/25/06My surgery was not for morbid obesity. My BMI is 31 so the weight loss will put me back to normal. The reason I had surgery was I had a severe reflux problem coupled with an esophagus that doesn't work properly. To prevent cancer of the esophagus (I have Barrett's Esophagus) I had a modified Roux En Y. Modified in that the opening is somewhat larger from the pouch downwards than the normal patient will receive with this operation. I am still limited to 2 - 3 ounces per meal but the liquid diet was only 2 days and now pureed for 2 weeks. Here is what happened:
MONDAY 9/25. I arrived at Banner Good Sam in Phoenix at about 9am. I registered and was taken to pre op. My operation was scheduled for noon but was moved back to about 1:30 due to staff shortages.
1:30 pm I was in the OR. The next thing I remember is being in post op for a few hours.
I was assigned to a private room. At 6:40 pm I got up and took a small walk.
At 8:40 pm I took another walk and started working on chewing small pieces of ices. At this time I stopped my pain medicine. I had one of those automatic systems that you push a button to get morphine. My pain was nil so I guess I am one of the lucky ones.
At 9:40 pm I take another walk. My throat is dry, parched and raspy. I am told this is normal.
At 10:26 I try for sleep. I had sleep off and on since entering the room. I tried lying on my side and it was OK but it was more pressure on the stomach then when I was on my back.
Tuesday at 2 am I awaken and walk some more. Throat raspy.
At 5:29 am I again walk and the throat is still sore, parched and raspy. When I was getting up I accidentally tore off an IV and blood spurted everywhere. I got a nurse in the room to fix the IV and she cleaned up the mess. Yucky!
At 10:40 AM I had an upper GI to make sure there were no leaks from the surgery. My surgeon, Dr Villares came in and told me that during the operation he found a small tumor in my upper colon and removed same. It was about the size of the tip of your thumb. Wow, am I lucky of what. Had that not been caught I probably would had been dead within a few years or less! God works miracles in the most wonderful and unthought-of of places.At 1:07 pm I had my first meal in 40 hours (strange but I wasn't even hungry - Dr Villares says that is normal) I had a cup of beef broth, a few sips of iced tea and about 6 chunks of SF Jell-O. Danged, I felt like I ate a complete turkey dinner! I was stuffed!
The rest of Tuesday I slept and watched TV and took walks. No pain meds. I ate chicken broth, Jell-O and a few sips of teas for dinner.
Wednesday at 8am I have 1/4 cup of Cream of Wheat with fake sugar on it. There were a few sips of tea. I was full.
At 10:10 Dr Villares comes in to discharge me. I have many questions which he answers. He is a top flight surgeon!. At 10:30 am I am discharged and arrived home at 11:30, just in time for a trip to the bathroom; 1st for #2 since Friday. Whew; did I feel better.
At 1 pm I pureed white chicken, mayo, and pickle relish and ate about 3 ounces. I think that was to much as my stomach feel overfull the rest of the afternoon. About 2 pm I had a SF Popsicle.
Right now it is 6:40 pm and I still feel full but I must again eat soon. Eating now becomes a chore like paying the bills but I'll take this over what it might have been otherwise.
219# when I went to hospital. Now 190. 11/19 - 184 #'s
I tolerate most all foods. I have only gotten sick 3 times. Once I ate some greasy chicken, then some greasy pizza, and then some fried chicken. Oh well - live and learn!
11/28/06 My weight is now 181 and I desire to get to 170. I don't chew food well but it could be worse. This operation was to cure my reflux but I still have it so back to the "gastro guy" for a PH monitoring test and we will see if I am delusional or I still have reflux.
12/7/06 177#'s. I was in Houston Friday, Saturday & Sunday and then flew back home and then to Vegas for a meeting. I ate all kinds of foods while gone. The best was some steak Saturday and some Prime Rib Monday night. I also found that it's bad to eat mufins for me. Monday and Tuesday I had a muffin around 10am and it felt like I took 10 sleeping pills for about an hour. UGH!
12/15 I met with my "Gastro Doc" about the reflux. His first words were like my surgeon "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE." Well - it's not and I am scheduled for a PH monitoring test in mid January. Such fun. 12/16 weight was 176#'s. I've dropped 43 pounds since 9/25 and am within 5 pounds of being in a normal weight/BMI range. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were not fun days. Each day for lunch I tried new foods, ate to fast and got really sick. Saturday I took naps all day until early evening when I went out to dinner and had some "fab" prime rib and then off to see the "Nutcracker." What an excellent production!
1/21/07: 168#'s. I've lost 51 #'s and am within 8 pounds of my personal goal. Wednesday I'm at the hospital to have a monitoring disk installed in my throat to measure acid. Oh joy. It's a 2 day test (ph monitoring test) and the results will either make me or the doctors look like a fool!
3.11.07 I had the PH test about 10 days ago but still do not have the results. Weight is now 163 and I have a concern that I must stabilize soon!
7/2/07. Now I am at 155 and who knows. Eating is a chore. I had another PH test and the reflex is not acid but it's something and it's damn nasty. I'm getting san acid tasting crapola in my mouth several times daily. I changed positions at work and they modified my insurance and there is a 5K co-pay now on hospitals, tests and the like. I have made demands that this is not fair but at this point the resolution is not clear. Time will tell.
