Day 5 Post op

Jul 16, 2012

I can finally say I woke up feeling somewhat decent. This surgery has taken a lot more out of me than expected. I like to consider myself a well educated and sensible person. I thought I was prepared for the surgery, but as soon as I woke up in my room after the surgery, I realized I hadn't had a clue!

The first day was a blur. I had the surgery at 8:30 in the morning and recall very little until about 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Nurses and staff came in to introduce themselves to me. I was giving instructions and asked a lot of questions. I thought that if I just kept my eyes closed it would all go away! For all the excitement, I was disappointed to wake up feeling so totally nauseated. Any movement was precarious. I thought I was definitely going to vomit each time my mouth would water up, but luckily for me it didn't happen. My mouth was dry and I was having my very own pity party. I didn't answer any of the phone calls that kept coming or any of the emails and texts that people were sending with well wishes. I had actually told several peole that I'd call them by 2 p.m. that day because I had a "high tolerance" and was certain I'd whip this easily. HAH!  A greater fool there never was!

I finally got out of bed to walk about 7 p.m. that night only with the love of my sons' encouragement. I had tried earlier to walk, but just getting to the bathroom was a major accomplishment. But with my sons help, I was able to walk the halways a bit. It just about wiped me out. I later walked easily by myself. 

The pain was minimal. I had heard several people talk about different type of pain, but I really didn't notice notice any discomfort other than the nausea. Nausea...oh goodness...that's another story all together. I've had 4 kids with difficult high risk pregnancies. I KNOW nausea. I also have had pretty bad "stomach" hangovers. The situation after surgery was like the worst hangover ever! I couldn't even turn on the tv or hear anyone talk about food. The though of food made my stomach churn. When they brought meals in for the other patients, I started gagging. It was awful. I still have it at day 5, but it's eased up substantially. 

I struggled with getting anything down at first. After a talk with my surgeon's nurse, she said even though I'm not having physical pain I needed to continue taking the pain meds until I could get more liquids in. It's helped substantially, but I'm thinking I'll try regular tylenol today instead of the prescription stuff. 

Not doing well on the protien drinks. The thought of them makes me more nauseated. They are just nasty. I liked them enough during the pre-surgery diet for a week, but I can't even get down two sips of the shakes or even the soup now. I might venture out today to purchase another type. I feel like I have this ongoing sweet aftertaste in my mouth all the time now. 

So with all that said and done, I'm down 31.6 pounds as of today with 8.6 being the weight lost in the past 5 days. I'm happy about those results. So when I'm feeling discouraged, a hop on the scale is picking me up quickly. I can definitely see a difference in my face and in my clothes. 

Moving forward with hope!!!!

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