my surgery story

Jun 06, 2007

Ok so I am almost 6 months out (on the 12th), I haven't updated my story since surgery, so here it is~~

I had surgery on December 12th ~woke up after surgery and felt great, I was tired, but in general felt great.My parents were their when I got out of surgery and left later in the evening.
~ In the wee early mornings of the 13th I woke (around 4am) to blood in my mouth. I called one of the nurses in because it was dark in my room, I knew then that spitting up blood was a problem. I called my parents around 7am to tell them what was going on and to please come back to the hospital. 
That day was hell~ I was in so much pain, and the nurses I guess really didn't believe me, I couldn't move and felt like i was going to die! later in teh afternoon the nurses finally contacted Dr. M, i went for my sip test. I couldn't stand straight I was in so much pain, I did sipped the nasty fluid and then the tech guy failed to tell me that the machine wasn't ready adn I had to do the sip test again. needless to say that was an awful large amount of fluid to drink in such a short period of time. the second time I was in more ain than the first and the tech guy wasn't nice~ he made comments about my breasts being in the way and that they were in the way of the imaging. I guess he got what he needed as I threatened that i was going to get sick. I was wheeled back to my room. Where soon after the Dr.'s asst came in to talk to me a bit, although I was really out of it from the pain and the pain med had been uped but wasn't doing a thing. 
After Chuck(the Dr's Asst) came I was taken down to have a scan done because the sip test showed nothing wrong. when that was over I went back to my room for only a minute when the nice girls from the operating room came in to take me back to surgery. Dr. m came in to my room while waiting for the anestesiologist to come in. i was going to go in for exploratory surgery. He didn't know what was going on but new something had happened. Theis surgery was longer about 3-4 hours I was told. 
Result~ I had internal bleeding, from where they do not know since the bleeding had stopped by the time they did theis surgery, but because of the bleeding the blood coagulated in my intestines and had then backed up causing he pain. the Dr.'s had to clean my insides out and flush my stomach and intestines. This surgery was not laproscopic. I have a scar from my belly button to my rib cage, it was stapleled back together. I felt so much better after this surgery and was on teh road to recovery. I was place in ICU for 2 nights and then asked to go to the pediatrics area for the rest of my stay. And yes I was one of many adults on the peds floor. only one actual pediatric patient was on the floor. The nurses in peds were awesome, so much better than those on the general floor who were "overworked, and being run ragged" ( an actual quote from a nurse). The nurses in ICU were great also(, I would have stayed there but they were destroying my room the next day for construction)
I was up walking the halls in no time, I had to stay in the hospital an extra 3 days and then was allowed to go home. I had a drainage tube that I had to flush every day, which never worked right eithe the plug wouldn't come out or wehn it did the plug was backed up andI would end up with warm stomach fluids all over. Or i would be walking around and the plug would fall out. or it wouldn't go back on. This was finally removed about 2 weeks after surgery and OMG I really thought that was very painful. I couldn't breath it hurt so bad!
Home was a good thing!! I felt good small pain in the top right side of my tummy but nothing big, so I thought, 
I had complained at home about the pain and just thought it was me being a baby,but I finally called Dr.M's office to have him check me out~ 
I had my apt and while sitting in teh waiting room i decided to look at my incision from surgery#2 to see that the bottom of the incision had a large yellowy looking bulge at he bottom! eeww grosssss.
Dr. M lanced that spot and puss ran all over the place, i had an infection! I would have to go in to see a nurse or Dr. every day and have the wound packed ( wounds after surgery like this are packed with thin packing tape like gause, and are allowed to heal from the inside out. and could take weeks to heal completely, they are also flushed with water to try to help clean the area out)
I saw the Dr everyday for a week, on the forst day of week to I had another yelloy bulge appear this time at the top of my surgery site. This too was lanced and well the to spots were connected. wehn the woulnd was cleaned with water I could spray water in teh bottom hole and it would come out the top hole. This was my own little fun trick :) 
I finally started doing the cleaning and packing at home and only saw the Dr. 1x a week. I finally returned to work still having to do my packing and cleaning of these two wounds. and still seeing Dr.M.  I was finally sent for another abdomin scan to see why the wounds were not healing. and of course they found no reason. My options were to continue doing the packing and hope that it clears up but it had already been over 6 weeks and it hadn't gotten better. option 2 was to open the area betweent etwo holes and see if anything else was causing the infection. I decided to get things over with and have the wound opened up. Dr.M opened the wound to find all my stitches sitting inside rotting!!! he cleaned them out and had a 3-4 inch hole in my stomach that I had to pack and clean 2x a day. so much fun! the whole closed up finally in about 4 weeks. and I was definately doing better. 
Eating was good. of course small portions , lots of fish, and reduced fat wheat thins and triscuits. I couldn't stand the taste of protein drinks etc. 
In the begining of may I started having problems when I was sleeping I had pain agian everytime i moved I felt like I moved but my insides weren't . I called and made another apt with Dr.M. needless to say I had another problem. I have a huge hernia right below my left side of my rib cage! It is very large and it will need surgery. if I can wait ti out for a year then well I could have a dble surgery for the hernia and a tumme tuck. But unfortunatley the pain seemed to get worse and I went back tho the Dr. My hernia is the size of well a small cantalope and really no concerns that it will stangulate, but I wasnt it fixed, the recovery time will be 4-6 weeks and the materials used to repair the hole will have to be thought about carefully since I seem to have problems with desolvable stitches. I have currently choosen to wait for awhile to get this fixed but I believe now My Gull bladder is slugged. I have elimited all fats and oils out of my diet and have no pain ins in what I thought was being caused by the hernia., 
Eating is still going well. I eat alot ( lol) of tofu and beans. My mother says I am practically a vegetarian. I rarely eat red meat, on occasion I will have a few bites of a grilled hamburger or other meats but usually i am beens and tofu. I have just started eating yogurt of course Fat free and sweetened with Splenda. and that is going down with no problems. Every day things can be different just because a food worked well today doesn't mean it will tomorrow or the next day. It truly is like learning how to eat all over again, and you have to keep trying again and again. 

so this is my story of surgery or to hell and back what ever you would like to call it! 
when asked if I would do it again~ well I love how i feel toady I am able to take walks with out dying for air or water. i have energy that I have never had before! I am able to do things with Ethan and not quit after a few minutes cause Im tired, he finally has a mother than can play with him. Just yesterday i let him take me for a ride in his new go cart and i wouldn't have even been able to sit in it 6 months ago! 
I have lost about 85 pounds of fat and truly gained 85 pounds in self confidence. i walk with my sholders pulled back a smile on my face, and know that many people look 2x at me and I don't care. i look jgood and feel great!! 
people say that they don;t understand why people didn't notice them before surgery but after surfgery it seems that everyone notices them~ my 2 cents on that is that when you are heavy many people including myself shyed away from letting people notice us. I didn't walk through places looking up and ahead to see that someone was going to say hello, I avoided areas with people so i didnt have to worry about a snicker or a sy.but not now I don't mind a person holding a door for me or saying hi to someone I walk past .
people did notice me before it was me who avoiided at all cost from noticing them!!!

please if you have questions please ask I will answer

what I want to be able to do

Dec 06, 2006

Of course their are things that you have always wished you could do but haven't either because you can't physically or can't due to emotional concerns. So here is my list of things I can't wait to be able to do.

I want to:
make a snow man a huge one, and have fun doing it!
I want to go sled riding 
wear a pair of shorts/ own a pair of shorts
feel like I can walk around town with out feeling like people are starring at my a$$.(not sure if that will happen now their stare causes it's big but they can stare when it small and cute:))
run atleast one lap around the track with out feeling like I am going to die
Slide down the playground slides
swing high with out the swings feeling like they are going to break
wear a pair of "knee" boots tht fit!
wear sexy underwear that stay up wear they belong.
get a bra that fits and is still cute!
be able to buy rings from the jewelry counter that fit wth out adjustments.
be able to climb the stairs into my building and not be out of breath and have my knees hurting.
be able to ride a bike.
never really thought of a goal but to see the 250's again would be sweet.  
I want to have ankles! 
and be able to wear a pair of capri pants this summer
I really want to be able to raid my sisters closet, maybe even my mothers!!!
oh and to share clothes with friends would be a first!







About Me
Candor, NY
Location
34.9
BMI
RNY
Surgery
12/12/2006
Surgery Date
Aug 17, 2006
Member Since

Friends 18

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my surgery story
what I want to be able to do

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