Surgery is complete!

Dec 10, 2010

Hey there, OH friendlies! I was able to get my surgery in spite of having bronchitis. Thankfully, it had mostly run its course and I didn't have a temperature on Thursday and no lower lung rattle, so they did it! Although, if you want my honest opinion, I would say if you're not at the very end of the year trying to get surgery, do yourself a favor and push the surgery out a week or two until you're over the coughing, because that has been a fairly big challenge with abdominal wounds. I'm posting a long one about all this so that people who are about to have this done will get a feel for my experience. Read on. First, go get a drink. I'll wait!

I had the surgery on at 3:30 pm on Thursday and I just got home, at 3:00 pm on Friday. I found that coming out of anesthesia, I was really easily awake and aware, but I had some nausea. The nurses propped an alcohol wipe over the tip of my nose and told me to breath in, and the nausea went away! Cool trick...keep that in mind for your hangover mornings, I guess!

My pain has been minimal except when I would cough. They had me do the spirometer breathing every hour and then hold a pillow to my tummy tightly and cough. This helps prevent pneumonia. They also encourage you to get up and walk as soon as you are able, even if it would only be one lap around the hospital floor. I did this and was able to double my distance each hour and by my release, was doing 15 laps. It helps you to pass the post-surgical gas they pump into your abdomen during surgery. 

As for eating, here's what I had -- I had to eat ice chips the entire first day. Slowly. Today, they did a radiology test where they had me sip contrast (nasty, but more flavorful than ice chips!) and they watch it go down to see what level of internal swelling I had or any leaks. I had neither. After, I was able to order two things off the clear liquids menu. I chose chicken broth and sugar free jello. Again, slow is the name of the game, and you have to melt everything to a liquid in your mouth before swallowing. Four ounce per hour, plus any water you can hold.

My greatest difficulty will be in finding a schedule to get all the walking, sipping, eating, resting, and breathing into the spirometer done each day that they suggest. Also, they expect me to begin taking any vitamins or pills I normally take tomorrow. If that goes well, I'll be very relieved, but I'm terrified of taking the pills. I haven't thrown anything up yet, and it's recommended that you try very hard not to right after surgery because of the risk of swelling or slipping your band.  I find it interesting, don't you, that people who don't know a lot about this weight loss surgery business call it the "easy way out" ? I beg to differ. More later! Thanks for your well-wishes! Take care! Lorie

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