My revision surgery story

Oct 27, 2010

I had a Lapband placed in 8/07 with a surgeon in Portland OR. My original surgeon left that hospital not long after I had surgery and I ended up with 2 other surgeons over the next 3 years, all at the same hospital. I had 2.5 years of complications with the band, but thats for a different story ;)

My most recent surgeon in Portland would not revise me from band to sleeve, only band to RNY. I didn't want the RNY, so I had to find a surgeon who would agree to do my revision. I ended up finding Dr. Tersigni in Coos Bay, Oregon.

My surgery was on 10/19/10 in Coos Bay, OR, which is about 2.5 hours away from where I lived. I was instructed to spend the night before surgery in Coos Bay. My husband and I drove up there after work and got there at 9:30pm. We stayed at the Motel 6. I did not expect to get much sleep, but actually ended up crashing shortly after we got there and slept all night. I drank some Isopure before midnight and that was my last fluid pre-surgery. My surgeon had prescribed a scopaline patch for nausea and I put that behind my ear before going to bed.

I had to check in at the hospital at 10:30am the next day. I was the 3rd surgery scheduled that day. Two women were having RNY in the early morning. We got to the hospital at 10:30 and checked in at the registration office at the hospital. They had me sign some paperwork that I had done with them previously over the phone. Then they told me to walk downstairs to the Short Stay Unit.

My DH and I walked down to short stay and were lead straight to a bed behind a curtain. I was given a hospital gown to put on and had my hospital bracelet put on. I requested a bigger gown and they gave me one. The nurse that was assigned to me was very nice. She went through a binder of paperwork with me, asked me about my allergies etc. We joked around, she was awesome. My DH brought his ipad and was showing it off to everyone. The nurse realized that I had not taken a pregnancy test yet and arranged for someone from the lab to come to me and draw blood to do the test.

Then the nurse tried to get an IV started. She had a really hard time finding a vein. I was a bit dehydrated and have plush arms with deep veins. She had me run my hands and arms under hot water to try to make the veins come to the surface. Then she packed my arms in hot blankets. She said the IV would be a big needle in case I needed a blood transfusion during surgery. I requested she use the numbing shot before giving the IV. She agreed but said it can make it harder to place the IV. She tried once in my left arm and it didn't work and left a big bruise. She got another nurse who she considered the expert to try again in my right arm. That nurse got it on the first try.

The nurse anesthetist came to see me. I told him about my tendency to be very nauseous after surgery and my request for a urinary catheter due to my frozen bladder problem after surgery. I asked what the difference was between an anesthesiologist and a nurse anesthetist. He said nurses are common in small hospitals. He looked really young! Like late 20's. He promised to take good care of me. I asked if I could keep part of my lap band when they took it out as a souvenir. He said no way, it was considered medical waste.

My surgeon popped his head around my curtain at about noon. I asked him how the 2 surgeries before me went and he said great. He was right on time. I had not spoken to my surgeon for almost an entire year. I asked him my last question, which was "what is the chance that you will have to do a 2 step surgery and just remove my band today?" He said it was a possibility, but didn't sound like he thought it would happen.

Before I knew it some nurses from the OR were there to take me to the OR. They gave me a foil type shower cap to cover my hair. My DH joked that the hat looked like that giant foil balloon hoax that the kid pretended to fly away in last year.

When I rolled into the OR they were playing classic rock songs. It was very comforting to me. One of the male nurses was setting out surgical tools and was kind of dancing around to the music. There were 2 female nursing students who were going to observe my surgery. I chatted with them. I was then requested to slide from my gurney onto the operating table. It was padded nicely and comfortable. It was really cold in the room and they put warm blankets on me. I asked them to warn me before they put me to sleep. Moments later one of the nurses told me that the antsiest had started the sleeping meds. I closed my eyes and requested to hold someones hand. One of the nurses held my hand. I took deep breaths and relaxed for a few seconds. Then I was out!

The next thing I knew I was in recovery. I had some abdominal pain, but nothing too bad. I remember asking the nurse if my surgeon was able to complete the VSG. She said yes. I remember it was hard to open my eyes all the way and everything was a blur. I slept a lot. I was there for about 2 hours, then wheeled to my room.

Later on my DH told me that my surgeon had stopped in and talked to him after I got out of surgery. My surgery was expected to take 1.5 hours and ended up taking 3 hours. I had a lot of scar tissue. My lapband had adhered itself to my liver and he had to cut through it. My surgeon told my husband "there was some blood loss" and that my lapband port was very hard to find. It was in a different location than where he puts it on his patients. I also found out that my band was dilated on the back side.

I was told ahead of time that I was going to have a private room with a sleeper recliner for my DH to stay with me. Unfortunately there were too many patients and I ended up in a shared room with a metal folding chair. My poor hubby stayed in the folding chair until the wee hours of the night, then slept on a couch in the family waiting room!

I slept a lot while in the room. I requested the urinary catheter be pulled out that evening. A student nurse asked if she could do it and I said yes. Another nurse observed and walked her through it. It wasn't too painful. I was eager to get out of bed and walk. They finally let me after that. I was pretty sore and needed help getting in and out of bed. I had mechanical leg wraps on my legs to prevent blood clots. The nurses had to take them off every time I had to get up to walk or use the bathroom. I had a JP drain that the nurses drained a couple times. They had to "pull the tubing" to make sure there were no blood clots clogging it up. That felt a little weird. The nurse safety pinned the drain to my gown so it wouldn't hang when I got out of bed.

I was given ice chips that first night after surgery. They were wonderful! My mouth was so dry, but they totally helped.
I was not on a pain pump. My surgeon prefers the nurses to administer pain meds as needed so that they are observing the patient more. My first nurse was terrible! I started to feel very nauseous and told him I was going to vomit. I requested anti-nausea meds. He said he couldn't give me any because it hadn't been 6 hours yet. He gave me a barf bag and I held it in front of me and tried hard not to throw up. I got mad at the nurse and insisted there must be something he could give me and that it was not in my best interest to vomit right after stomach surgery. He finally came back with some medication to put in my IV. By that point I increased saliva flowing and was moments away from throwing up. Luckily the medication worked quickly and I did not. He also brought me a water bottle and told me to start drinking. I told him I wasn't supposed to until after my leak test. He told me that wasn't true, but I insisted that was what I was told. He said he would find out, but never got back to me. Of course I wasn't supposed to be drinking water that night! Grrrrrr. Good thing I knew better!

At 11pm I got a different nurse who was awesome. She gave me anti-nausea meds every time I requested them. I really was struggling with a lot of nausea. I was getting morphine for the pain and realized that was part of what was making me feel so ill. I asked if there was something else I could take for pain and they said no because it was the middle of the night and my surgeon had not authorized anything else. I let too many hours pass without getting more morphine because I didn't want to feel nausious.

My surgeon came and checked on me at 7am. I don't remember much about it except him saying I was going to spend one more night in the hospital. I was relieved because originally I was told probably only one night. With the nausea, I felt I needed a second one.

By 8am in the morning I was in horrible pain. I requested more morphine. I almost started crying. There was not a comfortable position I could get into. It was awful. I told my husband several times "I am never doing this again!" Luckily the pain subsided fairly quickly after getting the morhpine. My roommate was my age (28) and very nice. She was there for a burst appendix and some other complications. We chatted through the night and checked in with each other about our pain levels.

At 10:30 am I was wheeled down to radiology for a swallow test. I had to drink an iodine liquid. It tasted like extra nasty NyQuil. I was told to take a normal size sip and swallow. I was nervous about taking such a big sip. I did it and a little went down the wrong pipe and I coughed. They had me turn to the side and take another sip. Then they told me I was done. I asked if I could see the xray and they showed me the drink going through my sleeve. It was neat to see. There was definitely a thin line of fluid going through there!

I was wheeled back to my room. Shortly after I got back the nurse was bringing me 2 oz. containers of protein shake. The flavors were strawberry and carmel. She also brought me a water bottle. I had a hard time sipping water. I asked if I could have some crystal light or something to flavor it. She found some and it helped a bit. I sipped slowly on the protein shakes. They were not terrible, but I certainly did not want to do it! I was still struggling with nausea. I ended up only getting about half of the shakes they brought me down.

At noon I was told a private room opened up. I made quite a stink about my poor DH not having a sleeper recliner after being promised and planning for it. They brought one to my new room. I felt like I turned a corner once I got to my new room. I felt more alert and just overall better. At 3pm my parents showed up to visit. We walked down to the family waiting room and talked for about an hour. My mom asked me if I was wearing makeup because my face was so flushed. haha

We got back to my room and spent the night again. I was expected to get up and walk a couple times in the night. I watched TV. I was fairly comfortable and started feeling ready to go home.

The next morning my surgeon came and checked on me at 6:30am. I told him I felt ready to go home today. He agreed that I could be discharged. He told me since I live out of town, I could wait 4 weeks to come back and see him unless there was a problem.

The nurses started getting me ready for discharge around 11am. They got some anti nausea meds ordered for me. I was given a written presciption to take to a pharmacy to fill. I could not fill it at the hospital pharmacy, as it was a non profit hospital. I was given a schedule of when to take what meds. I was also given a prescription for Pepcid to take 2x per day. A nurse pulled out my JP drain and I couldn't feel it at all! I had JP draines a few years ago when I had a breast reduction and I felt those ones being removed, but not this time.

After leaving the hospital, my DH and I decided to drive to my parents' house, as it was only an hour away. I put a pillow between me and the seat belt. I had no trouble in the car. We ended up spending several hours at my parents' house and then driving the rest of the way home that evening. When we arrived home I got settled into my recliner. I felt very nauseous and made sure to take my anti-nausea meds on time.

By the next morning the nausea was gone and I haven't taken any of the meds since! I used liquid lortab to control pain. I learned to drink a shake with it to help prevent nausea.

I am now 8 days post op and have not had any complications! I've been experimenting with various protein shakes etc. to get my recommended 60-100 grams of protein in per day. Truthfully I am lucky to get close to 60. I was told not to worry about it too much the first week. I am also struggling to get in enough fluids. I am monitoring my urine output to make sure I stay hydrated.

The pain has not been too bad overall. I take the lortab 2-3 times per day, and only 15 ml at a time. I am prescribed 15-30ml every 4-6 hours, and I am not taking anywhere near that! I have been shopping several times and have no trouble walking around the stores. I am still sleeping in my recliner because laying down on my bed hurts bad. There is a lot of pulling when I tried that. I took 2 weeks off of work and go back on 11/2. I'm starting to get a little bored staying home during the day. I am not driving yet mostly due to the seat belt hurting.

Well, that's my story so far!

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