The month after!

Jan 31, 2007

O.K. it has been one month since surgery - I am now adding real food back into my diet.  I don't want to forget my experience, so even though this is after the fact I want to write it down for me to remember and for others to identify with (or not).  I didn't feel that well for about one week after surgery.  I am a baby and I was lucky that I could really pamper myself.  My incisions kind of hurt and I was tired often.  I got lots of rest and drank broths.  On the day of my first check up one of my incisions was really hurting.  I couldn't even sit up in the car on the way to the drs. office.  My husband put the seat almost flat and I laid down all the way there.  I met with the nutritionist and found out I had lost 17 lbs!  I was thrilled as I don't have any scales at home (long ago they got thrown out).  I was sure I had an infection inside the incision spot that hurt.  Dr. said everything was fine and I started to feel better immediately!!  By the time I was home I felt great!  Go figure?  

The Sunday after my ten day visit I had a case of the blues.  My family were all eating homemade spaghetti and meatballs and I was hurting.  I got on OH and whined and whined.  I got the response I needed and that is why I am so thankful for this site!

I went to my sisters and weighed myself to find I had lost another 10 lbs. during the second week post-op!  I was thrilled!  During the next three weeks I only lost 3 lbs.  When I went to my surgeons for the one month check I had lost that total of 30 lbs.  I was a little depressed - a quick weight loss (27 lbs.) in the first two weeks, then, only 3 lbs. for the next three weeks.

Another memory was my first time trying real food.  At weeks three and four I could add fish, chicken, etc. to my liquids.  What I failed to do was puree it and my attempts to eat salmon and chisken salad was miserable!  It stuck in my chest and I got all the saliva and thought I would barf - then I wished I would barf!  That was scary and of course I ran to OH and asked if I would ever be able to eat normal again!  I would like to report that I am now adding real food and enjoying it, but, I am in a stall big time!

The Day After

Jan 23, 2007

So I wake up the day after surgery (well you don't really sleep in a hospital) and the first person I see is a blood collector.  I tell her "no" she is not going to take blood from me and I show her both of my arms and wrists and hands which are busy turning every shade of blue and purple.  She is a very nice young girl and she asks if she can just look at my veins and of course I let her and she finds a small one and takes blood.  I feel pretty good, I have been up walking since yesterday p.m. and a couple of times during the night.  I am very afraid of blood clots so I make sure I walk every couple of hours.  I find out they put someting in my I.V. for pain and also for upset stomach (pepsin?) I can't remember but, it must work I have no nausea and the pain is tolerable.  I think I got a couple of doses of morphine at first and that was it.  Hospital care has certainly changed since I had babies many years ago.  I was never offered a washcloth or a clean gown until the morning I was going home.  My nightime nurse (a male) and his assistant PAC were wonderful though.  They kept the I.V.  flowing and brought ice chips which were delicious!  Also, helped me in and out of bed to urinate as the catheter was taken out after my upper GI that morning.  When they came to get me for the Upper GI I noticed that Julie had already gone for the test and I thought that was funny since I had surgery before her.  When I got to the test area I saw Julie and she was really sick.  So, that got me all upset about the Upper GI thinking it was going to make me sick also!  I made it through (not pleasant) and learned that Julie had a leak and was being taken back into surgery.  Her blood test showed infection and that is why she had her test first!  I was very scared for her and for me.  I did not want to go back into surgery!  Dr. Zeni's program director came in to see me for a minute and I could tell she was shook.  This was the first leak he had ever had.  I saw Julie's family a few hours later and she was doing good and back from surgery.  I saw Julie the next day and talked to her several days later and she was doing o.k.  She is a trooper!  The next day I was ready to go home!

The day is here!

Jan 13, 2007

O.K. My flu is subsiding and Christmas comes and goes - surgery is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Dec. 27th.  I go to the pharmacy and get all required items per my surgeon:  GoLightly (what a misnomer) to clean the bowel tract - I was informed I only had to drink 1/2 gallon because I was having the VSG - the whole gallon for RNY - two prescriptions for antibiotics for the day before and an order for Hibisclen to wash the area both the night before and the morning of.  My sister asked me if they were going to give me a knife to start the surgery myself on the way to the hospital!  Funny!  Anyway, the day before surgery I am totally packed for the hospital.  I can't even write about the GoLightly without gagging!  I have to drink 1/2 gallon between 9 a.m. and 12 noon.  Let's just skip the details of this.  Then at 1 p.m. I start the antibiotics - huge horse tablets - 4 at 1 p.m. - 4 at 2 p.m. - 4 at 10 p.m.  At 10 p.m. I am choking down the last pills and showering and washing with Hibisclen and I go to bed.  At 3 p.m. I wake up very sick and nauseous.  I mean I have the dry heaves big time!  I don't know if it is the flu returning or the antibiotics on my empty stomach but, I am sick,  At 5 a.m. I shower again to wash with Hibisclen and dry heave the whole time.  My husband drives me to the hospital for a 6:30 a.m. check in time.  I go to the counter with a towel in my hands and tell the nurse I am very sick - I don't know if I can have surgery - it must be the flu!  I am changing my mind again and now this dry heave stuff sounds like a good way out. She tells me to take a seat (with 50 other people in the waiting room) and they will be right with me.  One half hour later they call me in to pre-op.  I explain the dry heaves and they give me a little cup of Alka-Seltzer Gold. I have never heard of this stuff before, but, it works!  I  felt better right away.  I explained  what my night was like and told me to get undressed.  She came back and looked at my arms for an I.V. site.  I don't have good visible veins and after dehydrating myself the day before it was not looking good.  After she made three painful attempts I asked her to get someone else!  I asked her for a local and she said they didn't have it there.  If they don't have it there, where would they have it?  Anyway, this really good looking male nurse anesticist (sp.) comes in and brings a local with him.  He rubs my arms and I look into his eyes - please help me - they are hurting me - and he apologizes and gives me locals and looks for veins at least 8 more times with no success.  I am still thinking I may leave at any moment this is just too much - dry heaves and no sleep all night and now this!  Then my surgeon is there and he is saying everything is o.k.  The male nurse tells me not to worry he is going to use a very small vein in my hand to put me to sleep and then go after the big one when I am asleep!  That is the last I remember until I wake up in my room and my husband is there sitting in a chair.  No backing out now - it is done!  Move over on the Loser's Bench!

Meeting a OH Friend

Jan 10, 2007

While I was at Dr. Zeni's office I found out that someone from Wi. that was also on the OH site was going to have surgery with Dr. Zeni in late Dec.  I met Julie2ed at the pre-op classes!  

Anyway, a couple of upsetting things happened during the pre-op tests.  Like I said, I have no family support on my decision so, I want nothing to go wrong.  While I was having my chest x-ray the technician told me that I didn't look like I needed WLS.  I am big all over, I carry my weight evenly distributed.  It is amazing what happens when a complete stranger says something to you - and when I am not looking in a mirror, what my mind says to me!  So, then something showed up in my chest xray and I had to have an MRI!  I was scared!  I go for the MRI and that technician tells me, "you don't look like you need WLS".  Now, two medical people tell me I don't look like I need to have WLS and what do I start to think?  I posted here and I got plenty of good advice!  My BMI was 39.5 and I weighed 247 lbs!  What was I thinking!  Anyway, I continue to have my pre-op tests including an endoscopy and stress test and blood work and ekg.  Everything turns out fine and I am cleared for surgery!  As the date (Dec. 20th) approaches I am having big time second thoughts - I love my food - my husband is a great cook - my daughter is a gourmet cook and she and her husband and two year old are living with us for a year while they build a house - Christmas is coming - what about all the cookies I bake every year, it is tradition!  Well, my son-in-law gets the flu and four days before my surgery is scheduled I come down with it - vomiting and diarrhea - and an upper respiratory infection!  I called Dr. Zeni's office and told Paula, the program direstor I was deathly sick, could it be rescheduled for the 27th?  She said she thought so and that Julie2ed from Wi. was having her surgery that day!  O.K., I didn't have to think about surgery for another week!  I could enjoy Christmas, although I had been on a 1000 cal. diet and I had to stay on it through the next week to shrink my liver.  What about those Christmas cookies?  To be continued....


The Next Step

Jan 10, 2007

I am writing all of this a month or so after it actually happened, but, I decided I do want to remember my experience as it is monumental to me.  After I freaked about the date for the RNY and found the VSG site and decided that sounded more for me I found out that my surgeon at Barix Clinics didn't do the VSG.  I had to find a doctor and change everything with my insurance approval.  I considered going to California since the majority of the people on the VSG Forum went there (and I love Ca.)!  But, after researching, I found two drs. in Michigan on the OH website.  I talked to both offices.  One told me they could not get BC/BS to cover the VSG.  The other one said to come in and we would see.  I had an appointment with Dr. Zeni and his staff and was very pleased.  I must have been there two hours and they had a verbal approval before I left.  I was a little hesitant because Dr. Zeni is young and he had only done 5 other VSG surgeries but, he assured me there was more to the RNY and he did those all the time.  They did everything to schedule my surgery before the end of the year because of insurance deductibles and I had a date of Dec. 20th!  They put me in the pre-surgery classes for the people scheduled for surgery in Jan.  So, I got all my info quick and fresh in my mind.  I didn't freak like when I got my RNY date, but, I had no support from my family.  Everyone thought I would back out (and, truthfully, so did I).

The search is on~

Jan 02, 2007

Here it is, August, 2006.  My pcp suggested that I might consider Lap Band.  She told me she had a friend that was doing the surgeries lap and it might be something for me to consider.  The only contact I had ever had with WLS was my 500 lb. brother and his gastric bypass was done open and I was not interested.  I went to a local hospital for a seminar and saw the lap band.  Not for me, I don't even like acrylic nails because they make me claustrophobic!  I did not like the idea of a port, a fill, slippage, etc.  I mentioned it to my neighbor who has recently lost a lot of weight.  She had told me that she was "just eating more protein, less carbs, etc.".  After I told her about my seminar, she kind of smiled and said she had surgery last April but didn't tell anyone inexcept her husband ~not even her kids.  She helped me by providing all the information about Barix Clinics which are national and where she had her RNY.  I went there~they are huge~I qualified and they got insurance approval after several months.  When they called me with my surgery date of Dec. 27th I kind of freaked.  I thought RNY was my only option and I was having problems with the idea of moving my intestines, malabsorbtion, and the idea of "dumping" scared me~I had seen my brother "dump" and it is not pretty!  Barix had given me OH website when I first went there but I had never checked it out.  O.K. so I had lurked there a couple of times on the Main Board and had read nothing but problems!  When I got my date I posted my first post on the Main Board asking if anyone was happy they had had this surgery as all I was reading was problems!!   And, I was freaking about having a date.  I got great replies back about being sure and really checking things out first.  I started to move around OH and found the vertical sleeve forum.  Everythind I read about it sounded like the answer to my prayers!  It could be done lap, they didn't move my intestines,  no malabsorption, no dumping!  What?  They permanently remove 90% of my stomach?  Now that is another story!


About Me
MI
Location
VSG
Surgery
12/27/2006
Surgery Date
Nov 17, 2006
Member Since

Friends 18

Latest Blog 6
The month after!
The Day After
The day is here!
Meeting a OH Friend
The Next Step
The search is on~

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