Firstlady215
July 4th 2010- 7 weeks out of surgery to the DS....
Jul 04, 2010
Wow my WL journey has been one roller coaster ride and I plan to ride this joint untill the wheels fall off. I am here at approximately 48 pounds down since surgery ( started at 284)?...and the scale seems to continue to drop. I am not going act like this has been all peaches and creams...but thanks be to GOD I am making it. I am so grateful, and I continue to remind myself that it only gets better from here!!!SURGERY
The day of surgery was like a blur... I guess the day that will change my life forever and a date I will never forget. May 17, 2010... This has been a long time coming for me - since first seeking RNY back in 2007 to geting the lap band in 2007 to trying to get a revision in 2009 to being denied to now in 2010 finally getting the surgery that i WANTED!!!!!! I have learned so much in this journey but the most important is patience
My mom and my close girlfriend drove me to the hospital, and the hospital checked me in really quick and took me back to get prepped. I had to be at the hospital by 7 am, and we made it just in time. They allowed me to change first in the hospital gown , and the nure put my IV in , and that was that.... ( I hate the whole IV thing so that was nerve wrecking) After allowing me to say my last good byes to my familly they wheeled me to the ER...and everything else is a blur. The next I remember is being in the worse pain ever, and folks asking me questions!!! I was in so much pain that I could not talk...I only could write!!!!! Horrible feeling....at some point I guess they took me to my room in ICU, and I was able to see my family.. Later that night they got me up to start walking, and it was hard, but the pain at that point was managed.. My nurse was a male and was very attentive!!I The hard part is pulling yourself up to get out of bed!!! May sound easy- but NOT after this surgery!! The next morining Dr Greenbaum came in EARLY ( as he is a surgeon that does all his rounds early in the am btwn 7am- 8) he clamped my bag of fluid that was draining from my stomach, and said all looked well. He also removed my cathether. One of the major issues after having the cathether removed is trying to pass urine!!! It felt like pushing out pee.....that promblem lasted for a few days. Pain was still managed but a little umcomfortable, gas was a major promblem and was still a major promblem untill two days after I got home. Gas pain is by far worse than any other pain that you can have because it is not something that can be controlled by meds in the hosptal!!!!!!!! I also had two tubes one a feeding tube, and the other a drain along with Iv's in my hand and my neck!! I will say that I freaked out my familly as I didnt fully inform them on the complexity of my revision surgery and the risk that it came with. Dr. Greenbaum surely did after I got out of surgery. Thanks be to GOD, I did not have one complication....and to this day remain complication free... Not a bad job for a revision.......Dr. Greenbaum gets an A+ in my book, and its hard to score that high with me. So stilll in the hospital the nurses insited that I continue to walk every couple of hrs, sit in the chair and they were helpful with that. After the second day out of surgery I will say that the bed side manner of the nursing staff at Lourdes SUCKED!!!
*****I will be back later with more details on recovery, and the first 3 weeks after revision surgery!!