jellyfishattack
A 'Re-Post' of "My Surgery Went Really Well".
Aug 18, 2013
I'm blogging this because I'm not much of a blogger, but it seemed to help lessen the anxiety of some pre-ops who read it.
Hi everyone,
I'm afraid this might be a long post, but I think that writing down my RNY experience on Monday will encourage pre-ops.
Everything went really well. I didn't feel much pain and by the evening I came home (Wednesday), I felt mainly mildish gas pains and pain in my calf muscles from walking the wards every hour that I was awake when I was in the hospital.
I was told to arrive at TEGH at 11:30am, but of course, I got there about 45 minutes early - better early than late. After I registered at Admitting, I went upstairs to the 1st pre-surgery waiting room, where I waited until about 11:35am.
Then, a nurse came and helped get me ready for surgery. I put on the 2 gowns and the shower cap hair keeper, and anti-embolism stockings. They were a little hard to pull on, but after surgery, I found that they kept my legs warm. They weren't uncomfortable. Then, the nurse gave me 2 sublingual Xanax the PATTS anesthetist had kindly ordered, and started my IV painlessly. I honestly can't remember, but I think she gave me a needle to prevent blood clots too.
Then, my Dad & I were led to the true pre-surgery waiting room. I went to the bathroom, and I met my surgeon, Dr. Jamie Cyriac, who is very kind and lets you ask as many questions as you want and who is obviously a great surgeon! About 10 minutes later, at 12:40pm, I was led to the ER itself. They let me keep my glasses until I had climbed onto the table and positioned myself properly. I am virtually blind without them, so I was grateful.
I woke up in the recovery room in some pain and said so twice - then, I was in no pain the whole time I was there. I had to stay in the recovery room an extra 4 hours because I have severe sleep apnea, although by the last 90 minutes I was quite awake. For the last 40 minutes, I was the only patient in the recovery room and the nurse came to talk to me until I left, which was very kind of her.
Then I was wheeled up to my semi-private bariatric room. Luckily for me, no other patient (female anyway) showed up while I was there, so I got a free private room! I had a little pain after I had to scoot from the transport bed to the room bed, but a nurse hung some morphine and I had no more pain issues. I only got out of bed three or four times that night to go to the bathroom - they keep waking you to check on your vitals. Once I walked around 2 wards.
The next day, I was still on morphine but I was given apple juice to dilute 50:50 with water and SF Jello, and either chicken broth or beef broth. I had to go slow and I was almost afraid to try out my new pouch, so I made sure to only sip 2 little 60ml medicine cups and hour. This day, I was walking the halls every hour or so for 10-15 minutes. They say it helps you pass gas, as well as avoid blood clots, but I didn't pass much at all until the day I left the hospital. I didn't get a blood clot though.
The final night in hospital, I woke up in quite a bit of pain, and instead of 2 crushed Percocet, I was given IV morphine again. After that, there were only 2 times when I felt enough pain to count down the last hour until the next Percocets, but the pain wasn't exactly unbearable.
On Wednesday, the day I was discharged, I was served 1% milk, apple juice & water, and wonder of wonders, overcooked, unflavoured & unsweetened oatmeal. Never has anything tasted so good afer 23 days of liquids! I was fine that day on 2 Percocets and was kindly given one one hour ahead of schedule for my drive home to Richmond Hill, otherwise by the time I got out of the pharmacy, I'd have run out on the way home. Thankfully, the bumpy roads didn't hurt much; Dad drove slowly.
At home, my father installed a raised toilet seat, which has proven to be a Godsend and makes going easy.
I was shocked when the Percocet I took at TEGH wore off that I didn't feel much pain at all; it was a bit of abdominal pain and a bit of gas pain, and my calf muscles hurt from all that walking! I kept waiting for the pain to get worse, but it hasn't. I napped in a recliner during the afternoon and evening and kept up the walking. By the time I went to bed, I found it did not hurt very much at all getting in and out of my bed!
Today, I started off the day with a Percocet and a dense protein shake. I'm using the unflavoured whey protein isolate I bought and the SF Da Vinci syrups. My challenge is to get in enough liquids, protein, and other fuel now, but I can't say they didn't warn us at TWH that that would be a 24 hour job at first!
So, my advice to newbies and pre-ops is please try not to be terrified of the surgery like I was. Everything went perfectly, and the only signs I have really (apart from a few tiny incisions and very mild pain) are that I have no hunger, and feel full quite quickly now if I'm drinking a protein shake (or NF cottage cheese, no sugar added applesauce, etc.).
I hope this post wasn't too long and I hope it helps calm some pre-ops' fears about the proceedure. I'm so happy to be home again!
And thank you to all my kind friends and to my angel Monica too! I appreciate all your kind thoughts and wishes and PMs. I will try to answer everyone in the next day or so. I'm not feeling much pain at all, but I am tired, so I do take naps.
Jenn. :)
