Jill_040208

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It's hard to believe that it's almost been 3 weeks since the surgery.  I'm pretty much back to normal.  It's difficult to lay/sleep on my left side.  Something around the top of my stomach pulls and feels really weird/uncomfortable.  Laying on my right side is perfectly fine.

I can tell that I'm back to almost no restriction.  I seem to have no full point anymore.  Two weeks ago and 1/2 can of soup and I was FULL - last night the family went to Texas Road House.  I ordered chicken breast with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans.  I ate the whole breast and all the mashed potatoes and probably could have eaten more but I stopped myself.  The GOOOD thing is that I drank nothing during dinner and ate NO BREAD!

My first fill is  in 3 weeks (May 13).  I REALLY REALLY  hope I don't gain any weight between now and then.

Yesterday Dr. Hitchcock removed the staples in all 5 incision sites.  All of the sites are doing ok, except for one to the left of my navel.  It is really bruised and sore.  The Dr. told me that was the port that they used pass the band and everything else through, and the angle that it is at is really sharp up toward the stomach, so it is usually always the worst one.  

Typical me...I pratically worked myself into a panic before he took them out thinking it was going to hurt like h#!! - I even brought a minifan and wet wash cloth, in case I felt like I was going to faint.  Guess what?  It didn't hurt at all.  Taking the tape off was the worst part.

I'm so glad that's over...Now I wait 5 weeks until my first fill.

Milestones:
Last night I slept on my SIDE in bed.  That's huge.
I ate cottage cheese today and started the chewable vitamins (yuck!)

Today, I am feeling better.  

The weekend, Day 3 and 4 post-op were tough.  I was having very little pain, so I stopped the pain med althogether on Friday (Day 2) but I was naseous, dizzy and had a terrible headache all weekend.  No matter what I drank, I felt sick.  Saturday, I think I was on my way to becoming seriously dehydrated, having only drank one 16 oz bottle of water by 8 pm.  After talking to Dr. Hitchcock, he said I might have picked up the flu, on top of trying to recover.  He stressed how inadequate my fluid intake was for the day, and that if I ended up dehdrated and didn't take care of it, I could die!  I guess that sort of shocked me back to life.  Between 9 pm and midnight, I forced myself to drink a 16 oz bottle of water each hour.  Around 10:30 pm, I started feeling a little better.  My husband went and got me some Children's Tylenol for the headache (it actually helped, but tastes awful, too sugary!)
On Sunday, I ate some strained creamy corn chowder and tomato soup in addition to my protein drinks and water.  Sunday was a little better.
Today, on Monday I still have a headache, but not as much nausea.  

What I found out today is that when I sneeze (which I did about 10 times today) it feels like a match is being held under my ribs.  I wonder if thats where the internal stitches are around the band to hold it in place.

I get my staples out tomorrow.  I'm excited about that because they are beginning to itch.  Only 1 incisiion looks really red and angry, and its not even the biggest one.  So hopefully after the staples come out, maybe some neosporin will help that one out.  I had 5 incisions, the largest being right under my breast bone, it is 2 1/2" long, I think that is where my port is.

Tomorrow will be better....It has to be!

I'm day 4 post-op and I feel like S*^%! Yesterday, I nearly got so dehydrated I almost had to go back to hospital. I called the Dr. He said flu is going around. I just can't believe how nauseous I am - all the time and terrible headaches. I feel so weak. I have no fever. I just wasn't expecting to be this sick - after 4 days. I don't really have any pain - just sick to my stomach.

Will this all be worth it? I feel so awful right now.
I hope tomorrow is better.

I had Lap-Band surgery yesterday with Dr. Hitchcock.  He's a sweet guy.  He rubbed my feet before I went in to surgery.  It was nice for him to actually touch me.  
I wanted to share a little of my experience, because reading posts like this one helped me IMMENSELY before I went in for the operation.  This is a long post but its my story.

Yesterday morning, April 2, at the hospital there was so much activity, with them preparing for 15 other surgeries besides mine.  Every one was gracious but it was a bit overwhelming, with nurses and anesthesia doctors coming and going all around.  My first problem was the Hepparin shot in my upper arm, I wasn't expecting it and wow did it sting.  Today I have a bruise the size of a 50-cent piece where the shot was.  Next, when it came time to get my IV...I freaked out a little, hyper-ventilated and almost passed out.  That's not unordinary for me.  I don't like needles or blood.
I was very anxious for the surgery to start, to just get it "over with".  They gave me a sedative in my IV that took the edge off of things for about 15 minutes.  Then it wore off and I started getting anxious again.  Right before they wheeled me into to OR, I had to drink some acid reducer for the stomach.  God, that stuff was nasty.  I started getting a little naseous again after that, but by that time I was in the OR.  It was funny, the nurse kept saying, "Are you ready for this?  We can stop if you want to?"  I was like, I'm ready....I've waited a long time for this.  Once in the OR at 7:14 am, I remember moving to the actual OR table and then that was it.
The next thing I remember is waking up at 9:45 am in recovery.  I had a lttle discomfort in my abdomen, but that was it.I think my pain was around a 3 on the scale of 1 - 10.   The hardest part was keeping my Oxygen Level about 90 on the monitor, which required deep breaths.  Every time I would doze off, it would fall to about 80 and the nurses would be like "You need to take a few deep breaths."  That was annoying.  But I'm a rule follower, so I did it.  It's not that the breaths hurt it just seemed unnatural to have to breathe that deep continously.
After about an hour in recovery, they took me back to "cubicle" where I was prepped for surgery.  Dr. Hitchcock stopped by and my question to him was, "Is it really in there?" pointing to my stomach.  I meant the Lap-Band of course.  He smiled and said "Yes".  I almost wish I could have seen the xray so I would truly know it's there.  I can feel my port so I trust that the rest of it is in there too.  I came home from the hospital at Noon (my surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am) and slept on and off for the rest of the day on the recling couch.  The hardest part is getting off the couch because it uses your abs and were sore.

I had read that other people had problems sleeping in bed, I did too.  When I layed down flat, everything on my abdomen hurt, getting up out of bed was even worse.  So I slept on the couch, in the recliner and that worked out great.

This morning I was definately in some pain.  I hadn't taken pain meds overnight and I really felt it.  Getting up off the couch was very hard.  It hurts the most across my ribs and below my breast bone.  That is where my port is and there is a 3" incision with staples.  I used a pillow to "splint" when I stood up but it did hurt.

It's about 1:00 pm now, and with pain meds on board, I feel better.  My whole body is stiff and sore (not sure why) but I'm able to sit here at my computer.

I'm so glad the surgery is over and I'm on my way to a better me!