Fouth Post After Surgery - Jan 12

Feb 16, 2008

Post Date 1/12/08 5:49 am
Topic: An update - 10 days out and life is getting better

Finally, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Things have smoothed out for me considerably since I went to the ER Monday and had my main lap incision opened and drained.

I went to my surgeon's office Thursday to have my drain taken out - very weird experience.  They also checked the incision and said it's looking great.

I can now dress myself, take a shower without the little invalid shower seat, lol.  I can change my own dressings, get my own meds together, etc.  And yesterday, I started driving.  YES, I am MOBILE!!!

I can't pack my incision because of where it is - can't see it.  So my boyfriend's doing that for me.  It hurts like the dickens, but I get through it.

My tummy is working better and better, it seems.  At first, I had a lot of indigestion and gas, but that is starting to resolve.

My buyers remorse is actually starting to fade.  I wouldn't say I'm glad I had the surgery at this point, but I'm not sitting here sobbing out of regret anymore either.

Oh, and did I mention I had lost 12 lbs when I went to the doctor on Thursday (that was 8 days out)!!!

I'm starting to have more and more head hunger, but it's not causing me distress, really.  Plus, after all the terror I had at first of dying/complications, I'll take a little head hunger any day.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who reached out ot me during those first few days.  Your words helped more than you know.


Third Post After Surgery - Jan 10

Feb 16, 2008

Post Date 1/10/08 6:34 am
Topic: Hanging on for dear life

Just wanted to say hi.  Things are holding steady on my end, thank God.  I go to get my drain taken out today.  My open incision looks good.  I ordered my bottom buddy, becaues now that my bowels have awakened, I'm having some serious issues (I know, TMI).

So, my emotions seem to be my big hurdle right now.  Almost all day long, I'm filled with such regret I just want to sit down and cry my heart out.  But, I'm hanging in there.


My boyfriend went back to work today, so I'm waiting on my best friend and her kids to get here.  They're going to spend the day with me.

I'm starting to get to that point where I miss food, which is weird.  The first few days I was afraid of dying I didn't give food the first thought.  Now, certain things are starting to sound really really good.  Real food is a loooong way in my future though, and my first priority is still get and stay healthy.

Thank you to all who responded when I was so desperate,  I LOVE YOU GUYS!


Second Post After Surgery - Jan 8

Feb 16, 2008

Post Date 1/8/08 7:59 am
Topic: Scared - full of regret - and scared

First, thank you for all the messages you sent last time I posted.  Everything each of you said meant a lot to me.  Especially the advice to TAKE THE PAIN MEDS!  (-:

I ended up in the emergency room yesterday.  My main incision was infected.  It hurt so bad I could barely stand it.  Had to have it cut open and drained.  Now, I have this gaping hole which is completely freaking me out.  Home Health people are supposed to be coming today to show us how to pack it.  

I am so afraid more things are going to go wrong, or that the infection won't get better.  Has anyone else been through this (had to pack an incision)?


***Adding this more detailed description after the fact***I had surgery on Wednesday, and by Monday morning my main incision was red, swollen, and excrutiatingly painful.  I was scheduled to have my drain removed that afternoon at 3, but called and begged to come in earlier.  By this point, it hurt so badly I could barely walk.  It felt like someone was stabbing my incision with a hot knife.I made it up to the surgeon's office, where both nurses looked at the incision and cofirmed that yes, it was either infected or I had a hematoma (blood collected under the skin).  My surgeon was doing emergency surgery at the hospital already, so they sent me to the emergency room to wait on him to finish and come down to see me.  They rolled me back to the car in a wheelchair (much appreciated).When I got to the ER, they informed me they had no available beds and that I'd have to sit in the waiting room.  They also informed me that I couldn't have anything to drink until I saw the doctor.  Mind you, I was 5 days out and had no idea when I'd get back.  Needless to say, my friend went and scored me a bottle of water from vending and I drank anyway.My boyfriend got there after about 30 minutes, and by that point I realized it was going to be a while, so I sent him home after my percocet.  He brought it back, I took some, but it didn't really help at all.  After sitting there for TWO hours, I really couldn't take it anymore.  I starting sobbing, in front of everyone in the waiting room.I called Sarah, Dr. Williams' nurse, and told her they wouldn't even let me lie down.  And truly, that's all I needed.  A bed to lie down in and take the pressure off the incision.  I was more than content to wait for Dr. Williams, as long as I could freaking lie down.Right after I got Sarah on the phone, the person who deals with irate patients (not sure what her official title is) came scurrying out to get me.  She ushered us into this nice sitting room and let me stretch out a bit on the couch.  About 5 minutes later, a bed suddenly appeared and I was given a room and allowed to lie down.  The relief was immense.My boyfriend stayed on the phone with Sarah, who paged Dr. Williams.  He responded back to her saying he was closing and would be down to the ER in about 15 minutes.  (I LOVE Sarah, and Dr. Williams.  I do NOT, however, love Parkwest).When he got there, a nurse came in and tried to start an IV.  After one missed stick, Dr. Williams told her to stop trying (have I mentioned I LOVE Dr. Williams?).  He had her give me a subcutaneous shot of morphine and then he started numbing my incision with lidocaine.  That hurt some, but not unbearable.Once he had me all numbed up, he started opening the incision up.  After a second he said, "Oh yeah...there's definitely pus."  Then he cut further, and the pus gushed out.  He estimated there was 1 1/2 - 2 cups of it.  I could smell it, and let's just say it was on the unpleasant side.  After the pus was out, he cleaned it out and packed me full of gauze (which I ended up having to do twice a day for the next 6 weeks).  The whole thing was quick and relatively painful (except for the lidocaine).  And thanks to my good friend morphine, I was pretty relaxed at that point.  Right after he finsihed, I was allowed to go home.

My first post after surgery - made on Jan 5, 2008

Feb 15, 2008

I had surgery Wed.  Dr. said it was harder than expected - very small adominal cavity.

I am having such a hard time of it.  I wish with my entire heart I hadn't done this.  My incision is killing me, but so is the gas, so I'm afraid to take too much pain meds.

The hardest part is gettinig my fluids in.  Whenever I swallow, it wants to come back up, like really bad indigestion.  I'm taking pepcid, but it's  not helping.

Please please tell me it gets better, that it gets easier to swallow and hurts less.

I just wnat to turn back time and have never done this.

Four Days In The Hospital After Surgery

Jan 30, 2008

I had my surgery on a Wednesday morning and ended up staying four very long days.  Wednesday was kind of a blur.  I was given demerol and liquid lortab, which somewhat controlled my pain.  Not great, but it was bearable.

Thursday morning I woke up and asked for my demerol, only to be told I wasn't getting it anymore.  So, I took a dose of liquid lortab, which did absolutely nothing.  When I asked for something stronger, the nurse told me that the doctor didn't want me drugged up because I needed to be up walking.  She told me to just wait out the day and see how it went.  I then proceeded to pitch a bit of a fit, tears and all, and told her I needed something else and I needed it now.  It wasn't too long after that until she came back and told me Dr. Williams had ordered percocet, which was much better.  I strongly suspect that Dr. Williams had no problem with changing the med....I think it was just the nurse being flippant about how I felt.

After I took the percocet, the nurse assistant came in to get me ready to bathe.  She put saran wrap over my drain and taped me up.  I took something resembling a shower, and the saran wrap did nothing but hold all the water that got inside.  I had to sit, and couldn't bend over far enough to reach the pertinent parts, lol.  So, I just ran water over myself and figured that could suffice.  At that point, I honestly didn't give much of a crap anyway.

I stayed in bed mostly that day, getting up to walk about every two hours. I couldn't go very far at all, and when I'd walk, I'd get really out of breath and poured sweat (not usual for me).  The nurse very rudely informed me that if I didn't walk more than that I was going to be back in a few days with a bowel obstruction.  I was honestly doing the best I could, though.  Once, I got to the end of the hall and was so out of breath several nurses came over and brought me a desk chair to sit in.  The chair was on wheels and needless to say, it rolled right out from under me when I tried to sit down.  The nurses caught me before I actually hit the floor, but I was rather unamused.  

I was having a horrible time getting fluids in at that point, too.  Nothing seemed to want to go down, and everytime I tried to drink anything, all of this air came up.  I was pretty miserable and upset that I wasn't able to drink much.  When Dr. Williams came in, he noticed that I was anxious and was very sweet about it.  He told me he'd get me something for it, and it wasn't long at all after he left until the nurse came in with some ativan, which definitely helped.  Towards the end of the day, the same rude nurse came in and told me I should've been in bed only two hours that day and that I wasn't getting my fluids in.  Thanks for the news flash about the fluids, and as for only being in bed two hours, it would've been nice had she told me that at the beginning of the day.  Ugh.

Friday was pretty much the same, and I bought myself an extra day in the hospital because I was having such a hard time with fluids.  I also had a bladder infection.  

While I was there, I was given shots in my belly of heparin to help prevent blood clots.  I also had these things on my feet that would squeeze to keep my blood moving.  I had to wear them all the time, unless I was walking.  I was also given liquid levaquin (an antibiotic), and it was seriously nasty.  The lovely nurse also snapped at me for not drinking it fast enough.  Let her try to drink it...  I was given pepcid and reglan, as well.  The reglan is a gastrointestinal stimulant, to help your stomach move stuff out.  I also took zofran every time I took pain medicine, to help from getting nauseated.  Finally, I was given my antidepressant meds, too.  No wonder my pharmacy bill was so high.... (-:

During the entire time I was there, Dr. Williams came by, as well as his bariatric nurses Andrea and Sarah.  All three of them are absolutely fabulous and took great care of me.  They took as much time with me as I needed, answered all my questions, and never seemed to be rushed.  So, while I was not thrilled with the hospital and their nursing staff, I love Dr. Williams and his nurses.

Finally, on Saturday, I was given the okay to go home.  About noon, I hauled myself down to the nurses' station and wanted to know when, exactly, they were going to do my paperwork to get me outta there.  She said she'd do it right then, and it wasn't too long afterwards that I got to go home!!  Serious yay!!!




My Surgery Experience

Jan 18, 2008

I had my RNY on January 2, 2008.  What a New Year, huh?

My surgery was scheduled at Parkwest Hospital at 8am, so I had to be there at 6am.  My boyfriend and I went together and met my mom and grandmother there.  I signed in and within 10 minutes was taken back to a room.  Only one person was allowed to go with me, so my boyfriend went.

Once in the room, I had to change into the gown and give a urine sample.  Woo hoo.  Then the nurse came in to start an IV.  At this point, I was really wary of needles, because the woman who took my blood for my pre-admission testing was awful!  The nurse tried twice to get the IV started, but couldn't find a vein.  The good part is that she gave me a shot of lidocaine to numb me each time she took a stick.  After two tries, she said she'd get the anesthesiologist to do it.

A few minutes later the anesthesiologist came in.  It took him two tries, as well, but on the second try he got it.  I ended up with the IV on the right side of my left wrist.  Once the IV was started, I got some antibiotics through it, as well as some phenergan pushed through the IV for nausea.  I also got a shot of heparin in my belly to help prevent blood clots.

My surgeon came in around 8a, and I was taken to the operating room not long after.  I wasn't too thrilled I wasn't given the happy drugs before I was taken in.  I didn't really want to be aware of what was going on at that point....so, as soon as we got in there, I asked for the happy drug and was finally given it.  I remember being lifted onto the operating table....and that's it.

My next memory is saying, "I hurt," and hearing a woman say, "We've given her morphine and demerol."  My next memory after that is being pushed into my room.  My mom, grandmother, and boyfriend were there.  My boyfriend started rubbing my arm and I remember saying, "DON'T TOUCH ME."  I heard everybody laugh...and then I was out of it again.  I vaguely remember my mom and grandmother leaving around 3p.  I finally woke up after that to a flurry of activity.  Had to walk a little, and had several visitors.  My secretary came, my best friend from church, my best friend and her two kids (my godchildren) and my therapist all came.  It was great to see them, but I was too out of it to be very good company.

I wasn't pushed too much that day.  Tried a bit to drink but was having trouble.  I was getting IV fluids, so no one got in a big tizzy about it....that day, at least.

And....that's how my surgery day went. 


How I decided to have weight loss surgery

Dec 22, 2007

So, I've put off writing anything in the blog section because I really don't know that I have anything of great import to write.  However, I've been encouraged to start writing, if only for myself, so I can look back and see how far I've come.  So, here goes!

My boyfriend and I like to watch Little People, Big World.  In June, we were watching and afterwards, an episode of Big Medicine came on.  We thought it looked interesting, so we kept it on.  As we were watching, my boyfriend told me he'd been thinking of maybe gaving gastric bypass himself.  (He's overweight, but not nearly as much as I am).  I proclaimed that I would NEVER have weight loss surgery.  That losing weight that quickly would just cause tons of excess skin and that weight loss should be from diet and exercise.

At this point, however, I'd been gaining more and more weight and felt like I did need some sort of help, so I decided to call and make an appointment with the local weight loss center.  Initially, I signed up for a 6 month physican supervised diet (with no intention of having surgery).

They put me on a mostly liquid diet (protein shakes w/ one small meal).  During the first 1 1/2 months, I lost 19 lbs.  Then, my will power started slipping...and I decided that maybe weight loss surgery was the way to go for me, too.  I had tried and tried and tried to lose weight on my own, and instead I just kept gaining.  

At this point, I have so much to lose that it just seems overwhelming, and I think I'm right that I need something to help me this time.




About Me
Knoxville, TN
Location
55.1
BMI
RNY
Surgery
01/02/2008
Surgery Date
Sep 03, 2007
Member Since

Friends 45

Latest Blog 7
Fouth Post After Surgery - Jan 12
Third Post After Surgery - Jan 10
Second Post After Surgery - Jan 8
My first post after surgery - made on Jan 5, 2008
Four Days In The Hospital After Surgery
My Surgery Experience
How I decided to have weight loss surgery

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