lucyluce
My update...sorry it took so long!
Feb 14, 2009
Well, where do I begin???I got to the hospital at 9 and went to the short term stay unit. I was brought in to get ready within 5 minutes. I had to answer lots of questions and they started an IV and I also took some medications. My surgery was scheduled for 10:30 and they brought me in at 10:30. The last thing I remembered was the anesthesiologist telling me he was giving me a margarita...lol and then I woke up in recovery in pain amd my husband was sitting in there with me. The nurse gave me some morphine. Then I was brought up to the floor it was a private room which was nice. I slept alot while in the hospital.
The first day I dont really remember...I think I slept the remainder of the day/night. I had a pca so when I did wake up in pain I hit the button. I do remember that night around 11 the nurse asked if I wanted to get up and walk. I said sure and got to the doorway and started dry heaving....not fun so went back to bed and was fine.
The second day I was brought down to have my upper gi around 830am...I was soooo thirsty. I finally got the results at 2:30 that I could have water....it was so nice! I walked as much as I could which went well. That evening I was up to stage 2 woo hoo!!!
The third day was good and I was still in pain. I walked alot and did stairs today...which didnt hurt at all which was great since I have many in my house. Dr Paciulli came in the morning and said that I could most likely go home that night...woo hoo was I excited! I was wanting to go home badly....not that there was anything wrong at the hospital but, theres no place like home! I did pretty good that day and then around 6pm Dr Paciulli came in and took out my JP drain which did not hurt at all but, it was a strange sensation...but, no pain....and then said I could go home.....YAY!!! My family took me home and am I glad I brought a pillow with me for the bumps! I live an hour away so we tried to get home before the pharmacy closed. I did have to go to 4 pharmacys for the pain medicine....one said well I can have it in 4 days....hahaha I dont think so...I was in pain. So, finally I was home!
On Monday after I got home (I came home on Friday night from the hospital) Nancy called to check on me. I told her I was feeling ok except for the pain in my left side. Nancy said that it usually hurts most in that incision since it is the largest and they use more equipment in that area. I felt like I shouldnt still be taking the pain medicine every 4 hours. The pain was horrible.....but, then Wednesday night I went to take a shower and the area had a pink square area around the incision site. I called Nancy on Thursday morning and she said that Dr Paciulli wanted to see me. I went in and was really nervous that it was an abscess and sure enough thats what it was! So, Dr Paciulli opened up the incision site and drained it and packed it. I am now having it changed 2 times per day and I feel so much better! I now know that all that pain was from the abscess. I have lost a total of 32 lbs since the beginning of December (12 since surgery).
I am so happy that I have had this surgery and would do it all over again!
