Surgery Completed, Recovering Well!

Apr 24, 2011

Surgery Completed, Recovering Well!

I first wanted to thank everyone for your prayers and kind words of support, as it really means a lot to both of us.

Wednesday April 20^th:

We went in to Inland Valley Medical Center on Wednesday morning April 20^th at 7:30 AM, as Gerry’s surgery was scheduled for 9:30 AM, and mine 11:30 AM.  They went ahead and checked us both in, at the same time, which I was worried they might make me wait in the lobby until 9:30 AM.  Gerry was prepped and ready to go by 9:15 AM, and we spoke with our surgeon Dr David Suh who asked if we were ready, or did we have any additional questions.  We’re so happy with the selection of our surgeon; he’s really fantastic and so professional.  We learned that he does 20 VSG and RNY per week, or over 1,040 per year, and everyone including both patients and hospital staff alike speaks so highly of him.  The anesthesiologist came out and asked a lot of last minute follow-up questions about our history.  He gave her a shot in her IV to relax her, and said they’d be back in a few minutes to take her in. Of course I had to joke with her and tell her now I’d change my mind and let her have the surgery.  She knows me pretty well, and knew that I was teasing her, as we’re both very comfortable with our decision to have WLS together.  Most of the staff at the hospital said it’s very rare to see couples coming in the same day to have surgery, but supported the idea, as we’d be a good support team for each other.  Well, they took Gerry at 9:45 am, and then I got prepped and ready for surgery.   The surgeon came in and told me around 11:00 am that Gerry was in recovery, and that everything went well.  They gave me the shot to relax me about 11:45 am and rolled me towards the operating room.  I don’t even remember getting there, the next thing I remember is waking up about 2:30 pm, and seeing them taking Gerry out of recovery to our room, and seeing her waving to me.  I think I fell back to sleep for awhile, and they rolled me to the room at around 3:30 pm or so.   I know that by 6:00 pm they were advising us to get up and walk to start getting rid of the gas as soon as we felt up to it, and they would walk with us the first few times to make sure we’re doing fine.

Thursday April 21^st:

By the next morning we’d gotten up at least 4 times that night, and were making 3 complete laps around the hospital wing.  At 9:00 am Dr Suh came in to check on us, and was pleased to see how we were doing, and answered any questions we had.  The big goal for Thursday as well to walk as much as possible, but also to use the Spiral Incentive Spirometry to work our lung functions several times an hour to prevent pneumonia.  They kept checking my blood sugar and it was over 229 – 287 mg which concerned me, but with the stress of surgery, I knew that would happen.  They also removed our cathedras later in the morning, and that was uncomfortable, and was what I dreaded most.  Our friend Thursday was the pain pump, but they took us off it, and said we could have Lortab for pain, but said that the more you use it, the longer it takes to get rid of the gas, as it puts your intestines to sleep.  I didn’t use it much, but Gerry did, so she was having more gas pains than I.  My most painful area was across the belly button where they did the umbilical hernia repair.  Thursday afternoon, they gave us water to drink, in one ounce cups and told us to drink (sip) no more than one every 15 minutes.  They would count the cups to measure what we drank.  Of course we could use the restroom, but we had to use top hats and urinals to measure our output as well. Thursday evening they brought us a wonderful dinner of protein beef broth, berry protein juice, apple juice, and jello.  Later that evening we’d been able to drink enough that they went ahead and removed our IV’s bags.

Friday April 22^nd:

We’ll the next morning they came in early and took blood samples to make sure everything was normal before releasing us later in the day.  They brought us a wonderful breakfast of protein chicken broth, berry protein juice, apple juice, and jello.  We had to follow the same rules of measuring everything.  Dr Suh came in around 11:30 am and checked us out and cleared Gerry to go home, but I’d been having pain in both calf’s so he wanted to do ultrasounds to check for blood clots before giving me clearance.  They gave me another IV just to make sure I wasn’t dehydrated, and around 2:00 pm took me down for the procedure.  We’ll at 3:30 pm we got word everything was fine, and they checked us out.  They said to quit taking my lasix and potassium, and to taper off my insulin as I healed and my sugars returned to normal.

Saturday April 23^rd:

We tried sleeping in the easy chair Friday night, but both decided to try our luck with the bed about midnight.  We slept pretty much on our backs to stay comfortable, and as it’s a large post bed have something to hang onto rolling out of bed.  We decided against taking any Lortab as we wanted to get rid of the gas as quick as possible.  We walked around the house and yard quite a bit, and as they always say, walking helps with the gas, and it’s working.  We’re taking our Bariatric Advantage chewable multi-vitamin, calcium citrate, iron, B12, and vitamin C on schedule, drinking 3 protein drinks a day (80 grams total), eating diet jello, and drinking lots of water and crystal light.  Saturday morning my blood sugar was still 220 mg, but by Saturday afternoon, my blood sugars were returning to normal and were actually a rather low 63 mg.  The rest of the day it was between 94 and 120 mg.

Sunday April 24^th:

It was rather amusing laying in bed this morning and listening to each other’s abdomens noises from the gas that was working.  The pain is getting better with each passing day, although the hernia repair is what bothers me the most.  Our protein and liquids are increasing, and we’re walking slowly on the treadmill.  By the end of day, it seems like most of the gas is gone.  Another observation is that so far nothing has changed in our tastes and smells, all of our protein drinks still taste good to both of us, although the Syntrax nectars are really good, as they’re thinner.  We can’t wait to have our 1-week appointment to be cleared for driving and to go to the next stage diet, as cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, refried beans, apple sauce, tuna, pureed vegetables, and mashed potatoes sound wonderful.  Gerry’s already checking out the tofu cookbook to see what she can make.

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