Lloyd S.
Not the easiest way to lose weight
Mar 20, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve done an update. Since a lot has happened in the last few weeks, I thought one was due. I’m going to babble on here and remember that I’m still taking some good drugs.2 years 3 months ago I had my DS with Dr Teel. At about a year out, I developed a hernia. Dr Teel said that when they did my DS, I also had one and that I was likely to get one back. He said that as a side benefit, I could get rid of the excess skin on my tummy. I was hoping that I would have lost more weight before the hernia repair. I leveled off a few months ago at around 269 pounds, which is 200 pounds down from my initial surgery weight. I think I would have done better, if I had been able to exercise more. The hernia definitely hindered that, it even got to the point where coughing or sneezing hurt, so I needed to get it done.
I didn’t want the hernia surgery during Christmas time; I did that with my DS. So I started after Christmas. I didn’t realize how long it would take to get it all scheduled and approved. When I talked with Dr Teel in December about going a head and doing the hernia repair, I was worried that I had too much weight on my tummy to do any type of plastics. He didn’t seem concerned at all; he said that he could do the Pannilectomy and that I would feel like a new man. I asked the office to keep the costs down and what they came back with was something I could afford. I would have Dr Maguire doing the hernia repair which was covered by insurance; Dr Teel would do the Panni removal for $2500. The hospital cost would be $776 and the anesthesiologist would only charge for their time during the panni part of the operation. The operation would also be done at Kettering Sycamore, which is more of an outpatient hospital. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be in the new bariatric ward at Miami Valley, but I didn’t plan on staying in the hospital too long.
During the pre-op testing, Dr Maguire thought he heard a heart murmur, so I had to have some extra testing for that. After an echocardiogram and EKG, the cardiologist said that I was cleared to have the surgery and that I did have a murmur. He said that it was not too uncommon for my age to have a murmur; “Thanks Doogie”. I also had an extra screening for Vitamin K and it was found to be a little low, so I started taking some before the surgery and I got a shot the day before. The overall pre-op tests were much simpler than that I had to go through for the DS.
My surgery was scheduled for Friday, 13 March 2009. Yep, Friday the 13th.
On the day of the surgery I got to the hospital at 0830 and I was back getting prepped at 0900. They weighed me and I came in at 274. Surgery was supposed to start by 1030, but I don’t think it got going until after 1100. I was told that the surgery only lasted about one and half hours. I don’t remember much for the next day, I was pretty much out of it. I do remember Beth and Lisa stopping by. I remember waking up at one point to see Lisa painting my toenails. I knew from our last get together, that they were conspiring something. I guess since I didn’t go out for the pedicure with the gals, that they were bringing one in for me.
I found out that Dr Teel had taken off 11 pounds of skin and fat. My Dear Wife (DW) said that he was very pleased with how the surgery went and how I was doing. She said that they were able to tighten up the muscles some and I got more than your usual Pannilectomy. I did lose my belly button because the hernia ran behind it and they couldn't save it. All I knew was that I was glad to have the little pain pump button. Right off the bat I was allowed full liquids and I did pretty well on the first meal. It wasn’t until the next day that I was at all hungry. I was able to rest quite a bit and the nurses were all very nice and attentive. The only real problem I had was with bending the IV needing into my arm and the nurse trying four times to put a new one in. That was not fun. Saturday afternoon, I was finally allowed to have a full dinner and it was wonderful. It was definitely the best hospital food, I ever had. I was surprised by that point that the Dr Teel hadn’t been in or any resident to check me out. The nurses had peaked at my bandages and emptied by drains, but expected more prodding than I got. By Saturday evening, I wanted to get out. There was a pair of nurses who did a wonderful job of getting everything lined up to get me out. They even called Dr Teel and to his credit he came out about 7:30pm to check me over and release me. Come to find out that they were short handed and the computer system had been down most of the day. Finally at 9pm I was out of there. I headed over to my mother’s house since she had a nice recliner. I spent the next four days there.
Last Wednesday I went in to see Dr Teel and he was very please with how the incisions looked. We had counted 88 staples used to close me up. I was hoping to get the drains out, but they still were doing their job. So they will have to wait until the next visit. Dr Teel’s nurse, Kim took out half the staples and put Steri-strips in their place. I should get the rest of the staples out on the next visit on Monday.
Overall, I’m very please with the results so far. It feels weird not having the panni in my lap anymore. The initial recovery was much faster with this than the DS, I got home faster and I’m able to eat normally the second day. From what I had heard from others, I went into this expecting the pain to be worse. The Vicodin seems to be cutting the pain and I’m slowly reducing the amount that I’m taking. I can tell that my overall recovery may take a little longer. I walk around hunched over like an old man now and I feel the pain across my whole abdomen. The best part of this is that when I got on the scale today, it read 254. I’m down 20 pounds since the surgery, true that they cut out 11 pounds of that. But I expected some swelling and not nearly that kind of loss this soon after the surgery.
One of these days, I will put up the before and after shots once I heal up some more. I can tell already that there is a huge difference.
Thanks to everyone for the well wishes, swinging chickens/lizards and prayers. They all worked. And special thanks to Beth and Lisa, now I have to pay you back. Of course, I owe just about everything to my DW for all she did. As someone said, “She Rocks”
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About Me
Fairborn, OH
Location
38.0
BMI
Surgery
12/20/2006
Surgery Date
Sep 17, 2006
Member Since
