2 Days Post-OP (VERY LONG BLOG)

Feb 04, 2011

I have not blogged in quite some time. It was a crazy couple of weeks building up towards surgery, and I really wasn't able/up keep my blog going. I am re-commiting to my daily blogging now that surgery is done.  So, I would like to document some of the things that happened leading up to surgery, and how my surgery went. I think it's important to keep track of everything I went through... not only for me, but for anyone else who may read this and want to know how things can go.

In the week leading up to surgery I did stop watching what I was eating a little. I did try to make sure that majority of my food was healthy and nutritious, but I did splurg and eat some less than optimal things. I don't know if it was such a bad thing. I didn't binge or anything like that. I had a couple slices of pizza, a few chicken fingers, and a few sweets. I am not advocating unhealthy eating leading up to surgery, by any means, but for me it was actually a little helpful. I was making sure that I wasn't using the food as a copeing mechanism for my anxiety prior to surgery. I wanted to have a few of my favorite foods, and celebrate my triumphs on getting this far. I made sure not to overdo it. I think it's very important to know your limitations. If I thought I wasn't able to eat the food in moderation, I wouldn't have done it. I think it's proof of how far I have some that i could eat my favorite foods without bingeing on them.

So, on Jan 25th, I had my pre-op testing. Not my favorite day. I had some struggles with the people that preformed my tests, and I was very frustrated. But, instead of breaking down, like I would have done in the past, I just gritted my teeth and kept telling myself that it was going to be okay. I was a little worried because the technician who did my ultrasound had difficulty finding my Gall-bladder, and I was worried that when I got the results, there might be a problem. I had a nail-biting two days to wait for results. LOL. Eventually, I went to my regular doctor and found out my results. The first thing I learned was that I was finally under 300lbs. I was so proud/happy! I really wanted to be under 300lbs by the time surgery rolled around, because I knew it would be easier to diagnose a complication. (I had read that people over 300lbs may not be able to recieve an MRI or CAT scan depending on the facilities at the hospital.) I wanted to make sure I could do everything I could to make my surgery go as easily as possible. I highly reccomend that people who have the ability to lose some weight pre-surgically do so. I feel that despite some complications, it really helped with this process. Anyway, back to my results. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that all of my testing was realtively normal. I did have a slightly fatty liver, but not enough to complicate the procedure. (Another reason I am happy I started my healthy eating before-hand.) My gall-bladder was fine. Otherwise, everything was normal and my doctor cleared me for surgery. I did learn a very good lesson this day as well. It is EXTREMELY important that you make sure you tell your GP exactly what your surgeon plans on doing with your medications and post-surgical care. Since two different doctors are combining to care for you, sometime there can be counter-indications. Mine was that the anti-depressant I am on has a serious reaction with the pain medication that my surgeon had planned on. Since I am allergic/sensitive to pain medication, my surgeon prescribed a medication that he doesn't use as often. My GP was able to catch the interaction, and take me off the anti-depressant, and keep me safe.

So, the days building up to surgery were pretty uneventful, except that I was feeling some anxiety. Moslty just pre-surgival jitters, but also from stopping the anti-depressant. I made sure to surround myself with friends and to do things that made me happy to reduce these effects.

The day before surgery, my surgeon had put me on a clear liquid diet. This was rough. I got a major headache from the low calories/sugar, and the hunger pangs were no fun. I was SSOOO tempted to cheat and just eat something tiny, but I didn't. I would have been very upset with myself if I had not been able to have surgery, or had illicited a complication because I cheated. I think the best way to make it through these rough patches is to sleep. The sleep really helped pass the time, and actually helped with the hunger pangs.

The day of surgery was pretty much what I was expecting. It was a lot of activity leading up to getting to the OR. It went very fast, and honestly, right now, I wouldn't be able to tell you everything that happened.  When I got to the OR, I met the anesthesiologist and got to briefly see my surgeon. Now, I am not one to speak badly about someone, but I very disappointed in how the anesthesiologist handled me. I made it very clear, several times, that there were certain medications that I cannot tolerate well. But, the anesthesiologist insisted that he would be able to control the effects, and wanted to use those medications. I wish i had been more firm about using something else. After the surgery was over, I went to recovery. It was pretty rough. I was very sore, especially in my shoulders. (This is due to the CO2 gas that they inflated my abdomen with.) My lungs were very sore and my throat hurt. At this time, I barely noticed any discomfort from the surgical sites. It took some time, but it did get better. They moved me to Same Day Surgery, with the hope that I could do home the same day. I actually might have been able to if the anesthesiologist had used a different medication. But, a while into my recovering, the nausea and flushing started. I felt so hot, and I started retching which was incredibly painful. The nurses moved me to the floor for an overnight stay, and eventually I was given medication to help with the retching and help me sleep. When i woke up, the nausea had calmed down.

Sometime, during all of this, I got to visit with Robin, the patient mentor from my surgeon's office. It was very nice to see her, despite how crappy I was feeling. We talked about the process, and also some ideas I had for ways to get patients from our surgeons office together in fun way. (I'll save this for another blog.)

I mostly just slept the day of surgery. I did get up to use the bathroom a few times, and I got to see the Hubster and my friend. The whole day is a bit foggy from the anesthesia, and from the pain meds. I got to see my on-Q pump, which was helping control my pain, and see my incision. I was actually surprised at how little the incisions were. It wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. My shoulders and lungs were still bothering me a lot, but I just tried to sleep and rest. It is rough. I won't lie. Anyone who ever says that WLS is the "easy way" to lose weight, has no idea how rough it is to go through the surgery and the effects afterwards. It definately wasn't easy, and a few times, I found I was asking myself if it was worth it. I bounced my stress and anxiety off my friends and family, and their support and encouragement helped a lot to remind me that it is worth it. I am very grateful that I established a strong support system.

Day one after surgery was not the best. I woke up with enen more shoulder pain (from sleeping sitting up and with my head tilted). I was up every couple of hours during the night, and pretty tired. My Hubby came as soon as he could to hang out with me. My stomach pain was a lot more noticable than the night before, but the pain meds did help. (With the stomach and the shoulders.) I made sure to excersise my lungs like they told me, which actually helped a lot to relieve the lung pain. I was taken down for my swollow test, and once that was okayed they gave me some Jell-o and some tea. I wasn't able to eat very much, since the swollowing made my esophogus hurt. I did what I could, and eventually they okayed me for discharge. Getting into the car was painful, the drive was painful, and getting out was painful, but I was so happy to be home. I was really looking forward to my bed and my doggies and my Netflix. LOL

Unfortunately, once I got home, I had a pretty major setback. I was trying to get comfortable for a nap, and suddenly when I moved, I felt EXTREME pain in my stomach. I thought I was going to pass out. It was very sharp, and unrelenting. I tried walking around a big, and getting a sip of water, but eventually I had to call my doctor. Apparently, in rare cases, some people can have a bad reaction to the stuff you swallow during the swallow test. It causes extrememly painful gas to build up. Lovely. The hubby went off to the store to get my some anti-gas stuff, meanwhile I struggled with whether or not I needed to go to emergency room. Of everything I had felt over the last 2 days, this was definately the most painful. I was crying and really regretting doing the surgery. But, eventually, the anti-gas meds started working and it slowly got better. I must say here, that it is really important to keep in contact with your surgeon if you think something is wrong. This was a pretty uncommon reaction, but he knew exactly what to do to help me.

I ended up falling asleep sitting up again, which of course made my shoulder pain come back. I woke up several times, but I got a pretty good nights sleep anyway. Today, I feel a lot better. My shoulders are sore, but improving as the day goes on. I am glad that I did the surgery despite everything I have been through. It's going to be even more sweet when I start seeing results. I did end up needing to remove my on-Q pump because it had stopped working due to excessive kinking. But, it wasn't too bad and I actually feel that it was more in the way than anything. I am craving a shower, but I have to wait a couple of days still. (It's going to feel AMAZING once I get to have one.)

I know this is a very long blog. But I wanted to well document everything. I want to be able to look back and be proud I made it through the hurdles, and maybe, others will read this and be prepared for some of the things that can come up after surgery. It isn't very fun. It's pretty painful, but it improved quickly. even just 2 days out I feel a lot better.

Thanks for reading through all this. I'll post again tomorrow.

Nicole

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