Verny Girl
Pre-op testing, surgery, recovery, and post op!
May 27, 2013
Howdy Ya'll!
I was officially sleeved May 20, 2013 at about 11 in the morning.
I had my preop appointment on the 15th. I had only lost 2 lbs since my very first visit so he got on me a little for that by saying "Are you going to lose any more weight?". lol. He is very forward and straight faced so I took that as my warning. He scares me. I filled my Vitamin k prescription for clotting (I had to take that for 5 days before surgery), my one $80 anti-nausea pill, Zofran, to take the morning of surgery and also got my multivitamins and such for post op.
I went in the prior Friday for pre op testing and the pre-register. I had blood work taken, V/S's and an EKG. I weighed in at 278 lbs. So on my pre op diet from May 8th - Surgery I lost 7lbs. Not great but I did have one cheat meal right before starting full liquids on the 12th for Mothers Day. Although for a 10 day diet losing 7lbs I guess isn't too horrible.
The day before surgery I was required to drink the lovely Magnesium Citrate. I thought it wasn't that bad. I totally lost count of how many bathroom trips I had to take though. My anus was on FIRE and I started holding it as long as I could before I went. I was almost in tears. It was god awful. Never again!
I had to be at the hospital 8am and surgery was scheduled for 10am. Unfortunately, when I got there and showed the nurse admitting me my lovely rash I had developed it delayed my surgery. Her and Dr. Davidson thought it was possibly shingles which would have canceled my surgery. The dermatologist had to come in to look at it and immediately cleared me...THANK GOD! I had already told Dr. D that there was no way I was drinking another bottle of the Mag Citrate. Before being cleared I also was planning what I was going to be eating at ihop for a huge breakfast fiest! hahaha #fatbrain!
I was rolled down to holding at around 10:40. Where Ben and I patiently waited for me to be taken back. The anesthesiologist came and started my crappy IV (that bothered the crap out of me my whole hospital stay). Soon enough he gave me something that would "relax" me. I poorly remember saying bye to my husband and being rolled to the OR. It was FREEZING in there. I scooted over to the operating table and then they had me lay my arms out on the arm board things. Some angel of a person put a very warm blanket on me. I very vaguely remember the anethesiologist say I should start feeling very sleepy soon...I looked up at the big OR lights and about 5 seconds later I was screaming "it hurts" in recovery! I was rubbing my legs up and down and pushing down on my stomach saying it hurts...eyes closed. I hear some lady saying no, no...don't do that. She rambled something about everything went well and the surgeon also fixed a hernia. The surgery took about 2 hours. I kept saying it hurts and then another 5 seconds later I woke up in my hospital room with wet rags on my head. My husband was there. I was extremely nauseous and had a bucket wedged under my fat double chin in case I vomited. I think my husband kept talking to me and tried to show me a picture of my daughter and then the picture of my stomach and I was back to sleep. I didn't even remember what the pictures were until I saw them again the next day. I slept A LOT the rest of the day. I was in pain and nauseated. My pain level was at about a 7/10 most of my hospital stay. I was very uncomfortable. I thought it was going to be some gas pain and some slight fatigue and that would be it. I was in for a rude awakening and I wasn't happy about it. I got up out of bed at about 5 to pee. Then at about 7 I got up to pee and walk. I did really well with that and then just made sure I got up every 2 hours to walk the rest of my hospital stay.
The next day, they finally came and got me for my swallow test at like 10 or 11. That was interesting and I had just got pain meds which made me drowsy. I was on this big machine that tilted back and forward. The crap they make you drink wasn't too bad...or I was just THAT thirsty. My mouth was sooooo dry after surgery. All I was allowed to do was use these amazing oral swabs that freaking saved my sanity. I passed the swallow test though and was able to start sipping..and sipping...and sipping.
I was discharged on Wednesday afternoon. I was still in so much pain. I was really surprised about the pain. It was horrible when trying to move up in bed, turn into sitting position, sitting on the pot, standing up....pain pain pain all the freaking time. lol It wasn't even gas pain...walking didn't help. It was internal pain which I wasn't expecting. Gas-x strips helped me NONE. Maybe I'm just a big baby.
I also forgot to add that I wasn't urinating hardly at all on Monday so Davidson was calling driving the nurses nuts about my I&O's. haha The nurses said he's one of the best doctors about actually calling and checking on his patients. Overnight I started peeing much more though and finally got my urine up to a normal amount. You should have an output of 30ml an hour on average.
It wasn't until 4 or 5 days post op that I've felt the way I thought I would. I didn't have much pain sitting up or repositioning. Last night I actually sleep on my tummy halfway comfortable which was amazing. Today I woke up even less sore which is great because it was my husbands first day back to work and I had my 2 year old to take care of. Today has been pretty good and the first day I've been able to go with out pain meds. I think starting day 5 I stopped taking my pain meds more than once a day. I admit...I probably don't have to take it at all anymore but I'm totally still taking it at night. lol So, really, recovery has been pretty quick. A week? I could have easily went back to work today even after being in so much pain and unable to do alot the first few days. I think my expectations were just unrealistic.
Overall the staff at Presby Dallas were wonderful! I had 2 really amazing nurses and 1 avgerage ones. But I seriously loved the 2 women that took care of me! They were very attentive and understanding...they took such great care of me...and I'm picky about who I like. The bariatric coordinator also came in quite a few times to check on me which was nice. Nothing but good things!
I'm totally over being on a liquid diet. I'm pretty much on full liquids. At first drinking was very hard. I could tell my stomach was sooo swollen. If I took too big of a tiny sip it would be pretty uncomfortable and usually would result in me burping or reallllly needing to. I think at about 4-5 days it began much easier. The last couple days Ive been taking pretty normal drinks...not gulps!...but more like a larger sip. It was really starting to get to me so I'm glad it got better. Tomorrow, day 8, I get to add in broccoli/cheese, creamy soups. Still no chunks. Ugh! I don't start soft/mushy foods until 22 days post op.
I definitely had some buyers remorse after surgery. I just had such unrealistic expectations about recovery...I guess from reading other peoples experiences and people saying it wasn't so bad. However, everyone is different. I told my husband I would much rather push a baby out my hoo-ha. That wasn't this bad! haha Although, NOW, I could probably look back and say it really wasnt THAT bad. lol I'm really wanting to eat now so that has been a hard struggle. I haven't physically been hungry until today though so I know it's all mostly head hunger. I can drink about 1/3 or 1/4 of my 11oz protein shake though and be full. I would also like to clarify that I've been drinking water much easier as far as taking bigger sips but with thicker stuff like my protein shake I still have to take pretty small sips and it's obviously more filling than water. The water seriously is in and out of my stomach. Or I take a really big mouth full on accident and have to swallow it a little at a time. lol
I think that about sums up my experience. I go in tomorrow for a 1 week post op check up and to get my staples out. I ended up with 6 incisions. 2 have 1 staple each in them. Oh, and I'm down to 264.0 as of this morning. I did stall for a couple of days. Like Wednesday and Thursday I stayed at the exact same weight but then dropped Friday. Yesterday and this morning I stayed at exactly 264.0. So Hopefully I'll be down a couple more tomorrow before my appointment. Hopefully I've dropped enough to make Davidson happy but I'm pretty happy with my 21lbs.
Anyways, that's all folks! Here's to the rest of my life with my itty bitty tummy! ;)