I need to keep it real

Ok, This post may be a little long but I need to keep it real and get some things off my chest. I apologize in advance if I frustrate, discourage, enrage or whatever else to anyone reading this. I had my Lap Rny on 08/18/05 and I simply do NOT have this rosy outlook that the majority of the people on the posts and profiles have. I am actually wondering what the heck I have done. For starters the hospital stay was horrible, the nurses sucked and I was in recovery until 10:oopm (my surgery was at 7:30AM) because there were no beds avail. The staff didn't follow my doctors orders so I couldn't go home the next day, had to wait until Sat. Now I know that you will have gas and you have to walk, etc etc. But this is CRAZY, when I asked my doc for meds for the gas he said, Oh just walk it off. You just walk it off, I have gas sitting in my abdomen and under my breast so bad that I'm hunched over, you walk it off. Then I have this drain, if you never had to have a drain let me just say that I envy you. This thing is literally a pain in my side, I have to drian it every couple of hours or so and imagine walking around w/ a bulb full of nasty liquid safety pinned to the inside of your shirt. Or trying to sleep so that you make sure you dont roll on it and have it unplug on you. And there's the Lovenox shots in the stomach 2x a day - have you ever had to stick something in your stomach? It hurts for like 10 min later. And I KNOW I'm not hardly getting in enough liquid, be i****er or protein. Cause all I want to do is sleep this nausea, lightheadead, yucky, stinky breathed feeling away. Now for those of you who are "doing great and feel absolutely wonderful" I applaud you and I envy you because right now I'm wondering what the heck I've done. Thanks for listening.

Hang in there girl, your going to be fine! I had my surgery the same day and I have to say the being in recovery for that long does suck! But we were told that that might happen, luckily it didn't happen, my staff was fabulous for the most part. I had the gassy pains, really bad, and I too asked for something, and was told to walk it off, and I did, then came the diarreah when the gas did pass! Uggg! But I got over that in a couple of days. Try sugar free gum for that yucky taste in your mouth, it will help! I didn't have a lot of drainage from my bag, but it hurt coming out! I am back to work today, and I do feel pretty good. I was tired this morning, but I have to say that pushing myself paid off! I have some staples that hurt and kind of itch, but other than that I am grand! I hope things will begin to lighten up for you! Be strong! Amanda K

Thanks a million. I do have the diarrhea all ready but I'm ok w/ it because it makes the gas come out too (and that would be the only reason anyone would be ok w/ diarrhea) I will try the gum.

Take a DEEP breath ... slowly, because you probably still have some pain/tenderness ... You have lots of adjustments to make. A friend's daughter had surgery on 8/2/05 -- and I told her before she went into the operating room that she would probably have a good couple of months where she would say to herself over and over ... WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHY DID I DO THIS? I also told her it get sbetter. It WILL get better. I promise you. And then YOU will give the advice to take a DEEP breath to someone new. You've had MAJOR surgery. Your 'crutch' or drug of choice to make you feel better, if you are like most of us, is food. You can't have that. You're worried about things like ... enough protein, enough liquid, etc. Do your best to get those things, but don't sweat it. It will come. As far as liquids go - and what I think really started to revive me was WATERMELON. Gross as it sounds I would take huge delicious pieces of cold crunchy watermelon into my mouth. CHEW, CHEW, CHEW and spit out the pulpy stuff. The refreshing liquid with a few additional calories perked me up. The liquid refreshed me. It was at about 2 months out that I did that and I haven't looked back since! I'm down 120 pounds and I'd LOVE to have surgery to trim up my tummy, but I'm realistic (and poor) -- it's not going to happen. But I'm SO happy I did the surgery. It WAS tough at first. I know what you are saying. But it absolutely gets better. What the heck have you done? You've made a SUPERB life changing choice and it's going to only get BETTER from here on out!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and for the good advice and care. I will take a deep breath - slowly - and pray a little harder.

Keisha.. You had Nurse Krachett too??? My recovery nurse was HORRIBLE.....I also had that very same gas pain and it scared the hell outta me! I must have asked her 10 times what the pain was and she ignored me!! I started crying and finally another nurse came over and explained what it was. I couldnt understand why my stomach didnt hurt but my chest did! I thought I was gonna die of a heart attack! Anyway...i promise you these feelings you are having will pass....you just have to take this one day at a time.....Wait till you smell something really good and cant eat it!!! THATS THE WORSE!!! Like everyone else keeps telling us....it will get better!!..It better dammit!!..LOL!! Keep your chin up hun! Tanya

Hi Keisha, I'm sorry you're having it so rough right off the bat. I had surgery the 1st, and except for extreme gas for 4 days post-op my recovery was pretty smooth. A positive for the horrible taste in your mouth... it's a sign you're in ketosis (think that's the right word) and burning all the fat. You'll have it for awhile (the longer the better )mine peaked during week 2. Try brushing your tongue as well as your teeth and use mouthwash. Helped me make it through the worse stage. I hit my low this last Sunday and have been avoiding the site for the last 4 or 5 days because of it. I was trying to keep positive about the good things that have happened in the last 3 weeks - off blood pressure meds, back on my recumbent bike (there's a back attached to the seat and my rear end was so large I couldn't fit on it for the last year) and have dropped almost 3 sizes - instead of the fact that I've lost less weight than I have in any diet I've followed for the 1st 3 weeks on my own. The to top it off, the last couple of days I was getting more tired instead of less and school was starting up in 3 days. It was really ******g my off and I hit the emotional low Sunday. Then, a couple of things put me over the edge and I ended up in an hour long crying jag. Called the RN in charge of the program and she got to play counselor for 20 minutes. Turns out that week 3 is the worst for a lot of folks because your body is begging for food to stave off the starvation mode, reality hits a lot of us, etc. The last 2 days I've actually felt like a new person (or more accurately, like my old self) and I've evened off emotionally. You'll cross that bridge soon and the drain coming out will make you feel soooooooo much better. It's usually immediate as well. Good luck and I hope you can join for gushing crowd soon! Dawn

Wow, 2 or more weeks w/ the stinking breath?? At least it's for a good cause, I just try to drink something when I get it. I'm sorry about your breakdown but I am VERY glad that you had someone whom you could talk about it w/ and they were able to help you. So many people think that they can do everything on their own and that just isn't always the cause. Which is why I posted. So thank you for taking the time to read my post and I'm sure it will get better, and when it does I'll post that too.

Hi Keisha, Hon, yes, by all means, be real ...but also be realistic. One day, in a few months, you WILL say that it was the best thing I have done for myself! Until that time, realize that you need to invest in Gas-X because the gas will continue for some time as is the usual result of all "abdomen" surgeries. There are fruit flavored lolly pops which can help rid you of the nausea (Bariatric Advantage has these ... just type in their name in your search engine and you can order them if your doc doesn't have some samples to give you). I was in the hospital for five days, granted I was in a Bariatric ICU for a day or so, and then moved outside the ICU to one of two wonderful "hotel" Bariatric patient rooms, so the medical staff knew exactly how to care for me. As far as what you can digest, didn't your doc and/or nutritionalist give you a week-by-week diet? If not, please check here. To be truthful, your new pouch is quite small but usually doubles in size, but it takes a few months to completely heal. Right now everything is still a bit swollen, so just take it easy, you can't rush the healing process. Try to surround yourself with positive people, and thoughts, it really will aid in your recovery. I can guess you probably don't want to hear that, but think why you choose to have the surgery in the first place... if losing weight was so easy, I am sure you would have done it another way. So now you have a wonderful "tool" to aid you. Yes, I am one of those people *****ally do feel it was the best thing I have ever done for myself. Take it easy, Keisha, each day will be better. Judy

Hi, As far as Gas-X, my surgeon vetoed that and told me to just walk it off, no meds. I know what I can eat but because I'm so nauseous it doesn't stay down. I don't really have a problem w/ the diet it's getting it down and having it stay down. I know that it will get better and blah blah blah. And when it does I'll post that too but right now it's not good and that's what I'm posting. Did you have to do shots or have a drain for 10-14 days? Just curious?