Newbie! My Surgery Was October 25, 2004
Wow. While I had discovered this WLS SITE one week prior to my surgery, I had NOT discovered this FORUM. BUMMER! Wish I had! Somehow, tonight when I was browsing around trying to figure out how to update my profile, I clicked on something that brought me here. It was like a crack on the noggin that said "SURPRISE!" Whoop! Glad I found you! 
First of all, my name is Darcy. My surgery was October 25, 2004, with Dr. David Reines (Vice Chairman of Surgery), at INOVA Fairfax in Virginia, RNY, open incision (about 6-inches), plastic surgery closing, hospitalized for two days (home on 27th).
Doing ... okay ... was kind of in a funk, down, depressed, frustrated, hurting, worried, tired, bored, unhappy ... until I found this board. Suddenly, I find that all the things I'm experiencing are being talked about RIGHT HERE.
Before I "lost" the location again ... bookmark! (Gee, you'd think, being a web designer, I'd have a clue, wouldn't you?)
Just so you can get to know me, I'll list some of my most notable times since surgery on October 25, 2004. Hope this is okay.
WEEK ONE
The Incision
Painful, but it honestly wasn't the incision that hurt. My entire abdomen felt like I'd been whacked with a huge club. Several hundred times. Getting up from a laying down position was a joke. There was no way around the pain. But hey, your innards have been moved around, and they ain't used to seeing people, if you know what I mean. And they're pretty crabby about having been exposed and manipulated around.
Breathing
Interesting. I wouldn't have thought it would be affected. (And I have asthma, too.) But my breathing was simply affected by the fact that I couldn't expand my rib-cage when breathing. This affects your oxygen saturation, and in the hospital, of course the focused on that quite a bit. I was given "breathing treatments" for two days ... and I don't know if it was because of the asthma or if that was normal.
Tube in My Nose
Huh? What? Whazzat? THAT was a shocker. Well, turned out this is a necessary evil thing was to drain blood and fluid from my stomach. Oh goodie. I basically ignored it, because, hey, I was worrying about other things. In fact, I successfully ignored it almost entirely CLEAR UP UNTIL THE DOC REMOVED IT. (And I've had two sinus surgeries, too, and this was NOT GOOD.) While I thought I didn't care about the tube in the nose - I found out almost immediately that I HAD cared about it and that I would have preferred for them to just leave it alone .... But I got over it. And wiping blood from my nose turned into a very novel and fun diversion.
Catheter
Not such a bad thing. Removed on day two. I have, in fact, wished that it was still there a couple of times since. Would help with the trips to the bathroom. Or the thinking that I needed to go to the bathroom. And finding out that I really had no clue, but my bladder was trying to have some conversation with me, and I just weren't getting the real message.
Food
Food (also known as, "that stuff I used to see quite a lot of, but now have a simple fleeting relationship with, at best").
First week, at Hospital:
-- Popsicle (cherry, orange)
-- Jello
-- Broth (chicken)
-- Grape Juice
-- "Kozy Shack by Request" - Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding (this was really good and not too sweet)
First Week, at home:
-- "Kozy Shack by Request" - Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding (this, too, is really good and not too sweet)
-- Instant Cream of Wheat - Sugar Free
-- Oatmeal -- (not instant, no sugar added) -- very thinned out
-- Chocolate Protein Powder with skim milk. Well, hmmm. This did NOT do well with me for the first try. It seemed to expand. Will try again later, in a different formula combination.
-- Chamomile Tea
-- Diet/Sugar Free Lemonade
-- Briars No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream
Woo woo!
Pain
Now for the biggie. The pain. This hurt and it was hurting BAD. I am extremely tolerant of pain. In my adult life, I've had a hysterectomy, bladder surgery (one year after to remove the staples ACCIDENTALLY left in my bladder during the hysterectomy), and two sinus surgeries (the second two months after the first to fix something missed in the first). This surgery, this gastric bypass, put all of them to shame. I suddenly learned that I had possessed NO EARTHLY IDEA of how bad this was going to hurt -- and I was EXPECTING bad. I was expecting REAL bad. Any preconceptions were proven entirely inaccurate.
WEEK TWO
Doctor Visit
Nine days post-op, went to visit Dr. Reines (surgeon) and Mary Ellen (nutritionist). He said I looked more 'pre-op' than 'post-op.' (Which I figured out was meant as a compliment, because I looked healthy, and didn't look like I was dying.)
Incision was perfect - and it turns out, I had no staples. Doctor was VERY pleased. All incision tapes have now been removed. Healing is good. Found out that the reason my ribcage hurts so badly is because of the SPREADERS they use that spread your ribs (without cracking or separating them). Well, DUH!!!!
Nutritional
My only current problems: calcium and protein. Word of warning: DO NOT EVER TRY LIQUID CALCIUM. It is the most awful thing ever invented. Tastes worse than barium. Was told I could take Tums or Rolaids, even tho they are not of the preferred 'calcium citrate' (more absorbable). Protein: Designer Whey protein powder is difficult beyond belief for me. Dr. Reines suggested I try Carnation Instant Breakfast (which is working out good).
The Fun of Adding Medications to the Mix
The REAL tricky thing became adding medications, and balancing that with nutritional and water intake. Whoa. It is COMPLICATED. Seems like everything has to happen 1 hour before or 1-2 hours after everything else. Whatever. If I'm not trying to drink water, I'm scheduling medications that I have to take with food, versus those that I have to take at least one hour before another one, and two hours after that one, or ones that I am supposed to take with as much water as possible, versus ones with aluminum that affect others, ones I have to crush and take in water, ones I have to break into three pieces, capsules I have to open and mix with sugar-free chocolate pudding or something because they are DOWNRIGHT NASTY.
They've got me taking Nexium to prevent stomach ulcers, and Actigall (Urosdiol) to prevent gall stones. (Funny, but my little 4 pound Pomeranian - Checkers - takes Ursodiol because he has seizures, and his vet thinks it's related to his gall bladder and bile accumulation -- and now I take the same exact medication HE does ...)
The guideline I was told is this: if it's bigger than you pinky fingernail, you can't swallow it. If medication can be broken into pieces, do that. If it's a capsule, sprinkle it on something else. If it's too big, cru**** (swallow it in water). If it's a time-release, and it can't be crushed, it has to be smaller than you pinky fingernail.
The medications I'm taking:
Vitamins/Supplements
-- Flinstones Chewable Vitamins (2x day). Chewable.
-- B-Complex
-- Rolaids (for calcium, 2x day). Chewable. I use the fruit flavored ones, actually taste good!
Prescription Meds
-- Actigall (to prevent gallstones, 2x day). Capsule - have to sprinkle on something that masks the taste - it is horrible. (Can't be taken within 1 hour before or 2 hours after anything containing aluminum - which means multi-vitamin, rolaids ...)
-- Nexium (to prevent ulcers, 1x day). Capsule - have to sprinkle on something that masks the taste - it's bad, but not as bad as Actigall.
-- Wellbutrin XL (1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Lexapro (1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Clarinex (allergies, 1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Advair (to prevent asthma attacks, 1x day). Inhaler, crushes pills. Must rinse mouth with water afterward.
Actual Food
Started eating (what seemed to be) many-thousand-times-chewed chicken bites on Day 11 post-op. On Day 15 post-op, decided that I thought I'd do better on a more liquidy, soft diet, so went back to that (yogurt, sugar-free pudding, soup). It's a hard adjustment, figuring out what and how to eat.
Next Post-Op visit is December 1, 2004.
So, this is me. Sixteen days post-op, and so far, I have lost 29.1 pounds.
OH! One last thing, but it's a biggie. My insurance company would not pay for this. So I self-paid. $20,000. And trust me, it's not because I'm rich, it's because I needed to help myself get healthy. My life and my health are worth it.
Glad to have found this board. You all seem so wonderful and supportive. It's wonderful that you all take care of each in the ways that you do.
-- Darcy
First of all, my name is Darcy. My surgery was October 25, 2004, with Dr. David Reines (Vice Chairman of Surgery), at INOVA Fairfax in Virginia, RNY, open incision (about 6-inches), plastic surgery closing, hospitalized for two days (home on 27th).
Doing ... okay ... was kind of in a funk, down, depressed, frustrated, hurting, worried, tired, bored, unhappy ... until I found this board. Suddenly, I find that all the things I'm experiencing are being talked about RIGHT HERE.
Before I "lost" the location again ... bookmark! (Gee, you'd think, being a web designer, I'd have a clue, wouldn't you?)
Just so you can get to know me, I'll list some of my most notable times since surgery on October 25, 2004. Hope this is okay.
WEEK ONE
The Incision
Painful, but it honestly wasn't the incision that hurt. My entire abdomen felt like I'd been whacked with a huge club. Several hundred times. Getting up from a laying down position was a joke. There was no way around the pain. But hey, your innards have been moved around, and they ain't used to seeing people, if you know what I mean. And they're pretty crabby about having been exposed and manipulated around.
Breathing
Interesting. I wouldn't have thought it would be affected. (And I have asthma, too.) But my breathing was simply affected by the fact that I couldn't expand my rib-cage when breathing. This affects your oxygen saturation, and in the hospital, of course the focused on that quite a bit. I was given "breathing treatments" for two days ... and I don't know if it was because of the asthma or if that was normal.
Tube in My Nose
Huh? What? Whazzat? THAT was a shocker. Well, turned out this is a necessary evil thing was to drain blood and fluid from my stomach. Oh goodie. I basically ignored it, because, hey, I was worrying about other things. In fact, I successfully ignored it almost entirely CLEAR UP UNTIL THE DOC REMOVED IT. (And I've had two sinus surgeries, too, and this was NOT GOOD.) While I thought I didn't care about the tube in the nose - I found out almost immediately that I HAD cared about it and that I would have preferred for them to just leave it alone .... But I got over it. And wiping blood from my nose turned into a very novel and fun diversion.
Catheter
Not such a bad thing. Removed on day two. I have, in fact, wished that it was still there a couple of times since. Would help with the trips to the bathroom. Or the thinking that I needed to go to the bathroom. And finding out that I really had no clue, but my bladder was trying to have some conversation with me, and I just weren't getting the real message.
Food
Food (also known as, "that stuff I used to see quite a lot of, but now have a simple fleeting relationship with, at best").
First week, at Hospital:
-- Popsicle (cherry, orange)
-- Jello
-- Broth (chicken)
-- Grape Juice
-- "Kozy Shack by Request" - Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding (this was really good and not too sweet)
First Week, at home:
-- "Kozy Shack by Request" - Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding (this, too, is really good and not too sweet)
-- Instant Cream of Wheat - Sugar Free
-- Oatmeal -- (not instant, no sugar added) -- very thinned out
-- Chocolate Protein Powder with skim milk. Well, hmmm. This did NOT do well with me for the first try. It seemed to expand. Will try again later, in a different formula combination.
-- Chamomile Tea
-- Diet/Sugar Free Lemonade
-- Briars No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream
Woo woo!
Pain
Now for the biggie. The pain. This hurt and it was hurting BAD. I am extremely tolerant of pain. In my adult life, I've had a hysterectomy, bladder surgery (one year after to remove the staples ACCIDENTALLY left in my bladder during the hysterectomy), and two sinus surgeries (the second two months after the first to fix something missed in the first). This surgery, this gastric bypass, put all of them to shame. I suddenly learned that I had possessed NO EARTHLY IDEA of how bad this was going to hurt -- and I was EXPECTING bad. I was expecting REAL bad. Any preconceptions were proven entirely inaccurate.
WEEK TWO
Doctor Visit
Nine days post-op, went to visit Dr. Reines (surgeon) and Mary Ellen (nutritionist). He said I looked more 'pre-op' than 'post-op.' (Which I figured out was meant as a compliment, because I looked healthy, and didn't look like I was dying.)
Incision was perfect - and it turns out, I had no staples. Doctor was VERY pleased. All incision tapes have now been removed. Healing is good. Found out that the reason my ribcage hurts so badly is because of the SPREADERS they use that spread your ribs (without cracking or separating them). Well, DUH!!!!
Nutritional
My only current problems: calcium and protein. Word of warning: DO NOT EVER TRY LIQUID CALCIUM. It is the most awful thing ever invented. Tastes worse than barium. Was told I could take Tums or Rolaids, even tho they are not of the preferred 'calcium citrate' (more absorbable). Protein: Designer Whey protein powder is difficult beyond belief for me. Dr. Reines suggested I try Carnation Instant Breakfast (which is working out good).
The Fun of Adding Medications to the Mix
The REAL tricky thing became adding medications, and balancing that with nutritional and water intake. Whoa. It is COMPLICATED. Seems like everything has to happen 1 hour before or 1-2 hours after everything else. Whatever. If I'm not trying to drink water, I'm scheduling medications that I have to take with food, versus those that I have to take at least one hour before another one, and two hours after that one, or ones that I am supposed to take with as much water as possible, versus ones with aluminum that affect others, ones I have to crush and take in water, ones I have to break into three pieces, capsules I have to open and mix with sugar-free chocolate pudding or something because they are DOWNRIGHT NASTY.
They've got me taking Nexium to prevent stomach ulcers, and Actigall (Urosdiol) to prevent gall stones. (Funny, but my little 4 pound Pomeranian - Checkers - takes Ursodiol because he has seizures, and his vet thinks it's related to his gall bladder and bile accumulation -- and now I take the same exact medication HE does ...)
The guideline I was told is this: if it's bigger than you pinky fingernail, you can't swallow it. If medication can be broken into pieces, do that. If it's a capsule, sprinkle it on something else. If it's too big, cru**** (swallow it in water). If it's a time-release, and it can't be crushed, it has to be smaller than you pinky fingernail.
The medications I'm taking:
Vitamins/Supplements
-- Flinstones Chewable Vitamins (2x day). Chewable.
-- B-Complex
-- Rolaids (for calcium, 2x day). Chewable. I use the fruit flavored ones, actually taste good!
Prescription Meds
-- Actigall (to prevent gallstones, 2x day). Capsule - have to sprinkle on something that masks the taste - it is horrible. (Can't be taken within 1 hour before or 2 hours after anything containing aluminum - which means multi-vitamin, rolaids ...)
-- Nexium (to prevent ulcers, 1x day). Capsule - have to sprinkle on something that masks the taste - it's bad, but not as bad as Actigall.
-- Wellbutrin XL (1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Lexapro (1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Clarinex (allergies, 1x day). Tablet - is smaller than fingernail, can swallow with water.
-- Advair (to prevent asthma attacks, 1x day). Inhaler, crushes pills. Must rinse mouth with water afterward.
Actual Food
Started eating (what seemed to be) many-thousand-times-chewed chicken bites on Day 11 post-op. On Day 15 post-op, decided that I thought I'd do better on a more liquidy, soft diet, so went back to that (yogurt, sugar-free pudding, soup). It's a hard adjustment, figuring out what and how to eat.
Next Post-Op visit is December 1, 2004.
So, this is me. Sixteen days post-op, and so far, I have lost 29.1 pounds.
OH! One last thing, but it's a biggie. My insurance company would not pay for this. So I self-paid. $20,000. And trust me, it's not because I'm rich, it's because I needed to help myself get healthy. My life and my health are worth it.
Glad to have found this board. You all seem so wonderful and supportive. It's wonderful that you all take care of each in the ways that you do.
-- Darcy
Congrats!
Sandi
41 pounds since Oct 18 
Darcy,
Welcome to the Thin 10 (October) Board. Great update, congrats on the weight loss as well!!!! You can also update your personal page by going to "General Info > Comments" on your logon page.
>Toni 
Hi Darcy. My name is Diane. This is my first email. I had surgery Oct. 25 also. Did well and can relate to your story. Lost 27# so far but during my 2 week post-op check up, I had alot of leg pain & discoloration & found to have blood clots in both legs. Was sent back to hosp....admitted ...on IV Heparin 2 days & now home tking Lovenox injections I have to give myself & Coumadin Rx. I was feeling soo good that I went back to work in 1 week & was on a roll. Went back too soon. Didn't realize how fragile I still was. Now I promised Dr. to stay home this week & keep it easy until this clot problem is resolved.
Nice to meet you. Keep up the goo work! Diane
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