surgery date
Congratulations!
I think that I can shed some light on why you got that date. The clinic will be having a visiting surgeon coming in on Dec 15 and they will only be performing lap bands on that day. The reason I know is that my wife had been booked for her sleeve on Dec 15 with Dr. Birch. However, surgical booking called on Monday to reschedule her. Fortuantely, we got an earlier date and we're pretty happy.
I guess it doesn't matter how it comes down, just as long as it does.
Cheers!
-- Xcalibur
I think that I can shed some light on why you got that date. The clinic will be having a visiting surgeon coming in on Dec 15 and they will only be performing lap bands on that day. The reason I know is that my wife had been booked for her sleeve on Dec 15 with Dr. Birch. However, surgical booking called on Monday to reschedule her. Fortuantely, we got an earlier date and we're pretty happy.
I guess it doesn't matter how it comes down, just as long as it does.
Cheers!
-- Xcalibur
My surgery went pretty well, all things considered. No real big surprises, but a few small ones.
For the duration of my stay, the RAH brought in a bariatric air bed for me. My understanding is that it is for patients over 500 lbs. It makes them more comfortable during their stay and it's easier to transfer them from the OR table over to the bed. It seemed to make sense. The only issue was that most RAH staff didn't know how it worked and spent a lot of time fiddling with it. Fortuantely, it all worked out in the end.
I never saw Dr. Karmali before the surgery. In fact, nobody even let me know that we were going to start. I was chatting with the nurses in the OR as they were getting the table ready and I was out like a light. The OR is cold. Cold enough to hang meat. Fortunately, they covered the table with a blanket as to not have to endure an ice cold table on my backside.
After the surgery, I recall hearing the voices in the recovery area telling me to wake up. After about an hour or so, I was awake and transported back to 24 hour observation. It's a 4 bed, 24/7 ward that has nurses stationed in the room. There was only one other patient in there along with myself.
At some point in the late afternoon, early evening, they decided to take out the catheter. Now, not knowing what one was and never having one, I figure this was nothing. As the nurse starting pulling it out, she said to take a deep breath. I now know why. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! The worst pain that I have ever had the misfortunate to experience. I'm just glad that I was knocked out when they put it in. I would have killed someone.
Abouut 7pm, my wife left to go home as she had to work in the morning. Then, I got a visitor. One of my colleagues from work. We chatted for about an hour, which really helped to pass the time.
I didn't sleep well overnight. Granted, I don't think that anybody does. So, be prepared for that. In and out of sleep. Whenever I asked for the time, it was several hours earlier than I thought.
As daylight broke, I was told that I had to go do the swallow test. The porter came up and took me down to the room. Due to my size, I had to stand up while the machine took the pics. You have to drink some awful contrasting solution. Depending on the progress, you may have to do it several times. I seem to call having to do it 5 times.
On the wait for the porter to take me back to my room, I started up a conversation with a fellow waiting for a test. He apparently had 6 lesions in throat. Also, my stupid monitor machine went off like clockwork every 3 to 5 mins. Very annoying. The porters arrived and took me back to my new location in the regular ward.
I had a semi-private room, which means only one other occupant. An other gentleman who was just waiting to be transferred back to another facility. The manager for the hospital TV service came around. At $9-$12 a day for TV, I passed.
Next, I got a visit from the physical therapists. It was time to figure out how to get in and out of bed, do some walking, and take on some stairs. I passed those challenges fairly easily. After they left, I went down the hall to pickup a newspaper from the common area. When I got back, I was wiped out and slept for a while.
When I woke up, I had visitors galore. My mother-in-law, father, step-mother, and wife arrived and chatted for a while. During that time, I got my new roommate. A 40-ish guy who was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It came right out of left field for him. He figured his chiropractor messed up his back and that's why there was pain. Instead, the doctor told him he had stomach cancer and walked out the door leaving him stunned.
Again, I didn't sleep well overnight. In fact, I think that I listened to my iPod for most of the early morning hours and tried to do some reading.
Once the morning approached, Dr. Karmali came around to say that the swallow tests looked good and that I should be able to go home once my drain was removed. My dieitican from the clinic (Krista) also dropped by to give some advice on the full fluid diet and what to do when I start the solids.
After that, the nurse came by to take out the drain. Again, as she was removing it, she said to breath deeply. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It felt like my stomach was coming up my throat. I was NOT prepared. I was reliving the catheter experience all over. Once it was out, thanked God that I was still alive.
It was shortly after this that my wife got her call from surgical booking and we were out the door. I handed my truck keys over to my wife (something I rarely do) and we went to Shoppers Drugs Mart to get the drugs. It's funny...I only used about 2-3 pills overall. Yeah for me.
I slept upright on the couch for the first few nights as it was too painful to move. Fortunately, it didn't last long and the rest is history.
In review of the surgery, I came to the following conclusions:
- The RAH surgical and nursing staff are awesome. They always attended to my needs, treated me with respect, and took my teasing and smart-alec responses with gentle good humour.
- While the RAH can accomodate supersized people, they miss the boat on things like armless chairs in the patient rooms and toilets with the floor support, like they have in the clinic washroom. I am just glad that I didn't have to use the toilet following surgery.
- Stay away from the lime jello. Raspberry is better. Don't force yourself to eat everything. Take it slow and drink what you can.
- When my wife goes in next, I'll look to confirm that my thoughts are still valid.
So, that's how it went.
Cheers!
-- Xcalibur
For the duration of my stay, the RAH brought in a bariatric air bed for me. My understanding is that it is for patients over 500 lbs. It makes them more comfortable during their stay and it's easier to transfer them from the OR table over to the bed. It seemed to make sense. The only issue was that most RAH staff didn't know how it worked and spent a lot of time fiddling with it. Fortuantely, it all worked out in the end.
I never saw Dr. Karmali before the surgery. In fact, nobody even let me know that we were going to start. I was chatting with the nurses in the OR as they were getting the table ready and I was out like a light. The OR is cold. Cold enough to hang meat. Fortunately, they covered the table with a blanket as to not have to endure an ice cold table on my backside.
After the surgery, I recall hearing the voices in the recovery area telling me to wake up. After about an hour or so, I was awake and transported back to 24 hour observation. It's a 4 bed, 24/7 ward that has nurses stationed in the room. There was only one other patient in there along with myself.
At some point in the late afternoon, early evening, they decided to take out the catheter. Now, not knowing what one was and never having one, I figure this was nothing. As the nurse starting pulling it out, she said to take a deep breath. I now know why. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! The worst pain that I have ever had the misfortunate to experience. I'm just glad that I was knocked out when they put it in. I would have killed someone.
Abouut 7pm, my wife left to go home as she had to work in the morning. Then, I got a visitor. One of my colleagues from work. We chatted for about an hour, which really helped to pass the time.
I didn't sleep well overnight. Granted, I don't think that anybody does. So, be prepared for that. In and out of sleep. Whenever I asked for the time, it was several hours earlier than I thought.
As daylight broke, I was told that I had to go do the swallow test. The porter came up and took me down to the room. Due to my size, I had to stand up while the machine took the pics. You have to drink some awful contrasting solution. Depending on the progress, you may have to do it several times. I seem to call having to do it 5 times.
On the wait for the porter to take me back to my room, I started up a conversation with a fellow waiting for a test. He apparently had 6 lesions in throat. Also, my stupid monitor machine went off like clockwork every 3 to 5 mins. Very annoying. The porters arrived and took me back to my new location in the regular ward.
I had a semi-private room, which means only one other occupant. An other gentleman who was just waiting to be transferred back to another facility. The manager for the hospital TV service came around. At $9-$12 a day for TV, I passed.
Next, I got a visit from the physical therapists. It was time to figure out how to get in and out of bed, do some walking, and take on some stairs. I passed those challenges fairly easily. After they left, I went down the hall to pickup a newspaper from the common area. When I got back, I was wiped out and slept for a while.
When I woke up, I had visitors galore. My mother-in-law, father, step-mother, and wife arrived and chatted for a while. During that time, I got my new roommate. A 40-ish guy who was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It came right out of left field for him. He figured his chiropractor messed up his back and that's why there was pain. Instead, the doctor told him he had stomach cancer and walked out the door leaving him stunned.
Again, I didn't sleep well overnight. In fact, I think that I listened to my iPod for most of the early morning hours and tried to do some reading.
Once the morning approached, Dr. Karmali came around to say that the swallow tests looked good and that I should be able to go home once my drain was removed. My dieitican from the clinic (Krista) also dropped by to give some advice on the full fluid diet and what to do when I start the solids.
After that, the nurse came by to take out the drain. Again, as she was removing it, she said to breath deeply. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It felt like my stomach was coming up my throat. I was NOT prepared. I was reliving the catheter experience all over. Once it was out, thanked God that I was still alive.
It was shortly after this that my wife got her call from surgical booking and we were out the door. I handed my truck keys over to my wife (something I rarely do) and we went to Shoppers Drugs Mart to get the drugs. It's funny...I only used about 2-3 pills overall. Yeah for me.
I slept upright on the couch for the first few nights as it was too painful to move. Fortunately, it didn't last long and the rest is history.
In review of the surgery, I came to the following conclusions:
- The RAH surgical and nursing staff are awesome. They always attended to my needs, treated me with respect, and took my teasing and smart-alec responses with gentle good humour.
- While the RAH can accomodate supersized people, they miss the boat on things like armless chairs in the patient rooms and toilets with the floor support, like they have in the clinic washroom. I am just glad that I didn't have to use the toilet following surgery.
- Stay away from the lime jello. Raspberry is better. Don't force yourself to eat everything. Take it slow and drink what you can.
- When my wife goes in next, I'll look to confirm that my thoughts are still valid.
So, that's how it went.
Cheers!
-- Xcalibur
Hey NewLeaf!
Things are going pretty good overall.
My wife's surgery went well, but she experienced a great deal of pain and nausea afterwards. She went in on a Tuesday and was released the following Friday when we had that major dump of snow. She has had her 2 week follow-up with Dr. Birch and everything looks pretty good and she is now on solids. All in all, she's made the jump well and it's a matter of time and effort now.
As for me, I'm a bit frustrated these days. My weight loss has stalled for the past 3 weeks. I didn't think that I would hit a plateau so soon after surgery. It doesn't seem right considering that I still have over 200 lbs to lose. I figured that I would gradually decrease my weekly loses over time and then stall. Most people I've talked to are suggesting that my metabolism is changing and that could account for this. In the meantime, I am attempting to change up my diet and getting more excercise to see if I can jump start things again. It's certainly bad timining as I have an apt at the clinic on Friday and may not show a loss. I'm hoping that my dietician can also shed some light on this.
How about you? Things going well?
Cheers!
-- Xcalibur
Xcalibur--I was just discussing this with the online community...Totally normal for those of us who did a preop diet to stall pretty quick after. It has to do with the drop before...then right after. Focus on the long term and know that this time next year your life will change drastically. I have also had a few stalls and the weight is coming off slow...but remember how many days it has been and how much you have lost...it will happen.
Glad to hear you wife is doing well...
Things are great for me...humming along slow...but really feel great and love the sleeve
I love that I can eat anything...just smaller portions...yeah! Exercise makes a big difference for me.
Chat with you soon
Glad to hear you wife is doing well...
Things are great for me...humming along slow...but really feel great and love the sleeve
I love that I can eat anything...just smaller portions...yeah! Exercise makes a big difference for me.
Chat with you soon
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