I am home...

I came home on Friday and I don' know where to begin. First of all, I had never been in the hospital before and let me tell you - don't want to back - EVER! Will pray every day for no complications. I have all the typical moans and groans in the hospital. Didn't have a private room and had two wacky roommates. The second one, someone had to go out and buy me earplugs. Some nurses and nurse techs were really good and others not so good. I don't think I was taken care of as well as I could have been. I was so down the end of the hall and when I did need something, it took forever. Plus there was no sleeping at all in the hospital. Evelyn was taken care of pretty well and we hoped we woud have been in the same room, but we weren't. Was pretty hard. I was told at 6:45 am on Friday that I would be going home - so I was psyched. It was a long day though waiting for the doctor (every day was a long day in the hospital by the way) I finally saw the doctor and we decided to send me home. I think and know I probably should have stayed one more day, but I just couldn't. It was a weird emotional thing, I needed to leave. So, I was discharged at 5 ish and got home and started my meds and all that. At about 10:00 that night, I had a temp 102.4. My fam was freaking out and almost made me go bad to the hospital. I was able to crush an aspirin and take that. It took awhile, but the fever went down by the am. Physically by SAt night, I felt better, but spiked a fever again. Took a Motrin and sweated it out and went to bed (by the way, sleeping SO much better now that I am home.) Woke up in the middle of the night last night - took my temp (cause I am forever taking my temp) it was back up to 102.8. Took another Motrin and sweated it out again. I hope this temp game will stop soon! So, in all, a little disappointed in the care of the hospital and in general, don't ever want to go back! They never even weighed by once before my surgery. Good thing I weighed myself before I left for the hospital Tues morning. Thanks to EVERYONE for all their well wishes and posts to my surgery page - I am going to print them out and put them in my scrapbook! Take care everyone and I have caught up on my posts and I am so pleased to hear all the great things that have been happening! xoxo, Phyllis p.s. I know I said bad things about the hospital, but none of those things are directed to Dr. Giles and his staff, who were exceptional!!

So glad to hear you are home Phyllis. I'm sorry that you didn't get such great care. It's hard to get good rest in the hospital. If your fevers keep coming back, you definetly want to call the Dr. to make sure you don't have an infection starting. That's the last thing you want ontop of everything else. Be careful takinig Motrin as well as I was told that Mortrin and Ibubrofin are big no nos post op. Try to stick to Tylenol or Aspirin. Hope you start to feel more like your peppy little self soon. Rest as much as you need to and start to watch those pounds melt away. Hugs, Maggie

Hey there Phyllis, Its so great to see your home and feeling much better. I have been praying for you when I heard you had the fever. I know how you feel about the hospital, I felt the same way and it didn't mean anything towards my surgeon personally but the hospital staff was very laxadaisy. I was in during the holiday but that is no excuse for the non attention I got, plus all the noise from other patients yelling for attention and all the alarms going off. Boy what a nightmare. I know how it felt, but I would still do it all over again. Thank you for your email about how great I look. I was so excited to hear from you. We missed talking to you on the board. Your doing great and now its your turn to be on the journey to the losing side like the rest of us. You keep up the good work and take care of yourself. Hope to see you soon. Hugs KimC

Hi Phyllis, I am so glad to hear from you! I'm sorry you had such a tough time in the hospital that really makes it so much worse. It does feel good to be home though huh? How are you doing with getting your liquids in, and how is your pain? Please don't hesitate to call me if you need anything at all I'm not that far from you and can get there in a matter of 20 minutes. Once you are feeling better, lets get together for a crop! Love, Sandy

Hi, Phyllis! Welcome home! I'm sorry your hospital experience wasn't so good. To echo some of what the others have posted, don't hesitate to call your doctor if your fever persists. You don't want to take any chances of having a more serious complication. Also, regarding your taking Motrin and aspirin, from what I've been told, once we're post-op, we're never again supposed to take either of them, only Tylenol (which, by the way, does come in liquid form for adults, so you don't have to cru****). You may want to check with your doctor's office to see what they have to say regarding Motrin and aspirin. Hugs, Debby

So glad you are home sweetie. Glad we had a chat, as you were on my mind. Remember one day at a time. You have fought so hard for this, so you can do anything. Smooches, NA

HI PHYLLIS I AM SORRY THAT YOU HAD ABAD EXPERIENCE WITH THE HOSPITAL. HOPE YOUR DOING BETTER KEEP US POSTED LINDA S.

Hi Phyllis Welcome home!! And Congrats on the losing sides. Sorry you had a bad experience at Hospital anf hope you do not have nay fever by now!!Hope to see you soon!!!1 Hugs Kathy K

Hi Phyllis, Welcome home. I'm sorry to hear about your hospital experience. There is NO PLACE like home to get rest and feel like yourself again. I also struggled with a nasty fever in the hospital last week & after I was released. It finally did break Sunday morning. I was also freaking out a little thinking something was wrong, but since then feel so much better. I lucked out at St. Francis..I had a semi private room & only had 1 room mate for an overnight stay..otherwise had the room to myself....Although she was quite the snorer! I didn't get weighed either the day of the surgery last week, so I'm going by my last weigh in from a few weeks ago. Glad your home safe & sound, Mickey

So glad your home and doing better. Like you I had a fever after surgery too, and they said that its rather normal to run a fever after this surgery because the body is just in shock from the surgery and the fever is its way of righting itself. Stay away from the motrin. It can make you bleed and the last thing you want to do is get a blood clot. Switch to adult liquid tylenol. Take all your pills in liquid or crushed form for the next 4 months at least. Stay away from all NSAID drugs. thats motrin, ibupofren, naproxen. all of that stuff is not good for you right after surgery especially. If there is anything you need dont hesitate to ask. I did not come to see you because I was in the hospital too. I had a blockage in my small intestine and ended up at Yale. Its a long story. Take care during your recovery, and when your feeling up to it, maybe I could come down and we could go for a walk around Stanely Quarters walking path. Give me a call or an email and we will set it up when your ready. Hugs Lauren