My experience

Okay let's start off with some confusion about who my Dr. was. When I went in for my pre-op visit I went to admitting. I was told that my surgeon was Dr.
Andrews!!!!First of all I had never even seen Dr. Andrews how could he be my surgeon? the answer to this was it was Dr. Andrews time but Dr.vergis would be there????????? This was assuring. the night befor was not to bad i slept about 6 hours. The letter I received from Julies told me to be at the hospital for 6:15 so we arrived at 6:00. nobody gets there for admissions until 6:45 so there was no point being there that Early. After this you go to the Surgi centre. they call your name you follow a nurse you strip down, get the IV,get a needle, get the visit from the 3 Dr.'s that are doing your surgery. and you get to meet the most gorgeous anesthesiologist OMG. You then kiss your loved one good bye(for a few hours) they wheel you to the operating room where you are placed on an operating table the place a wonderful warm blanket on you and then strap your legs down Dr. hot-tie then gives you his I don't care drugs and I got to tell you the next thing I remember is being woken up, then woken up again and asked about the pain I remember having a sharp pain in my chest. It took allot of pain reliever to fix that. I was in the recovery room for 2 hours. I was then rolled into the OSA room (I can't remember if that is right or not) It is a room shared with many people who may have sleeping issues had the unfortunate pleasure of staying in this room the whole hospital stay due to the Nurse shortage. this meant that I had no privacy no T.V. but on the other hand there was a nurse in the room 24hours a day.
So I slept lots the first day Then at around 6:30 the first day I had to pee so I sat up and got so sick so I laid right back down a few hours later I really had to go so i was brought a bed pan Nothing............then I was brought a toilet on wheels Nothing............... they scanned my bladder which was very full,so I cot a catheter(hurts a little) but I was so happy to not have the extra pain of a over full bladder on top of everything else!! During the first day my blood pressure and pulse were out of control it took them  the whole day to get it under control I must admit this was very scary for me.
Pain meds for the first 2 days are very important and they will help you threw........But sometime during the second evening you notice that the pain is not as intense and by the third day you would not believe it but your body is healing already and you feel allot better. I am  9 days out of surgery and I am feeling pretty great (although I am tired a lot)

ttyl
by the way my Dr. ended up being Dr. Harder
Bren

Hey Bren,
happy to hear things are going okay for you. I'm 4 weeks out today but because of my complicaitons i'm quite a bit behind where i should be. I've just started feeling stronger the last couple of days. I was so weak, but i wasn't eating enough. I'm still tired alot and often nap in the pm. It'll take time. I saw the dietician on tuesday and she said i could start minced foods. It's hard though because i'm never hungry, so i have to force myself to eat regularly. Anyway, keep me posted on how you're doing.
sue

WOW! Bren that is quite the experience! Not too bad other than the whole room thing which would have driven me crazy. I hope I don't have that issue. The doctor thing is weird..but I have confidence in the whole group....can't wait to meet this anesthesiologist! Hope it's the same one..LOL

Thanks for sharing this with us! I am going in on Monday @ 9:30 for my VSG, I met with the nurse at the pre-op assessment today and she was super sweet. I have never been to the Vic so it was nice to set foot in there at least. Don't even ask about the roads..lol

So glad you are feeling great and I hope you are able to get the rest you need.

Dominique

Hey Bren!

Glad to hear your doing well and your experience sounds very similiar to mine.......EXCEPT I didn't have the hot anesthesiologist.....what the hecks up with that!!!

Sorry you had to spend the whole time in that room. I spent the first couple in there, and although they were great it was definitely nice to have a private room!

Dean

Glad to hear all went well Bren!  The OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) is when you have difficulty with your airway when sleeping.  The room they put you in sounds like a observation room, so that you can be watched very closely.  Good thing especially if you have OSA.  I just had a pre op gastroscopy and was supposed to be with Dr. Vergis and Dr. Hardy did it.  I felt a bit weird about that too, seeing I have not ever met the woman.  Hopefully Dr. Andrew will be the surgeon following me.  It is like you make a connection with your Dr and it is nerve racking when something unexpected like that comes up.  Well glad to hear you are on your way to a speedy recovery.  Take care and keep us updated!

Glad to hear you are recovering and doing well Bren!  I am glad you are feeling stronger.

When I went for my consult I had one doc, and he told me at that appt. that they never guarantee who does the surgery, you get whoever is on rotation your surgery day.  For RNY it is only Dr. Vergis and Dr. Hardy and for VSG it is Dr. Andrew and Dr. Bracken.  You will see anyone available for follow up.  They work as a group but truly, in my experience so far, they are all amazing and caring about what they are doing.

I was stuck in that OSA room too and although it is for our benefit, it sure made for a miserable stay. Impossible to get any sleep longer than an hour.  I got out of the OSA room after 2 days after much pleading, Dr. got me my own room and it was amazing how much difference a little privacy makes! .

The worst is behind you now, great things to come!

Hi Bren,
             Glad to hear you are doing well . The Dr I met with was Dr Hardy she is very nice. I too am sorry you had to spend your whole stay in that room but maybe it was for the better at least you had a 24 hour nurse and constant care. Get as much rest as possible cause christmas is just around the corner. I hope I don't have any problems when its my turn, but I'm gonna think poitive and take things as they come.

Hi Bren;

Thanks so much for sharing your experience in the hospital. It gives me an idea of what it will be like. I guess I will be in the OSA room too because of my sleep apnea. 

I have also been told to report to the hospital by 6:15am. Do you remember what time your actual surgery was? My sister wants to come and see me that day, but I have no idea when I will be out.
 
I hope that you are recovering quickly.

Tanya
 

Hi there I hope you are doing well now.  I was just wondering how many days you were in  the hospital?