Post Surgery HELP

I have a few questions for the bandsters and then a few in general. 

1. Why does even liquid feel stuck? Am I drinking too fast?
2. I keep having this persistant low grade fever and comes and goes...Dr didn't seem concerned but gonna call tomorrow if it keeps up.  Anyone else have fever?
3. It takes me forever to urinate.  I will feel like I have to go but have to sit for a long time before I start to go! Anyone?????
4. What is the empty almost hunger pang feeling.  It's confusing me.  Obviously I don't mentally want to eat but I have this weird physical feeling to hunger?  Is my band geesh?
5. One of my incisions is HUGE like 4 inches...the one above my belly button.  The others are tiny.  Is this common.  It's hurts like beyond hell.
6. How long before the bloat goes down.  Still having issues with gas and couldnt get rid of much today.
7. I still cannot take a deep breath without the pain in my stomach.  I have not been wearing my sleep machine because it causes me more pain.  Anyone experience this either with just breathing or their apnea machine?

Stil having good and bad moments but today I felt like i did too much.  I was by myself all day - slept alot but I get tired so easily.  I honestly wish I hired a care giver and a pet sitter a few hours a day to help with things.  A friend is in and out but I need more help with my furballs.

I guess I can say I know better next time but the next time better not be for years and it better be for a lower body lift! 

Any replies to Q's is great.  Try to check in, in the am.

Best
Nikki

sorry you are struggling. i know after surgery i was miserable. eventualy it gets better.

1. probably drinking too fast. just sip all day
2. did not have fever and do not think this is normal honestly.
3. they give u drugs to shut down ur digestive system. that may be why it takes awhile to pee. eventually it will get better. just give it another day or two.
4. not sure
5. i only had small incisions so surprised you have such a big one for laproscopic. might wnat to ask them wtf happened!
6. that takes awhile unfortunately. try walking around alot and laying on your side.
7. that will ge tbetter with time. u just had major surgery!

Nicole - you're a RNYer - with regards to your #5, the big incision is normal for the Lapbanders.  It's the port site.  Don't try to scare her because you don't know.

oh sorry bout that.

1.  It did feel stuck - I still have occasional moments of this especially right after adjustments.  A nice big sip of coffee would feel like an ice cube was stuck in my chest.  Sip Sip and Sip. 

2.  My fever came and went often because my body was going through drastic changes hormonally - I had lost like 15 pounds before the surgery just doing the 2 week preop liquid. 

3.  Yep, had this too - anesthesia in the system seems to deaden certain things, only temporarily though.  I found that wiping myself as if I was finished would prompt the flow again.

4.  It's a combination of mind games and physical needs. 

5.  The huge incision is the one with the port - this hurt me for weeks afterwards, and as I've lost weight, my insulation around the port has gotten thinner, and I'll accidentally bump into it at my desk.  Owie!

6.  The bloat took a few days.  It almost was sudden when it disappeared finally. 

7.  I had to do breathing exercises with that spiro thingie - that helped tremendously - because it made me cough, and whenever I'd cough, I felt better.  Just hang in there.  Never had the CPAP machine so I don't know about that.

Hope you feel better soon!!!!

thanks Candy those answer help a bit.  I keep thinking with all this weird hunger feeling...is my band really there. 

Glad to know the fever and urination is a  sort of normal.  Things seem to get mildly better each day except the large incision.  I had no idea the port was going to be in the front. I thought it was off to the side.

Going to try and sip and some protein shake and soup today.

Candy any suggestions for liquids post-op. When did you start shakes. Having a hard time moving from clear liquids.

Nicole, thanks for stepping in to try and help with some Q's too,

Nikki

Well, depending on what kind of liquids you're on - pre-op you indicated you couldn't have the cream soups etc's, that's how I spent my post op liquids on cream soups, broths, and for the hunger pangs - I used the Special K protein fiber mix - it seemed to alleviate the hunger issue a bit.  I posted my "meals" on my profile.  Hope it helps. 

I started off on the protein drinks (the RTD kind) right away.

Edited to add that I drank the RTDs at room temperature - it was uncomfortable to drink them ice cold at first.

1. Yes, drinking too fast, just sip. Cold things seem to feel better.
2.& 3. Make sure you tell the Dr. about the urine situation, make sure you're drinking enough, as if you don't could get a UTI, which could account for the low grade fever.
4.& 6. I had so much pain, for over a week, from gas, that I didn't feel any hunger pangs, if I had any.  Actually, I can honestly say I've only gotten hungry once, since surgery, in June.
5. I think everyone has different incisions, in different places, as well as different sizes.  I have 11, due to all the hernia repairs and adhesion removal that he did. The longest incision is where the port is, 2".  Yes, my incisions BURNED for a couple of weeks.  I got somewhat depressed with all this, thinking I was going to have to live this way, the rest of my life. LOL!  Now I'd never even know I had surgery, of any kind!  Feel better than I have in SO MANY YEARS!!!
7. I never had a sleep machine, but losing weight, as you've already done, ask the Dr. if you can go without it.

I'm so proud of you, Nikki, and so excited for you, as your pictures are so beautiful, and you're going to get there again.  But, the most important thing is:  you're going to feel SO MUCH BETTER!

Nikki, I agree with everyone else except for the size of the incision.  Every body and every doctor is different.  However, I would categorize a 4 in*****ision as open, not laparoscopic.  My port incision was one inch and the others for the trocars were 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.  It wouldn't hurt to ask your doctor at your next visit if he had any difficulty placing the port.

Terri