I'm Back But Not Kicking To High!!!!!
Hello Everybody, 
I am glad to see you didn't forget who I was! 
First off I would like to thank everyone 
for your uplifting prayers. Thank you for the phone calls and for the visits and care and concern that you have shown me and my husband during our surgery time and for all the prayers for travel mercies.
I feel very privileged to have met Colette and her husband Mel. Jan and her husband Joe and Dear Linda, thank you all for taking time to see me.
Thank you so much for caring enough to want to know how I was doing. I also would like to thank you Colette for the goodie basket that was very thoughtful, and I love the orange lotion ! You will have to let me know where you got it so I can get some more. 
Also a great big thank you to Melissa my 
for calling and checking on me you have been great and it has been a pleasure to talk to you. 
I have thought for two days about what I was going to write on here when I logged on, and I decided for the sake of the ones yet to have their surgery and for my own sake when I have to face God I should be truthful about my surgery experience.
I have suffered from chronic pain so long that when someone asked me how I was feeling I would just say "Oh, I have my good days and bad days" 
because for the most part, and I don't mean this badly, they are asking because "that is what we are supposed to do", most everyone has so much on their plate that we don't need to add to it. I have my dear dear husband to tell my troubles to and God will always listen! So I try to smile and say I'm fine, but I feel it would be best if I told exactly how I have felt the last 5 days. 
I don't want to scare everyone that is planning on having the RNY done but I also feel I have to be upfront about my experience, good or bad.
And I believe this would have been very interesting for me to hear before surgery.
I have had 8 surgeries since 1974 and all were under general anesthesia. I have never had a laporascopic surgery until my WLS. I don't know if that makes a difference or not or the fact I am older but I had my last surgery prior to this one in 2005.
My husband and I arrived at Bothwell at 6:20 a.m. When I was called back to pre-op or I guess it was the SDS room, everyone was great and very kind.
The first nurse that gave me care was Christine and she got all my vitals and had me dress in the gown and all that. She came back to start my IV and tried twice but my veins kept blowing 
, no fought of the nurse.
Then nurse Maggie looked at me and decided she wouldn't try. Then in came nurse Denny and she was a little rougher but she got the IV going, after one more blowed vein.
Then I had to leave my hubby, after lots of prayer and kisses, they took me to the holding area for OR. 
There I met nurse Laura and my "Nurse Anesthetist" Connie. They were both just the best.
Connie set down on a stool right beside the gurney I was laying on and talked to me and asked if I had any questions or fears about anything. I did ask her several things which she answered very sweetly and professionally and satisfied what I wanted to know. She was such a pleasure to talk to. 
She also told me that she was married to a doctor there at Sedalia but I can't recall who she said it was. She, Laura and I had a great visit.
They rolled me into the OR and I remember this part vividly, when I first went to the SDS room where I got on the gurney there was a navy blue nylon looking cover over the sheet that you lay down on . They said it was an air mattress that they would use to transfer me. I had worked in the medical field for almost twenty years and had never seen a medical air mattress like that. When I asked why there was no air in it and why it was flat they said I would see how it worked in OR. ????
Now as I was saying when they rolled me up next to the surgical table I thought "oh I hate to have to slide over to that table cause it's always so hard", even if your not "fluffy". 
So I started to raise up and they stopped me and said now we will show you this great invention. About six people got around the tables and got hold of some straps and one of them stuck what looked like a vacuum tube in one corner of the mattress and it blew in air and I started to float , I felt like I was on a hovercraft!! 
They just glided me over to the table!!!
After that everything gets a little sketchy, I remember them saying that I was going to go to sleep and then it was lights out. 
I woke up in recovery with them telling me to breathe deep. They took me to my room and there was my DH waiting. They made me comfortable and got my vitals every ten to fifteen minutes.
The first night I do have to admit I hit the pain button a lot. I have a high tolerance for pain but it felt to me like someone had thrown a big softball at me and it stuck just left center of my chest. 
Needless to say I didn't sleep well the first night.
The next morning they took me down for my leak test and I passed it, no leaks. 
The x-ray tech I had was named Russ and he was great, he explained everything to me.
That day I still was in pain with the softball. They brought me my tray of juice, coffee {which I do not drink} broth, & Jell-O. I did ask if they would bring me some decaf ice tea which they did.
While I was attempting to try to figure out how to go about drinking the liquids Dena {Dr. H's office manager} came in to see me and she is such a delight. She showed me how to pour Jell-O, juice & broth into the little 30cc plastic cups and to drink it over 15 minutes and repeat if I felt I could hold it. Well I didn't hold more than the first ones. Dena is also a post WLS patient and has lost like close to 200 lbs and she looks great.
After Dena left Marge came in {by the way if you didn't know she is Mrs. H.} she is also a great lady. She and Dena were going to lunch and popped in to visit me.
My husband had seen Dr. H. that morning on a bike dressed like Lance Armstrong during the Tour La France and asked Marge was he training for something and she said he was fighting the battle of gaining weight , that he had to work at looking good so he wouldn't be like the doctor that tells you to quit smoking and then when you go to the store to get your medicine you see him buying cigarettes.
I got a call from Jan and Melissa on Friday, thanks gals.
Linda and Colette both came to see me on Friday, thank you for the great visits.
I took a shower on Friday with my hubby's help. I got so weak I didn't think I would make it back to the chair.
Later that night when they came to take my vitals my O2 sats were only 77. They came and took them again in a few minutes and it was like 82, I still had the I.V. and oxygen so they told me to take deep breaths when they put the pulse ox pin on my finger and they finally came up to 92 so they accepted that . That happened several times that night. I was getting breathing treatments every 4 hours but it didn't seem like it was helping.
Then my I.V. infiltrated and I got stuck a couple more times with no success. Then a nurse came in which I do not remember her name, she was house supervisor that night, and started my I.V. it felt like she rammed a sword up my arm she wasn't to gentle or to slow about it, she started in the bend of my right elbow which was bad cause I'm right handed and every time I moved my pump beeper would go off. 
Then they came to draw blood and the only good vein I have for blood drawing is the one the I.V. is in, the nurse said lab could draw blood from my I.V. port but lab didn't want to do it that way and drew blood from my wrist after a few jabs!
Also on Friday they took out my catheter and with all this other going on I hadn't thought about urinating at all. About 6 to 7 hours later I remembered I hadn't urinated 
so I called the nurse and they asked me if I felt like I had to go and I said no. But they got me up and when I sat down on the toilet I didn't think I was going to stop, 
thank the Good Lord cause I didn't want anything keeping me from going home Saturday.
{Just a note, there is not much space in the bathroom between the toilet and sink so be careful and don't hit your hip like I did}
Now this whole time since Thursday night I had a horrible headache, it felt like the top of my head was coming off. So I was using the pain pump for my headache and back pain from laying in that uncomfortable bed.
Then I started running a fever. so I prayed with all this going on they would let me go home. I kept running a fever off and on till I came home.
Dr. H. came in to see me Saturday and said I could go home. They DC'd my I.V. and we were out of there by like 1:30 I think.
I would like to thank all the floor nurses and nurse aides that took care of me on 3rd floor: Carrie, Estella, Ruth Ann, Lisa, Cookie, Sidney, Yuliya & Danelle also ward clerk Regina. If I missed anyone I'm sorry.
The trip home was horrible. We stopped at Walgreen's to get my liquid pain med. I took it twice going home. I had to have DH stop like 3 times to go pee, I felt like I was going buckets.
We made it home I think in less than 5 hours cause DH was exceeding the speed limit if you know what I mean.
When I got home I went to bed and stayed there except for taking in, letting out or walking. I started running a temp again Saturday night, the highest it got was 100.4 which is pretty high for me considering normal for me is 96 to 97. I took crushed Tylenol ????? And finally Monday I quit spiking a temp.
Tuesday I got up feeling better, I still felt like I had a softball in my belly but I put an ice pack on it and it made it feel better.
I don't like having to crush my meds ,he left me on, taking them is nasty 
when all you can mix it with is Jell-o juice or broth.
I can't get my required liquid in yet but I'm working on it. It's weird like everybody says I don't even think about eating or drinking I have to force my self to. Now, that, coming from a woman that has always loved food {and I always thought there had to be Italian in me cause I love it like they do. * NOT* I am as Irish Dutch as they come} I didn't believe I would ever see the day I would have to be reminded to eat!!!!! Even with all the little problems, I'd have WLS again in a minute! 
Can't wait for tomorrow, I go see Dr. H. for my one week follow up. I know I have bound to have lost something. I am not swelled or swelling with fluid like before I can actually see my ankle bones again!!
I hope if you stayed with me through the whole story 
you found something that will help you. OK it's late or early which ever way you want to look at it. I have had to retype parts of this over like 3 times because of losing it on account of my dial up. 
Looking into getting Satellite Internet, CAN'T WAIT!!!!!
Oh yes one more lovely detail. I have had diarrhea since Friday ?????
Liquid in ~ Liquid out!!!! 
Talk to you all later
Brenda
I am glad to see you didn't forget who I was!
First off I would like to thank everyone for your uplifting prayers. Thank you for the phone calls and for the visits and care and concern that you have shown me and my husband during our surgery time and for all the prayers for travel mercies.
I feel very privileged to have met Colette and her husband Mel. Jan and her husband Joe and Dear Linda, thank you all for taking time to see me.
Thank you so much for caring enough to want to know how I was doing. I also would like to thank you Colette for the goodie basket that was very thoughtful, and I love the orange lotion ! You will have to let me know where you got it so I can get some more.
Also a great big thank you to Melissa my for calling and checking on me you have been great and it has been a pleasure to talk to you.
I have thought for two days about what I was going to write on here when I logged on, and I decided for the sake of the ones yet to have their surgery and for my own sake when I have to face God I should be truthful about my surgery experience.
I have suffered from chronic pain so long that when someone asked me how I was feeling I would just say "Oh, I have my good days and bad days" because for the most part, and I don't mean this badly, they are asking because "that is what we are supposed to do", most everyone has so much on their plate that we don't need to add to it. I have my dear dear husband to tell my troubles to and God will always listen! So I try to smile and say I'm fine, but I feel it would be best if I told exactly how I have felt the last 5 days.
I don't want to scare everyone that is planning on having the RNY done but I also feel I have to be upfront about my experience, good or bad.
And I believe this would have been very interesting for me to hear before surgery.
I have had 8 surgeries since 1974 and all were under general anesthesia. I have never had a laporascopic surgery until my WLS. I don't know if that makes a difference or not or the fact I am older but I had my last surgery prior to this one in 2005.
My husband and I arrived at Bothwell at 6:20 a.m. When I was called back to pre-op or I guess it was the SDS room, everyone was great and very kind.
The first nurse that gave me care was Christine and she got all my vitals and had me dress in the gown and all that. She came back to start my IV and tried twice but my veins kept blowing , no fought of the nurse.
Then nurse Maggie looked at me and decided she wouldn't try. Then in came nurse Denny and she was a little rougher but she got the IV going, after one more blowed vein.
Then I had to leave my hubby, after lots of prayer and kisses, they took me to the holding area for OR.
There I met nurse Laura and my "Nurse Anesthetist" Connie. They were both just the best. Connie set down on a stool right beside the gurney I was laying on and talked to me and asked if I had any questions or fears about anything. I did ask her several things which she answered very sweetly and professionally and satisfied what I wanted to know. She was such a pleasure to talk to. She also told me that she was married to a doctor there at Sedalia but I can't recall who she said it was. She, Laura and I had a great visit.
They rolled me into the OR and I remember this part vividly, when I first went to the SDS room where I got on the gurney there was a navy blue nylon looking cover over the sheet that you lay down on . They said it was an air mattress that they would use to transfer me. I had worked in the medical field for almost twenty years and had never seen a medical air mattress like that. When I asked why there was no air in it and why it was flat they said I would see how it worked in OR. ????
Now as I was saying when they rolled me up next to the surgical table I thought "oh I hate to have to slide over to that table cause it's always so hard", even if your not "fluffy".
So I started to raise up and they stopped me and said now we will show you this great invention. About six people got around the tables and got hold of some straps and one of them stuck what looked like a vacuum tube in one corner of the mattress and it blew in air and I started to float , I felt like I was on a hovercraft!! They just glided me over to the table!!!
After that everything gets a little sketchy, I remember them saying that I was going to go to sleep and then it was lights out.
I woke up in recovery with them telling me to breathe deep. They took me to my room and there was my DH waiting. They made me comfortable and got my vitals every ten to fifteen minutes.
The first night I do have to admit I hit the pain button a lot. I have a high tolerance for pain but it felt to me like someone had thrown a big softball at me and it stuck just left center of my chest. Needless to say I didn't sleep well the first night.
The next morning they took me down for my leak test and I passed it, no leaks. The x-ray tech I had was named Russ and he was great, he explained everything to me.
That day I still was in pain with the softball. They brought me my tray of juice, coffee {which I do not drink} broth, & Jell-O. I did ask if they would bring me some decaf ice tea which they did.
While I was attempting to try to figure out how to go about drinking the liquids Dena {Dr. H's office manager} came in to see me and she is such a delight. She showed me how to pour Jell-O, juice & broth into the little 30cc plastic cups and to drink it over 15 minutes and repeat if I felt I could hold it. Well I didn't hold more than the first ones. Dena is also a post WLS patient and has lost like close to 200 lbs and she looks great.
After Dena left Marge came in {by the way if you didn't know she is Mrs. H.} she is also a great lady. She and Dena were going to lunch and popped in to visit me.
My husband had seen Dr. H. that morning on a bike dressed like Lance Armstrong during the Tour La France and asked Marge was he training for something and she said he was fighting the battle of gaining weight , that he had to work at looking good so he wouldn't be like the doctor that tells you to quit smoking and then when you go to the store to get your medicine you see him buying cigarettes.
I got a call from Jan and Melissa on Friday, thanks gals.
Linda and Colette both came to see me on Friday, thank you for the great visits.
I took a shower on Friday with my hubby's help. I got so weak I didn't think I would make it back to the chair.
Later that night when they came to take my vitals my O2 sats were only 77. They came and took them again in a few minutes and it was like 82, I still had the I.V. and oxygen so they told me to take deep breaths when they put the pulse ox pin on my finger and they finally came up to 92 so they accepted that . That happened several times that night. I was getting breathing treatments every 4 hours but it didn't seem like it was helping.
Then my I.V. infiltrated and I got stuck a couple more times with no success. Then a nurse came in which I do not remember her name, she was house supervisor that night, and started my I.V. it felt like she rammed a sword up my arm she wasn't to gentle or to slow about it, she started in the bend of my right elbow which was bad cause I'm right handed and every time I moved my pump beeper would go off. Then they came to draw blood and the only good vein I have for blood drawing is the one the I.V. is in, the nurse said lab could draw blood from my I.V. port but lab didn't want to do it that way and drew blood from my wrist after a few jabs!
Also on Friday they took out my catheter and with all this other going on I hadn't thought about urinating at all. About 6 to 7 hours later I remembered I hadn't urinated so I called the nurse and they asked me if I felt like I had to go and I said no. But they got me up and when I sat down on the toilet I didn't think I was going to stop, thank the Good Lord cause I didn't want anything keeping me from going home Saturday.
{Just a note, there is not much space in the bathroom between the toilet and sink so be careful and don't hit your hip like I did}
Now this whole time since Thursday night I had a horrible headache, it felt like the top of my head was coming off. So I was using the pain pump for my headache and back pain from laying in that uncomfortable bed.
Then I started running a fever. so I prayed with all this going on they would let me go home. I kept running a fever off and on till I came home.
Dr. H. came in to see me Saturday and said I could go home. They DC'd my I.V. and we were out of there by like 1:30 I think.
I would like to thank all the floor nurses and nurse aides that took care of me on 3rd floor: Carrie, Estella, Ruth Ann, Lisa, Cookie, Sidney, Yuliya & Danelle also ward clerk Regina. If I missed anyone I'm sorry.
The trip home was horrible. We stopped at Walgreen's to get my liquid pain med. I took it twice going home. I had to have DH stop like 3 times to go pee, I felt like I was going buckets.
We made it home I think in less than 5 hours cause DH was exceeding the speed limit if you know what I mean.
When I got home I went to bed and stayed there except for taking in, letting out or walking. I started running a temp again Saturday night, the highest it got was 100.4 which is pretty high for me considering normal for me is 96 to 97. I took crushed Tylenol ????? And finally Monday I quit spiking a temp.
Tuesday I got up feeling better, I still felt like I had a softball in my belly but I put an ice pack on it and it made it feel better.
I don't like having to crush my meds ,he left me on, taking them is nasty when all you can mix it with is Jell-o juice or broth.
I can't get my required liquid in yet but I'm working on it. It's weird like everybody says I don't even think about eating or drinking I have to force my self to. Now, that, coming from a woman that has always loved food {and I always thought there had to be Italian in me cause I love it like they do. * NOT* I am as Irish Dutch as they come} I didn't believe I would ever see the day I would have to be reminded to eat!!!!! Even with all the little problems, I'd have WLS again in a minute!
Can't wait for tomorrow, I go see Dr. H. for my one week follow up. I know I have bound to have lost something. I am not swelled or swelling with fluid like before I can actually see my ankle bones again!!
I hope if you stayed with me through the whole story you found something that will help you. OK it's late or early which ever way you want to look at it. I have had to retype parts of this over like 3 times because of losing it on account of my dial up. Looking into getting Satellite Internet, CAN'T WAIT!!!!!
Oh yes one more lovely detail. I have had diarrhea since Friday ?????
Liquid in ~ Liquid out!!!!
Talk to you all later
Brenda 
Wowzers Brenda that was great reading what all you went through. I had wondered what all they do before during and after surgery. Now I know
So sooo glad your doing ok, been wondering how ya were and all. God is so good soooo good. I'll keep you in my prayers that you keep recovering well. Thank you so much for taking the time to write that.
God Bless Ya!
Andrew
that was great reading what all you went through. I had wondered what all they do before during and after surgery. Now I know
So sooo glad your doing ok, been wondering how ya were and all. God is so good soooo good. I'll keep you in my prayers that you keep recovering well. Thank you so much for taking the time to write that.
God Bless Ya!
Andrew 
Brenda
Wow it's amazing that you remember all of that. I don't even remember getting taken away from my DH and DD. They put something in my iv to help relax me and that was all she wrote for me. LOL The next thing I knew I was in my room in the bed already. LOL
And to let you in on a little secret I had the runs too when I got home. I even asked Melissa in an e-mail how long before I would know when I need to pass gas or if I really had to go. LOL It was that bad for me. So just hang in there. It really does get better.
God Bless You.
Sky
Good Morning Sky,
Yeah it is amazing that I remembered that!!!
I normally can't remember where my keys are
I wrote all the names down that I could.
When I started thinking about writing it all of it just seemed to poor out the end of my fingers!! Now that's God at work!!!!
As for as the diarrhea, I also had a lot of gas when I got home and then, as I think if we all admit it, I had to pass gas and got more than I bargained for!!! 
I am at the point now that I try not to sneeze or cough or stump my toe on the way to the bathroom!!
Brenda
I wrote all the names down that I could.
When I started thinking about writing it all of it just seemed to poor out the end of my fingers!! Now that's God at work!!!!
As for as the diarrhea, I also had a lot of gas when I got home and then, as I think if we all admit it, I had to pass gas and got more than I bargained for!!!
I am at the point now that I try not to sneeze or cough or stump my toe on the way to the bathroom!!
Brenda 
Thanks, dear Brenda. I'm so glad you're home and doing so well. You sound like yourself again. I can't wait to join all of you on the losing side. I expect it will be sometime near Easter. A time of resurrection and re-birth for sure. I am anxious but not frantic. I know it will happen in God's good time. He has taken care of me for 62 years, a few more months won't be a problem at all. I had my annual physical yesterday and all was good. I have to admit I had a few worries because I keep wondering if they are going to find something that will make me unable to have the surgery. But I passed with flying colors and my PCP is so supportive. Hope you continue to do as well as you have so far. Know you will. MO OH board prayer warriors are at work and God hears even our thoughts. Hugs and love.
Lana
Brenda: Welcome back! I LOVED your account of your experience. When I first started reading I thought, oh,oh, this is not going to be good, she's going to say that it was a huge mistake to have WLS.... I am slated to go under the laser, so to speak, on Monday -- even though I'll be going through this in Columbia rather than Sedalia, I'm sure that the experience is very similar. Thanks for being so forthright and candid!
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