Surgery Friday and I'm very scared!!!

252-299-1055

Call anytime you need anything.. including any angel reports you want me to pass along.  Really, I'll answer the phone day or night.

Andrea
I love your new picture...you look so thin!!!  I will call you from the hospital...my husband cannot be there so I'll be taking the neighbor...her name is Eugenie if you end up getting a call from her instead.  Thanks so much for all your support...you've been a life saver with your wealth of knowledge!!!

You will be just fine.  I was scared and nervous before my surgery.

I remember waking up and not feeling like I had had surgery.  I knew I did and the drain and staples showed it, but I was sick at all.  You will have a pain pump and they only let you keep it for on long and then you go on oral meds.

I love dr p, the bonus is how handsome he is.  I beleive you'll be fine.  I had a csection too and it hurt like heck.  This is nothing at all to worry about it.  They have great nurses and accomodations at North East Medical.  I worse symptom after surgery was a dry mouth.

You are sooo...right!!!  He is VERY handsome...I hope I wake up to him looking at me....LOL...I can live with the dry mouth...LOL

Thanks for your reassurance!

For me, I had pain "inside", not much in the incision areas.  You'll have 6 little holes and one of them will have a JP drain coming out of it.  Then day 2, you'll start feeling some gas crampiness.  The best thing you'll be able to do to get rid of that is get up and walk -- and don't worry, we're going to make you do that part anyway whether you want to or not. 

It will feel different to drink in that you'll fill up quickly and you'll need to sip slowly.  If you drink too fast, you'll feel it bubble up in the back of your throat.  You'll not have anything to drink the night of your surgery.  We won't give you anything until 6 a.m. the next morning (Saturday morning for you).  Then you'll only get 1 medicine cup full of water from 6 til 10 a.m.  At 10 a.m., you will be allowed to start having 1 medicine cup of water and 1 medicine cup of protein shake per hour.  At 2 p.m., you'll be allowed to have 2 medicine cups of water and 1 medicine cup of shake per hour.  By this time, most people are so full that they're telling us they need to slow down.  I remember that feeling all too well.  But we will direct you every step of the way ... you're going to be fine! 

We'll give you a Dilaudid pain pump the night of surgery.  That gets cut off at 6 a.m. the next morning and we start you on pain pills.  That is more than adequate for the vast majority of our patients to control their pain.  And getting up and moving is crucial to your pain control, as well. 

I won't only say a prayer for you around 1 p.m. Friday ... I will be looking forward to you coming to the unit postoperatively!  It will probably be right around shift change (my shift ends at 7 pm), but if you get up there before I leave then I'll pop in to say hello. 

Dena
Is the drain removed before you leave the hospital?  Does that hurt to have it taken out?  I hope I get to see you on Friday after surgery....it would be so nice to see someone who has already been through the same thing!  I tend to cry when I wake up from anesthia...I hope I'm not a blubbering idiot!!!

We take the drain out either on postop day 1 or 2, so for you that will either be Saturday or Sunday.  When the drainage coming into the drain slows down, the doctor will order for it to be taken out.  I honestly do not ever remember one of their patients leaving the hospital with a drain after RNY.  It usually does not hurt, and it's quick so even if it does cause you discomfort, by the time you realize it, it's over.  I remember having mine pulled out, and for me it was just a sense of "wow, that was a weird feeling" but not pain. 

You can cry if you want to after anesthesia ... we won't mind!  By the time you get up to the unit, you'll probably be fairly alert and over that part of it.  I was very sleepy that night, but you may be different. 

Can't wait to meet you! 

I never really had any pain. (Thank you Dr. Harris!)
My incisions were a tad sore but honestly? The worst part for me was trying to clean off that darn sticky tape residue.

Mare

I have a tape allergy...they turn into burns under the tape so I'm just going to leave the sticky stuff there...LOL

Do yourself a favor and make sure that Dr. Pirrello and his staff at the office are aware of your tape allergy.  Take my word for this!!!

I am allergic to tape, too, and when they removed my staples one week postop, they painted benzoin on the incisions and placed Steri-Strips there.  Within minutes, I started itching.  Within hours, I had blisters around each and every incision.  It was miserable. 

Please make sure they're aware before they paint it on your skin so you don't end up being miserable.