Just had surgeryy Monday and I am in hell

I just had surgery Monday and I feel like this was a cruel joke and I'm living in HELL.  I hhurt so much.  The doctor gave me liquid morphine to fill for home and guess what even the hospital I was in won't fill it.  I hurt so bad.  I am soooooooooooo swelled up.  My stomach is way larger thatn it was when I went in !!!!!  and according to my scale at home I gained 3 pounds.  What the >>>>>  I haven't eaten in five days !!!!!!!!!  I know I am scared and I knew I would be in some pain but this is worse than child birth.  Somebody please tell me it wil get better.  I can't find a comfortable possition.  How can you go from using a morphine pump every 10 minutes to tylenol.  I hurt. I'm extremely bloated I'm passed miserable a long time ago.  what happened

The bloating is normal -- they filled you with gas and re-routed your gastrointestinal system.  I took Gas-X liqigels and it helped me.  My Dr. prescribed small pain pills but I managed my pain with a heating pad and a pillow over my stomach.  CALL your doctors office and ask about alternate pain meds.  Try to move around as much as you can -- once you are able to get the gas to pass out of your belly you will begin to feel better.  That first week is  tough one!  Hang in there -- my surgery was 2-7-08 and I feel really, really good now.  I'm off 4 medicines and just feel great.  I am finding what I can and can not tolerate though and that's not fun -- I hate that feeling when I eat too much, too fast or a food I can't tolerate -- YUCK!  IT REALLY WILL GET BETTER!  Don't suffer though -- contact your surgeon for medicine. 

Trust me, Lynne, it WILL get better!  I am 2 1/2 weeks out now and feel really, really good.  DEFINITELY call your doc and ask about different pain medicines.  Mine prescribed LorTab elixer (basically Tylenol with Vicodin kind of thing) and it worked great.   Don't lose heart over the weight gain.  It happens to all of us.  You've had saline IVs, have had /gases pumped into your body and are swollen.  Trust me, your loss will come faster than you think!  I just had my 2 week weigh-in and had lost almost 20 lbs already!!  Not long until that will be YOU!  My last piece of advice is walk, walk, WALK.  It really helped me get rid of the gas and get all my plumping "back to normal" again.  Best of luck and if you have questions, fire away since I was just there a couple of weeks ago!

Hi Lynne! It totally gets better.  Promise.  I am a month out and feel like a different person.  Those first couple weeks are really rough...worse than I ever expected!  No one really talks about how bad it is, so I think it is surprising when you get there and feel like DEATH!  But it really does get better.  I would call your doctor and get different pain medicine.  You at least need it to sleep...if you are in that much pain, you can't be sleeping well and you need that to heal.  My doctor prescibed a liquid oxycodone...and I took it for about 2 weeks after the surgery. And the local CVS filled it with no problem.  I would call them ASAP and see if they can call in another prescription for you.  There is no reason you should have to be suffering like that. Also, my doctor told me not to even worry about my weight for the first month. You are so filled with fluid and gas...it will talk a while for that to normalize.  At a month out, you will definitely see a difference.  Just take care of yourself and concentrate on getting better right now.

Thank you all so much.  I usually am a very strong person and able to cope but this really threw me.  I knew I would feel bad but I was not expecting such severe continuing pain.  I also had a horrible stay in the hospital and I'm sure that really threw me into a downword spin of pain and self pitty and being scared.  After reading post ofter post of how so many people just bounced back and how great they felt a week out I think I panicked also.  Thanks for listening and offering suggestions.  I mean that.     Lynne

did you have open or lap?.....if it was open I can understand the pain. I think the best thing to do is get up and walk as much as possible. You'll do just fine...in a couple of weeks it will all be but a dream. Dave

It will get better I promise!! My dr. also sent me home with the vicodin elixor and well thank God!!! lol But a pillow and heationg pad works gret too. Walk walk walk is the answer! Did they send you home with a tummy binder? Those helped too. Take care and keep in touch! pam

Lynne, I am still preop so I can't offer any advice. But I want you to know that I hope you feel better soon. I do agree, call your surgeon for a different pain med. Take care!

Hang in there, Lynne, it does get better.  I'm not quite two weeks out and still have some pain with the biggest incision, but other than that it is good.  But I had to laugh in the hospital, the nurses we had told me and my wls roomie that we needed to pass as much gas as we could because that would help with the pain and swelling:  it was "our time" to be unladylike without apology.  And we took them to heart!  Walking helped that process along a lot.  Even if it's walking the width of the living room, walk, walk, walk. My heart is with you. Janice

Hi - I am pre-op so I can not say that I can relate yet.   But I wanted to say something about your comment that you haven't eaten in 5 days!!!  You really really have to get your water and your protein in.   Sip on the flavored Protein Shakes...... sip on the water.   Walk and sip - walk and sip - that is what my NUT says will make the gas go away!!! GOOD LUCK, Kelly