post surgery questions
Hello everyone,
Well it has been a little over three weeks since my surgery (March 15) and I've had a few problems already. I had a hand assisted lap RNY and I ended up staying in the hospital for 5 days because of accelerated heart rate and swollen bowels. I went home for three days and ended up back in the hospital for pneumonia. I was in for three days on that second trip. Then they found out that I have a blood clot in one leg, but it is below the knee so they are just treating with Bayer aspirin so far. I wasn't able to sleep in my bed until just two nights ago because I could not lay flat or even propped up with a few pillows. This has been alot harder then I thought it would be. I've never had any kind of major surgery before so this has been a real eye-opener for me. Anyway, my question is, is it normal for your abdomen to still be very tender and swollen after three weeks out. The hole center of my stomach is very tender and it feels like I can't stand totally straight (you know they way our mother's always told us to stand with shoulders back etc...). Also letely, drinking water makes me a little nauseous for like 2-3 minutes after taking a drink. This did not start happening until about three days ago. Nothing else that I eat or drink really makes me feel bad, so I don't know what to think. Maybe my pouch is just touchy right now for some reason. Well if anyone can provide any enlightenment I would appreciate it. Oh by the way, I am down 29 pounds. WOO HOO on that part 
Hi Pam, sorry you have had a rough road so far. I believe that the tenderness is pretty normal, I know I was fortunate to be better after a week or so, but know of others that stayed ouchy for longer, especially the bending and standing straight. I had difficulty with water-it actually hurt where other things didn't. I was advised to try more room temperature water instead of cold and it did go down better. I also switched to mostly drinking propel which seemed to go down better also. Hope that helps. Chris
Lise 
Yay Pam! I am so glad to hear from you again. I drove Dr. K's office nuts asking if you were okay. (Which of course they couldn't and wouldn't tell me.) The middle of my stomach is tender too, but I am assuming it is because Dr. K had to cut thru muscle and the muscle is what is causing the pain and burning. I saw the doc today, I have...are you ready-this is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard-"fat necrosis". Apparently what this means is the fat below my skin is not getting any circulation, and is dying and *gulp* draining out my incision. Blechblechblech. Anyway, my surgery was 9 days ago and I am down 16 lbs. I go back to work at one job tommorrow, the other on Monday.
Are you drinking tap water? Maybe try bottled-at more room temp???
I am glad you are doing so much better.
Hi Pam! Good job on your wt. loss so far! When I was a new postop I was very sore also. What saved me was the elastic binder they put on us immed. after surgery. I was told to leave it on for 3 weeks-I wore it continuously except for my shower! I could really tell the difference when I took it off for my shower-I was ready to put it back on!!! As far as the H2O, I had problems with it,too. Others also,but noone seemed to know the cause! Really,anything cold would hurt going down and it hurt for awhile. I am 6 months out and that problem is resolved-only hurts if I drink too fast! Hope you stay healthy now for good! Jan
Hey Pam,
Whoa, you had a rough time. I am now 6.5 weeks out and I started having problems with water about 2 weeks ago. It has now passed and water is once again my friend. And as for the sore belly, I'm still sore from time to time. I had the open procedure and was told that as my abdominal muscles heal, it will hurt more and more and then it will just stop. For me, at first it felt like I'd done 10,000 crunches and then it felt like somebody punched me. Now it's just a little discomfort now and then. It seems that different stages of healing bring about new little corks and questions. Everytime something feels not quite right, I get on this message board and ask about it and somebody chimes in and helps me understand. Thank God for this message board!!!
Good luck and Happy healing
Temeka (supermodel trapped in a Lane Bryant catalog) LOL
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