6 Days Post Op Update

Hi Everyone

Sorry for being MIA, I had not a great go of things. The positive news is that for all intents and purposes my surgery itself went well.

Before I go over my "fun" stuff so far I want to say I still would go through with the surgery. Here are my two cents for those going through the screening/getting ready for surgery:

1. Once you are alert after the surgery do a lap every two hours minimal. While I still had gas pain this is the best thing to help pass. Also, once you pass that main amount there is still more so don't stop walking. Take a sip of water, go pee, go for a walk, rest and repeat. I can almost promise you that how you are treated, and the respect you receive from the staff will be proportional to how you help yourself and getting in the liquids the best you can and walking are the only things you can do.
2. Absolutely no one will have the same journey. You are going to feel pain differently, going to pass gas at a different rate, going to accept fluids and foods at different rates.
3. You are likely going to question what you got yourself into the first few days after surgery. Everyday you get a bit better. These thoughts will pass. Just keep reminding yourself it is for you and your health.
4. Pass gas/fart/toot! What ever term you call it just do it often and do it proudly following surgery. As soon as you can, do not stop it. Everyone on your floor is going to be farting. Everyone that is in your room has farted in their life. If they get offended or you are not comfortable to do that in front of your guests tell them not to be there. If you aren't comfortable making that call, the nurses will gladly do it for you because in the end, nothing excites them more than hearing that you moving the gas along.
5. The nursing staff has heard of everything and seen everything. If something is bothering you, you have a weird feeling but think it is nothing, feel like pain has shifted, or you feel cold, warm, thirsty, stressed or sad LET THEM KNOW. Something we may think is nothing may be an important piece of information for the nursing staff.

Now for the "fun" of it all..

Apparently my body had built up quite a bit around the band and the port so there was a lot of hacking to do in those areas. Luckily they were able to remove the band laproscopically but my port was removed open cut. They are small so the location looks like a slightly larger insertion point. I have a total of 6 points and 27 staples.

Both myself and the team were aware that I don't come out of GA well. Normally I am a little out of it for longer than usual and I come out agitated (I accidentally hit a nurse with my flailing fist the first surgery I ever had). I wasn't agitated but I did take most of the day to become alert. They suspect this is because additional GA was added when they encountered how encapsulated the band was.

One thing that was unexpected was that I couldn't stomach the Demerol very well. They ended up having yo mix in some gravol with each dosage to stop me from vomiting.

Like with all mod section surgeries the gas was the worst of all the pain. By the time I finally passed my gas middle of the night Saturday I had done so many laps around the floor that I had met all of the nurses and a good chunk of the patients on the floor. Luckily my roommate had surgery earlier in the week and was discharged Saturday during the day so no one else had to experience the gas passing. Once the gas was gone I ditched the Demerol and went to the T2.

I was hoping that I was going to be discharged with the other Bariatric patients on Sunday but apparently I still had a bit of a fever, they had put me back on blood pressure meds because it was out of control and my white blood cell count went up instead of down on Sunday so they kept me in an extra day. Besides how uncomfortable those beds were it wasn't too bad.

I finally made it home Monday. Besides being very tired it wasn't too bad. Tuesday was about the same. Tuesday night was when I started to notice that my tolerance or like for certain things was changing. I used to always have some Premiere Protein in our house since I was active and on the go and it was an easy way to get some nutrients into me. Tuesday night I had to force myself to get it down. The smell and taste of it both make me want to vomit. Another weird smell thing is that the smell of my dogs was getting offensive. Something about their breath is curling my stomach. My mom got me some unflavoured protein and I have been putting it in a butternut squash soup. I do not like a single 'cream of' soup and thought of the milkyness of the powder in brother was turning my stomach. While I don't think it is the ideal it is what I am doing with a tablespoon of yogurt a couple times a day to get some protein and substance (read non-water) in my diet.

Wednesday was a different story. I woke up with horrible lightheadedness/dizziness. I thought it was the T2s so I didn't take anymore but it kept getting worse through the day. Unless I was laying down, it felt like the room was spinning. Around 3 I called the clinic and they advised going to my doctor's office of the ER to have my vitals and labs done. Wednesday is the day my family doctor makes his rounds to the nursing homes so he was not available but typically one of the other 6 doctors or the nurse practitioner will see you. Not a single doctor would open a space in their schedule to see me so off to the ER we went. After many hours there it was finally determined that I am lucky enough to have to recover from vertigo as well.

Today I am still pretty dizzy. My in laws spent the day with me to make sure I was okay and handle the dogs and help out.

I am really hoping it passes soon. Pain wise I barely have anything. Some pain around the staples if I over inflate when breathing or lean on it while laying down but that is it. I honestly only take a regular Tylenol or 2 a day now.

Hopefully everyone else is recovering well and that people are moving through the process. Remember to keep fighting for yourself through this.

Welcome back Gbears! It sounds like you have had a helluva week. I hope the worst is behind you and you can move on to straight healing and losing now. Hallelujah that the band is out.

Wishing you ease from here on in.

G bears.. so glad you are recovering!! Take care !!!

Hi Gbears!

Wow! Crazy week for you. Hopefully you will feel better soon.

You are so right about walking the halls in the hospital. I made sure that I walked every hour on the hour 1,2 or 3 laps depending on how I was feeling. When I got back to my room I made sure I drank as much water I could, read a little and then it was time for a walk again. I am certain by doing this, I have avoided having complications. I'm still feeling good and hope for the best for you too.

Barb

I'm so glad that you're home and recovering now; so sorry you had a rough time. I had trouble with smells early out too; a few weeks after surgery I was standing next to a Valentine display of marshmallow chocolates and I almost got sick in line at the check out counter from the smell.

Sounds like you have had a tough go of it. I hope things improve for you.

It does get better every day. Take it one day at a time.

Feel better, and hope your recovery is smooth sailing from here on in.

Best wishes.

Hey Gbears, its nice to hear from you. Sorry to hear things didn't go as planned, however sounds like you are on your way now. I hope recovery continues to get better/easier for you. Julie

This was amazing and great to read. I am in line for December and I am sorry to hear you are having some bumps on the road but this is so good to know. Being prepared is the main thing for me. I know everyone's road is different but the more I read the better.