Home, Sleeved - My Story

SLV May 7, 2012 at Trippler Army Medical Center with Dr Lym.

Went in on Friday May 4th for pre-op to get all my paperwork done, labs, etc...during pre-op they gave me a sheet of paper that say "no drinking water 4-6 hours before surgery", then later a nurse says no drinking anything starting midnight the night before (even though my surgery isn't until 1 the next day) so I ask the anstiasologist which is right and she says 4 hours before, no water. She says I can have water up until 8:30 AM on May 7th my surgery day. So, I did. I drank water until 8:30.Wrong move.

However, I get to the hospital on the 7th & they are ready early (10 AM) and I'm all ready to go on the bed to be wheeled in & the surgeon refuses to do the surgery last minute due to my water. They push me back and make me the last case of the day. Argh. Doc said not my fault as i got mixed messages but the still, he was frustrated with me.

I was terrified of surgery but it all went well. After, I had 5 openings, instead of 2. Originally the doctor was going thru the bellybutton and would have one opening for drainage but due to equipment troubles and him feeling fatiged, he did it the other way which was quicker, but recovering is now longer & a bit more painful....all thanks to the water.

My first night in recovery I had an amazing nurse - she was born to be a nurse and I'm so thankful for her but far to drugged to remember her name. Anyways, I will say the pain, for me, was off the charts. I had so much gass, burping & pressure I was moaning & groaning in pain all night...Another girl who was sleeved just before me in the morning, was doing the same which brought me some comfort that it was a bit normal. I have had 2 c-sections and this was by far much, much more painful. I'm glad I didn't know how painful a burp or bubble would be. The meds helped with all the pain but the burping & bubbles which were no joke - for me. Those who don't have this you are sooo lucky! Those who walk through and have no pain so so lucky! But I made it through so it clearly isn't the end of the world even in the moment it feels like it was.

The next day I had possibly the worlds worst nurse who litterally left me in the room after going to the restroom with the  nurse call button tucked up high on top of furntiure so I couldn't reach it, unhooked up to any monitors & no pain meds, no blankets, no water, etc.. I got myself in bed without any help but after an hour of waiting, I screamed my way out of bed unassisted, walked by myself to the nurses lounge and asked for a new nurse and he said "why, you are ok.". When I explained to him that I had been waiting for over an hour with no meds, no blanket, not hook up, no call button, no water, nothing, he said "I thought you were fine and could do it yourself."  Did he really expect me to jump up in the air to get my call button, hook up all the wires, dose myself, find water & bring it to my room, etc...less than 24 hrs after surgery. Thankfully, I was moved within a few hours never to see this horrible nurse again.

In recovery, a new, nicer nurse walks in with a tray of food & goes "Great news! You've been cleared to eat" and gives me a tray with eggs, pancakes & bacon. Not the nurses fault as they are just following orders but I corrected them and they bring me another "liquid" tray that included orange juice, chocolate milk and pudding - I let them know that I don't think I'm allowed this either as I wasn't cleared for it yet and I'm pretty sure organge juice isn't on the menu for me for a while (about 20 hours post-op). The nurse tells me this is correct and I'm wrong and i need to eat. He thought I was being picky and wouldn't listen. I just let it all sit there and didn't touch it. Finally, Dr Lym comes in for my morning rounds & gets and update. Thankfully they listen to him as they wouldn't listen to me.

Little things like this happend a lot. The nurse is following orders & normal protocal but that doesn't always apply to VSG's just after surgery & I'm explaining, they're explaining, it was unnerving. But thankfully everyone was really nice and seemed to really want to help & do a good job which made these moments much easier to deal with.

On day 3, I was looking forward to going home and they gave me full liquids which I had to have to be cleared. Unfortunately, they gave me skim milk with carnation instant breakfast - which was on the list that I could have but my stomache decided that it was not my friend. I spent the next 10+ hours in a lot of pain, they upped my meds & added in gas & nausea stuff too. I went back to broth & water. Next day I tried again (pudding with protien) and did great. I ate lunch too and got a total of almost 60 protiens in before leaving the hospital.

Total I was there for 4 nights, 5 days. Now, I'm finally home.

I loved my doctor. He did a great job. He really looked out for me and I love that he was overly causious with the water, surgery, food, etc.. The staff, over-all, was great. Very nice, helpful, but like any well-oiled machine, kind of ran on auto-pilot so when my stuff was off there normal routine, it messed with them a bit. If I hadn't have been educated about things and simply did what the staff told me, I would have been trying to eat bacon 1 day post-op so to me I'm really thankful for everything I learned before hand. I really had to be on own advocate and protect myself in many cases - not because people were trying to harm me, but because they weren't aware of my case & condition. This caught me off gaurd but glad I spoke up.

I have been walking 3+ times a day everyday since the day after surgery and it does help a lot.

Now I'm home, the pain is managable. Getting in fluids isn't hard just time consuming. Haven't been on the scale as I feel very swollen & think I'm might have gained a few pounds just in swelling & stuff.

Anyways, this was a learning experience... to those who are getting surgery in the future, really learn your stuff before hand because even though I had an over-all very positive experience, it could have been a very negative one if I wasn't properly educated & didn't advocate for myself while there.

Thanks for reading! :)

I had two c-sections too and your right the pain is worse! But the thing about this pain is that it goes away faster.  So in that way it's not so bad.  I'm sorry you had troubles.  They really need to get it together, I'd talk to your Dr. at your post op about all the mistakes they made.  All my information was up on a board in my room at the hospital.  No one ever made one mistake and they were really nice to me.  They didn't do anything before telling why and what they were doing.  Your Dr. needs to know all of this.  They could do potential harm to patients.  I'm glad you knew better!  Congrats on the surgery.

All I have to say is WOW. You have such a good attitude after all of that!!!? I'm impressed. Good for you. Welcome to the loser's bench! 

Oh you poor thing!

I'm so glad you took charge of your own health, educated yourself before the surgery, stood up for yourself after, and that the doctor was terrific.

And you're on the loser's bench now!

 Way to roll with the punches girl!!!!  But you really should let your doc know what happened in detail.  They just need more education and caution with bariatric patients.  If someone doesn't speak up about their inadequacies the next person will suffer the same things you did.  Glad you are home and healing nicely.  Can't wait to keep up with your progress.  

 You need to discuss this not only with your Dr. but also with your patient advocate.  One should have come to you before you left the military hospital.  They REALLY need to know this because what if someone else just trusted that the nurse knew what was right.  I also had mine at an MTF and my nursing staff was 100% and very familiar with bariatric surgery, for that I am lucky!

 OMG! Just wrote u a pm, but that was before I read this. I'm sorry you had such an experience. Glad you were prepared to take care of yourself, but that shouldn't be the case. I agree that your surgeon needs to know about these problems. Focus on the positive. You made it! You made it! And here we go on a brand new journey with a tiny stomach... Take care. katie

You were in the hospital a long time. A friend of mine had surgery and was only in overnight. And back to work in a week. I guess every dr is different.

Now I'm not sure what to expect...several people, including my doctor and his nurse, have told me that the VSG will be a piece of cake compared to my 2 c-sections. My c-sections weren't too bad. I guess I will find out on June 28th!