QOTD May 11

Good Morning All! TGIF! It has been a long week- hooray for the upcoming weekend! This question is for all of you Post Ops How long was your recovery from surgery? What kind of restrictions were you on - and how did it go? I am not nervous about the surgery itself = but the recovery after! Lori

lets see, I had my surgery on n0v 15 2005, and I was back to work by dec. 15 I think. I did go back for half days for 1 week than full days for a week than back to over time the next. I worked in a factory tho. So maybe other kinds of jobs are easier to get back to faster. I than had to have a second surgery in Jan of o6 and was off for another 2 weeks or so. But I had a different job then. I really did not have any incision pain or anything that would require me to take pain pills after either surgery. I think I have a high threshhold for pain too. I have a hernia I have to get taken care of sometime after July. I'm more worried about that and restrictions than I was the rny. doesn't that sound crazy. anyway I love that I had the surgery and feel so great. now on another note, it seems everytime I write on here or even on the main message board no matter what I type somebody comes back and bashes me. I just don't understand it. I getting to the point where I won't even come on anymore. I don't write to oftedn and when I do It always happens. so anywoy hope this helps and I wish you luck and joy with you surgery. Betty

Good Morning! My surgery was 10-27-06 (Friday) and I went home on Sunday around noon. Stayed home for a week and took liquid pain meds (Roxicet) for 4-5 days. One day, in the middle of the week, I vacuumed, and boy, was THAT a mistake!!! I hurt like crazy for 2 days. Slept A LOT, but in the recliner. I was in the recliner for about 2 weeks. I went back to work for half days November 6 (10 days) and home for naps in the afternoons. I was not to lift anything over 15 lbs. for 6 weeks. Went back full time 11-14-06 after my 2 week check-up on the 13th. Still had pain in the left incision site, but bearable. Was fully recovered within 3 weeks I would say. Good luck to you!!! Follow directions and you should be fine! Dawn

Hey ladies, if you wouldn't mind, did you have laproscopic or open? Thanks, Pam

Hi there Lori, I went to Mexico for my surgery. I flew in on Monday (Feb 19th 2007) at around 3pm..by 8pm I was in surgery. I had a pretty miserable first night. But the next day felt quite a bit better. Spent that day walking and sleeping. Next day was my blue water test and all checked out so we were off to the resort to re-coop by the ocean. I spent three days there and it was wonderful. Did tons of walking and a nice siesta in the afternoons. We flew home --- Oh I bet you remember this..that awful blizzard. We came home to that. We were one of the last flights allowed to land at O'Hare and from there we drove in every kind of weather trying to get home. After driving for over six hours and we saw a snow plow off the rode we pulled over in the next town and stayed the night. Oh well....what a story though. I was never so glad to get home and back to my three kids. Anyhow my dh stayed home that first part of the next week so I did not have to lift our daughter up for diaper changes and such until I felt up to it. I sent him back to work towards the end of the second week. I was feeling quite good. Not tip top..but able to handle things on my own with the kids. I was not suppose to lift anything to heavy for a few weeks..but having a little one pretty much makes that impossible. I had the laproscopic surgery and all my cuts were very high(one right between my breasts and the rest just under them and one on my left side) So I think that helped me not worry to much about suffering from a hernia. Total recovery..that is so different from person to person. For me I felt practically 100 percent around week 8 or so. I am still a bit under in my levels of iron...so I need to work on getting more of that into my diet or start to take those darn pills. But if iron gets low or potassium does they can make you feel not to great. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Cathy

hi . my recovery was ok . not as bad as i thought i was gonna be. in the hospital was terrible. 10 days prior to surgery i was on a liquid diet, that was awefull (i was starving) . the night before surgery nothing to eat or drink after midnight. had to be at hospital by 5 , surgery at 7 . the 2 hours flew by. they wheeled me into operating room , but gave me a sedative. then i moved from my bed to operating table . then i woke up in recovery (very sleepy , no pain , really thirsty) . they soon brought me to my room . i got lucky i didnt have to share with anyone (private) and had my own shower. i was so terribly thirsty but could not drink anything. all they let me do is suck on a wet sponge. but the i noticed i had a tube in my nose going into my pouch . to prevent anything going into it. still very very sleepy , still no pain (maybe just a little discomfort ) . but i was on morphen or something in my iv (a constant dosage machine , i had a button. i had a cathater (i hate those ) . i also had an oxygen mask . i was pretty much out of it the rest of the day and night . i think i got the nose tube out the second day (late ) . i could feel my belly musciles were sore (but no pain ). i vaggly remember bleeding out , which required 2 units of blood transfusion. i was also having breathing issues . and they thought maybe it was my heart , so they sent a dr to test my heart , had the sticky things and wires all over me. got cathader out thursday (surgery was tuesday). oh i was able to shower thursday morning (that was great ) . i was a bit dizzy , so i had to sit and shower . they installed a bar so i could move myself around without straining my tummy . i used my arm strenghth. i watched alot of tv (but not much on ) i did have trouble sleeping for a long period of time. you would not believe all the infomercails on tv about diets ( i got angry ) not sure why. by thursday night i wasnt so sleepy but wanted to get out of the dang bed. so i went for a short walk . oh i almost forgot i had those things on my legs to prevent clots . and then i dont recall what day it was but they thought i might have had a blood clot in my leg . so they gave me an ultra sound on my let. no clot. so its friday morning ad im ready to go . dr says i cant cuz i been having issues with my oxygen levels . im still on oxygen but its tubes in my nostils (not the mask.) so dr orders a nebulizer and do my breathing exercizes. fun fun. anyways ifinally get to leave at 4 pm . i take a dose of pain meds before i leave. we stop at walgreens and get my meds. then go to grocery store to get cream of wheat cuz iknow i was out. i was not hungry at all. i was on clear liquids in hospital . dr said i could be on full liquids at home and that stage lasted 2 or 3 weeks (at this stage i didnt even think of protein . i didnt care . i was just thirsty and the smell or thought of food made me sick. oh the night i got out of hosital i was asleep on couch and woke up all bloody . i got scared (cuz i knew my hemoglobin was low) so i had hubby bring me to er . i turned out to be ok . gosh this is way too long (sorry) i moved through the stages pretty fast . by about 3 months post op i was eating solids. i did have some regrets right after surgery but i think everyone will go through that . because it is a magor , magor life change . i very quickly got over it. i had no pain after surgery , only discomfort . i was picking up house (lightly duties ) by about 1 and a half weeks post op. i wanted to go back to work by 3 weeks post op but my dr wouldnt sign it cuz he though i may have a blood clot in my lung (so i had to have a test for that ) , that was terrible , with the dye (felt like i was peeing all over. so i went back to work 4 weeks pst op. no restrictions per dr , but my boss said no unloading truck for 2 weeks. so there is my post op story in a nutshell................7 months post op and i feel wonderfull. 85 pounds lost , down 12 sizes.

Hi Lori, I had lap RYN on 1/30/07. My recovery went GREAT !! I was up walking two hours after being brought to my room per the doctors orders. Just a feeling of pressure on my stomach when I walked. Not really too much pain. The worst of it was the pain the pain in my shoulder from the air that they blow your stomach up with and when it travels up into your shoulder is where my pain was. Walking helped move that air and relieve the pain. I only had the iv with the morphine in it - no tubes down my throat or oxygen. I did have the leg pumps to prevent the clots which actually felt pretty good massaging my legs the entire time. I was very very thirsty but only had the sponge the first day. After passing the swallow test, the drink of water tasted soo good. I was out of the hospital in two days and slept in the recliner in the living room for about two weeks and that helped me get up and down and I slept better. I could have went back to work after a week or so (I work in an office) but my doctor did not release me until 6 weeks because he feels that is the time to get used to drinking water, exercising, eating and preparing my food. Restrictions were no vacuming and no heavy lifting (anything over a gallon of milk) All in all the surgery was great with no complications. Great question Shelly