I'm a loser!
Surgery went well. I had the laparoscopic procedure, and surgery took 3.5 hours on Thursday. I was in recovery for a couple of hours and was taken to my room at about 8:30pm (surgery was delayed about 2 hrs due to complications in the first surgery of the day that the doctor did). I have 5 inch long cuts on my stomach, and a circular hole where the JP tube was. After surgery and for the first part of Friday I was in a lot of pain. The Morphine button was a lifesaver that got me through that. I then went on midday Friday onto a liquid form of percocet which I took the rest of Friday and Saturday. I was up and walking (with assistance) at around 11:45 Thursday night when I started coming out of the fog of anesthesia. By Friday night, they said I was walking well enough that I was able to get out of bed and walk by myself (they took the catheter out then.). Saturday morning I had my first BM after surgery (one of the requirements for discharge) and the doctor on Saturday afternoon came in and said I was able to go home. He took out my staples and the jp tube, and put on steri-strips. I'm feeling pretty good. Just sore like I had run a marathon, and my stomach doesn't hurt too bad, it just feels like I am recovering from being kicked in the stomach a couple of times. I've been doing resting, walking around the apartment complex and using the machine to test my air capacity after the surgery. Today I went with my dad to do some errands at the grocery store and such that lasted 2 hours and while I feel tired from it, I still didn't and didn't overexert myself. I'm on clear liquids until at least Friday when I have my one week follow-up, and I haven't taken any pain medication since the night I got out of the hospital. Recovery is going slowly but surely.
It was great to have visitors on Friday, My friend Tom came up during his lunch break at the Capitol, and Juan and Rick came to visit. It was definitely nice having someone else to talk to. My folks were very positively impressed by both Juan and Rick and their success so far. The person I shared a room with for my stay had a number of visitors, including his mother and sister, both of whom had RNY surgery and have been successful in keeping it off added to their relief in this procedure. Even my LPN on both Friday and Saturday had the surgery and was talking to both me and them about what he went through and how it changed his life.
On a sad note, the day I was discharged from the hospital, my grandfather fell and broke his hip in the nursing home, and when he was being prepped for surgery at the hospital they found out that his kidneys both completely shut down. He refused medical treatment so they gave him pain medication, and he passed away Saturday evening in his sleep. I'm a bit disappointed I won't be able to attend the funeral since I can't fly for 3 months, and wouldn't be up to a 6 hr drive. My mom and sister who were driving up at the time had to turn around and drive home, and my dad is staying with me until either wednesday or thursday. He'll be coming to Renewal tomorrow night.
At weigh in before surgery I found out I lost 16 pounds on the liquid diet before surgery. I don't know what I've lost since then since my scale doesn't kick in for 20 more pounds so I'm not going to bother to check it this week (at Rick's insistence!) I'll find out what I'm at at my appointment with Dr. Kellogg on Friday.
I'm happy that the whole experience was so successful (except for 1 small customer service issue with the hospital pharmacy that the doctor calling today "resolved" if you know what I mean). Thanks especially to Juan and Rick, and everyone here and at Renewal for all their support thus far, and continued support in the future.
John Lap RNY 2/10/05
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