Yes! I am Back

Hi All! I am back it took me a couple of days but I came Thur with flying colors.

All the nurses at St.Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse were so excited because I was their first RNY patient. They were telling me that I made history. I want to say that they took excellent care of me and no matter what I asked for, someone was always right there when I buzzed them. On a scale of one to ten I would give St. Joseph's a ten for patient care. Oh! Yes I don't want to forget My Dr. William Graber and his staff. Thanks a million
Clara

I welcomed you back on another board-but wanted to say welcome back here too!

Congrats Clara,
 I wish I would have know St Joes did the surgery, I use to work there and love that hospital. I had mine on the 2nd and I wish I could say the same about Upstate. I was not happy there at all. I seem to be doing well just real tired and sore. Are you still really sore?

Hi! Michelle, I hope you are on the mend. Welcome to the losers bench. Today is the first day I could actually eat jello or drink my shake. Right up until today I slept about 3 times a day for 1-2 Hrs at a time. I still took a nap about 11 AM today. I feel that I am turning a corner today. I am at my son & daughter-in -laws. That is so they knew that I was okay. I am still really sore and I am really sort of scared to drink or eat to much. I don't want it to hurt. By that I mean I am not taking any chances. LOL Boy what a chicken I am. Like I said to other people I was St. Joseph's first patient. They started on Feb 1st doing RNY. Dr.Graber is expanding his practice and he is doing surgery in Utica and Syracuse.
If you have any other questions do not hesitate to ask . I will give you the best answer if I can. This is all new to me and I am learning also.
I will be going back to my home tomorrow as I told my son I am feeling better now.
It gets better every day
Clara 

Hi Clara,
 I have been doing really good with my fluids. I am getting about 50 oz of jello, water, & protein shakes in a day. I have worked myself up to about 6 oz of fluids an hour while I am awake. Yesterday I added 4 oz skim milk and that went well. Today I mixed my morning shake with skim milk instead of water, it was the Syntrex chocolete torte and it was awsome. For lunch I had 4 bites of scrambled egg and for dinner I had about 4 bites of cottage cheese. I was afraid the 1 st couple of days that it would hurt but my friend reminded me I will go back in the hospital if I do not get my fluids in. I do not want anything to do with going back to Upstate. I am glad to hear you are on the up swing. Keep me up to date on your progress.  Michelle

OMG I can't believe that you are actually eating. I thought we could not eat for another 2 weeks. I had better try harder as I am lucky to get in 4 oz of jello 4 oz of shake and 8 oz of juice. That is for my whole day. I am so stuffed that I can't get anymore in.
Clara

Michelle, I am glad to see you are doing well.  My surgery is tomorrow at Utica.  I will be intersted in hearing about upstate since my husband is having his there in April.  Perhaps I will see you at one of the upcoming support groups.  I won't be at Lowville this week since it is only 3 days after my surgery.

Cathy we will have to get together and talk. My husband and I were unhappy with Upstate and I plan on putting in a complaint with Marcy when I go for my follow up on Friday. I hope all went well for you on Monday and have been sending you good wishes. Hope to see you in March support groups. Michelle

Hello Cathy..my name is Kim..I used to live in Lowville, I now live in Boonville. I was just thinking how your surgery went..? I went to Fitzers seminar and had a consultation with him the same day about a month ago...I just wondered how he was with you and how you liked him as a surgeon?..I am just a little skiddish about surgery as I have never had any type of surgery ever. I guess the closest was an endoscope..I was 2 weeks away from getting the DS in November..but some unforseen thing's happened..and now I am looking around to have the surgery a little closer to home. The only reason I am looking elsewhere is the surgeon I wanted doesn't take my insurance, and it looks like that will be the only way I will be able to get it ,if i do.
Thanks for any information that you can give me...hope you are healing well and feeling well!:)

Kim

Hello Kim,
   My surgery went very well. I think Dr. Fitzer is top notch as a surgeon and the nurses and PAs were also great.  I didn't spend alot of awake time with him but he was very strong in his instructions to protect your pouch for the first 3 weeks after surgery.  I appreciate that because I want to have the best result possible with no complications.  So far everything has gone smoothly except I had diarrhea for 2 days after returning home.  They had me stop the protein shakes and avoid sugar substitutes in case that was the cause.  I have been drinking lots of Smar****er and some chicken broth, but I am not hungry.  Today I surpassed 64 oz  . You really have to work at it. Today I felt quite peppy.  I did some light housework being careful about lifting and walked around the house a lot.  My walking the previous days was mostly consumed with trips to the bathroom. I had some friends stop in which helped break up the monotony.  I had never had surgery or anesthesia before.  It was smooth and easy.  I had only gas pain which was manageable and subsided the second day.