Pre-Op Jitters... is this normal?
Well, my surgery is scheduled for tomorrow am - have to be there at 6 and YES I am having heebie jeebies... The same thing you're thinking and others have expressed. Did I pick the right surgery? Will I be successful? What if I should have done RNY?? Oh and YES I am grieving being able to eat "normally" and worrying about making a mistake and vomiting etc... BUT get this... normal doesn't work for me and I'm guessing normal doesn't work for you either. If it did we wouldn't even consider this surgery. So, normal isn't all it's cracked up to be. Normal has me overweight and in pain and frankly nothing in this world tastes good enough for that... So, the way I figure it I'll live and you'll live and I HOPE we're like others in a year saying we'd never never never choose differently. I have plans once I'm back to regular meals... I'm going to stick with a plan that worked for me before - Six Week Body Makeover... only now I'll have a tool that will eventually have me satiated on a small amount of food and hopefully help me to stick with it better. If I want to add things like dairy back in then fine I'll do it - I'll tinker - but I plan to use these two tools together to get this off for good...
Okay I'd better get to bed - 5am is going to come early. Thanks for posting this - helped my heebie jeebies... I was excited until yesterday... :) Oh and thank you to the poster who said he woke up 3 hours later and they told him to go home! I sure hope that's my day tomorrow! :)
Okay I'd better get to bed - 5am is going to come early. Thanks for posting this - helped my heebie jeebies... I was excited until yesterday... :) Oh and thank you to the poster who said he woke up 3 hours later and they told him to go home! I sure hope that's my day tomorrow! :)
Hi
Well the surgery was apparently great - I say apparently because I wasn't really participating. ;) It was 45 minutes - the one incision technique (which is really two). There were other surgeons watching Dr. Kim perform my surgery - learning the technique... That' was fine with me - like I said I was sound asleep. :)
Now, the after part wasn't so much fun. It seem to me there was a bit of a disconnect between the hospital and Dr. Kim's office - starting with the paperwork. Dr. Kim had everything taken care of - labs, ekg, x-ray etc... They also had me fill out all the hospital paperwork when I was in his office, but the hospital said they didn't have that and that I had to do it again. They wanted to draw blood too - not sure if they did or not.
I would have been home by noon, but I couldn't void.. So, here I am with a foley catheter... :( They want me to leave it in 2-3 days... I was going back on Thurs to have them remove it, but unless I'm still having issues I can't see the point in that. I'll just have it removed here - it's a 45 min drive to Celebration.
I wasn't told to do deep breathing or coughing in the hospital either - just walk... So, they did not send me home with the spirometer. I mentioned that to Dr. Kim's nurse today - she was not happy. So, I also have some fluid in my lungs... I'm working on that - hopefully by tomorrow it will be better - deep breathing ten times an hour and continue walking.
Pain... Well that's been rather significant. Thank goodness for Lortab. I've been sleeping quite a lot . I'm up now until I take my Lortab at noon and then I'll likely take another nap. I really feel walking is a huge help with the gas pain etc... I don't have too much of that - a little, but not bad thanks to the walking. So, hopefully by tomorrow I'll be considerably better - better enough to get off the Lortab. :) I sure hope I'll be able to void once this cath comes out too... I'm not sure which is worse - the cath or the pain. ;)
Hopefully I'll see a pretty number on the scale next week to make this all well worth it. :)
Well the surgery was apparently great - I say apparently because I wasn't really participating. ;) It was 45 minutes - the one incision technique (which is really two). There were other surgeons watching Dr. Kim perform my surgery - learning the technique... That' was fine with me - like I said I was sound asleep. :)
Now, the after part wasn't so much fun. It seem to me there was a bit of a disconnect between the hospital and Dr. Kim's office - starting with the paperwork. Dr. Kim had everything taken care of - labs, ekg, x-ray etc... They also had me fill out all the hospital paperwork when I was in his office, but the hospital said they didn't have that and that I had to do it again. They wanted to draw blood too - not sure if they did or not.
I would have been home by noon, but I couldn't void.. So, here I am with a foley catheter... :( They want me to leave it in 2-3 days... I was going back on Thurs to have them remove it, but unless I'm still having issues I can't see the point in that. I'll just have it removed here - it's a 45 min drive to Celebration.
I wasn't told to do deep breathing or coughing in the hospital either - just walk... So, they did not send me home with the spirometer. I mentioned that to Dr. Kim's nurse today - she was not happy. So, I also have some fluid in my lungs... I'm working on that - hopefully by tomorrow it will be better - deep breathing ten times an hour and continue walking.
Pain... Well that's been rather significant. Thank goodness for Lortab. I've been sleeping quite a lot . I'm up now until I take my Lortab at noon and then I'll likely take another nap. I really feel walking is a huge help with the gas pain etc... I don't have too much of that - a little, but not bad thanks to the walking. So, hopefully by tomorrow I'll be considerably better - better enough to get off the Lortab. :) I sure hope I'll be able to void once this cath comes out too... I'm not sure which is worse - the cath or the pain. ;)
Hopefully I'll see a pretty number on the scale next week to make this all well worth it. :)
I had my surgery on Monday! I was nervous too... but then that went away and I was just ready. I wasn't excited and I wasn't nervous... I was just ready to do it. I only had to do a few days of liquids before hand and once I started that, it was like it got my mind in the right place and I was ready for the change!
Surgery went well and I ended up being at the hospital for a while. I'm not really sure why.... but I was there several hours longer than I needed to be. I'm having quite a bit of gas pain, which is no fun. I'm doing a lot of walking... but it just won't budge! I'm hoping maybe it will be better tomorrow! It's all stuck right under my diaphragm and so I can't tell if the pain is gas or my stomach or what. It's just there all the time! I have 5 cuts... and the only one that really hurts is the one where my port is. They told me to take a shower and take the band-aids off on day 2... so I did that today and I look like Frankenstein with my staples! Kind of scary and gross! I keep showing them to my little brothers and sisters to gross them out, haha.
Best of Luck to you! I'm sure that it will go great!! Let us know how you are after you have your surgery!!
Missy B
Surgery went well and I ended up being at the hospital for a while. I'm not really sure why.... but I was there several hours longer than I needed to be. I'm having quite a bit of gas pain, which is no fun. I'm doing a lot of walking... but it just won't budge! I'm hoping maybe it will be better tomorrow! It's all stuck right under my diaphragm and so I can't tell if the pain is gas or my stomach or what. It's just there all the time! I have 5 cuts... and the only one that really hurts is the one where my port is. They told me to take a shower and take the band-aids off on day 2... so I did that today and I look like Frankenstein with my staples! Kind of scary and gross! I keep showing them to my little brothers and sisters to gross them out, haha.
Best of Luck to you! I'm sure that it will go great!! Let us know how you are after you have your surgery!!
Missy B
Started my new life on June 1, 2009. And I can't wait to see the new me!
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
Hi Missy,
How are you doing today? I'm much better - still having some right quadrant pain... It is like a grasping pain... odd. That shouldn't be where my port is, but I'm wondering... I'll ask at the 2 wk follow up. There's still some pain at the belly button incision, but neither enough that meds are required. I was fortunate - only two incisions. Dr. Kim does a single incision procedure - through the belly button. So, I have an incision at my belly button - bigger than I anticipated, but should just disappear - and a small incision just under the bra line.
How's the gas going? I still feel that fullness - like I need to belch... hoping that will go away. The actual pain - shoulders, chest etc is gone - finally. I walked A LOT so it went away by Fri... I also did a lot of deep breathing. I'm down 3lbs from my pre-surgical weight... went up a couple of course with fluids and whatnot. It's nice seeing the scale move daily right now, but I know that's just a short term thing... I am SO glad that my tummy is finally most of the way back down! That was driving me nuts!
I ordered a great shake - Syntrax Nectar Cappucino - love it - takes the place of my am coffee... It's a bit sweet, but it's good. I ordered several of their flavors - planning to use them in plain yogurt starting Mon... I'm not crazy about them as drinks - they're fine I just prefer my Costco chocolate mixed up with various flavors...
Oh and you're right on being calm... I had all the worries beforehand, but day of surgery I was just totally calm - ready... It really was a good experience overall - even with a few snags...
How are you doing today? I'm much better - still having some right quadrant pain... It is like a grasping pain... odd. That shouldn't be where my port is, but I'm wondering... I'll ask at the 2 wk follow up. There's still some pain at the belly button incision, but neither enough that meds are required. I was fortunate - only two incisions. Dr. Kim does a single incision procedure - through the belly button. So, I have an incision at my belly button - bigger than I anticipated, but should just disappear - and a small incision just under the bra line.
How's the gas going? I still feel that fullness - like I need to belch... hoping that will go away. The actual pain - shoulders, chest etc is gone - finally. I walked A LOT so it went away by Fri... I also did a lot of deep breathing. I'm down 3lbs from my pre-surgical weight... went up a couple of course with fluids and whatnot. It's nice seeing the scale move daily right now, but I know that's just a short term thing... I am SO glad that my tummy is finally most of the way back down! That was driving me nuts!
I ordered a great shake - Syntrax Nectar Cappucino - love it - takes the place of my am coffee... It's a bit sweet, but it's good. I ordered several of their flavors - planning to use them in plain yogurt starting Mon... I'm not crazy about them as drinks - they're fine I just prefer my Costco chocolate mixed up with various flavors...
Oh and you're right on being calm... I had all the worries beforehand, but day of surgery I was just totally calm - ready... It really was a good experience overall - even with a few snags...
I am a different person than I was a few days ago! I feel pretty much back to normal! Except that I'm sooooo hungry all the time! I'm on liquids for 7 more days and I don't know what I'm going to do. The liquids don't seem to stay with me very long, no matter what it is, and so I feel like i'm eating... err, drinking... alllllll the time! Other than that... I'm doing pretty good! I believe all the gas is gone now, I only have a little pain sometimes, I'm not sure what it is... maybe when something goes past the band? I don't know... but it seems to be happening less, so that's a good sign! And I'm getting my staples out tomorrow... so hopefully everything is good there! I haven't weighed since surgery, I've been staying with my family and the only scale here doesn't work. So, I'll find out tomorrow if I've lost since surgery... hopefully so!
I wish I only had 2 cuts! 3 of mine will end up being non-noticeable, because I can barely see them now. The other 2... not so much. One of them is much bigger than I thought it was going to be and the other, where my port is... that one is big, which I knew it would be. I mean, not BIG... but big enough that it will probably be noticeable! But, that's ok... if I'm ever able to be in a bikini or something to show my stomach, I doubt I'll be worried about a few scars! :)
Missy B
I wish I only had 2 cuts! 3 of mine will end up being non-noticeable, because I can barely see them now. The other 2... not so much. One of them is much bigger than I thought it was going to be and the other, where my port is... that one is big, which I knew it would be. I mean, not BIG... but big enough that it will probably be noticeable! But, that's ok... if I'm ever able to be in a bikini or something to show my stomach, I doubt I'll be worried about a few scars! :)
Missy B
Started my new life on June 1, 2009. And I can't wait to see the new me!
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
Nah you won't care a whit about a couple scars!! :) I had my gallbladder out a few years ago - still have scars from that, but honestly they're barely visible now.
I can't wait to hear how your visit goes and how many pounds you trashed! :) You definitely dumped some! How can you not being on liquids?! :) I hear you on being hungry - it kicked in yesterday for me - was grumbly tumbly all day... I have a week left on them too... So, it's nice to know I'm not alone. :) I am allowed one yogurt a day this week - I was so looking forward to it, but honestly it really didn't matter much... Next week is pureed foods - I'm looking forward to that too, but wondering if it's going to be a bit of a let down as well.
It's tough smelling grilled chicken etc at dinnertime and having a shake... My family is so impressed that I haven't cheated once. Well duh - I'm not messing up this band for anything. The worst are the vitamins though... I finally found a drink that masks most of it... Still not my fav, but a better alternative. I can't wait to have the chewables back. It seems like time is dragging right now, but I also know I'll be past this before I know it... It's amazing how time really does fly by.
It's funny - I was worried that my belly button was gone after surgery. I mean I have NEVER given my belly button a thought before, but it looked like there were sutures. Yesterday I realized that it's still there - I have no idea what I'm seeing - maybe a strip of some sort... Anyway, my husband cracked up, because I made such a big deal over finding it!! LOL Funny how it's the little things that get to us... I never gave it a thought, but sure wanted my belly button when I thought it might be gone! ;)
Okay - gas... I don't know if that's what I have - no pain really - little now and then... I have air... It's like air bubbles I can feel bouncing around and I feel like I need to burp... I know TMI... It's annoying. I think it's from the drinks and will dissapate once I'm on pureed and then regular food.
I wish I had some magic answer for the hungries... I've been using broth. I like the Pacific Organic Free Range Chicken and the 365 (Whole Foods brand) Vegetable. It's a nice switch from all the sweet drinks... I also am drinking a lot of water. I am still hungry though and figure this week is going to be a bit of a trial.
Okay shutting up now - can't wait to hear what happens at the Dr's tomorrow!! :)
I can't wait to hear how your visit goes and how many pounds you trashed! :) You definitely dumped some! How can you not being on liquids?! :) I hear you on being hungry - it kicked in yesterday for me - was grumbly tumbly all day... I have a week left on them too... So, it's nice to know I'm not alone. :) I am allowed one yogurt a day this week - I was so looking forward to it, but honestly it really didn't matter much... Next week is pureed foods - I'm looking forward to that too, but wondering if it's going to be a bit of a let down as well.
It's tough smelling grilled chicken etc at dinnertime and having a shake... My family is so impressed that I haven't cheated once. Well duh - I'm not messing up this band for anything. The worst are the vitamins though... I finally found a drink that masks most of it... Still not my fav, but a better alternative. I can't wait to have the chewables back. It seems like time is dragging right now, but I also know I'll be past this before I know it... It's amazing how time really does fly by.
It's funny - I was worried that my belly button was gone after surgery. I mean I have NEVER given my belly button a thought before, but it looked like there were sutures. Yesterday I realized that it's still there - I have no idea what I'm seeing - maybe a strip of some sort... Anyway, my husband cracked up, because I made such a big deal over finding it!! LOL Funny how it's the little things that get to us... I never gave it a thought, but sure wanted my belly button when I thought it might be gone! ;)
Okay - gas... I don't know if that's what I have - no pain really - little now and then... I have air... It's like air bubbles I can feel bouncing around and I feel like I need to burp... I know TMI... It's annoying. I think it's from the drinks and will dissapate once I'm on pureed and then regular food.
I wish I had some magic answer for the hungries... I've been using broth. I like the Pacific Organic Free Range Chicken and the 365 (Whole Foods brand) Vegetable. It's a nice switch from all the sweet drinks... I also am drinking a lot of water. I am still hungry though and figure this week is going to be a bit of a trial.
Okay shutting up now - can't wait to hear what happens at the Dr's tomorrow!! :)
I guess I just had a bad couple of days with the hunger... because I haven't been that hungry the last couple of days. And it's not like I found something else I could eat or something, so I dunno what happened... but i'm glad! I am however counting down the days (5 more!!!!****il I can eat mushy food! I keep thinking of all the things I can have, haha.
I have gallbladder scars too, so I'm going to have 9 total... but those you can't even really see anymore. And i know that the 3 small ones from this surgery will be the same. And hopefully the 2 bigger ones will look less scary as time goes on! :)
I've lost 6 pounds since my surgery... so I'm down 16, woohoo! Hopefully it will keep on going! Hopefully I can make the most of my 5 liquid days that I have left, haha.
Sunshine... so glad your surgery went well and that you are on the other side with us! Best of luck to you!!
Missy B
I have gallbladder scars too, so I'm going to have 9 total... but those you can't even really see anymore. And i know that the 3 small ones from this surgery will be the same. And hopefully the 2 bigger ones will look less scary as time goes on! :)
I've lost 6 pounds since my surgery... so I'm down 16, woohoo! Hopefully it will keep on going! Hopefully I can make the most of my 5 liquid days that I have left, haha.
Sunshine... so glad your surgery went well and that you are on the other side with us! Best of luck to you!!
Missy B
Started my new life on June 1, 2009. And I can't wait to see the new me!
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
I Started a Blog: www.missybeeblog.wordpress.com
WTG on the 16 pounds trashed Missy!! :) That had to have made your day!! :)
It's funny - I had those two hungry days and then just really wasn't yesterday. You're right - it is nice! :) It's funny - we seem to be on the same track... Maybe this is normal. :) I didn't even eat my yogurt yesterday - just the idea of it didn't appeal to me. So far so good today... 5 days till pureed for me. I can't have mushies - has to be pureed - so I'm just doing babyfood. I'll doll it up with spices. If I get bored or there's something I really want I'll puree it, but otherwise I just can't see going through all that for just a week.
My follow-up appt is Monday so we'll see how it goes. :) If I remember correctly I'm down 12 from the last weigh in... So hopefully 15 from that weigh in... Down 20 today from start weight.
I tried doing a ticker - for some reason it just isn't working. I used the OH ticker and applied it to the signature, but nothing... :( Any suggestions?
It's funny - I had those two hungry days and then just really wasn't yesterday. You're right - it is nice! :) It's funny - we seem to be on the same track... Maybe this is normal. :) I didn't even eat my yogurt yesterday - just the idea of it didn't appeal to me. So far so good today... 5 days till pureed for me. I can't have mushies - has to be pureed - so I'm just doing babyfood. I'll doll it up with spices. If I get bored or there's something I really want I'll puree it, but otherwise I just can't see going through all that for just a week.
My follow-up appt is Monday so we'll see how it goes. :) If I remember correctly I'm down 12 from the last weigh in... So hopefully 15 from that weigh in... Down 20 today from start weight.
I tried doing a ticker - for some reason it just isn't working. I used the OH ticker and applied it to the signature, but nothing... :( Any suggestions?
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