Surgery Tuesday......getting worried

Sleeve surgery on Tuesday. Starting to get really worried about pain after surgery and the 5 or 6 weeks before things are completely healed. I worry about nausea and am really concerned about the amount of pain. And I hate being in the hospital. The last time I had surgery was almost 4 years ago and I had 3 operations on my back in a week and a half. It was horrible. I can't go through anything like that again. Really getting nervous. Any suggestions?

I have no suggestions, but I have a little bit of trivia that I thought might help?

I was reading a medical study not long ago, maybe 2-3 months, that said the mortality rate of RNY & VSG was now comparable to routine appendectomy and gallbladder removal (I never remember what that surgery is called... just know it when I see it. Should be called... gallbladder-ectomy, but nooo.).

So that made my nervous nurse mom feel better: routine gallbladder removal seems ... well, routine! Quasi-safe. Less scary than having the majority of your stomach removed. To me, at least.

(Note:I haven't had surgery yet, and I too am nervous about it. I'm just less nervous now than I was, hence the sharing.)

cholecystectomy

That's the word! :)

SupahStar!

Thanks. I'm not worried about dieing, I am worried bout pain and not being able to care for myself in the hospital. I always get better care from my husband. 

Hi Kathy,

I had my sleeve done 9 days ago and right now I feel no pain and am going about life as usual, save for four facts, that I have to have a person with me at all times, I can't drive for 3 months, I'm not eating only ingesting liquids and lastly and perhaps most importantly, I right now have 47lbs less of weight which means my back pains are gone and daily life is much easier.

I'll walk you through my experience with the surgery. My procedure concluded around 9:30AM, sometime around 11:30AM I was quasi-awake and what felt about 5-10 minutes after that they took away the tube that was helping me breathe and replaced it with an oxygen mask. A few hours after that I coughed (which was in itself slightly painful) and a bit of phlegm came out, I unknowingly and accidentally swallowed it and almost immediately began to vomit, my oxygen mask was still on and I was laying down at about a 30 degree angle so, the vomit ran all down my face. The nurses promptly came and cleaned me up. It was not a fun experience. At 3:30PM (I asked for the time) I felt the urge to use the bathroom and was helped to my feet. I walked to the bathroom in the ICU and used it by myself and walked out, then I was encouraged to walk around a bit more and then laid back down. I vomited again some hours later, but this time I was expecting it and was able to vomit into a container that I had designated for it. In total I vomited four times that day and I was in a constant but bearable pain all throughout the first 24-30 hours of post-op. The only time I was able to sleep was when I had pain killers administered and that lasted about 2-3 hours each of the 3 times. Again, the pain was bearable but it was there and constant.

Day 2 was a LOT easier. I walked to the x-ray place where they did the contrast exam and stood for the whole procedure with no problems whatsoever. By 3PM sharp on day 2 I was in my car (someone else driving of course) and headed home. I spent most of the trip rather uncomfortable, I live about 2-3hrs away from the clinic depending on traffic, and sipping my water and juice in the moving vehicle was a real pain, honestly I often wasn't able to finish my 1.25oz cups of water. Eventually though, we got home and I was able to lie down in bed and just relax. I was still in mild pain (though much less than I'd been at the hospital) and I had started to get a fever (the surgeon had told me this was to be expected due to a mesh they leave post-op to protect the stomach that decomposes). I sweated through the fever on night 2 but I slept much better and without pain killers. 

Day 3 I woke up with just slight pains, mostly just when I coughed or tried to strain my body a bit (I'm not one to stay calm, sadly). I'd already gotten used to the 1.25 ounces of liquid every 20 minutes and things were starting to take a turn towards "normal". 

Fast forward to day 9 and right now I've been to the office twice already and feel like everything's back to normal, save those four things I mentioned earlier.

I hope this helped,

Rafa.

That sounds like a nightmare!  Now I am really worried. My doctor never mention d a mesh. And when can't you drive for 3 months?  I am only planning on 11 days out of work. I can't afford to take off for 3 months. Also, why were you in ICU?  That is where they put people who are in critical condition. Now I am really a mess. 

It absolutely was not a nightmare, just a rough 24-30 hours. I lost another 2lbs this morning, I feel no hunger, I feel no anxiety, I'm easily and quickly cruising down to the weight I've always wanted to be at AND my most prominent daily living problems are gone, I can reach all areas of my body and my back pains are gone. My blood pressure is already dropping to a normal state though it's not quite there yet. I'm already wearing clothes that didn't fit, and I've been out for NINE DAYS. Kathy, It's worth it and It's not THAT hard. Perhaps I was a bit too graphic with my description, but once you've been through it looking back it feels so trivial compared to the reward.

As far as the 3 months without driving, I went to the office Thursday and Friday, I just had to be driven there. Again, to each doctor their own, mine says no driving for 3 months because I might get woozy or something because my body isn't used to the intake again. It would likely help to put into perspective that I own my own business and am able to make my own hours and I have plenty of family members (well over 50) who live in the area that are all happy to take me around, both things my doctor might have taken into consideration. If this is your biggest concern, then it's one I'm sure can be easily solved.

My doctor's procedure is to place all his patients in the ICU for the first 12 hours after the surgery. I'm sure every doctor has their way, in mine's case it's for the personalized one on one care from the nurses that is necessary for the first few hours.

The mesh fever lasted two nights and was about 1 degree, they had me taking a small portion of liquid medicine every 6 hours that made it a lot easier to bear. Again, something you might want to ask your doctor, (s)he might not leave the mesh.

Thanks for replying so quickly!  My doctor actually said he doesn't like when his patients take a lot of time off work. I just wanted to be through the 2 week clear liquid phase.he never mentioned not driving, although I assume there will be a few days to a week that I can't drive. My husband no longer drives and I don't have anyone who could drive me to work every day.  I have been to 2 of his support group meetings and some have returned to work after 3 days!  I have been wondering if nausea is from anesthesia or the fact that they really m seed with your stomach .  I will be sure to tell the anesthesiologist to put that extra med in the mix. I usually screaM NO CODEINE as soon as I wake up after surgery. I have liquid Tylenol for at home which really helped after the lap band.  

:D

Yeah, my doc doesn't like me lying around with nothing to do, he's given everyone around me instructions to keep my mind occupied. I personally feel like I could drive and I've yet to have any sort of wooziness or what have you so the driving thing is likely just a precaution my doctor is taking with me because he can.

I know the dry coughing for the first few days is from the tube they put in. When I vomited the liquids that came out looked unnatural so I'd assume that the surgery itself had something to do with that part.

PS: If I were to compare post-op with something I'd compare it with a REALLY HARDCORE hangover after a night where I got in a fight with a guy twice my size while I was waaay too drunk. Puking lasts one night and one morning, pain lasts a couple days and then it's over and you have the memory for the rest of your life.