Questions??

Can you all shed some light on how long Post Surgery my stay will be in the Hospital? I was under the impression I would maybe be able to go Home that day? Am I dreaming here? And maybe a few of you would be able to tell me what I can expect as far as {{{Pain}}} goes? And what the Doctor usually gives you for pain, if any? Thanks Rocko~~

Hi Rocko, What kind of surgery are you having? I had lap. RNY and was in the hosp. for 3 days. That seems to be kind of a standard length if there are no complications. I made myself walk as much as possible so that I could go home as quick as possible though. As for pain, I had very little but I have heard of others who were uncomfortable. The only time I hit the morphine button was right before I got up to walk. Not sure I even needed it then but I wanted to walk as much as possible. A week later I was walking at Mt. St. Helen's. I'll admit it was a slow walk but no real pain to speak of. Good luck with it. It'll be over sooner than you think. Carol

I was out in about 28 hours. I stayed overnight but I have a high BMI and other medical concerns (like being on the CPAP machine -- and my oxygen saturation level wouldn't stay high enough even on oxygen with the CPAP -- the morphine depresses your ability to take deep breaths). Many people aren't even in the hospital overnight these days. No dreams! You'll probably be one of the lucky ones (if your picture is really your picture!). Pain wasn't too bad. The morphine in the hospital felt good. Made me sleep. I did hurt the first couple of times I stood up and started to walk (I had an odd pulling sensation across my stomach as I had to figure out how to distribute my weight and balance myself). At home I took liquid lortab for a few days and that helped, too. But I tried to switch to liquid tylenol as soon as I could. I was off of all pain meds about a week and a half out. You can't drive when you're on the morphine or lortab so if you want to drive you're going to need to get off of that. The real pain started when the gas pains came about three days out of surgery. Nothing really helps that. Just time. Walking, flapping your arms like a bird, taking Gas-X (if approved by your doctor), and using a heating pad really help, though. Good luck and why did you post this on the Washington forum out of curiosity? You would have gotten far more responses if you'd posted this on the lap band message board. Lori

Rocko, For lap band, which is looks like that is what you are doing, some places send you home the same day others have you stay overnight. Totally depends on your surgeon and also how you feel when you wake up. I had lap RNY so for me the pain was probably a little more than what you will experience. I was also in the hospital for three days (which is standard for RNY). At the hospital they give you a morphine drip. They sent me home with an Rx for percoset. I"m sure they will send you home with either percoset or vicodine. But I was completely off any kind of pain meds including tylonol by the third day home from the hospital. That's not to say I was pain free but it was bearable with no meds. Anyway, you should ask your surgeon all these questions too. They should be able to give you a step by step process from the time you get to the hospital until you are able to get back to work. Hope this helps some. Corinna Q