Wednesday November 5th.

7am. Parade of doctors comes though. Some of them look familiar from yesterday. The surgeon came, told me the same story that he had told Angela. They are all curious about my lack of bladder activity, it’s not a very common side effect, but they aren’t very worried either. They think it will come back. Complained about the lack of ice and my sore throat, they said after the Upper GI test, I could have more.

I did mention my shoulder pain, and that I had been expecting it. One of the doctors told me that it is because the trapped air presses on the diaphragm, and there are nerve connections between the diaphragm and the shoulder areas. So it’s not that there is trapped air in the shoulders, but that’s where the pain signals end up for some reason.

Catheter was removed. I am fairly certain that the aforementioned balloon end was not deflated prior to the removal, and I calmly screamed this suggestion to the perky nurse happily pulling yard after yard of tubing from my nether regions. She smiled sweetly, and said “don’t fight it, we’re almost there”. We?

I sent a text message to my brothers in arms, explaining my lack of enthusiasm for the whole catheterization process.

They took me down for an Upper GI test. This will determine if fluid can pass through the band, to make sure it is in proper place and is not too restrictive. When done, I asked to see the pictures. They moved it over so I could see it, and I asked them to print it out for me. Must have been an unusual request, but they said we could request a print out from the Film department. Angela took care of that later, so I have those pictures for posterity.

Anesthesiologist came by, to ask what I thought of their involvement. I complained about their breathing tubes and how sore my throat was. She asked if the lozenges helped.

Lozenges?

LOZENGES ?!?!

I can have a damn lozenge? She said sure, you just need to ask the nurse.

“oh sure” the nurse says later, “let me get you one”. This is where my Catholic upbringing and my lack of available weaponry saved the life of my perky nurse.

Angela came in the morning. I was so glad to see her. She makes me feel better, and it’s good to have someone there to help keep track of all the things that are going on. I love her.

Little bit of jello today, and beef broth, after the Upper GI test results came back positive. I was eating slowly, and about halfway through the cup of broth, my stomach sort of cramped up, and I took that to mean I was done for now. It will take some careful attention to learn how the body deals with this. Eating caused some stomach pain, but it also generated shoulder pain. So I got some pain meds, and took a nap. They gave me pain meds via the IV, something that started with a D, like Dipotal or something. Gave me a nice immediate warm buzz, and made me sleepy.

Still trying to urinate on my own. I try to push pretty hard, but there’s no natural urges there, and I don’t want another round of the Tube from Hell. The nurse comes in to see my roommate, and takes his urinal from him. He had an impressive amount. I called out to him, “hey, how did you do that?” That got a good laugh. I told him next time to fill up mine for me.

Urologist wants me back on a catheter; I want to have nothing to do with a catheter, and politely decline. I promise to try harder. I give it another Herculean effort, and get 100ML out. Not enough to void, but enough to keep me below the threshold. They are now doing the bladder ultrasound all the time. It’s a cool tool. It beeps, and shows them a display of how many MLs is in there, and also helps them position it so they get the best reading. I now know exactly where my bladder is located.

More broth and jello for dinner. Can’t eat very much, but that’s ok. I am trying to get down cranberry juice, hoping for some bladder activity.

Angela brought the girls to see me. I was so glad to see everyone. Olivia especially was stressed with me being in the hospital, she’s my bud. It was great to chat with them all for a little while. Sarah was a big help, managing the house while Angela was with me, and skipping a class when necessary, and kept the house picked up for us. Emily helped Olivia with her homework.

Around 9pm I start to feel like I have to go! What a wonderful feeling. I hold off for a while, I want it to build to a fair sense of urgency, so I can have a good void. Finally I go into the bathroom, and it finally starts to go on its own, and I let loose like a thoroughbred race horse. I’d never been so happy so see a bottle of urine in all of my life! I went two more times like this by midnight, and finally got down to a level of 56ML left, which meant I was finally voided and wouldn’t need any more Death Tubes.

At 11pm I got an oral pain med instead of the IV. I was itchy all night, it might have been related to the pain meds, but nobody knows for sure, and they aren’t concerned. No rashes or trouble breathing, just told to take Benedryl if necessary.

Thursday November 6th.

Got a protein shake for breakfast. Tasted pretty good, and I drank it all. This may have been a mistake, but I didn’t get any signals to stop. We got all packed up, and discharged around 11am. I started to feel very full, very cramped up. When I got home I took a walk around the neighborhood trying to get loosened up. Lots of shoulder pain. Laid down on the recliner for a nap, more pain meds, another nap up in my bed, more pain meds, and finally by evening time I was feeling better, the huge bloated feeling had dissipated.

My oldest daughter Sarah invited me to go with her to see a movie after she got home from work that night. I was very appreciative that she thought of me, and I made sure I was in good shape to go out with her that night.

I slept well that night, and now I’m on the solid road to recovery.

Congrats on joining the band! It is amazing how different everyone's story is. I was wheeled into the OR at 11:00am and I was discharged from the hospital at 2:30pm that same day! No upper scope the next day. Does your band have a fill in it from the time of placement?

Have a great recovery!

MT you have a real flair! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experiences...not because you had some bumps along the way, but for the entertainment value. You have a gift! You also have a wonderful outlook, which I'm sure is going to serve you well in the coming weeks. I'll be joining the world of bandsters on the 19th!

Hi, I am glad to hear you are doing well. I am going in for my band on Thursday November, 13th---I have so many emotions right now---but it is good to hear your story.

Reading your story was inspiring... Thank you for sharing. I am dealing with so many emotions right now myself. My surgery is set for 20 nov. I am excited,scared, nervous, and ready. Again thank you for sharing for story!

keri

Your Story was awesome... the lord must have given you extreame strength as not to strangle your nurse. Note to self bring cough drops..lol.. Thanks so much for sharing.