GayleSBennett

Cherice.. thats excellent. Just keep progressing every day and you'll be just fine.

congratulations!! =)

Right now I'm only on a liquid diet as I am only 7 days post op from surgery. I do not like regular protein shakes, but i do like 1% milk with Slimfast / Protein and then i put an additional spoonful of protein in my glass of milk. The Slimfast / Protein version is delicious. You may want to try it.

Its been 4 days since my surgery. I did not have surgery through Doctor Aceves. I'm sure he or she is completely competent. I'm here because this is the most comprehensive board I have been able to find and I believe in its information and support. (My little disclaimer) I had my surgery through the Military (I am a military wife). I had the sleeve done through laproscopy and I've only had a little miscomfort with moving too quickly. The first full day after surgery I was just in the bed with a morphine drip. I would hit the button every few hours. The doctors, nurses, and aids, would come in and check on me.. give me anti-clot medicine, and anti-nauseaus medicine. I got the worst headache from the morphine that did not go away until I stopped using the drip. I slept most of the day. Your mouth will be so dry and I was given a cup of Water with a sponge on a stick to moisten my mouth. If you don't get one, ask. It was a lifesaver. hard to breathe when you're mouth is dry as paper. The second day after surgery i was asked to get up and walk around. I was still hooked to the morphine drip for half of the day so walking around with IVs was difficult. But the doctors asked that I get up and walk around as soon as possible (and as much as possible) to make sure I wouldnt get blood clots. I was able to walk on the second day. The morphine drip came out and I was switched to an oxycodone (liquid form) and then was given a liquid diet to drink. Ask for ice chips in a cup. They are wonderful.. one at a time in the mouth is good. Don't drink cold liquid tho.. (even in your little sips) it was uncomfortable and made me burp. the beef and chicken broth (made from hot water and powder broth) was nice and warm going down. You cant drink too much. Only a little medicine cup every 20 minutes or so.. you dont want to upset the belly and have it stretch out. The third day (which originally was my day to go home) was more of walking around.. less pain so I didnt use the oxycodone as much. Only at night to sleep. The most uncomfortable was the bed so I wasn't able to fully relax. The doctor came in and said he would like to be the one to discharge me so he asked that I stay an additional night. I said fine. The benefit of this was during surgery a drain was inserted by my ribs to the extra fluids.. if I stayed the extra night and didn't have much drainage they would remove it prior to leaving the hospital. Having a drain for 10 days until post op appointment was not going to be my favorite thing. The fourth day I had to give blood again. My electrolytes have been out of whack so they wanted to check again. By now I've been poked so much in my left hand the veins just quit. so they took what blood they could. Husband had to get my meds filled. Oxycodone liquid, tylenol liquid, prilosec, and the a stool softener. The nurses removed my IV hookups and I was able to leave. At home I was able to shower and it was wonderful. A few things about the medicine. Prilosec. Open the capsule and put into a medicine cup. It has little beads. Put the beads in your mouth and then follow it with water. don't mix the two.. the beads will stay at the bottom of the cup. The stool softner is horrible. The doctor said to open it with a needle and put it in food. I tried and threw up immediately. i understand we need the stool softner because the oxycodone makes us constipated but that is not happening. I will be asking if there's a chewable form for kids or if I can use a Fiber powder instead. Had to give blood every day in the morning for my electrolyte issue. Blood pressure, temp, and oxygen was twice a day. Anti-nausaus medicine was two or three times, which was the same as the anti-clot medicine. Bring with you (if you're staying the night in the hospital) the following.. it will surely make your life easier: 1) Eyemask 2) Ear plugs or Ipod/Mp3 player with headphones to knock out noise 3) Your favorite pillow 4) A stuff toy to hold on to if you're like me who gets the willies when they take lots of blood 5) Slippers. I had also brought magazines, a dvd player/computer, but i didnt read anything. I did watch a little football on Sunday when it was the third day.. but you sleep most of the time. Before the surgery buy the following: 1) Multi-vitamins (chewable) i made the error of buying pill form which will have to be smashed. Centrum with Iron and Calcium Caltrate 2) Gauze with tape for any bandages you have 3) Jello, juice, popscicles, broth,tea (decaf and sugar free) this will help you for the first few days. Now that I'm almost done with the liquid clear diet.. I'm now moving on to full liquid diet. So tomorrow I need to go to store. to help you so you don't have to go to store like I do tomorrow also buy: 1) 1% milk 2) Slim fast 3) Carnation Breakfast 4) Light or non-fat yogurt 5) sugar free pudding 6) sugar free cocoa 7) Soups (Cream) Hope this helps someone. Thanks for letting me post. Gayle

Just to add to the list.. eye mask ear plugs or ipod / mp3 player to knock out the machine noises.

@ Brian.. you're doing fantastic. I know your kids are so thankful to have their daddy back. =)

Congratulations and welcome! I'm so excited to learn about you and your new adventure. I just had mine done on Friday. We'll learn together =)

Welcome Emma! Just the step of coming here and posting about your life is a step in the right direction. I'm a newbie as well and I find that this board has the best, supportive people. We're both in good hands. As far as the surgery.. the only change that may need to be done is instead of the surgery being done laproscopy it may need to be done open. You'll be knocked out so you won't feel or know the difference until later. Sometimes when the doctors go in and look inside they realize the organs are a little too big so it makes it a bit more difficult to do it the "easier" way. But other than that, you should be just fine. You'll just have a longer recovery period than others. I would ask your surgeon if he/she plans on doing the surgery open if the organs are too big. We're always scared of the unknown so thats why coming here is great. You get useful information that you can use as a tool to prepare. You're going to do fantastic. Hope this helps a little.

Thank you for your post. Since I'm a newbie, its nice to know the information isn't filtered on the board to only give positive posts. I am sorry that you're going through a rough time. I also know that I can't offer any additional words of comfort that the other wonderful people have. But know I'll be thinking of you and would like to check in with you every so often to see if life gets any better. Unfortunately since there is no turning around.. all you can do is move ahead and be the best mom and playmate for your kids. =) Take care.

Good attitude helps wonders. You're going to do fantastic. Enjoy Grandma taking care of you. =)

Also a few more things that I remembered this morning: You will need to make sure you're breathing properly, so I was given an Airlite plastic machine to take deep breaths in to. This is to ensure you do not get pnemounia. You'll breathe into it 10x an hour. Its pretty simple and takes only a few minutes to complete the task. I didn't realize its value until after the lady next to me developed pnemounia and had to be taken to another ward. You will also cough up alot of brown phlem <sp> because of the tube they put down in your throat to help you breathe. It was scary at first and really disgusting but it only lasted two days and now you can breathe so much easier. First day of surgery they will fill your stomach up with C02 gas to be able to move around your organs and complete the surgery. Sometimes the gas becomes trapped when you're sewn up. I didn't have the pain, but my friend did. So she walked alot and took GasX strips and eventually the pain went away. She said it was real heavy on her chest and shoulders. Whatever food (juice boxes, broth, or jello) you don't eat in the hospital, take it home with you. And if you start passing gas.. that is excellent. means your stomach woke up and you're on the road to recovery.

Congratulations and good luck. I have my sleeve done on Friday, September 17th. So I'm anxious to read how you do.