margotoner

Well, I was just banded on 2/19/09, and am almost 72 hrs post op, and am still extremely sore throughout my entire abdominal area. I have never had surgery of any kind before, so the whole experience was completely new to me. I am somewhat surprised at the intensity of the soreness I feel especially when breathing deeply post op. I also have not passed any BM yet, but am passing some gas, and some burping when drinking liquids. Dr. Fox was my surgeon, and I feel I got outstanding care by him and all his staff. I've been reading other posts and hear similar experiences so I guess I'm in the normal range. I was hopeful to make it back to work tomorrow, but am having second thoughts- guess I'll take it day by day.

Well, I have been a model patient not only before surgery, but after as well. I am slowly drinking water/diluted juices, trying not to swallow any air, walking, standing, and trying not to sit for too long. Lying down for long periods (sleep) seems to make my tummy pain worse. I woke up from a nap around 3 pm today with uncontrolled teeth chattering/body shakes, chills. I went to my handy AGB handbook to look up symptoms to be wary of. I took my temp and it was 99.9. My pulse was over 100, and blood pressure was 147/98 despite taking blood pressure med's. The gas/bloating symptoms as well as not excreting as much urine as liquid I was consuming, and no BM for 3 days was scaring me and I thought maybe I was developing an infection. Decided to call Dr Fox. He said that my pulse, temp, and blood pressure if they did not go down soon should prompt me to go to the ER. He said that there they can X-ray my abdomen, and take labs/blood to see if infection is present. In the meantime he said to try a fleet enema, to help jump start bowels, and take more pain med's, and see if that helps. Since then fleet helped, with some bloating and temp, blood pressure, pulse have gone down some, but still not normal. I will keep a close watch and see.