How painful did you find VSG to be?

[*susan* 1,709]

During my surgery, Dr. Aceves removed two tumors from my liver, a gallstone, and a bunch of pre-cancerous moles, and my lapband. Now, here is the kind of funny part that we like to give him a hard time about. Obviously, we did not know about the tumors on my liver, he discovered them during the surgery. He was very concerned about them and as a result my surgery took quite a bit longer. After the surgery, he and his team realized they forgot to remove my port from my band. So, I had to go back into surgery again the next day to have that removed. Despite all of that, I still found the pain to be very minimal compared to the other surgeries I have had.

[DownInSocal 12]

YIKES. Were the tumors looked at by a path?

[*susan* 1,709]

Oh yes, Dr. Aceves sent them to pathology. Fortunately, they were non-cancerous! But, we were pretty worried during the week it took to get the official results back, even though Dr. Aceves said he felt confident I had nothing to worry about.

[LindaR 0]

I am almost 3 weeks post-op and still feel pretty awful. I am getting very discouraged.

[kaykay 1]

I am almost 3 weeks post-op and still feel pretty awful. I am getting very discouraged.

Are you having pain or what? Results are different for different people. My husband is almost 3 weeks out (will be Tuesday) and up until recently he was still taking his pain med occasionally.

[KatieSue 0]

I am almost 3 weeks post-op and still feel pretty awful. I am getting very discouraged.

I hope you start feeling better Linda. What are you symptoms other than pain? What did your doctor think at your two week appointment? Any nausea? Is the pain constant or just with eating? Just a thought. I've read these can be symptoms of a leak..... Praying for your recovery!!!

[cajun 46]

The stomach itself does not hurt, but you might have a few twinges from the skin incisions where the instruments are inserted. I think that gas pains are probably the most that people complain about. I've had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, and that's what I found bothered me the most, not the skin incisions. Even so, it was not bad. I'd say 3 out of 5, and very temporary...couple of days.

[cajun 46]

Susan,

Wow, you got a lot of bang for your buck! Did he charge extra?

Did you have spinal as well as general anesthesia?

Cajun

[Malaika 50]

That is how Dr. Aceves is -- if there is something he sees while he is in there that needs to be "fixed" he does it so you don't have to go through another surgery and since he's already in there it doesn't "cost" him any more - except in time - and he doesn't book his surgeries every 15 minutes -- basically he says - You go 1st, you go 2nd, etc. ... with no time periods set. He repaired my hiatal hernia while he was in there. If my gallbladder had looked sick/bad, he would have removed it as well. Same for your appendix. Susan did get a lot of "bang for her buck" out of Dr. Aceves' concern for his patients' well-being. He uses both a spinal and a local to help control pain.

[LAN2k 18]

This was a great post. I'm so glad that the pain you encountered is diminished. Now that my surgery for the sleeve is scheduled in September, I too have been concerned and quite anxious about the pain, (among other things), post surgery. I had my gallbladder removed n 1976 and was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks--the pain for that (open)surgery was excruciating beyond words. I recently had an open abdominal hernia repair and upon awakening post surgery the pain was pretty intense then too although not as bad as the gallbladder. Since my experiences with surgeries I figure I must have a low pain threshold so I am praying that my upcoming sleeve surgery won't be as bad.

[MacMadame 81]

Having it done laparoscopically makes a HUGE difference, LAN2k. I had my gallbladder out open too and nothing compares to that pain when you first wake up and have been split open.

[LAN2k 18]

Having it done laparoscopically makes a HUGE difference, LAN2k. I had my gallbladder out open too and nothing compares to that pain when you first wake up and have been split open.

I hope so. I had an upper abdominal (triple tear) hernia repair done (mesh) in 2007. I also have a "small" hiatus hernia...all these conditions has me worried that my surgeon my find he has to revert to open surgery. I will be meeting with him wednesday and see what he has to say. Thanks for replying. I am glad that things went well for you.

[kaykay 1]

The stomach itself does not hurt, but you might have a few twinges from the skin incisions where the instruments are inserted. I think that gas pains are probably the most that people complain about. I've had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, and that's what I found bothered me the most, not the skin incisions. Even so, it was not bad. I'd say 3 out of 5, and very temporary...couple of days.

Cajun, are you sure that the stomach itself does not sense pain?(I do remember that you are a nurse.) My husband seemed to feel that it did especially when he came first came out of recovery. He was not talking about gas pains or skin incisions. He felt he actually had internal pain from his stomach. He did have it lap, but also have gall bladder out simultaneously.

When they got him to the room, they gave him an injection of Dilaudid which controlled the pain.

Edited August 17, 2009 by kaykay

[Jellico 0]

I was sleeved by Dr. Felix Spiegel on July 28. Perhaps I'm an exception, but I had a little pain when I woke up and asked for some pain med to sleep the first night. After that I was virtually pain free. I didn't need to use any of the the pain med I was sent home with. I returned to my sedentary job 5 days after surgery with no issues. I did have soreness in my abs when I used those muscles, but even that disappeared in about a week. No gas pain, no nausea.

Lan2k, I was very worried about this surgery and pain issues, but now I feel silly for all the nervous energy I expended fretting about a non-problem. I'm down 22 pounds from the start of my preop diet on July 23 and couldn't be happier.

Edited August 17, 2009 by Jellico

[LAN2k 18]

(...No gas pain, no nausea..)

Congrats on the 22lbs! That's great. Your doctor must be top notch. I only pray that I will be able to say the same thing as you post surgery! Thanks for the encouraging words. Stay healthy and keep up the good work.