3Days Post op

[Busybee 0]

Hello everyone,

I usually do not write on here but rather read all the useful posts. I decided I would contribute my experience to the pool of information.

To start, I am a 24-year-old doctoral student, so I had to find time over the Holiday break to have my surgery. Starting weight=244lbs.

I worked on the preop stuff for 3 months, I was initially denied (with no reason provided) and than my nurse appealed it and I had surgery 12/30/10.

The Protein diet was hard for me at first because I am a big caffeine drinker, but the headaches subsided about day 4.

My surgery was a sucess. The surgeon said it went extremely well and said that my recovery was the best he'd seen in his entire career.

After the surgery I was in pain and had trouble breathing because of the drain tube. It was pushing on my diaphragm.

So day one was very tough for me. The second day I had a swallow study completed (they have you drink a little bit of this liquid that becomes a contrast under the radiation to see if liquids are passing through as they are supposed to)

After this was cleared, I was given the ok to have popsicles, tea, Water, and icechips!

This was the day they also began giving me Vicodin instead of Morphine (Morphine did not do much for me).

The day after surgery I was up and walking, and making strides.

The third day was much the same, with more walking and more Fluid intake. I had my drain removed and the pain I had breathing was gone.

I had more discomfort with the air they use to bloat your abdomen during surgery than I did with the actual incisions.

When I came home, my bowels began working again, and I felt much better, and continue to feel better everyday.

As of now, the pain I have is in my back and arms, because I am using those muscles and favoring those muscles to move around. Did anyone have this issue?

How did you begin to utilize your ab muscles more.

So all in all, my biggest piece of advice: get up and move around ASAP.

There will be more to come!

Bee

[klus263 9]

Glad to hear you are having a good recovery. I only had a one day stay in the hospital. Walking definately helped in speeding the healing process. It was very hard not to use the stomach during the first weeks. I would have twinges telling me if I overdid it. Just take it easy. I am at 5 weeks and no longer have stomach pain.