Day 7 (6 days sleeved) - home from the hospital!

[ahoy 3]

Hi, all! I had my sleeve done on Wednesday in Austria by Dr. Manfred Prager.

I'm an American expat, not an Austrian, and based on what I've read here on VST, my experience has been really different! So I thought I'd share for any future Euro sleevers and just generally cuz it's interesting

First of all, I checked into the hospital the day before. Starting from that day...

May 24: They needed to do tests, administer a drug to clear me out (and it was GROSS), and try to place a central line for anethesia since I have floppy veins that disappear. Well, the central line placing was a huge disaster. It normally takes 20 min but they had me sedated and were poking at me for at least an hour and a half. They could NOT find a vein in the end. Since I was only sedated, not anesthetized, it felt like I was stuck in a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. I was partially aware of what was going on. Ughhhhh, it was terrible. And because I have fibro, the pain in my back/shoulders/ribcage on that side was horrible afterwards, once I finally "woke up." (At first I wasn't sure where I was, which day it was, had my surgery already happened? Couldn't move, started to be able to move so I slid the pulse oximeter off my finger to get attention but they just kept putting it back on... Ugh!!) My German was incomprehensible as you might expect, but I finally got them to call my husband and he joined me in the "aufwachsraum" (post-op care), even tho they don't usually allow it, cuz I was hysterical. This sucked.

May 25: Surgery! Woke me up at 7:30, I got to shower, took a pill to chill, and off we went. Had to tell the anethesiologist (while starting to get loopy) that they needed to put something to support my lumbar region because it was locked up tight and would not relax. In broken German. I learned later that she speaks excellent English, wish I'd tried, but again, I was drugged! After surgery, I woke up just fine in the recovery room (which is full of light, just by a garden, and very pleasant unless they're torturing you). I felt MUCH better than after the central line fiasco!

Sore throat and all but no big. They didn't give me anything to drink, or even ice chips, but I had lots of IV fluids. I felt pretty okay. They gave me extra morphine when I told them how much my shoulders/back hurt. Had a nice chitchat with the anethesiologist. Got really bored towards the last few hours, because my husband was allowed in at 3pm and I was feeling pretty decent and had NOTHING to do. Saw my husband, got back to my room, relaxed.

They had put a (urinary) catheter in me and IV fluids, both while I was "asleep", and I didn't have to move at all. Which was great, because I couldn't. I felt mentally pretty good but I was sore and weak and my shoulders/back/neck were locking up. The pain meds controlled it, but I couldn't even sit up on my own. Still, I was cogent and cheerful, so long as they kept the pain meds coming. I watched some TV on my laptop after my husband went back to the hotel.

May 26: Felt worse than after surgery. Probably because they weren't giving me morphine but some other medicine. They went thru 2 different types that didn't work on my muscles until they found one that worked. Went back to bed & didn't get up. I watched TV most of the day, except when my husband was there. Still had the catheter in; still had IV fluids; still no drinking at all. This was for the best, cuz I still couldn't sit up by myself. The gas pain was achey and irritating but tolerable. Most of my pain was in my back/shoulders/neck, rather than my belly. Had to be helped to sit up and then stand (shakily) while the nurses gave me a sponge (washcloth) bath. I was helped to walk to and from the door of the room... that was all I could do.

At night, I used my arms to scooch myself back to get the pillow under my lumbar region (still locked up tight) placed right. MISTAKE. The pain was swift and horrible. I felt like somebody was stabbing me with a lightning fork on both shoulders and in my neck. Evil male night nurse wouldn't take care of me so I texted my husband in a panic and he rode back to the rescue after having left just an hour or two ago. This was the lowest point. It was horrible. I couldn't comprehend how anyone could be so callous to a helpless person in a bed. I cried and cried and cried.

May 27: They took the catheter out! Still had IV fluids, and still had the drain. Nurses helped me sit and stand (I needed less help!) and helped me get clean, this time in the bathroom cuz I could walk that far. Got to brush my teeth! Passed the swallow test, and felt like I was going to pass out from standing and swallowing so much of that goop... but didn't! Got to drink some (peach) tea, as much as I wanted. Had to write down how much I drank and when on a sheet of paper tho. (Drank just over a liter; luckily no probs in that dept!) One of the nurses commented that she could see that my "lebensgeist" (life spirit) was returning. Hurt my shoulder at night AGAIN, but not as bad. Evil male nurse did not come back.

May 28: Felt much better. Got to shower! Got broth! Got to take magnesium, which helps my muscles. Snuck in the D-Ribose powder which also helps fight fibromyalgia (it's basically a special sugar). Had almost no problem getting up by myself. Started to wean myself off sleeping upright. No intense pain in the shoulder region. Started to feel more in the stomach region; started to cough a little. Didn't have to grip the bar to get myself off the toilet. Showered by myself, but with my husband in the room cuz I felt a bit wobbly. First day I started wanting to go home. They took the IV out of my right arm and tried to move to my left arm, so I could more easily do, um... bathroom things. 3 IVs in a row failed, puffing up my arm. The last one worked, but only for the relatively small amount of pain meds. No more IV fluids for me. Was bored by TV but not feeling "with it" enough to read even cheesy novels; thought about food ALL THE TIME, even though I wasn't really hungry. Couldn't sit up for more than a few minutes without the pain kicking in.

May 29: They fed me a slice of white bread for breakfast! Told me to eat it super slowly. They wanted to see how I did with solids and it went just fine! Took me an hour to eat most of the inner part of the bread; didn't feel safe to try the Austrian crust. Walked to the hospital cafe with my husband, took the wheelchair back. Back to Soup the rest of the day. Lots and lots of tea. For lunch they gave me pureed potatos, mushy as hell pork roast of some kind (terrible!) and pudding. I ate a tiny bit of everything. dinner was 2 types of soup (potato cream and chicken soup with stars) and a sorta Austrian-style sweet cream of wheat thing. Ate most of potato soup over a few hours. At one point, I ate a little too much and it just came back up... no pain, no stomach acid, just "foamies." I hadn't felt any signals so this is something for me to work on.

Had a lot more energy. Started to get REALLY bored. Really, really wanted to go home. All my meds were in pill form, except the daily anticoagulant. Started to be able to sit cross-legged and tried sleeping with the bed flat, instead of having my back and legs elevated. Showered at night, with nobody in the room, cuz I felt sure & safe.

Was absolutely STIR CRAZY and wanted to go home. First day I felt good enough to read; stopped obsessing about food so much because I had better things to distract me.

May 30: GOT TO GO HOME! YESSSS! Was able to almost spring out of bed (with much achiness), had no problems or fears moving about and doing things myself, packed up my bag myself, walked to AND from the cafe, stood for quite some time, etc. Showered by myself with nobody in the room. Just a bit tired. Had 1/4 of a bread roll for Breakfast w/ a little butter and apricot jam (hospital's choice, believe it or not!), ate 3/4 of a frankfurter (not quite like a hot dog), minus chewy skin, for lunch. Then we got to leave. Stopped by a grocery store and did some shopping, which I totally wouldn't have been able to tolerate the day before.

I'm SO glad to be home. I was absolutely going stir crazy by the 29th. Right now my husband is making potato puree for dinner.

IN SHORT:

In some ways, my recovery was much worse than others -- not really being able to stand til the 3rd day, being so achey, having the fibromyalgia symptoms. But I feel like I actually got off lucky, because I was concerned I'd be totally exhausted and braindead, which has happened to me before because of the CFS/fibro. Luckily not! I am able to drink easily and eat soft food and that makes a world of difference. I have energy, too. I still hurt a lot, tho now the pain has migrated to my lower back opposite the main incision (where they pulled the rest of the stomach out).

Every day I had the IV, I got 4 LITERS of fluids. And it wasn't just Water, but isotonic solution, which includes the minerals (such as sodium chloride) you need to not get dehydrated. Just drinking water is NOT enough! (And I had a problem with keeping enough sodium in my body even before surgery; I dehydrate so easily and then I get muscle twitches and it's down hill from there.)

I'm sure this was one of the biggest reasons I didn't have any relapse. No matter WHERE you are, I recommend fighting for staying a few days in the hospital with IV fluids. The catheter sucked a little but I was in so much pain, it was a godsend... I could just lie back and let my muscles heal.

I feel very glad & lucky that I didn't have to struggle to drink enough fluids from the 1st or even 2nd day post-op. If I had gone home, it would have been so much worse, and my husband would have had to be the one to help me in and out of bed all the time, and of course our bed is flat. So, despite going nuts at the end, I'm very glad for the relaxed Austrian / socialist way of "generous" hospital stays.

I'm also glad that, because I was in the hospital a whole frigging week, I can now eat soft foods. It seems like many surgeons keep their patients on clear or full liquids because they are not there to monitor them the whole time, like mine could.

Hope this was interesting or useful to you!

BTW - at no time was I actually hungry. Craving something to chew and put in my belly, yeah... and flavors... but never HUNGRY. And I was worried about how easy it was to drink the tea and whole bowl of broth, but now I know that it has NO bearing on how much solid food I can eat (which is just a tiny amount!).

Other minor diffs: Obviously I wasn't on Clear Liquids longer than 2 days. I'm supposed to drink 2 liters of water a day instead of 1. And my calorie target is 1000... although both the surgeon and nutritionist say that I shouldn't worry so much about trying to get in specific nutrients etc. until my little butchered tummy is healed.

[swizzly 901]

Hi there, very similar experience to mine, minus the pain + some nausea and dry-heaving. LOL. I also wanted to BUST OUTTA THERE like two days before they finally let me. I never had a catheter, which is fine bc I hate them.

Why are the night nurses always the cranky ones?? Most of them here speak English...but will opt to suddenly refuse to in the middle of the night when my German is the most sucky. HMPH!

Glad you are doing so well!!

[feedyoureye 3,087]

Thanks for posting your experience! Glad your home and feeling better!

[ahoy 3]

Why are the night nurses always the cranky ones?? Most of them here speak English...but will opt to suddenly refuse to in the middle of the night when my German is the most sucky. HMPH!

Vampires, night shift, you get the picture... Of course the night is when everyone is weakest. Must attract the power trippers. (Sucking the life out of everyone.)

He was such an ass. I told him I felt all hot and cold and really bad, and he told me that I had an operation, I JUST HAD TO ACCEPT IT. Among other atrocities.

Luckily for me, all the other nurses and aides were extremely kind to me, both male and female.

Austrians also usually know pretty good English, but almost universally refuse to speak it. They don't want to "put themselves out there," even tho they had 6 years of it in school and listen to American music all the time.