8 Days Post-Op

[michelemock 0]

Well I saw my doctor yesterday for my 1-week post-op appointment and he said I'm doing great. I'm down 23lbs, 3 of which I lost on my liquid diet for the week before surgery. Just to see the scale go down is a huge relief and I feel like as though a great deal of weight has been lifted from my shoulders (Literally!).

So let me give a bit of a the low down on me...I am a military wife and didn't start this process until 10 months ago. My husband was deployed for the first time in his 15 years of active duty, and I was left to tend to our 4 children and 3 furbabies alone in this horrible place the Army has sent us. I had been lulling it over in my head for two years prior to this time, but it finally hit me that I was done yo-yo dieting and feeling horrible.

So for military dependents you have to attend a meeting/info session with on occasion 40+ people. It's mostly an info session, I'm not sure how many of these individual's actually go through with it from this point, but all I know is that there aren't this many people at any of the bariatric nutrition meetings.

From there you are essentially given a check list to do prior to even being accepted onto the list for surgery. X-ray, ultrasound, psychiatric appointments (2), blood work and scope into your stomach.

It took me months too get the scope appointment (it was Halloween to be exact) and months for the psychiatric appointments. And I ended up not having to have the x-ray or ultrasound, but I'm jumping ahead of myself here, so let me explain why.

My husband was home on RR in the beginning of August and 4 days after he left I was taking my kids to swim lessons when I sat down at some benches and felt this horrible pain in my stomach. I went to get my kids food for dinner and upon entering my house lay on the couch and couldn't move. I had my eldest bring me the phone to call my friend to have him come over. He was there in less than an hour and it took everything I had to get up off the couch and open the door. He took one look at me and declared I was tinged green and at least 4 shades paler than usual, point his finger up the stairs and said I was going to bed. And that's what I did, I crawled upstairs (yes literally, I crawled up the stairs) went to bed and had the most restless, painful sleep ever. The next morning I had my friend take my kids to swimming class and drop me off at the ER.

And 9 hours later, dozens of phone calls to the ER from my ever worried husband, a pelvic exam, pelvic ultrasound, CT scan, being stuck 12 times for blood and IV line (not only am I afraid of needles I do not have the veins for its), 2 infusions, and even a doctor with an ultrasound machine on my arm looking for a vein (unsuccessful I might add) they figured out what I already knew...It was my Appendix.

So they had to do any emergency appendectimy, The wheeled me up to the OR and the anesthesiologists (yes there were two) both stuck me on each arm to get a line. They wheeled me in and I remember groggily waking up who knows how long later. I was so weak I couldn't get out of bed to use the bathroom and in too much pain to honestly admit. The next morning the doctor came to tell me I had had the worst kind, gangrenous appendicitis, and that there was no way it had come on in less than 24 hours, and oh he didn't want me to have any sort of abdomen surgery for a minimum of 3-4 months. I was released 3 days later (apparently that is a short hospital stay for this kind). My mom and grandma had flown down to help me out and relieve my friend.

So I learned three things from these results: 1. I didn't need another x-ray, 2. I didn't need another ultrasound 3. No abdomen surgery for 3-4 months. When it turns out the military will not do any gastric surgery when the spouse is deployed (well unless you have a family member who can confirm they will stay with you for up too a month). So it worked out there.

So I was on the list by mid-November! My husband came home 4 days after Thanksgiving and they of course called me to see if I wanted to have my surgery a week into December. I denied it, I wanted to enjoy having my husband home and not be miserable through the holidays.

December came and went, January came and almost went. They called me again saying they'd had a cancellation and I would have to start my died that day for surgery on the 31st. Again I had to deny it, I had just signed up for a Statistics class I needed to apply for grad school. February came and went. March came and they called. I couldn't do surgery in March, but they were giving me a great deal of consideration and working with me because of school and got me a date of April 23rd, 2012.

And there it was I had my date. I had a few things to accomplish between that time. 1. Quit smoking (this was the hardest thing ever) 2. Cut back on carbonated beverages i.e. sodas 3. Find some kind of high Protein Drink I could stomach.

Well I am happy to say I officially quit smoking over a month and half ago (I have purposely forgotten the date, I knew when I had too, and haven't looked back). I haven't had any carbonated beverages for almost 2 1/2 weeks. And turned out the drink for me was Isopure.< /p>

So here I am 8 days later, feeling great, but weak in the afternoons and evenings. Yeah, NO ONE told me about that part. Just how much energy they had after the surgery, well apparently that comes later on.

You might be wondering if I have had any complications. YES I did. I wasn't released until Wednesday around noon (instead of Tuesday evening) because when I got up too walk I was feeling dizzy and having issues with depth perception. Wednesday night around I had this horrible pain in my lower right abdomen. My husband gave me pain medication, we waited 20-30 minutes and when nothing happened I said we need to go to the ER something is not right, it felt like appenticitis all over again.

So off to the ER we went. My husband had to wheel me in, and we sat in the waiting room for 2 hours before I got a room. 3 hours later I was admitted. 1 EKG, 5 1/2 ounces of contrast later (yeah that's all I was able to drink in 2 hours) and a 1 CT scan later my doctor came to tell me the results. Apparently my J.P drain (tube) had moved to my lower right abdomen and was hitting my abdomen wall. So he removed the tube and INSTANTLY NO PAIN! They kept me one more night to keep an eye on me and released me Friday morning.

So that is me in a nutshell. I know I am long winded, but to really understand I had to give you more background info about myself. I would love to hear from others and hear about your journey's.

Michele

[Artsy 48]

Thank you Michelle for detailing your journey. Wishing you continued success. Please keep posting as we want to know about your recovery.