How Painful Was The Surgery?

[SunnyCox 245]

My worst time was immediately after surgery. I believe my pain was from gas. It felt unbearable, but the floor doctor would not give me pain meds even though the surgeon told me he wrote them PRN (as needed). I think I got one shot of morphine the entire night. I talked to my surgeon about this afterwards, and his assistant told me that the floor doctor was notorious for with holding pain meds. I wish I had known that in advance.

My stomach was tender or painful to the touch. The pain was deeper, and there was nothing I could do to get comfortable. When I walked, I was nauseous, and I heaved a few times (which wasn't uncomfortable in my stomach area). This lead me to believe my pain was gas related.

At the end of the first day, I rolled over to sleep on my side and stomach and then would start over on my back. The movement seemed to help relieve the pain. When I woke up the next morning, it had pretty much subsided. Haven't had any real pain since.

I can honestly say it was the easiest surgery I have been through. I did take pain meds at night for the next few days, but not so much for pain. It was mostly to help me be incredibly comfortable and drowsy so that I slept like a rock.

[Delta..Make it Happen 29]

my pain was minimal. i was in the hospital one day. when i got home i did not take any pain medicines because i did not like liquid medicine, i just felt sore and thats it... i did not have any gas pains at all.

i was driving to the store 1 day after i got out of the hospital so that tells u that i did not have any pain it was just soreness around stomach and thats it

[soccermomx2 111]

I felt that it is more soreness (million situps) & not much pain. I am prone to nausea so I asked for a nausea patch which I put on night before surgery & it lasted for 3 days.

I had a 50/50 chance of a drain...ended up not needing one. No pain pump just IV meds. I went home with Percocet pill form...no problems taking it.

Worst part of the whole thing was drinking the gastrique the next day for the leak test. YUCK!!!!

I was very bruised & sore at my large incision where my stomach came out. I used an ace bandage for support the first week & slept with one of those pillows that has arms. It made me sleep in a semi upright position....felt good & didn't aggrevate my stomach.

Not too much gas..just a lot of burping. Get up & walk as much as you can.

I'm almost a month out and it almost seems like a distant memory. I'll be wishing you a speedy recovery!!!

[his2my2our4 120]

I have heard so many variations of post op stories. I think every one is so different, it's hard to predict. I also had zero gas pains and very little post op pain. I was sore, don't get me wrong, but not pain. It was uncomfortable to laugh, sneeze or cough and the idea to keep a pillow handy is a really good one (also comes in handy on the ride home for the bumps in the road).

My biggest complaint was trying to get comfortable to sleep. I couldn't sleep on my side or my stomach for a few days...maybe even a week.

Good luck to you!

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I am prone to nasuea from the anesthesia. When I woke up, I felt horrid even though they had given me the anti-nasuea cocktail. As bad as it felt, I never threw up.

I went home the next morning, only stayed one night.

The pain wasn't that bad, it felt like I had done about a million situps. I did sleep in a recliner because I found getting in and out of bed uncomfortable - the ab muscles were very sore.

I didn't have a big problem with the gas pain either.

Actually, I felt worse after my band removal surgery maybe because I was so blue about the band failing or maybe because that port area was so sore.

My main issue was feeling really tired. I got better over time- but I wasn't "normal" until about 6-8 weeks post op.

[Sheree 10]

Hi, I as well really had no pain, a little sore in the stomach area and took pain meds only at night for 3 nights to help me sleep (why not? I couldn't lay on my side or of course belly for about 2 weeks. My worst complaint was my nausea. From Water to the Protein Shakes, everything made me nauseaus. I woke up nauseaus and fell asleep nauseaus. That was also for about 2 weeks. Now, 5 weeks out I feel great and SO happy I had the surgery. I have lost 19 lbs. and am on my way. good luck, you will be fine.

[AdeptDreamer 104]

Thanks for all the responses I should stop freaking myself out. I'm hoping I don't have any complications but that's a whole other can of worms haha thank you again everyone

[jilldgipson 12]

I had no gas pains at all. I only had nausea the morning after my surgery, and that was only because I had a reaction to a medication they put in my IV. As soon as that was over, I have never had ANY more nausea and have not thrown up even once.

My mini pillow was my friend - getting up and walking around hurt a little for about a couple of weeks. Pretty bad the first couple of days, then increasingly better each day. The pain was from the incisions though - no painful feeling from the actual stomach removal.

I was in the hospital two nights (I had a late surgery time - 6pm). After I left the hospital I never used pain meds again. NOTE: if you have any kind of a commute home, ask the nurse to put a dose of pain meds AND anti nausea meds into your IV shortly before they discharge you. This will make the trip home much more comfortable.

I would say my surgery was pretty darn easy, and the BEST thing I have ever done for myself. I'm down 40 pounds of the 100 I wanted gone. I have a very normal life. I go out to eat, and I order whatever I want. Last night I had ONE slice of thin crust pizza with my family and was full and satisfied.

So try not to worry too much. It won't be horrible, and the results are going to AMAZE you!

[Texarkolina 201]

You said you wanted all replies so here goes. First of all, I generally have a pretty high tolerance to pain but....When I came back to the floor I was in excruciating pain. I had complications so they didn't give me anything after surgery for a bit and I have never experienced pain that intense in my life. The pain pump and my ever diligent sister pushing the button every time it was available finally got on top of the pain about 3 hours later. I used that pain pump quite a bit because--well--it freaking hurt. My IV went bad and they had trouble starting another one--like 12 sticks worth of trouble. I had visitors at the time and they are still talking about how I didn't even react when they jabbed me over and over. I didn't react because the IV sticks were NOTHING compared to the pain I was in--like being tickled with a feather. I got up and walked a lot, but that did not touch the pain. I went home on day 3--back in the hospital on day 6 for pain and dehydration. The pain I had was sharp shooting pain in my shoulder and chest. They did some tests--everything normal--and home I went in agony. On day 9 I had my drain removed in the doctor's office and passed out cold. When I came to--pain was gone. I was a little bit sore--but no real pain. The surgeon said that the drain must have been irritating a nerve and that was the source of most of my pain. Today--day 10--I feel like a new woman.

Hopefully you will have little pain and feel great, but prepare yourself just in case. Either way, it will be worth it. The surgeon and hospital staff were kind and understanding and did what they could to help me. I wonder how my recovery would have gone if I had a surgeon that removed the drain earlier......

Good luck to you.

[myq 1]

I'll be honest, I slept through the whole procedure! The day of surgery was pretty rough. I was glad to have IV meds available. The secret was walking. Walking = feeling better. I would get half way down the hall, hiccup (ouch!) then burp and I was good to go. I didn't one night in the hospital. As soon as I was on liquids, my nausea subsided and by late that morning I was feeling ready to go home. Not a bad experience at all. Well worth the 40 lbs I've lost in 5 weeks! Get to start full foods next week, but I don't want to ever eat,"normal" again.

[FEELINGSOFAB2486 1]

Sleever July 31.....surgury took abt 1hr.... Recovered for 4hrs and then my nurse took me for 1st walk.... No pains... Just a little sore.... Was in hospital for2dys..... Minimal pain meds in hospital.... No meds since left hospial... No nausea.... No vomiting...... Feels greats!

[lunabella007 37]

It wasn't too bad! I was surprised! The day of surgery, after I woke up, I got up and walked around 4 hours after getting operating on. It was great, because it wasn't as bad as I expected. I had to hold my abdomen when I sat up or walked anywhere though. The shots they were giving me for pain the day of surgery didn't make me nauseated at first, but the next morning I couldn't tolerate them anymore, so they switched me to liquid vicodin which I went home on that afternoon.

What you've heard is true, at least as far as I'm concerned, the gas pain and the not-being-able-to-fart thing was way worse than any incision or stomach pain I had. The incision I had closer to my left side hurt more than the others because when I'd sit on the toilet and reach for the toilet paper it would pull a little on the wound. Sorry if TMI.

To be completely honest, I've had PMS that was worse! (Sorry TMI again! Just being honest!)

Oh, and I could pretty much get back to my life as usual after 4-5 days or so.

[NancyJerry 139]

I guess I'll be in the minority here. I tend to wake up slowly from anesthesia in the first place (just slow and groggy) but I was SUPER SUPER nauseous and they gave me anti-nausea meds which knock me out. So the first day I was groggy, nauseous and the gas pain was really awful, but due to my sedated-ness, couldn't get up and walk. The first night I slept in one hour increments then had to get up and pee. - every hour! My nurses were spectacular at giving me pain and anti-nausea meds as soon as the last dose wore off. By morning, I was feeling much better.

Then I went down for the x-ray where they give you the clear stuff to drink (can't remember what it's called) and I threw that up!! That sent me back down the anti-nausea med/knock me on my butt groggy path. By noon on the second day, I was up out of bed every hour on the hour WALKING. That is when the the gas finally got out of town and everything else felt better. If I could have walked sooner I would have - and if you can you should!

Once home, I took my pain meds as needed. It was more like I felt really good and would "over-do it" so I'd take a pill and go to bed for a little while. By the 3rd or 4th day home I don't think I took any.

THE COMPRESSION PILLOW IS KEY!! My hospital gave me one. Good luck to you! And like everyone else said, it's very individual. You will be going through MAJOR surgery. If you need meds take them. You don't need to be a hero. Walk when you can and sip on that Water. You'll do great!

[MamaJaa 1]

You will be as we say sleeping on the bus for a while. As in inclined on pillows, so bring your own comfortable pillows. Your getting a new organ basically so everythings going to feel weird for a few weeks, gas seems to go the wrong way, I had some cramping from the esophagus down for a while, but it works itself out. The heartburn however is the kicker. Prilosec is your new best friend

[KayKay20 13]

Hi everyone I had my surgery Aug 6th. When I woke up I felt ok, till they made me get up & walk around. While walking I would vomit clear vomit. The nurse kept telling my husband she's not going to do anything it's just the nausea she's felling. But I kept vomiting & vomiting. It hurt like crazy to walk at first, it got better. But I still have gas so bad. It feels like menstrual cramps times 5 to me. I'm only 3 days out but I'm ready for the gas pain to leave. Other than the gas pains. Its getting better.