Donali's Up and About - kind of :D

[donali 57]

Thanks for the best wishes everyone!

I should be released this morning (Sunday), hopefully around 9 am.

The surgery was a nightmare - I was under for FIVE hours (I'm not sure if I was acutally in surgery for four or five hours, but I was out of the room for five hours). The doc said I was full

of adhesions, and they all had to be cut and cleaned away. When I woke up from the anesthesia, I was in pain like you can not believe. I was crying, moaning, whimpering. Dr. Lopez said they had to give me THREE times the pain killer to bring my pain under control. Once that initial pain was taken care of, the rest hasn't been so bad. Late afternoon Saturday they took out the drain, and removed the IV bag but left in the hand catheter to give me antibiotics and pain medicine.

Friday when they tried to put in my IV, the girl hunted and poked around in my hand with the needle, then gave up and tried up on my arm by the elbow. She kept fiddling with it - pushing it in, pulling it out, pushing it in. I'm lying down for all of this, but said "I'm going to faint." and did.

Cheryl said it was pretty freaky, because my eyes were still open, but rolled back in my head, and my mouth was open and I was making weird noises. The nurse gave her the smelling salts to hold under my nose and went off to get help. Cheryl said

then my face flushed a brilliant red, and I started thrashing my hands around. Very weird and creepy.

Right now my back hurts more than my stomach from laying on it so long. I begged them to let me send an email - these machines are only for their cancer patients, but for $5.50 the gal gave me the password.

I am feeling much better this morning (Sunday) - can you imagine that at the moment, my shoulder hurts worse than any other part of me? That muscle stiffness really settles in.

The doc finally came by Saturday, and said that he had to use stitches instead of glue for my incisions, because the stomach is full of bacteria, and it wasn't safe to just glue the incisions shut. I'm not sure how that would make a difference - gluing as opposed to sewing, but I have big black ugly stitches across each incision that I'll have to come back in two weeks to have removed.

Dr. Lopez also said that all the adhesions was an indication that my body was trying to get rid of the foreign body from the get go, so it really wasn't anything done on my part that caused the erosion - just my body's way of dealing with a foreign object. Thank God.

I see it's only 6:30 here at the moment, so I will probably trundle back off to bed for another hour or so. Dr. Carmen is supposed to come by around nine and release me. They were three and a half hours late yesterday, so I take nine with a grain of salt. Hopefully she'll take us back to the Mexicoach station, though, when she leaves, as opposed to us having to wait for the hospital's driver.

The night was uneventful, and I don't have much other news for you my wonderful online friends and support network. The

best news so far is that I have absolutely no hunger to speak of - I could not even finish my Jello and tea that they brought for dinner last night, and I worked on it for over an hour. I'm sure that won't last, but maybe by the time I get home I will have seen those last few pounds disappear and put me at one of my two intermediate goals - century club, or onderland. God, after all this, I'm still worried about losing weight. Sigh.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and well wishes. I'm sure the rest of my recovery will be uneventul, and I plan on catching up on messages and posts in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, I hope everyone else is happy and well, and that your journeys are bringing you pleasure.

Love to all -

Donali

[GeezerSue 7]

Fantastic. Take care and get well.

[Chris S. - L.I. 0]

Donali,

I have been checking this board every couple of hours to hear an update on you. I am so glad to see you posting it yourself! I am glad this is over for you but sorry you had to go through this in the first place. I am praying for a quick and uneventful recovery.

[hagerteresa 3]

Hi Donali,

I am also glad to see you up and around. Sorry all of this has been so aweful. I wouldn't wish what you had to go thru on anybody. I am just glad you made it thru and am now on the mend. I've missed you and Lisa the last couple of days. Well keep resting and come back to chat when you feel better. Teresa:Bunny

P.S. You deserve lots of hugs and kisses, xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

[Nanny 0]

Well, so glad to see you back on the board, have been keeping you in my prayers, sorry you had to go through such pain, Thank God its over. Take care and looking forward to you being back to your self soon I hope. Nanny

[Penni60 45]

Friday when they tried to put in my IV, the girl hunted and poked around in my hand with the needle, then gave up and tried up on my arm by the elbow. She kept fiddling with it - pushing it in, pulling it out, pushing it in. I'm lying down for all of this, but said "I'm going to faint." and did.

Donali: It sounds like the same thing I have happen to me all the time when they poke around like that. IT also sounds like the nurse should have gotten someone else to do the sticking after she could not get it the first or even the second time. I give them two chances and if they don't get it then go find someone else.

The thrashing around your friend describes sounds like you had a vagus nerve reaction and it was actually a seizure. I have had that happen to me as well. It does not mean you have epilepsy or any other disorder like that it just means the vagus nerve was irritated and when you were coming out of it the nerve was overly agitated. Nothing to get concerned over. It is scary for the person watching it though. I scared the beejezes out of my daughter one time doing that. LOL!!!

Anyway, I am sooooooooooooooooooooo glad that you are on the mend. Did the doc say why there was bacteria in the stomach? There shouldn't be is what I am getting at. Unless it was from the rejection of the band. Hmmm!!! Are they sending you home on some antibiotics?

Keep you in my prayers.

[leatha_g 4]

Donali,

So good to hear from you! Here's wishing you a safe and reasonably comfortable trip home. We all know you'll feel much better in your own surroundings.

I'm so sorry you even had to go through any of this.

((((((((DONALI)))))))

I don't want to sound like a mother hen, but when you get home, please be careful about how much time you sit at the puter. We rationalize that we're 'taking it easy' by just sitting here, but that is exactly where and how I got my first DVT. (Sitting at the puter for hours after surgery.) Either make yourself lie down with your feet up or walk as much as you can, but sitting in one position for too long can have serious effects.

Now I'll go back to fellow banded person mode.

Leatha

[bbrecruiter2000 1]

Donali,

I am so glad that you made it through and are on your way to recovery. Sounds like it was really horrible though. (the pain).

Gentle Hugs and feel better,

Babs in TX

[Bright 9]

Sounds like it was pretty awful for you...hopefully that was the worst of it over, and it'll be better from now on.... Thinking of you and looking forward to welcoming you back! :D :D

love and hugs xxxxx

[marsha 0]

Donali,

(((((big hugs)))))

I'm glad this is over for you and you can start your recovery. You've been in my thoughts and prayers!

I'm sorry you had sooooo much pain!

Feel better,

Marsha

[Alexandra 55]

DONALI, it's so good to hear from you!!! I'm so sorry this was such an ordeal, how unfair that seems after everything.

The good news is that it's over and it's all going to get better from here on out. I know I don't have to ask you to stay in touch.

Take care of yourself and heal fast!! Onederland is waiting for you!

[athykay 9]

Donali,

I am glad for you that it is over now. Maybe the ghost band is working. Take care dear, I'll be looking for your advise as usual.

Take care, and have a speedy recovery.

Grandma Kathy

[donali 57]

Thanks again for everyone's prayers, thoughts and concern.

It's about 4:30am, and I'm awake. So where do I come??? lol

I didn't get released until noon (you know what the say about "Mexican time" ). Got home around 2, and only spent about 20 minutes on the computer after I got home. I drove my sis and I home from the border with no troubles, and even stopped at the store for some cottage cheese and cough drops before finally settling on the couch. After I fed the fish in the ponds, and returned a few phone calls, that is.

I walk slightly stooped over, but not too bad. The pain is higher than when I was banded, and doesn't seem to interfere as much with the use of my stomach muscles, so I have little problems sitting up from a reclining position, bending over, getting up and down, etc. Plus the overall pain seems much less than when I was banded, so that makes me happy!

I didn't have the intestinal gas pain when I was banded that I'm experiencing now. When I eat or drink I feel the gas pain building up in my intestines. Luckily only lasts a minute or two before the pressure is released, but that's pretty uncomfortable. But everything seems to be in working order, and the incisions look clean.

I'm on pain pills and antibiotics twice a day for 10 days. The pain pills do nothing as far as I can tell, but I'm taking them anyway just in case.

As far as the stomach bacteria comment, it was my understanding from Dr. Lopez that the stomach contains bacteria in its normal state. Dr. Carmen said my stomach wasn't compromised, so I'm not sure exactly what all was done. I got the message pretty clear that Dr. Lopez spent a lot of time testing the stomach for leaks to make sure there were none when everything was closed up. So I am assuming that the stitches were just a precaution.

Something I did learn that I didn't understand before - when an erosion causes a port infection, it's because the band has made it INTO the stomach, and the stomach acid eats away the balloon that surrounds the band, and then the bacteria travels up the tube to the port, which causes the infection. That's how it was explained to me, anyway, and made sense to my mind.

So Penni, as far as bacteria not being a part of the normal stomach environment, I can't say. I do know that we have a lot of "flora and fauna" in our digestive systems, and I thought some of that was "good" bacteria. ????

I did a quick search looking for links between adhesions and inplant rejection, and couldn't find anything offhand that I could understand, and then I was tired of being on the computer. I may try again later using better keywords. If anyone is bored and dying to do some info searches, I'm interested in supporting info that adhesions are a sign of implant rejection.

There was nobody at the Oasis being banded while I was there, so I couldn't visit any newbies.

I guess that's it for now - hopefully the rest of my recovery will be uneventful! I'm planning on taking in a movie with Mom later today, as sitting upright is pretty comfortable (at least in a nightgown! ), and I'm not supposed to be lying down except to sleep. I haven't really followed that directive too much, but I lie down a lot when I'm well, so.... lol

Hope everyone has a great Monday, and that you all have it off as a holiday!!

Happy Fourth!

:D

[Becky 0]

I am so glad that you are on the road to recovery.. You have been through so much.. My prayers and thoughts are with you.. You are such an inspiration to all of us here.. You are the wise one!!! I wish you a speedy recovery and everything is going to be alright.. Weight loss included.. !!! Keep the faith..

[hagerteresa 3]

Here! Here! Becky! Good words! T

Donali, you were saying that port infections are ussually co-related with erosion. Did you ever have any port infections recently? It is scary that you never really felt any of the erosion going on and if you never had the port infection, look how bad the erosion had already gotten. EEK! I will try a little searching later on today. Best wishes to you and keep mending! T