My Honest Diary day 1 - 5

[JMS 16]

Day 1- arrived at the hospital mostly excited to start my new journey and some nervousness. My surgery was at 8:30 am and Everything went smooth and before you know it I was being woke up in recovery around noon. Very groggy and do not really remember much until about 5 pm when they got me out of bed for my first walk. Dry mouth was a real issue but the ice ships and swabs really helped. Did fine and walked more then they wanted. Morphine pump was kicking in and I really didn't feel too bad. The worse part was getting in and out of the bed with all the wires and 2 drains hooked up to me. Day 2 ( 1 day Pre-OP)- Felt pretty good but did not sleep very well all night. Kept doing my walking and sippen thing. Pain was well controlled by pain meds with no issues. Doc came by and said everything went well and that I did good despite some issue with nicking my lived because it was quite fatty and they needed to lift it out of the way with a special tool. Said if I keep doing good I would be release the next day. Later at night started getting real itchy from morphine so switched to Dilauded tablet. Still had both drains and which were irritating when trying to move around. Day 3 - Pain was not controlled the same as when on the morphine but tolerable. Was urinating quire frequently like every hour so was in and out of bed/chair often. Kept doing my walking and sipping. Very tired feeling due to not much sleep in hospital, besides the noises they wake you every hour for one thing or another. Stopped taking the pain pills early on because I thought they were making me so tired. Pain was significant but tolerable. Felt like you been punch several times in the gut. Was anxiously waiting to get released and finally around 5 pm they removed the two drains took all the monitors off me and sent me home. I was in moderate pain but very tired feeling, couldn't wait t just go home and sleep. Well although my sleep was better it was certainly not without discomfort and frequent urination so I was up at least every 2 hours with lots of tuning to find a comfortable position. Day 4 (yesterday) - Woke up and immediately took a shower and a nice shave. This really wore me out. Still no pain meds but pain was a wee bit better. Still felt groggy and tired. Started to feel a bit nauseous around mid-morning. Still peeing razor blades. Had my first bowl movement. Felt like I had to really force my self to sip Water and Protein. It was a real struggle and I did not get even close to what I was suppose to. Starting feeling like "What did I do to my self" wishing I was would never have done it. Hated the feeling, couldn't drink, walk or anything, just toss and turn the hours away. Just wanted to feel normal so bad. Pain was tolerable, still not taking pain meds, really had a hard time even watching TV, just couldn't concentrate. Forced about a half bottle of Isopure down along with some water and some milk. Regretting ever doing this. Day 5 (today) - Slept much better last night, not urinating as much thank god. Still nauseous and feeling like I cannot get liquids down. Still very tired feeling. Will I ever feel normal again?? Still regretting what I did. Down 14 lbs since Day 1. Will keep posting updated to the diary as I progress.

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

Why are you not taking your pain meds?

This surgery is hard enough, no need to suffer needlessly

Take your pain meds... It will help you to walk and get your fluids in

Thank you for sharing your story!

Every day should get better and better but take your medicine

[Amie 90]

At least take your pain meds when you go to bed it will help you get some better sleep. And yes it will get better. I am 2 weeks out and just yesterday was finally able to get 64 oz of Water in. You will start feeling better soon. Just think about your future and how exciting it is going to be.

[Lissa 2,631]

There are no prizes for not taking your pain meds, you know? Take them. You're not going out anywhere and you're definitely not going to work, so take the pain meds to take the edge off. You won't become addicted in just a few days. Congrats on being sleeved!

[Lori228 60]

I agree with lessofmeismore, take your pain meds and even if you are tired so then rest. It may be "less invasive" then open surgery, but you did have a major change and your body has to adapt. Take it easy, sip your Fluid, and look at the positive stories on this site. This does not happen over night and you have to first recover and let your body heal. I am four days postop and am in no way back to myself yet. I walked around our park

and down to the neighbors yesterday, but was not pushing too far too fast. I am sipping throughout the day, I am only on stage 1 so just Clear Liquids, but feel fine as far as that goes. I started keeping track of everything to see if I am getting enough and just so I know what is going on. I had issues with things like hiccups because my surgeon fixed a hiatal hernia and that would increase my pain but they are going away. Just take it a day at a time and try to remember why you did this. I never thought it would be "easy" and knew from talking and listening to people there would be pain and issues, you just removed some of your stomach after all. Just try really hard to look at the positives and realize you need to heal before going on and that it will get better. Try to stay positive. I believe that is important for a lot of reasons. It will get better!!

[JMS 16]

Thanks all, seems like a recurring theme about taking the pain meds. Will the pain meds help reduce the nauseous feeling? I think I could get the liquids down better if I was not sea-sick like.

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

Yes they can because constant pain can cause nausea

Do you have a prescription for zofran?

It's a little melt away pill you put under your tongue

I used it lots and lots the first 6 weeks!

It's a miracle pill

Your surgeon can call in a prescription for you

[JMS 16]

Yes I been taking the Zofran and it does take the edge off. How long with the nausea last?? Funny thing I noticed since I have been home. My sense of smell has like quadrupled or something, anyone else??

[Lissa 2,631]

JMS, I couldn't stand anything sweet, especially right after surgery. I drank lots of broth because the sweet Protein Shakes made me gag like crazy. Smells were horrible too. We lived behind a Mcdonald's and it just about made me puke to drive by there. Once I started the acid reducer those both got better, but it took me awhile to realize what I needed to control the issues. Your pain meds will help with nausea too because your body won't already be fighting the pain and can use some energy to control the acid.

[JMS 16]

Day 6 - The seasick like symptoms and the in ability to get in liquids continued so yesterday after noon I started taking the pain meds as suggested by many as guess what...... As stated they helped greatly with all my symptoms so pain meds it will be as needed. My sense of smell is still very heightened which is weird. I slept great last night. I was dreaming the whole night and only woke once to go to the bathroom. Wife said my snore is down to a minimum (low Grumble). Was still very tiresome to take a shower and I needed a big rest afterwards. Down 16 lbs. since day 1. Another day and a little better.....

[jc4444 120]

Hope you get better, thanks for the story, helped us pre sleevers know what to expect day to day

[VSGKirk 855]

I'm 2 months out and I call my sense of smell my "Spidey Senses" - I can smell everything! I'm attributing it to a cleaner diet perhaps reducing inflammation throughout my body. Just a hunch.

But it's weird, I can smell people's breath several feet away and tell you if they have been drinking the night before, whether or not they only had coffee for Breakfast. I smelled Windex and saw that about 50 feet away someone was using it.

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

I'm 2 months out and I call my sense of smell my "Spidey Senses" - I can smell everything! I'm attributing it to a cleaner diet perhaps reducing inflammation throughout my body. Just a hunch.

But it's weird' date=' I can smell people's breath several feet away and tell you if they have been drinking the night before, whether or not they only had coffee for Breakfast. I smelled Windex and saw that about 50 feet away someone was using it.[/quote']

I agree! I have spidey senses too lol