Day One - Surgery Day

[musiclady2014 16]

Hi everyone,

I am about 18 hours post-op and feeling okay. Here's an account of my day (at least what I can recall!)

5:30 am - arrived at hospital/check-in

At this time, I paid my copay and completed my hospital provided Advanced Directive/Living Will

6:00 am - seated in waiting area for Pre-Op preparation

I was only in this are for about 10 minutes. My fiancé was with me in the waiting area, however, as soon as I was taken back for Pre-Op prep my fiancé was directed to the Surgical Waiting area.

6:10 am - taken to Pre-Op Prep area where I changed into my hospital gown, put on footies, and surgical cap.

6:20 am to 7:25 am - Met with Doctors (surgeon and anesthesiologist) and nurses.

Everyone confirmed that I am who I am and if I knew which procedure I was scheduled for. I was given my "forgetful cocktail" around 7:25 am and honestly remember NOTHING afterwards until I woke up in recovery.

7:30 am to 12:00 pm - RNY Gastric Bypass

My surgery took approximately 4 1/2 hours, which was about twice as long as the average at this hospital. I still don't know exactly why it took so long, but I was reassured to the surgery went really well.

12:45 pm to 3:00 pm - Absolutely worst part so far.

When I awoke in the recovery room, the nurse I had had an atrocious bed-side manner. I asked when I could see my fiancé and was told as soon as I was taken to my room and that should be in just a few minutes. I was just getting used to the new feelings of my body, this is also when I found out my surgery had taken so long, and my nurse ignored my and my requests for over 2 hours. Because of the sore throat, I was only at a whisper at my best and I really struggled to even get her attention. My nurse showed no compassion for my pain and got irritated with me because I was crying because of my pain. Also, a few minutes turned into over 2 hours before I was moved to my room - so I was in pain, visibly upset, and longing for a familiar face. I cried all the way to my room. Awful,

3:00 pm - It got significantly better the moment I met my floor nurses (and finally got to see my fiancé!)

The floor nurses have been nothing short of amazing and I am eternally grateful for them. Carol, my first nurse on the floor, was so helpful and accomplished at explaining why she was doing something and how it would affect/help me. I also began drinking ice Water and eating ice chips durning this time. And as of now, I haven't had any nausea or difficulty swallowing, actually, it feels so good!

4:30 pm to 7:30 pm - sleepy and extremely happy to see my fiancé and oldest best girlfriend

It hurts to breathe because of the drain at the bottom of my diaphragm and coughing is scary, but tolerable. Did I mention I have PCA (patient administered via pump) Dilaudid. Woo-Hoo!

7:30 pm - first time walking

Walking was hard but felt good. It made me feel so accomplished being that my surgery was 12 hours prior and I took a good 10 minute walk (even if I was slow as molasses). The most painful part is getting up and down from the bed because I would typically use core strength to help me up. Right now, my core strength is compromised and it hurts quite a bit trying to roll around and push myself up.

7:45 pm to now (2:00 am) - lots of sleep and vital checks

My nurses have now changed twice and each of them have been awesome. I feel so lucky to be with such caring and compassionate health care professionals.

Schedule for 8/20: removal of catheter and barium swallow in the AM. Lots of walking and labs throughout the day and first attempts at proteinshakes.

I am one of those that like to know exactly is going on and when, so I though I would recorded my experience so that others may have a better idea of what to expect.

Please join me in praying that everything goes well tomorrow, well today, and that I get to go home on Thursday.

Thanks for listening everyone!

~ Angela

[honeybunz 139]

Sounds like you are doing well! Hope it continues that way for you! Sorry about your first meany nurse! Congratulations and best wishes on your journey!! :-)

[Nancysgastricbypass 6]

Prayers everything will be fine ????, sorry you had to deal with such a nurse.

[musiclady2014 16]

Thanks ladies! After the first meanie nurse, they've been great! I feel quite fortunate!

[esskay77 785]

Great journal! lol. It brought back memories of my experience, though I don't think I had a mean nurse. Sounds like everything is going well for you!

[kedwards1950 1]

I am having my bypass on 9/4 and quite scared as to what the pain will feel like when I regain consciousness....thanks for sharing your story. Hope my recovery room room nurse is nicer through.........praying for a rapid recovery for you and painfree!

[golden39 10]

KEdwards .. I actually did not have much pain at all as my PCA was started in the recovery room. I really was impressed. You might want to ask if they can so that for you. I also asked for a Compazine patch so that I would not have nausea and that ( along with Zofran) was amazing.. No nausea at all. I am a nurse so I knew to ask for this stuff but don't be afraid to ask Anesthesia for these orders !

[musiclady2014 16]

Well it's Day 8 now and let me tell you, it's been an interesting week. I was discharged on Thursday evening, which was nice but scary to think I was ready for that big leap. Once I got home, it was so nice to sleep in my own bed without vital checks every four hours! (Again, I loved my nurses and they were fabulous but it felt so good to get solid rest!)

Unfortunately, just as I was starting to get into a daily routine, on Saturday night I noticed that my body did not "feel right". Even after surgery I quickly became aware of how it felt to be in my own skin. I noticed the left side of my abdomen wrapping all the way around to my back seemed really tight and swollen. However there was no redness and I didn't have a fever.

So, I went to bed and woke up to the same symptoms only the area that was tight and swollen was also hot-to-touch now. Again though there was not redness or fever. So after some internal debate, I headed back to the hospital, only to the ER this time.

Once I arrived they immediately took me back seeing that it was lost likely post-op complications. They had me drink contrast in sugar free Crystal Light lemonade for a CT. I was able to guzzle down about 8 ounces (in an hour) and then they tried the CT scan.

Warning! Do not read below if you're squeamish.

Results were clear that I had quite an abscess in my lower left abdominal wound. That night was terrible. The admitted me and the surgeon on call ended up opening that wound up bedside with me under very little pain killers. It was scary. As soon as he cut me open, I could feel the liquid gush all over my stomach and bed. Then he had to dig out the puss and search for pockets of the infection, which was quite unpleasant. After he squeezed and dug around for about 30 minutes, he cleaned it with saline and packed it with a thick layer of gauze on top to soak up the infection.

I definitely screamed and cried. And I'm pretty sure I passed out at one point. That night I didn't sleep at all. I was in a lot of pain. I was upset that I was back in the hospital and I just wanted to go home. At the same time, I was afraid to go home with this infection.

On Monday morning they cleaned and re packed the wound again, which was terrible again. I'm not sure if the nurse had ever packed a wound so deep before because she kept asking for help for her fellow nurse that seemed to be guiding her. At this point and as far as I was concerned, I was not the one to practice on. I may or may not have been a very pleasant patient that morning...

My surgeon came to see the wound and he apologized that it had become infected but explained that it is always a risk. It becomes a higher risk when dealing with the intestines as well. He was really nice and calmed my nerves about it. He ensured me that I could go home and he would arrange for Home Care nurses to come daily to my house to do wound care.

So I went home on Monday evening, took some good pain medicine, and slept.

Today has been okay. I am still very swollen and tender on my left side and I feel like I need a bit more help up and down. Luckily I have the best fiancé ever and he has been right by my side and super understanding/compassionate about my current condition.

The nurse that came today was beyond fantastic. I did not have extensive pain when she cleansed and packed the wound today. The nurse also took official stats on all incisions and open wounds (both infected wound and drain wound). I don't know if this is large in the grand scale of things, but, I am flabbergasted that the abscessed wound is a pocket 12cm deep!!! Crazy scary to imagine!

Anyways, the nurse had extremely gentle hands and was understanding that my previous experiences were downright awful. She assured me that he nurses in my rotation were all well-seasoned and expert nurses who would thoroughly examine me and give me great care. Yesterday I may have though that was a bunch of smoke being blown up my rear, but today I believed her. Haha.

Anyways, it's been a long, trying week. But I am really trying to stay positive about the long haul. Even if no one reads this, it is almost a therapy to write it all down. Hopefully someone will read it though and it may even help them on their journey!

I'll keep ya'll updated on the normal gastric bypass issues/new lifestyle and the wound infection as well.

Happy Tuesday!

~Angela