Surgery Stories

[Cota129 0]

Cool story, wnt2lose. I believe in signs. You sure had a postive one given to you! Congrats on your successful surgery.

[Carsons_Mommy 0]

Wow, wnt2lose... Thanks for sharing that whole experience. I absolutely believe in signs as well. Now I'm even more excited to go in for my surgery on Friday!! Keep posting and telling us about your recovery. WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!

[kandiceb 0]

The nurse put my ID band on my arm and told me the malls were supposed to look for these bands in case any patients decided to run out before the surgury! I was almost in that state of mind while waiting in the surgical waiting room. Ther office mgr or network admin. saw me and said she felt the same way five years ago when she had her surgury. She looks SOOOOOO good now. I thanked her for her inspiration.

I had the surgury at 11:45 and woke up in the recovery room at 1:30. No nausea. I had warned them that general anesthetics makes me sick. It didn't take long to get dressed and go home. I was still under the sway of the "happy meds" put into my IV so I felt pretty good except for where they put the trachea tube and that gave me a sore throat.

Today is a different story. I am just walking around and around because that feels better than sitting or laying down. My Cocker boy Sam has been following me everywere so he's getting his excersize.

I will probably not go back to the office until Friday. I am really dizzy and that is probably from the liquid hydrocordoron. But when you hurt, use the tools given you I guess.

Since I run the corporate network, I think I should stay away. "This is your network....This is your network on drugs!!):confused:

Good luck to all who are still waiting.

[steph_co 9]

kandiceb - Thanks for sharing your experience. LOL@ the drug comment. Straight up hydrocodone makes me ill - I hope they give me Vicodin instead. Sounds like you're doing pretty well if you're going back to work on Friday! Wow. Keep us updated on your recovery!

[Cota129 0]

My surgery was this morning. It went well. I was at the centre about 6:15 and on my way home by 10:30. I did have a huge hiatal hernia, which was repaired. I feel pretty good. Sore when I sit up. The surgeon told me I might be more sore tomorrow when the anesthesia is fully worn off. All in all, not a bad experience

[steph_co 9]

Glad to hear things went well, Renee!

[minerals13 0]

My surgery was this morning. It went well. I was at the centre about 6:15 and on my way home by 10:30. I did have a huge hiatal hernia, which was repaired. I feel pretty good. Sore when I sit up. The surgeon told me I might be more sore tomorrow when the anesthesia is fully worn off. All in all, not a bad experience

Cota, what great news! I'm so glad today went well for you. That sounds like a record discharge time! Good job. Take care, rest & I wish you the best! Glad to see you post so soon!:clap2:

Carol

[minerals13 0]

wnt2lose, WOW! You said it all....what an inspiring story. Thank you for sharing your surgery experience and best wishes for a quick recover and a wonderful journey!

[sumz30 0]

congrats cota for ur surgery :clap2:and hope u have a speedy recovery

as for me.. i feel great! i cant believe how much better i feel today than i did yesterday.. i just feel a pull in my stitches when i walk for a while.. but it goes away if i hold it tight..

although i m a bit sick of having liquids.. cant wait to begin mashed foods.. i cant remember ever being excited about having mashed foods

[shadst83 0]

Hey everybody! I'm banded!

I had to be at the hospital yesterday at 0715 for a 0915 surgery time. I was #2 on my surgeon's schedule. Apparently, his first surgery ran long, so I didn't go in until almost 1030.

Staff at my hospital were so nice ... they could see that I was having extreme anxiety so they kept coming into my pre-op room to check on me. When my doc came in to talk to me it calmed me down so much. He has such kind and compassionate vibes, but at the same time he comes across extremely self-confident and knowledgeable. While he was talking to me, the nurse was digging around in my arm trying to find a vein for my IV. He stayed a little longer talking to me to detract me from the ordeal (which is actually normal for me, so I'm used to it). I thought that was nice of him, though. I had meant to ask him about what I'd get to combat blood clotting and verify that I was still getting the AP band. However, when he asked me if I had any questions, they all seemed to evaporate. With my goofy self, all I could think to ask him is if the window in the room would open. He said no and left the room laughing. Did I mention that he is one HOT, good-looking man? Anyways ...

I woke up in recovery a couple of different times with the nurse asking me about my pain. It was pretty significant, so she'd give me something for it. She really stayed on top of it and was soooo nice. I gather from my son that I was only in surgery for a little over an hour (I also had a hiatal hernia repair), but was in recovery for a good while. Finally, I started to come around enough to hear a couple of the nurses teasing my nurse about how hot my son is and if she wanted them to run and hold him down for her. I wanted to go, "HEY! That's my baby you're talking about."

Shortly thereafter, I was rolled over to radiology where I had a barium swallow to make sure the band was placed correctly and that it wasn't too tight. Before surgery, I wondered how the heck a person just out of surgery would be able to stand up for a barium swallow and xray. Wellllll, the table that you lie on has these footrest thingies at the bottom. After you're on the table, they rotate it forward to get you somewhat vertical.They hold the cup of barium to the side and you drink it down via a straw. And believe me, it doesn't taste any better under the influence of drugs. The radiology doc pronounced me good to go, and the nurse took me back to a day surgery room. I was dying for something to drink so she brought me some Water. I had to hang around for about 5 minutes to see if I'd get nauseous ... I didn't, so I got dressed and went home. At this point it was around 3:00pm.

After dropping me off at home, my son went and got my Loratab elixer Rx filled. The documentation says that it's not as effective for existing pain, and that you should take it as directed in order to stay ahead of the pain (if that makes sense). I didn't wake up to take it last night, so when I woke up this morning I was in some pretty significant pain in the area around my port incision. All in all, though, I'm doing pretty good. I've been walking around the house to help with the gas pain (it travels from my shoulder to my chest) and when I get tired of that I put the heating pad on it. I've had broth, gatorade and Water, so my Clear Liquids are going down just fine.

I've tried to include the stuff that I wondered about before in my surgery story; so forgive me if I've rambled. Hey! I'm on drugs over here . If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask.

Oh yeah. Good luck to the 8th crew ... it's a piece of cake.

[vanessav 0]

After a ceasarian and gall bladder removal, Lab Band has been the easiest! My surgery ended up being on 11/7 a day later than expected. My story sounds like most of yours.

IV, things of my feet for circulation, shot for circulation (in my hip) barium swallow with xray, 45 min surgery. I felt I was pretty lucky in recovery since several people around me were having nausea and vomitting problems.

I feel pretty good, minimal gas with a couple burps here and there. A lot of soreness in my back. liquid pain meds taste really bad but I am taking it. Water, Jello and broth so far.

Its been a great experience. So far the only bad thing is that I started me period this morning .

I hope all of you have as good an experience as I have (SO FAR, LOL)

Best of luck to the rest of you!

VanessaV

[jelbel 0]

I had my surgery on Monday Nov. 5th.

Everything went well. I did not rest much at the hospital,but I slept a lot the next day. I have much gas and have been eating tums for the extra Calcium too. I know that a lot of people have GASX instead.

I was so excited making my frozen fruit shake yesterday with Protein Powder and milk. It took me an hour to drink it LOL The puddings are yummy too.

I even blowdried my hair yesterday which was Nov 7th and worked on the computer.

It's a quick recovery,but I'm staying home until next week Wednesday.

I hope this helps,

Bella.

[hollyberries 2]

Hi everyone! I am new to lapbandtalk.com but have really enjoyed this website with the wealth of knowledge it has. You are all an inspiration and I look forward to the journey with you.

My surgery experience was not bad. I was scheduled for 11:30am on 11/6 but when I called the day before I was pushed to 3:30pm. I had to be at the hospital at 1:30pm for all the preop stuff to be done. I had to meet with admitting and a nurse before I was sent into preop. Preop was the longest wait but this is where they put in the IV, I met with my doctor, a surgical nurse, anthesiologist and had my first Heprin shot in the belly. I have IV's, I am a chicken when it comes to needles but my nurse was cool. The patient in the bed next to me cried and whaled when it was being done so that didn't make me to happy but she was quick. The Heprin shot did not hurt and was put into my stomach. I told her it was because I had a nice cushion for the shot to go into LOL!

I was not nervous and had not been. I thought for sure that I would be while I was in the preop but no nerves. I was cracking jokes with everyone (which is my usual way of handling stress) but no nervous and this is my first surgical procedure ever. The only thing that has kept me in the hospital is giving birth to 3 children. When I met with my surgeon; he was all business and looked tired. This made me a little nervous because I was last on the schedule for the day. At this point my surgery was delayed over an hour. We talked and he asked if I had any questions, I said no that I just ready for to done with. I also told him he better do a good job because this is my first surgery; he chuckled. He was probably thinking what a looney I have here.

It was 5pm before I wheeled into the OR. I was still not nervous; while I was being wheeled into the OR I was joking with the Anathesioligist and asked if he was the best. His assistant said he had a great reputation and was really good. I proceeded to tell him to autograph my foot. When I was in the OR I had to go from the Preop bed to the OR bed which was really tiny. I was thinking am I going to fit on this bed. I cracked a joke about the fact that "Big Medicine" had bigger beds why not you guys. By this point, they were putting a mask on me and telling me to breath. I was out. I think they just wanted to shut me up.

I woke in recovery at about 7:30 in quite a bit of pain. My chest seemed to hurt the most. They must have given me something because I passed out again. I saw my DH at about 8:30 and asked what time it was and was still feeling pain in my chest and I passed out again. Most of the recollection is from my DH because I don't remember much. I was wheeled to my room at 10:30 but I don't remember the ride much.

When I got to my room, they prepped me for the bed. I had to go pee so bad; so they helped into the bathroom and I did everything on my own. I felt really no pain because they had me on morphine. I had a pain pump; which I really didn't use much but if I had pain it was nice to have. I slept off and on all night waking only to go pee and have the nurse take vitals and shoot me up with Heprin shot. The next morning, I was in a little more pain but nothing I couldn't handle with the pain pump. I got up and had to go to the bathroom and the nurse and I decided that I would try to go for a walk. I went to the bathroom and after getting out I felt a huge wave of nausea come over me. I felt lightheaded and broke out in cold sweats. The nurse saw it happening and helped me back in bed. She immediately got me a ani-nausea injection. I slept for about an hour and was wheeled to Radiology for my Upper GI.

At this point I was not really feeling well. I was in and out of it. When I got to the Radiology room I had to stand up and drink this horrible stuff. I really thought I was going to die during this part because I wasn't feeling well and not only did I have to drink that stuff once but twice. After the 2nd time drinking I got really nauseaus again. I was wheeled back to my room and slept for awhile. In the afternoon, they took me off of the morphine and I went on something else (not sure what). I spent the afternoon sleeping on and off and trying to eat. I forgot to mention that my mouth was really dry and gross. They had given me Water and Water swabs to keep my mouth moist. I also had wicked dry lips and they gave me some petroleum jelly for my lips, which really helped.

I saw the dietician in the afternoon and they moved me to liquids. I could not leave the hospital until I had drank my Protein shake. At this point, I was really having a hard time drinking anything. I tried but wasn't doing well. My DH came in late afternoon because I would be going home and he kept saying you need to drink. I kept trying and got in about 6 to 8 sips and some sips of water. I am finally told I can go home which is what I wanted to do. However, my bag was missing so they could not find my clothes for over an hour. It was 6:30pm before I went home. I had and 1 1/2 hour drive home but I slept through most of it.

I am home and I get in my PJ's and slap my butt into my recliner with a warm blankets and a pillow. My DH went to the pharmacy for the prescriptions that I needed. I took the Oxycodone when he got home and went to lala land. The next morning, I felt pretty good just really sore. When I got up to move around is when I felt it most. This was the time that I got sharp pain in my left shoulder. Which thank God I have found from this site is normal. I also started to have alot of gas pain; which I didn't have in the hospital. I started to use Mylanta chewables for the gas pain but needed the pain meds for the gas pain. I think the hardest part of this day and the next day was distinquishing between the gas pain and hunger. I definately could feel hungry but the Gas Pain overtook my ability to distinquish.

As for food, on day 2 after surgery I only took in 16 oz of Protein Shake (46 grams of protein) any maybe a pint of water and 1/4 cup of chicken broth. The 3rd day, I increased to 24 oz of Protein shakes (69 gram so protein) and 1 1/2 pints of water and 1/2 a SF popsicle. Again, I was still having trouble distinshing between hunger and gas pains. Let me tell you how loud my stomach was. I was laughing over it and when I had company they would go what was that. The only other thing that I has was a terrible cough. I went into surgery with a linger cold but the cough yesterday was so bad it sound like bronchitas and hurt when I coughed. I took a shower and that felt great but took a lot of energy out of me and I went for a small walk outside to the end of the driveway and back. I am really surprised at how much energy you exude doing this. I think I can do more than I am really able to.

I feel much better today but the gas pain is still hanging around and caused alot of pain in my chest and shoulder. I was hoping I would not need meds today because they just keep you out of it but I could not tolerate the pain. I just can't wait until I am pass the gas pains because for the most part I feel fine. My food goal today is 4 Protein Shakes, 2 pints of water and Tomato or chicken broth tonight for dinner.

Would I do this again. You bet it is not as bad I really thought. Although each of us will go through something different I hope my long post will help calm someones nerves.

Best wishes to all November Bandsters.

[Longhorn 1]

Great recap, hollyberries! I fully expected to read that you woke up with the anesthesiologist's autograph on your foot!

The tiredness will probably linger but will become more manageable every day. The same with the pain, actually. I took some Tylenol with codeine last night when I hadn't had any since early this week and slept better than I had all week because it took away some of the intermittent pain I still have. But I feel more normal every day and the pain I do have isn't awful, just annoying.

Thanks for your story! Take care of yourself!

[hollyberries 2]

Thanks Longhorn. It has been fun reading your posts and great to know that we are not alone in this journey. Even if we are states apart. Best wishes in your recovery..can't wait until we are in more normal mode of losing. I don't know if it will ever be normal. LOL.