Surgery Stories

[Kristin1031 0]

I was to arrive at the hospital @ 7:30am yesterday and they admitted me and I went to the surgery waiting room and then was called to go upstairs to the surgery suit. Our hospital has private pt rooms that you wait in to be taken to surgery.

There they administered the heparin shot and started my IV. I waited til 9:30 I was scheduled at 9:20 so not too bad. They wheeled me in to the operating room and I got up on the table and they had me breath some oxygen and then they said I was going to take a siesta and that is all I remember until I woke up in the recovery room.

The nurse kept telling me that I needed to breath I guess I kept stopping. She gave me morphine for pain and I heard her tell someone that he had nicked my spleen and that I would be staying overnight for observation. I started feeling nauseated and she gave me something for that and called the floor and said that I would be another half hour to 45 minutes.

By the time I got to my room it was 3pm. I got into bed and was really having alot of pain and they gave me more morphine and it made me feel awful and I finally told the nurse that I wanted no more of that stuff and they put me on the liquid vicodin and that was so much better. I slept off and on until about 3am when I wanted to get up, I still had my catheter and it was very uncomfortable but I got up and sat in the recliner next to my bed. I ended up sleeping there for three hours. I finally saw the surgeon on call at 7am and she checked my dressing and said I looked to good to be in the hospital and I told her I felt really good and that I wanted to go home so she said fine and she went to write the orders.

I was released at 9:30am and we stopped at the drugstore for my pain medicine. Thank for the person who reminded me to take a pillow for the ride home in the car that was a life saver.

I arrived home and my daughter and DH were with me. Soon after that my mom and grandsons came by and that was a treat to get to seem them Adam is going to be 4 in January and Cole was 13 months old today. They are a joy to me. Then my brother and sister-n-law came over as well. I had lots of company most of the afternoon it was really nice. I must admit they ate and I had no problems with watching them eat around me. I have not had any hunger whatso ever. I actually am happy about that right now.

I have ben eating my chicken powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury and popsicles and drinking Crystal Light. I feel really good considering all that my body has been through.

Andie I hope yours went as well. Vanessa and Longhorn I see that you both are still doing great.!!

Good luck to those who are still waiting.:clap2::clap2:

[steph_co 9]

Great stories, ladies. Thank you for sharing them.

[nessa3678 0]

Kristin I am so happy that things went well and that you are feeling pretty good. I have been struggeling a little right now because I can't beat the hunger. It seems no matter what I am eating I am still hungry. I have my post op on Wednesday and I can't wait to see how much weight has come off. I know right now I all about healing but it will be nice to hear that the weight loss as well.

Good Luck to you on your recovery!!!!

[Longhorn 1]

Nessa:

I don't know if this will help but when I was on Medifast a few years ago, I was hungry a lot. In order to deal with it mentally, I tried to imagine that every time I felt hungry, I was burning fat. Of course, to some extent, it's true so I wasn't lying to myself. It doesn't make it go away, of course, but maybe just helps you deal with it.

Good luck! :hug:

[Kristin1031 0]

Vanessa I think they call that head hunger. I was getting it towards the end of my clear liquid diet before surgery. I think that is when we need to find other things to occupy our time, such as walking or reading or doing needlwork or something to occupy our mind so that we don't think about food.

I have not had any hunger pangs or pains for days. I know that will probably not always be the case but I am actually glad that I am not hungry right now. It is easier to manage the diet this way. I am still on Clear liquids until tomorrow when I go to full liquid diet. I get to add milk and that makes me happy. I can actually enjoy the Protein shakes they are just gross mixed with Water.

I am itching really bad this morning and I think it is the liquid pain medication and I am going to switch over to my Adult strength liquid tylenol and see how I do on that. Anyone else have itching afterwards?

Someone asked if any complications from my spleen being nicked and no I don't think so, except maybe more discomfort perhaps, they watched my blood count really close at the hospital and it was fine so I don't think I bled all that much from it either. They did not have to transfuse me..

This is one of the side effects that can happen with this surgery and we know that going in. I am not at all upset with my surgeon he is awesome, these things can happen. He took very good care of me and was cautious by making me stay overnight.

I am going to my lap band support group meeting tomorrow night, I told my husband that I so need too do this. I think I will be up to it. The hardest part is getting in all the liquid right now. I am sipping constantly in between meals....guess I better get used to that.

Other than that I am doing great I think. I am not worried about weightloss at this time, just about healing and making sure my band heals into place.....I know after losing 10 pounds in 5 days that I will do just fine with my new friend!!

:clap2: Good luck to those having surgery tomorrow!!

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Kristin,

I'm glad you are doing so well. I hope you continue to improve. Keep us updated on your progress.

[Carsons_Mommy 0]

Hi Everyone! Forgive the copy/paste of this note into the various boards, but I wanted to make sure I let you all know...

Had my surgery on the 9th! Wow, my shoulder sure hurts! It's getting better, but GEEZ it was sooooooo sour yesterday and when I got home Friday night.

Everything went really smoothly. My surgeon said I was "text book" which was lovely to hear. No hernia to repair. My surgery took about an hour and five minutes. Woohoo!!!

I haven't been hungry AT ALL! I'm sticking to Water, flavored water and chicken broth for now. I had some pretty bad nausea this morning, but thankfully no vomiting. I made the mistake of taking my little nausea patch off after my shower - which, by the way, was quite possibly the BEST shower ever!! Just because it felt sooooo good to wash my hair.

I've been really good about getting up and walking, using my spirometer, giving myself my heparin injections. All in all, I'm doing pretty darn great! I don't plan on going back to work until MAYBE Thursday or Friday, if at all. My boss said to take the whole week if I want it. We'll see.

So far, the recovery is going really well. Thanks to everyone for the pre-op advice and suggestions. I'm quite sure that's why I feel as good as I do.

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Andie,

I'm so glad you are doing so well. I hope you continue to improve. Keep us updated.

Jill

[MollyBrown 0]

For those getting ready for surgery, here are some of the things to expect:

• Pre-op heparin shot
  
• Post-op a very dry mouth and throat (bring carmex or some type of lip balm) and ask for the Glycerin swabs to help until you are able to drink Water.< br />
• Most likely they will give you compression socks to wear while in bed to ward off potential blood clots. I think this is now standard procedure for anyone having surgery. They feel good, but are a hassle if you want to get up and walk because you have to be un-hooked and then re-hooked when you come back to bed.
  
• I had several blood glucose tests while there because I am diabetic and the Ringers Lactaid IV they give you have some sugars in it. Throughout my pre-op diet I was able to go off my diabetes medicine, but while in the hospital my blood sugar went to 170 and I had my first ever insulin shot.
  
• If you are staying a while, they will keep the IV’s flowing, I had the Ringers, pain medicine that I could elect to give myself, liquid antacids, and liquid antibiotics, and lots of anti-nausea medicine through the IV.
  
• They will monitor you while waiting for the barium swallow.
  
• You will need to stand during the barium swallows test; you drink the barium and the doctor watches just to make sure it flows properly.
  
• If you are continuing with severe nausea, they may want to keep you to give you intravenous anti-nausea medicine.
  
• They continued to give me heparin after surgery and until I was released.
  
• Make sure you do your breathing exercises as much as possible, and even if you are tired, in pain, or have nausea please try to get moving anyway, I didn't move enough so the gas collected in my shoulder, arms and stomach. Today is the first day it feels like it is moving out,
  
• They sent me home with dillaudid (a derivative of Morphine)-I hate it but without it these last two days I don't think I would have gotten up at all.
  
• I am starting to feel human again.

Good luck to everyone being banded in November. I hope you experience is more like Elizabeth, Nesse, and Longhorn.

[sunshiny 0]

Congratulations Andie and wishing you a speedy recovery.

MollyBrown thanks for the information, and a speedy recovery to you too.

Thanks everyone for all of your advice and help. Speepy recovery to everyone.

[Longhorn 1]

For those getting ready for surgery, here are some of the things to expect:

• Pre-op heparin shot
  
• Post-op a very dry mouth and throat (bring carmex or some type of lip balm) and ask for the Glycerin swabs to help until you are able to drink Water.
  
• Most likely they will give you compression socks to wear while in bed to ward off potential blood clots. I think this is now standard procedure for anyone having surgery. They feel good, but are a hassle if you want to get up and walk because you have to be un-hooked and then re-hooked when you come back to bed.
  
• I had several blood glucose tests while there because I am diabetic and the Ringers Lactaid IV they give you have some sugars in it. Throughout my pre-op diet I was able to go off my diabetes medicine, but while in the hospital my blood sugar went to 170 and I had my first ever insulin shot.
  
• If you are staying a while, they will keep the IV’s flowing, I had the Ringers, pain medicine that I could elect to give myself, liquid antacids, and liquid antibiotics, and lots of anti-nausea medicine through the IV.
  
• They will monitor you while waiting for the barium swallow.
  
• You will need to stand during the barium swallows test; you drink the barium and the doctor watches just to make sure it flows properly.
  
• If you are continuing with severe nausea, they may want to keep you to give you intravenous anti-nausea medicine.
  
• They continued to give me heparin after surgery and until I was released.
  
• Make sure you do your breathing exercises as much as possible, and even if you are tired, in pain, or have nausea please try to get moving anyway, I didn't move enough so the gas collected in my shoulder, arms and stomach. Today is the first day it feels like it is moving out,
  
• They sent me home with dillaudid (a derivative of Morphine)-I hate it but without it these last two days I don't think I would have gotten up at all.
  
• I am starting to feel human again.

Good luck to everyone being banded in November. I hope you experience is more like Elizabeth, Nesse, and Longhorn.

Good summary! The only thing that was different for me, besides the diabetes, is that they put the compression "sock" on me in pre-op but they were off of me before I woke up and I never felt them.

I hope you're getting stronger as each day goes by!

[steph_co 9]

Thanks for the stories and information, ladies. I'm getting antsy for this Thursday, so reading this stuff really helps.

[sumz30 0]

Thanks for the stories and information, ladies. I'm getting antsy for this Thursday, so reading this stuff really helps.

Good luck to you Stepahnie.. I hope it all goes well for you on thursday :eek:

[Kristin1031 0]

Thanks for the stories and information, ladies. I'm getting antsy for this Thursday, so reading this stuff really helps.

Good Luck Stephanie!! I am sure everything will be fine and I know the nreves I remember them well. It is not bad at all, even having your spleen nicked I was only kept overnight and have been out of the house twice since surgery and feel I am doing well.

I did notice today that unless my Water is ice cold it makes me nauseas which sucks big time......I did have some V-8 and that was soooooo good.

You will be sore and you will be thirsty those will be your biggest obsticles most likely post op.

Hurry back and tell us all how you did......:whoo:

[steph_co 9]

Being on a clear liquid diet isn't helping my nerves at all. LOL I'm borderline hypoglycemic, so this is really hard. I worked last night and am working tonight (6p-6a). Then we leave in the morning for Denver to stay overnight before surgery. I'm starting to get really nervous...I guess just because it's such a huge step and it's so...permanent. I just keep telling myself I can do this.

I probably won't update the day of surgery because after surgery we'll be driving back home (3 hours) and who knows how I'll feel when I get home. I'll try to get back as soon as possible, though. Surgery is at 9:15am MST.

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies.