New VSG Baby

[Carmylea 2]

Hello, everyone.

I'm a VSG baby, meaning i just recently had my surgery on the 10th. Almost a week now? I'm currently on phase 2 of my post- op. I've been trying to rest as much as I can. I've just been a bit ancy, which it strange, because I'm a writer and have every opportunity to do that or binge watch television, lol. Yet, I want to move around and I get the urge to clean and move around more and faster that I should, that on top of my daughter and step-daughter running around, my grandbaby coming over and having an energetic chihuahua feeling the need to have me chase him around the house because he wants to play. My SO has been getting aggravated because I've been a little stubborn, and I can't blame him honestly. I am stubborn, lol. But I think my stubbornness might have bit me a little this time, I've never had major surgery like this before so it is very new to me. I feel like I might have over done it.

As of right now, the only pain I feel usually is on my left side. Some times she I try to turn that way or stretch a little, It hurts like someone is trying to stretch my skin, also it stings a little a burning cramp sensation. It's usually subtle unless I move around too much. This morning, my daughter threw up and her dad had already gone to work, so I worked on cleaning it up, mopping a little, running up and down the stairs, threw some towels in the washer and got her situated. After I was done, my left side started hurting again, except it hurt a little to walk and it was tender when I touched it. I took a few deep breaths and walked over to the couch to sit down and took some Tylenol. It feels better a little better now.

It's strange, because that pain feels very familiar when I was pregnant with my daughter and she was pushing against my fibroids that had grown in size because of the hormones. Except that pain was so excruciating I could barely walk. I didn't know if i was going into labor or not.

So, after that loooooong intro. I'd like some advice. Is this something I should worry about and talk to my doctor about. Or should I just make myself take it easy and not over do it so much?

Thankyou so much;.

[catwoman7 11,033]

as far as exercise goes, I was told just walking for the first four weeks post-op. I don't remember my clinic saying anything about doing (or not doing) normal household tasks - or going up and down stairs in my house. They did say not to pick up anything heavy, though. I would say as long as you're not picking up heavy things, you're probably OK - and if something hurts, stop doing it. Hopefully someone not as far out from surgery as I am will know a more definitive answer to this. And btw - welcome to the forum!

[Arabesque 6,777]

Ditto to what @catwoman7 said. And add if your body says it’s a bit weary & wants to stop & rest, stop & rest. Maybe try doing a task or two & then take a break. I mean does anything really have to be done right now! You are recovering from a pretty major surgery.

[SomeBigGuy 108]

Agreed with what the others said. Be careful lifting weight, including the grandkids, before you are ready. It just takes overdoing it once to cause a hernia, requiring additional surgery. Other than that, the movement is a good thing, but listen to when your body says its tired. Balancing exercise and rest is very important the first month or two. Would you rather have a little more rest now periodically through the day while still getting somethings done, or overdo it and force yourself into a situation where you have to have repair surgery and risk several weeks on bed rest getting nothing done in the future?

To prevent overdoing it, look into the Pomodoro Technique. Basically set a timer to do a task for "x" number of minutes, and then rest for "y" number of minutes. Early on, you may want 10-15 minutes of activity followed by 30-45 minutes of rest. Then as you progress, shift more time into activity and reduce the rest time, but its most effective keeping the entire cycle under 1 hour total.

As far as the internal pain goes, its likely its still gas trapped and built up. Take Gas-X, and when you're walking around, do exercises with your arms lifted or over your head. I'm not sure exactly, but it has something to do with the blood flow being distributed to all of your limbs and helping breakdown and expel the gas quicker. I would have it go from my lower left side to up in my shoulders, and it was just a discomfort I couldn't shake. That movement and the medicine helped to break it up and would give me a few hours of relief.

[Carmylea 2]

Thank you everyone. I have been taking it easy a little better. Getting up and moving around only when I can and resting when my body says no more. I think you're right about the gas pain in the left side especially. I was finally able to have some relief of that this morning. not gonna get into detail if you know what I mean. LOL.

Right now, I'm trying to get my eating schedule figured. I feel like I'm always hungy, then eat and am too full. I haven't had any vomiting, so that's good. But I do get these weird hicccups sometimes. I'm currently on pureed as of right now.