my band story - as of 3 days post op

[p3photogal 0]

My surgery was scheduled for 10am on April 3rd. I arrived at 8:15 to the same day surgery waiting room, I no more than cracked my book open figuring on at least an hours wait when they called me back and had me undress and put the robe on. The drew blood for last minute tests, and started the IV asked a bunch of questions. Then they brought my husband in and we just watched TV for a bit lol. I was pretty relaxed through the whole thing. The anesthesiologist came in and told me she was going to give me something to relax, and then would give me the main anesthesia in the OR. My surgeon came in and told us a little about the procedure and how when i was asleep they would stand me up and do all sorts of stuff and to check everything, I was like WOAH! So that was the last thing i remember, well that and the nurse putting nipple cream on my lips because my lips were dry and since the anesthesia would make my mouth, throat and lips dry after surgery. So then I woke up in recovery, kept dozing off here and there felt pretty good, no real pain. the highest my pain got was a 5 on their 1-10 scale and even that was just port pain, more when i moved than anything else. I started out in the bed, then moved to the recliner, started on liquids. The nurse came in and checked my vitals and I started walking right then, they were shocked that i jumped out of bed (it was really high! lol) and started walking, no problems at all. I was on morphine pump at that time, but i wasn't too kean on it, it was great for pain, but made me a little naseas. I was taken down for the barium swallow and everything looked great, but that stuff was NASTY! I had to do it twice because they didn't give me enough the first time, which made me pb a little air. no vomiting though. Then when i went back to my room, i tried some apple juice. I must have been drinking too fast and threw that up...not painful, not hacking just kind of like a kid spitting up. Once that was done I was fine. I blame it on the morphine. The switched me to oxycodone and I was fine, and also gave me two doses of anti nausea meds in my iv. No nausea since that one bout. I do have anti nausea pills two different kinds with me at home now. I am taking pills fine, just cut up in half or quarters. I took one oxy last night and switched to tylonol today just for general muscle acheyness. I have been walking every two hours and getting my fluids in. I get gas pains here and there, but nothing bad at all. I would have to say the most pain I have today is maybe a 1.5 and thats if I move suddenly. I slept in my recliner last night just fine and my dh massaged lotion into my lower legs since I hadn't been up to walk during the night and they were sore. But not clot sore, just muscle inactivity sore. It took a while to get released from the hospital because after they took the catheter out I couldn't pee. I tried SO hard. I sat in there for about an hour just praying i could pee because if I didn't they would have to cath me again, in and out cath, but still! So finally I peed and all was good. honestly i would think that i just worked out too hard and had some muscle pain if I didn't look at my stomach and see incisions. i feel pretty good and still don't feel like it's 100% real! lol

Hints I learned,

I always have a pillow on my lap, the extra pressure even slight makes my incision pain feel really good.

Chap stick is a must

when you walk, walk with ice chips or sip Water the first few days, your mouth gets SO dry.

Gas x strips help a lot when you get a small gas attack.

drink those fluids, we are supposed to aim at peeing every 2 hours!

i have been able to have cream Soups no problem i can eat about a half to 3/4 of a cup of split pea, but less of cream of potato.

[hope2bhealthy 2]

glad everything went so well for you. my surgery and proceeding days went really smoothly too. it's also nice to have a detailed example of what to expect surgery day. that would have been nice before hand.