It's really REAL!!!

[Fernando 0]

Heya guyz!!

Didn't mean to dissapear on ya. It has been a busy couple of weeks.

The New York Field Trip went great!! The 8 hour bus ride sucked!! Can't wait to get this weight off so I can fit in a seat and be able to have wiggle room to get comfortable:blushing:

Surgery...

Well I was the first one on the schedule for surgery on Tuesday so I had to report at 0615 and let me tell ya they must have been standing around waiting on me to show up. I signed in and as soon as the lady behind the desk had my Bracelet printed up and on my wrist they were calling me back to pre-op. I got changed and had 3 people in there at once starting i.v. and asking questions and ordering the hep.(blood thinner) from the pharmacy. All by 0630 mind you.

They brought DH in by 0645 and the nurse that was taking me to the holding area walked in right behind him. It was time to empty the bladder and go to the holding area!! So I had time to say hi hunny there are my clothes, go pee, and give DH my glasses and off we were.

That takes us to the holding area. The surgeon came in blushing cause he had shorts on under his long white coat and all the nurses were making fun of him:unsure:. I told him he could wear what ever he wanted so that he was comfortable!!! We went over everything one more time and off he goes and in comes the anast. with a tube that he said he had concocted special for me and he wanted to know if I was interested??:drool:DUH

Well he injects his special brew and says it'll take about 60 seconds to work and he releases the brakes on the bed and the last thing I remember I was going out of the door way of the holding room. Next thing I know we are in recoverey.

All I really remember of recovery is telling them my tummy felt really yucky and they put some stuff in my i.v. Next thing I know I'm in a room and they are asking me to scoot over to the bed... well I try to sit up and for some reason it feels like i've been stabbed in the gut like 5 times:confused2: and you want me to do what. I remember looking at them and asking if they were really serious and then the helped drag me by the sheet that was under me.

I dozed on and off in the room and they cam from radiology and told me that it was time for my swallow test.... this is where it gets fun. Getting out of bed wasn't to awful bad... I knew to log roll and use the bed to help me it was when I stood up and when the wheel chair started moving that got me... so I arrive in radiology and Tammy the coordinator for Dr. Bissell is there and she tells me how great I did and that she is gonna peek at things and make sure they are all ok. (was sooo good to see a familiar face there). They even let me stand on the end of the table and then lowered it down for me after I did the swallow test... now the upper gi was not to bad so I was not even nervous about the stuff they were wanting me to drink... well I'm here to tell you it was DIFFERENT... It was thinner and it tasted NASTY!!! between the DRY mouth and that nasty taste It was all I could do not to throw up... It took care of the dry mouth cause my mouth was watering from needing to yack, but that jsut got all that residue in my mouth kicked up... so I get back in the wheel chair and they leave me sitting in the hall for a transport person... trying not to throw up... well they finally show up and let me tell ya this chick must have been a power walker cause we were off.. and I was even worse off... if I had opened my mouth it would have been all over with... well we get back to my room and get me in bed and my hubby and mom take one look at me and immediatley know what is going on and they give me the SMALL kidney shaped bucket... like that would hold anything and get my nurse to bring me another shot of stuff for the i.v. Once that settled down I kind of dosed on and off till around 1 that afternoon while everyone in my room watched a movie on the lap top. The surgeon came in and saw me and asked how things were going and reminded me to get up and moving... and let me know (he had told DH earlier) that he found a hyaetal heornia (sp) and repaired that b4 he placed the band and that I would be feeling that as well. I was like cool I got a 2 for 1 deal!!!

He laughed at that!! and I remembered to ask how my liver was and he said it was nice and tiny and he ahd all kinds of room to work with!!!

So from there on we got up every hour and did laps around the nurses station and stayed up with the morphine and the nausea meds and just hung out...

Until 1030 that night... I got a roommate who was having a hard time of it anyways and they give her an i.v. pump that beeps like an alarm clock every 5 minutes and they tell her to just keep hitting the reset button:mad2:

Well we both kept telling them all about it and nothing was done so I got zero sleep and DH had enough and went home around 3am. I felt bed for her though cause she was aggriveted with it too and she had a different nurse even though we were in the same room... but who knows.

Anyway back on topic... Dr. Bissell comes in to see me around 0730 and looks at the belly and lets me know that it's normal to be feeling the stitches he put in my stomache at the repair more then the port area and tells me just to be very careful about using my abdominal muscles so that they dont pull before they heal and that he heard that I had been walkign ALOT and he was glad... so was I ready to go home... in this time the i.v. in the other side of the room has gone off like 3 times and I ask if I can PLEASE go home now!!!

A little paper work and a visit from Tammy and I'm off for home... Go to Kroger and get my liquid loritab and liquid ibuprofen and we're home sweet home...

It has been an ok couple of days ... Sore in the middle of my upper belly right were you would have heart burn... and gas rumbling around but a good couple of days...

Mom and step dad left yesterday afternoon, and hubby took kids to a movie so that I could have house to my self and I slept int he recliner in silence the whole time!!!

So now it's back to life ... I am working on getting all the Water in and working towards getting all the claories in??? who knew that 1000 claories could be so hard to get in but come on when you have 20z. lite yogurt with 2oz skim mile for a meal that barley puts a dent in it... been drinking my leftover Atkins shakes and K2o Water to make up for it... plus I got my whey Protein bullets with 42 grams of Protein each so I have been getting my protien in!! been splitting the protein bullets up to an ounce 3 times a day so I know that I am absorbing all of it!!!

Well sorry this rambled on so long... making up for lost time:wub:

Here's to recovery!!!

Kim

[TX Diva 1]

Oh my goodness! Don't apologize for rambling! I'm exactly 10 days away from surgery and I am hanging on every single word that everyone has written about their experiences!

Thank you for posting!!!

[Great2BThin 5]

Hey Huggie,

We had very similar experiences. The transport person forgot me to on the way to get the swallow test. I got so naseous from just sitting in that wheelchair and not being hooked up to my IV Iguess. I had to get a shot of something in my IV to settle it down.

Also, I got a 2 for 1 deal as well, had a hiatal hernia repaired as well.

Welcome home!! My surgery was Thursday.

[teacherofk 0]

Congrats Huggie Bear. Glad you're home and resting. My surgery is the 17th. Loved hearing your story. Good luck and rest up.

[Carrie D. 0]

Congratulations on your successful surgery and thanks for writing about your experiences. I'm coming up on the 9th and am wanting to know what to expect.