May 6th Surgery Stories

[hallelujah.girl 1]

Hey all, I thought I'd start a thread for all of us getting banded tomorrow (the 6th) a place to leave our stories so they are all in one place. That way we don't have a ton of new threads (not that there is anything wrong with that) Maybe we can have a thread for those on the 7th, 8th, ect.

Alot of the threads say "banded yesterday" or tomorrow or something like that, but then tomorrow isn't tomorrow it end's up being 2 or 3 days ago and then I get so confused:huh2:

Just an idea:rolleyes2: Update soon to follow.

[SpideyMom 1]

Good idea, Hallelujah! I know you'll be reading this after your surgery, but just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you today!!! :cool2:

[hallelujah.girl 1]

Well I'm alive and home!

Thanks Ann, and good luck tomorrow!

Well going in this morning I wasn't nervous 1 bit. Really surprising, cause it doesn't take much to make me nervous.

I went in to the OR about 9:30 and don't remember anything except them putting the oxygen thing over my mouth and told me to take a few deep breaths and that was it.

When in the recovery room and upon waking I started becoming aware of my surroundings. The first thing I became aware of is a little pain at my port area and only place i felt any pain was where my port incision is and still is the only place i feel any at all. At first is was more of a burning sensation. I would say it was a 7-8 out of ten but the pain meds helped right away. First time it only took me to about a 4. 2nd shot had me feeling pretty good. I took a shot anytime they offered : )

Now the pain only feels like a did over 100 sit ups, but is tolerable.

I have been able to drink Water (sips) and my throat is scratchy but not sore. I have a cotton mouth which is good because it keeps me sipping the Water.< /p>

I can get up and walk around but getting in and out of the chair is the hardest part.

I'm not hungry at all which is good cause I was starving this morning. No nausea at all which is what I was really worried about the most.

FYI- I'm really a baby when it comes to pain - so I hope everyone does as well as I have done so far.

[sailorChristy 1]

Congratulations, HG!!!! Thanks so much for posting your story for your peeps here. :thumbup:

[SpideyMom 1]

Hallelujah, welcome back! Wow, you were in and out of there really fast! I wish my surgeon would let me go home the same day. I have to stay until at least noon the following day, even though I get there tomorrow at 6 a.m.

I'm glad to hear it went so well and that you didn't have a bad time with the pain. Take care of yourself, and I hope it continues to go just as well!! :thumbup:

(And thanks for the well wishes, btw!)

[bmooney364 30]

Congrats. Hallelujah, I am so glad things went well. I was looking forward to seeing your story today. Mine will be next Friday. I hope by that by that time I won't be nervous either. Right now I am a little queasy. I have all the preop appointments to look forward to starting Monday. They seemed to wait until the last min. Oh well after all this time I am just glad the time is finally here. Good luck to you and keep us posted.

[Neil 0]

Congratulations Hallelujah Girl!! I just had mine done on Monday and the pain is easily relieved with the meds, 2 days in and hardly taking meds, only at night before bed!!

Anyway well done and let us know how you progress.:thumbup:

[meem 0]

Way to go Hallelujah!!! You did it!!! thanks for posting so quickly. It helps to hear the other stories.

Ann if you are reading this good luck tomorrow. You'll do great.

Neil, glad to hear your pain is starting to ease.

[TXAmy07 0]

Alright folks, here it is. I like to read the longer, more detailed stories so I know EXACTLY what's going to happen, and so that's what I think I will write now. Skip over this if you aren't prepared to read what surely will become a novel!

So...

I got to the hospital at 5:15 am for my check in. They took me to a room, gave me the sexy hospital gown, took my vitals, asked me a ton of questions such as, "are you pregnant?"... Then came the shot. I told her that I heard it hurts, and she said "no way, look at the needle! it's tiny!". I admitted that yes, it WAS in fact little and thin and how could that hurt? She gave it to me in the stomach and then said, "see that wasn't bad!". I agreed! She turned to walk out and by the time she got to the door I was doubled over in pain. :thumbsup: It wasn't the NEEDLE, it was the actual medicine (heprin, to prevent blood clotting) that hurts! But good news, it didn't hurt for too long. Maybe about 5-10 minutes.

After a little bit they came and got me and took me down to the pre-op room, where I met the anesthegiologist. She said I have terrible veins (thanks Mom) and she had to use a baby needle to get an IV going. She said "don't worry, when you wake up you will have a second one, this is just to put you to sleep... I'll give you a better one for the meds but it would hurt too much to do it awake". (hmm, don't worry, eh) The surgeon came in and said hello, gave me some post-op instructions and then they both left to get ready. My OR nurse Jill came over and introduced herself and then complimented my little stuffed frog that I had with me. My daughter told me to take it for good luck, and it's her prized loved worn out little frog. I told Jill that, and she said, "tell you what - I'll let you take him into the OR with you then since he's so special". Awww! So, Little Froggy went to surgery with me. :grouphug:

A few minutes later they took me down to the OR, and then that's when everything got cold and busy. There were 80 million people walking around in the freezing OR, doing 39 million things. Someone was putting a "seat belt" (what he called it) over me, someone was putting my arm on a board to tie it down or something, they were talking about getting some feet boards to tilt the bed where I'd be leaning up during surgery (!)... Someone said "I just gave you something to make you sleepy" and that's THE last thing I remember. Suddenly I was in the recovery room and WOW, the big incision HURT. I felt like I couldn't even talk though... there was so much going on in that room, several other people that were coming out of surgery too, and my nurse was helping this lady who had eye surgery and it was her 69th birthday. She came over after a minute and asked me some questions, what my pain was (I think I said 8), gave me some morphine, the surgeon came over and said some stuff to me... I remember the one thing I was really flipping out over was the things on my legs. WOW. I was hot and sweating all over, and these things on my legs that they put on during surgery were pressing all over the place and they kept tightening and loosening and they felt plastic. The very first thing I said was, "I dont want to do this any more" and someone laughed and said "too late, you are done!" and then I asked for my boyfriend and they said he couldn't come in until I was out of recovery... THEN I said "what is this on my legs?? It's so hot in here" and they took them off and said "oh wow, they are soaking wet - you're sweating!". Someone got a big box fan and turned it right on me and yay, I was so happy! Fan + morphine = YES!

She gave me another shot of morphine, and I chilled there for a bit. I started to feel more human and become more aware of things, such as the old lady they were yelling at to stop bending her knees. LOL! I guess she had surgery on her knees but they said "we're going to take you back to the OR if you don't quit!" and she was yelling about how it hurt, etc. MAN that got annoying. Luckily I faded in and out, and finally it was time to go back to my room. I kept trying to make myself wake up some and feel better because I knew they'd let me leave there if I tried. Sure enough!

Radiology was not ready for me yet, because they didn't think I'd recover that quickly (it wasn't even fast... my surgery was over at about 8:20ish and this was at 10am) and so I had to go back to my room I was in first thing in the morning. I was never so happy to be back in there with my mom and boyfriend! (As a side note, I remember as I was waking up in recovery someone saying, "what is this frog" and someone else said "that's her daughters, he was in the OR with her" - that made me happy)

So we chilled for a bit, then they came at 10:30 to go down to radiology. I had to swallow this gross chalk stuff while they did x-rays. I asked to see, and they showed me my band, my "new stomach", the port, etc. It was cool! The only super uncool thing was having to move back and forth from the bed to the xray bed and back. THAT sucked but they said take your time, so I did just that. My stomach was so sore that it was hard to move. I also had to turn on my left and then right side for another xray, which sucked too. After a few minutes the doctor looked at the xrays and cleared me and they took me back up to my room.

Then I got juice! I was soooo thirsty that I couldn't have been more excited about the juice. But then came the bad news. It made me feel SO sick. I had them get Water, and that was way better. I think the juice was just too sweet.

The nurse said in order to leave and go home I had to drink a certain amount and keep it down, I had to go to the bathroom a certain amount, and the bariatric coordinator for the hospital had to come in and talk to me. That was motiviation!! I could only drink a medicine cup of Water every 5 minutes, which was so weird - but they said my stomach is the size of a golf ball! That kind of freaked me out.

I started feeling pretty sick when I stood up to go to the bathroom and I thought I was going to throw up - I started dry-heaving, and the nurse went and got me something for that. It helped some but it was a slow fix.

I just kind of chilled out for a couple of hours, drinking water, going to the bathroom, sitting in the chair... dozing off some.

Then the coordinator came in and started going through this HUGE packet of information. I mean seriously?? I was EXHAUSTED and feeling sick and she was talking all about eating and chocolate flavored Calcium pills and oh man, it was just way too much. They should have her come before the surgery. At one point she said, "don't get bored, I am just telling you this stuff because you need to know it all". I wasn't bored, I was tired! That kind of annoyed me, but finally she was done and she left. Whew!

They said the last thing I had to do was walk with that coordinator down the hall and back to make sure I was okay and then they'd let me go. We did that, and she asked how I felt. I said still a little sick, very sore, and very tired. She said the gas is what makes you sick and the best way to get it out is to walk. I didn't know this, but when you walk around the gas gets absorbed in your body. Otherwise it just sits there.

So we got done with our walk, she cleared me, and I go to go home! My surgery was at 7:15am and I left at 2:30.

I felt pretty dang bad when I got home. I kept thinking, WHAT did I do this for? I took some stuff for my stomach, and that helped some. I was so sore that I couldn't walk much, and I am sure the gas was just building up inside me.

I was almost regretful of what I had done but I got reassurance from another mayo BANDITO, Bethany. She reminded me that some think the gas is the worst part of it all, and some do regret doing it for that reason. Just to know that the feelings I was feeling were normal helped me so much. So, thanks again Bethany!

Today I feel BETTER. I am actually less sore, but still have the gas. I can feel it in my back, of all places... which makes it hard to lay down on my back. I have been walking once down my street today and I am about to go back out once I finish this. If I could just get the gas to go away, I'd feel so much better! My stomach is still pretty sore but I can tell it's better from yesterday already.

So, I am feeling a lot more positive about things today. I am still sipping water, not very interested in any kind of food. Once I get the gas to go away I will be so much better!

I am taking gas-x - the one that melts on your tongue but it's kind of gross and I hate taking it. I still have not taken pain meds. I have skin glue, so he said I could take a shower today. I bet that will help too.

I guess that's it! That's my story. I want to always remember how I felt yesterday and last night so that I can motivate myself to make this work! I will be a happy person if I never have to go into an OR again. :thumbup:

Good luck to everyone!!!!

[Dani257969 0]

My surgery was May 6th at 7:30 am. The anesthesiologist gave me some Versed while I was in my pre-op room and I don't remember anything from that point on until I woke up in recovery. I never saw the inside of the OR. I did get a shot of Lovenox in the belly before surgery that ached for a few minutes. When I woke up in recovery my mouth was really dry and I ate some ice chips every 10-15 minutes. My belly felt bloated and sore. I got a little bit of Dilaudid. I couldn't have much because my blood pressure was really low. I had mild nausea and got a small dose of Phenergan for that. I was home by 12:45.

I am really surprised at how little I hurt. I can move around a lot without it hurting too much. I mostly just feel bloated. I am taking my Lortab elixer for pain and gas x around the clock. I did have one episode of severe nausea in the middle of the night that I had to take a Phenergan suppository for. I have cotton mouth and I don't have an appetite.

So all in all, things went well and I feel pretty good and am sooo ready to get losing!

Good luck to everyone!

Danielle

[Juniper 0]

I guess that's it! That's my story. I want to always remember how I felt yesterday and last night so that I can motivate myself to make this work! I will be a happy person if I never have to go into an OR again. :grouphug:

Good luck to everyone!!!!

Amy,

Thanks for so much detail. Since I'll be at the same place, it really helps me get an idea of what to expect. I have to say, I got a little teary-eyed, though. I really do hate hospitals, and I'm very, very nervous about the actual surgery.

I'm so glad to hear that you got to come home so quickly! I hope I get to do the same!

I wonder, is the heparin shot just something they do with everyone? I've never had problems with my blood being "thick", and I tend to be a bit of a bleeder as it is, so I kind of worry about them thinning my blood anymore. :thumbsup:

I'll remember to steer clear of the juice and go with water!

Hope you get to feeling better soon!

[John337 2]

CONGRATS to all you May 6th BANDsters..........You did it...The hard part is over..........You're on your way to a healthier you....WAY TO GO.......:grouphug:

See you on the "other side" next week....:thumbsup:

[headin_to_mxico 0]

Thanks for all your stories. You guys are amazing! Im so scared. To think Im traveling to MX all by myself and Ill have to recover there alone for four days. =( But Im going to bring books and a dvd player and movies. Hopefully I dont get sick and I can just relax and treat it like a mini vacay away from the tots. Any alone time is usually heaven, but Im not sure about this kind of alone time. Im going to miss my hubby. =(

[Minxz 0]

Thank you everyone for the information it really helps me to be mentally prepared!

[skinnybyrd 0]

Congratulations!! I am so glad to be on this journey with all of you!! We are all so brave!!