pain survey

[Madeline's mom 0]

I had my surgery done on 3/15 Tuesday and was pleasantly suprised that the pain was not that bad. I would say the most pain for me was 1 - 12 hours post op. I had my surgery done in Belgium and was not familiar with the pain medication I was being administered, but it seemed to work. The worst part of it for me was not being able to pee. The nurses would bring in the bed pan and I would sit there but nothing. Finally, I begged them to let me walk to the bathroom so they did and finally I went. Lying in a hospital bed having to pee but cant was more uncomfortable for me than the post op pain. I kept getting the infusions of "Paracetamol" every 6 hours but I had no idea what it was until I got home. Paracetamol is an iv form of Tylenol. So my post op pain was relieved by plain old Tylenol. I was walking around Brussels the next day so I had very little problems and am still doing great!

[babsyintx 0]

Hi,

I thought the pain was pretty bad. The first day was hell cause I had to get up and down and go potty a gazillion times. The nurse wanted me to save the output. I must have gone 20 times after surgery. Everytime I got up and down I thought I was gonna die! I found the walking really helped though in the long run. On a scale of 1-10, I would say about an 8 1/2. But my memory of this event is now 21 months old !

Babs in TX

334/180

-154

New goal: 170 or less

[Guest WendyV]

Like Renee, I had my banding on Friday (3/18/05). I was a pretty steady 6 for the rest of Friday and Saturday. I've definitely been in worse pain, but this is pretty unpleasant. Sunday I went to a family gathering and boy, was that a mistake. By the time the bumpy car ride was over, I didn't want to move EVER again. Today, Monday, is slightly better. If I am still (either sitting or lying down), I barely hurt at all. When I walk around or change positions, it hurts. Probably a 6. But I was not given ANY pain meds. Doc just told me to take liquid Tylenol. It doesn't really seem to be helping. All in all, I can stand another few days of this if I have to. It will definitely be worth it and I'm sure I won't remember how uncomfortable I was once I see that scale start sliding down!

[Jammin & Losin 1]

Well I am one of the March18th bandsters and I would say that Friday and Saturday were a 10 but Sunday got better and now its monday and I'm up and moving around and I went 8 hours with out pain meds without even realizing it.

I had gallbladder surgery last month and I would definatly say the band surgery was worse with pain and gas!!! I haven't regreted it one bit. I would go back tomorrow if they wanted me to but I think 1 band will do the trick! LOL!!!

[vinesqueen 2]

Pain wise, this was a brease for me.

I am having terrible menstral cramps though. These hurt worse than the surgery stuff.

[Marimaru 7]

Okay, for me, right when I woke up felt like a 9 or a 10, but I really think it was the shock of waking up in pain (any at all). I don't remember being rolled into the OR. I was taking to the doc's with my boyfriend next to me and the anesthesiologist put in my IV and shortly after that I was waking up in the recovery room. So since my brain didn't record the steps into the OR I think it wasn't expecting the pain when I woke up. I asked for pain meds righta way and the doctor said he'd give me some, but that I'd have to sit in recovery for another hour. I sat up just a little bit, which helped me wake up a little bit more and when reality started settling it, the pain died down to probably a 7 or even a 6.

Every couple of hours the nurses came in and checked my IV and BP n' stuff, and I think that they were keeping me on pain meds, because any time that it got to the point where I thought I might ask them for something the next time they came by, the pain was gone by that time.

The next day (Surgery was Friday, so this would be Saturday), I had my IV removed, and was released. The meds they gave me for pain weren't actually pain meds, but muscle relaxers. I'm fortunate in the fact that whatever-they-were didn't make me drowsy at all. I took them about every six hours the first few days. There's a mall near the hotel where I was and my boyfriend and I walked around it on Sunday. On Monday I flew home. That was tiring. I think on that day near the end of the day I was about a 5 after ALL that moving around. But I'm sure the walking was really good for me . After that day I only took the muscle relaxers in the afternoons (I went back to work on Tuesday). On either Thursday or Friday I stopped taking them at all. When I was getting in and out of the car and running errands n' stuff I had a few days where my muscles near my port had quick short little stabby pains of just a couple of seconds, I remember 3 times that happened, and I think I just bent in new ways that tested my stitches. The pains themselves were probably a 7, but only lasted a second, so they didn't bother me.

Hope this helps.

Sarah

*Edited to say:*

I had an ear infection a few weeks ago that really felt worse that my surgery.

*end edit*