Lisa's Weight Loss Surgery Journal
Sunday, June 11, 2000
So sorry it has taken me this long to post my surgery experience! I am now 3 weeks and two days post-op, "on the other side", and it feels great!
I had to arrive at the hospital at 6 am on the morning of my surgery. We waited for awhile, then I was taken back to surgery prep where they weighed me (hey, I weighed 299#!! Apparently I lost 7-10 pounds within the last few weeks!) and took my blood pressure. The nurse took me to a little room where I donned the lovely hospital johnny and a pair of TED hose (tight white hose that went up to my knees - they help with blood circulation). Next, I had my first shot of Lovenox - which is a blood thinner, sort of like Heparin! It didn't hurt a bit. It stung a little bit after the medicine was in, but certainly was no big deal. I will get one of these shots every day while I'm in the hospital, and then I'll have to give myself a shot each day for 4-5 days after I get home!
Shortly after that, my family and my angel "Susan" got to come into the room to wait with me. One of the other girls from the support group, Jan, was having her surgery the same day, so I talked to her for a bit. She is such a sweetie! The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me for a bit, and then we waited some more. My doctor was about 1/2 hour late getting to the hospital, but I really could have cared less. My stomach was a nervous wreck, but I was being brave! When the nurse finally came to get me, I hugged my husband, daughter, Mom and Dad. My Mom looked like she was choking back tears (I know I was, too!) and my Dad told me they would be praying for me. So - I took a deep breath and followed the nurse back to the surgery area. She gave me a lovely hat (bonnet?) to cover my hair, then got me a stool so I could get up onto the operating table. It was tall!
I noticed as I was getting up on the table, that the anesthesiologist had pictures of her kids taped to the anesthesia machine. That was kind of neat! :)
The anesthesiologist got my IV in on the first try - she put it in my left hand. We talked for a little bit while she was working, and she asked how I got my sunburn. I told her about my trip to Vegas, and we talked about Vegas and how beautiful the desert is. Then she started feeding the "juice" in from my IV line. I barely remember my surgeon, Dr. Inman, finally coming in... she leaned over me and said "HI, Ms. Price - sorry I was late! The traffic was horrible!" I mumbled, "OH, no problem"... then I noticed that the lights over me were starting to sort of blur and spin. I closed my eyes and thought, "OK - I know everyone is praying for me right now. God - please let this surgery go well!" Then I was out.
I remember briefly dreaming about Rena and I driving around in the desert (??) and then all of a sudden all I could think was OHHHHHH!!!!! The PAIN!!!! I was lying on my back in the recovery room (I figured that's where I was, b/c I could hear other people around me all kind of moaning). My incision/tummy area hurt and felt traumatized, but the main thing was this horrible pain in my shoulder! Oh, boy... that was rough. It hurt every time I breathed in! Everyone kept telling me it was from gas that they used to inflate my insides - but I'm not sure that's what it was. I think it was the way my drainage tubes were placed, because when they were messed with, my pain would flare up BIG TIME.
At any rate, I was soon taken to the ICU. I had a very sweet nurse whose name I can't remember for the life of me! But she was a good one. She showed me how the morphine pump worked, and then my family was filing in to see me. They all kissed me, and I was thinking "OH geez, I really don't feel like having any company right now!" (LOL). I remember my husband rubbing my legs in a very comforting way - and I was just dozing off in between complaints about my shoulder hurting. My family stayed for a few minutes and then left again, as per ICU visitation rules, and I drifted off to sleep again.
The next time I woke up, the nurse asked if I would like to get up! I said "sure, I'm brave..." and I got up and sat in a chair. It seemed to make my shoulder feel better. My family came in again, and they were amazed to see me "up"! I had even taken a little short walk around the room with the nurses. It wasn't so bad.
Before long, I realized I was going to start vomiting. Someone found me a little container, and I let go. It was nothing but blood, of course, and a very small amount - about 2 ounces. I guess that's because that's all my new "stomach" (pouch) can hold! A different nurse came in and we told her I had gotten sick. She said, "Well, you want to avoid doing that at all costs because it will really hurt!" (Can you say, DUH???)
I had lots of visitors while I was in ICU, including my ex mother-in-law (who I've stayed friends with over the years) and it's amazing that I can remember that. The nurses told me that the morphine pump could be pushed every 6 minutes, and it seems like that's about how often I "came to" and needed to push it. I don't know how many of my visitors I barfed in front of, but now that I think about it - I was getting sick about every time I got out of bed.
My Mom and Dad went home, but Bob and Lacy continued to come in and see me as long as they were allowed. They are so sweet - they went out and bought me some little gifts, like an Eeyore, and a book to read, and a "Mankind" (WWF wrestler) video game. I am NUTS about this one wrestler, Mick Foley (Cactus Jack, Dude Love, Mankind) because he looks almost EXACTLY like my husband! So I got a good laugh out of that. Finally, Bob and Lacy went home for the night and I was on my own in the ICU. It was a night of pushing the morphine button, and getting up to go for little walks around the nurses station (I felt so WEIRD! Not really in pain, but weak and odd, like I was flying)... and more vomiting. At least the shoulder pain was dimming a little bit. The nurse changed the dressing on my incision, and I took a look. I was amazed to see that the incision was only about 4 1/2 inches long! I expected to be cut all the way down to my bellybutton, but nope! And, there were no staples or stitches, so my scar will be very minimal. On one side of the incision (my left) I had two drainage tubes inserted. They had these big "grenade" looking bulbs at the bottom of the tubes, which hit me at about groin level. I joked about them being like testicles! They were always in the way. On the other side of the incision (my right) I had a G-tube. This tube was inserted into the old part of my stomach. There was a bag attached to the G-tube, and it was draining a lot of ugly black stuff! Gross.
The next morning was Saturday morning, and instead of my surgeon checking on me, her colleague Dr. Hughes was on call. He came in to take out my NG tube. He told me, "Lots of people gag when this tube comes out, but the secret is that you can NOT gag if your eyes are open! So, pick a spot on the ceiling and stare at it, and don't close your eyes, and I'll pull out the tube." Well - that's what I did, and the tube was out quickly. Yes, it felt very odd. I was just glad to be rid of it!
Next thing I knew, the nurse was telling me it was time to go to my room! I had been sprung from ICU. We gathered up my things and walked - yes, walked, with all my "testicles" and IV and G-tube pouch! - to my nice, private room which wasn't too far away. I remember thinking I was doing such a great job walking! I wouldn't have been able to make it that far before surgery without my back hurting - but my back didn't hurt at all! I was just tired and weak. Must have been all the pain meds!
I had lots of visitors while I was in the hospital, and lots of phone calls. I loved it! I really felt pretty good, considering. We figured out in a day or so that it was the morphine making me vomit (!) so they gave me a different medication, called Lortab. It worked great! The first few times, they took a syringe and squirted it in through my g-tube, which felt kind of odd.
I had some very nice nurses, I really can't complain about my "treatment" while I was in the hospital. I actually got more rest than I expected. I guess I was doing well, so they left me alone. The main bummer was that my doctor "forgot" to visit me one day, and I ended up being in the hospital a day longer than I needed to. I spent that whole day waiting for her, because they had thought I might be sent home! But she never showed. I was supposed to have been started on the full liquid diet on Monday, but I didn't get it until Tuesday afternoon. So - I went 4 days without eating anything - just ice chips and an ounce or so of grape juice every four hours! That Monday was a really bad day. I was very tearful and depressed, and spent a lot of the day thinking "What have I done? My doctor doesn't even care about me!" Bob didn't know what to do. We kept asking the nurses and they kept telling us, "OH! Dr. Inman would NEVER forget a patient... she will be here!" Well, she never showed up. She did send her intern to check on me earlier in the day, but the intern told me that the doctor would be in later and that the doctor would have to be the one to give orders to start me on the liquid diet.
OH well. I got through it. Dr. Inman came in the next morning (while I was buck naked giving myself a sponge bath! LOL) and said I looked good and we would start me on the liquid diet today, then go home tomorrow. Sounded excellent to me!
They brought some "food" in, and it tasted so good. It was just two little tiny one-ounce cups, one with vanilla pudding and one with cherry jell-o, but it was like nectar from heaven! LOL! I was amazed when I couldn't finish it.
I had an interesting nurse one of those nights... I don't remember his name, but he was a hoot. He had a shaved head and a red goatee, and he was quite a character. I asked him if he could unhook me from the IV so I could go to the bathroom, and he said, "OK here's the deal: I unhook you, you give me pee-pee!" I said, "Well! I think you're going to get the short end of the deal if THAT is what you want!" LOL - he said, "But you don't understand,.... ME LOVE PEE-PEE!"
OK, so I aim to please! I made some pee-pee to make the guy happy, then went for a walk around the ward. He was amazed that I was getting around so well, and he told me that he could tell I was going to do great with this surgery because I have a good attitude. That made me feel good! :) I swallowed down my pain meds and had a very good nights sleep.
I went home the next afternoon, after the doctor took out my two drainage tubes (another weird feeling!). I am pretty sure the shoulder pain was caused by the drainage tubes, because as soon as they were out - the shoulder pain stopped totally!
It was difficult sleeping the first week or so. I slept in a recliner for the first few days, and then after that I got the idea to sleep with my binder on. That helped a little bit, but it wasn't good "quality" sleep for about a week or so. Now, at three weeks post-op, I am sleeping in bed just fine. I sleep like a log! And, it seems like I need about a 3 hour nap every day. Also, I have been having THE most vivid and bizarre dreams, which I guess is an after-effect of the anesthesia! Verrrrry interesting.
We moved into our new house just three days after I got home from the hospital! Not that I could do much more than "supervise"! LOL. Bob took off two weeks from work, and we got quite a bit done, but there is still a lot more unpacking to do. Lacy has a couple more weeks of school, so she's staying with my Mom in our old neighborhood to finish up. She is here on the weekends, but I still miss her.
All in all, at this point, I must say that I am excited about what the future holds. I have already lost about 25#... I have already noticed a BIG difference in my ability to stand and walk - I am doing TONS better with that than I was before surgery! I even managed to go into the video store on my birthday (yes, I turned 35 in the midst of all this!) and take my time picking out a video! That's something I had NOT been able to do pre-op. My back would start to hurt almost as soon as I walked through the door! I go back to work in two weeks, and I think I'll be ready by then. Right now, I'm still kind of weak and tired and needing those naps, but I know that it's going to get better.
Also, I've had trouble sticking to the full liquid diet, and I admit I've cheated. I ate pizza, chicken quesadilla, and french fries this weekend - bad girl! But I'm getting better about NOT doing things I'm not supposed to. The quesadilla gave me heartburn, and all of the above made me feel kind of gross. So, I'm trying. I've got to be on this liquid diet for three more weeks *sigh*. I was given the OK to eat crackers occasionally if I want to, so I'll try to stick to that. The protein drinks are kind of rough on me - probably because of the milk. I think I'm becoming lactose-intolerant, but we'll see.
I'll write more later, as things unfold! Thanks to everyone who is reading my story. I hope it has been helpful to you! OH - I have a new email address (again)... L.price1@home.com
Talk to you soon!
"BACK TO THE MAIN PAGE"
