Post Surgery Days 4 thru Today

19 July
Post-op Day 4

I get to go home!

That's all there really is to it, after figuring out how to get into my abdominal binder, put a dress on, a little mascara and sunglasses-- I was out the door.

I walked around a bit with my husband but the meds made me suuuuper sleepy, so I slept a lot today.


20 July-today

Everything has been going pretty well, I have some good days, and some not so great days.  I have only had 2 bad days and most of that is due to the incision and dealing with that, not the actual surgery.

Let me just say--MY HUSBAND IS A TROOPER.  Like- really amazing... but I knew that already!  He has done everything for me, lifting, cleaning, nursing, supporting, and just being plain awesome.

Okay.
Enough of these booooooring post-op surgery posts, time for some UPDATES!!

Energy: Feels pretty normal again, still no lifting anything heavier than a 1/2 gallon of milk, bending is really hard, and still pain around my healing wound, but no real pain at any ofthe incision sites, except for the instrument entrance site, that one is sore.

Weight Loss:  I am weighing in on Mondays because my surgery was a Monday.  As of two days ago, 5 August 2013 I have lost 26 pounds.  THAT'S APPROXIMATELY A POUND A DAY.  Whaaaaaaaat?  That is fantastic in my book, especially because all I can really do right now is walk for exercise.

Feeling:  Excited about my progress, feeling good about my future success (although I still sometimes think I'm gonna screw this up).

Post- Op Day 3

18 July
Post-op Day 3

Again, the pain this morning was awful, so bad that I really didn't sleep even with the drugs I was taking.  Most of the night I sat sitting on the edge of the bed hunched over the rolling table in the room with my amazing nurse Amelia and sister rubbing my back, trying to help make me comfortable.  

In the morning my surgeon came, checked my sites, and the area that was hurting so much.  He was concerned about it this morning.  Thinking there was an infection he immediately had the room prepped for a bedside procedure to check for infection and release fluid and pressure.  About an hour later the procedure began.

I was so nervous, tense, and anxious.  I was reassured it would not hurt.  My on-Q pump was numbing the surface of my abdomen, and a lidocaine shot was used for deeper tissue.  I put my eye mask on, and told the doctor and my mother to NOT tell me what was happening.  I felt nothing.  He had made about a 4 inch deep incision...yuck.  It bled a lot even though it was packed with gauze, but no pain.

About 20 minutes after the procedure my debilitating pain was gone.  I was up and around much easier, moving was comfortable, and I felt so much better.  The pressure below the bruis was a build up of blood and fluid, but there was no infection.  YAY!

This meant I had to stay in the hospital one more night.  Augh.  I wanted to go home, I missed my bed, I MISSED MY PUPPIES, I missed snuggling with my honey at home!

I started to have thoughts like--
what if this doesn't work...
what if I fail...
what if I can't do this...
what if everything was for nothing...

I had to get out of my own head, I walked and walked and walked.  I walked till I couldn't handle one more step. in fact I went so far that my lo-jack (whatever the thing that was attached to all the monitors on my chest set an alarm off on my nurse's phone...and people were looking for me.  Oooops.)

I walked until I felt better, calmer, and more centered.

This was strange day.

Post-Op Day 2

17 July
Post-op Day 2

I woke up in so much pain.  Like so much.  I couldn't get out of the bed on my own that morning.  Like 14 on a scale of 1-10.  I wasn't sure what it was, but it was certainly near the instrument insertion site, above and beside it on the front of my abdomen.  When my surgeon visited he looked at it and thought it looked pretty normal but would check it all again the next morning.

Again lots of walking.  But today was also filled with LOTS of visitors.  Some of my favorite people were there, with smiles, laughter, jokes, encouraging words, and even some flowers!  I have some really great friends that are really more like family; supportive, loving, concerned, and thoughtful.

Great day.

Post Surgery Day 1

16 July
Post-op Day 1

Waking up after a pretty restful night (thank you drugs) even though I took a few late night strolls was nice.  Having my mom there was even nicer.  Growing up I was a pretty crappy kid (and still am a jerky adult to my mom sometimes).  I can't remember being more grateful for my mom than I am right now, having her with me through this.  She has been totally supportive and really helped me like crazy at the hospital.

The day went pretty well, I was sore, but really pretty good.  I had the best. nurse. ever. during each day I was there.  Richard was my day nurse.  There is no better nurse out there.  He was kind, accommodating (even when I was difficult), on top of EVERYTHING, and never, not even once left me hanging.

My surgeon visited twice that day to check up on me.  The first time I was sleeping so he chatted with my mom.  The second time he dropped the bomb on me.  The reason I had felt like it was late getting to the PACU was because...it was.  There had been a complication.  He had made a mistake.  A pretty significant one apparently- according to him.  He explained the problem, but also explained how he has caught it.  I was thankful he saw the mistake before there was a REAL problem.  He fixed everything carefully and thoroughly.

I was upset.  I cried.  I was angry.  I was confused.  This was one of the best surgeons out there, he studied under the best, learned from a pioneer in the bariatric surgery community of doctors, he has completed hundreds of surgeries and has an amazing track record of successful surgeries, he is a partner at the premiere bariatric office in hundreds of miles.

I was confident that everything was fine after the surgery, even after hearing this news, and thankfully I have had no complications due to this.

I walked, I rested, I dozed off taking to my parents and sister.  NOT because they were boring, but the drugs I was on really made me drowsy.

Pretty easy day.