So, December 21st I was supposed to have my surgery... I went in. They took me back. I got changed into the gown. I had labs drawn. I had an IV running. The anesthesiologist had already been in and explained that "you'll be asleep for this..." and asked me if I knew that. I told him it certainly was my preference! They gave me the "shot to help you relax." And I was waiting for my turn when one of my doc's nurses came in and asked me if I'd be okay with rescheduling for Weds, 12/23 (two days later).... UGH! Are you freaking kidding me? Well, she wasn't! The case before me, an RNY on a very heavy woman who'd had numerous previous abdominal surgeries and had tons of scarring and hernias inside, was running WAY longer than anticipated. The doc didn't think he'd be 100% to do me when he was done. SO, we rescheduled...and I went home...and I was still mad though I had to respect his decision.
Then, on 12/23, I went back and did it all over again. But, nothing went well. Took 4 tries to get an IV in and when it finally worked, it was at the hand of Atilla the uncaring doctor who gave me no choice in how he did it and basically had me in tears from the pain by the time he got it running. Then, more waiting. The anesthesiologist this time was cool too. Answered my questions and told me that he'd see if he couldn't get that IV out of my danged hand while I was under in the OR. That didn't happen, for whatever reason. But, he did get one in my arm in recovery. I was in a room shortly, but freezing and in a lot of pain--more than I remember after my RNY... I was using the morphine every 2 hours and taking Percocets every 4 hours for two days! The very first night, I got a roomie at 11 pm. LOTS of noise and suddenly losing control of the TV when I was in too much pain to do anything else! Not a happy camper!! LOL Plus, the darned nurses kept pulling the drape between us and they'd pull it so far it blocked the TV screen anyway, so even when this other chick was asleep, I couldn't make use of the TV. By the third day, I had walked enough to get the gas moving in my chest (they pump your abdomen up with gas so they can move around and see easier for the laparoscopic procedure). That pain was letting up, but the surgical incisions were still awful. And, they'd used that Dermabond (superglue) to close me up instead of stitches and it itched like a demon!! I would MUCH rather have stitches after this experience! The only good thing??? No drain!!
After I got home, I was doing more than I should have been, but you know how hard it is to sit there and see things that need done and know that no one else is going to do them......SO, I really did not take the proper amount of time to heal before I was back at it. And, I caught whatever the grandbaby had and got sick on top of it all! When I went back to work on Monday, Jan 4, I was more tired than I was before we got out for break.....UGH!!
Now, I am pretty much healed, but still have times when my abdomen sort of knots up for no known reason. I'll ask the doc about it at my followup this week. I was told that he took my pouch from "about 80 CCs" to "about 50 CCs," so I should feel more restriction to the amount of food I can eat, but have not really experienced that. I did have one incident with eating too much and some of it coming back up. Yuck! Hadn't had THAT happen in about 2 years! I guess I can eat a bit less than before, but it still seems like I can eat a lot more than I could early on... I have not seen any additional weight loss other than dropping the water weight I put on in the hospital from all the IV fluids... We'll see! This surgery was NOT about losing additional weight though! It was about fixing my hiatal hernia and the candy cane hook on my intestine below my pouch. I have seen a drop in the amount of burping and belching, but not a total alleviation of that problem. Maybe with time.....
Current weight? 210
