It's been 1 loooooooooooooonnnng week since my surgery. I am feeling good. I am actually writing this from my hospital bed. It's a long story so I'm going to pause for a minute and do chronological overview of the days.
Thursday: Surgery day and everything went well. I was in a good bit of pain but was given a pain pump which I used. I was able to walk down the halls.
Friday: Pain wasn't as bad. I walked more and was sipping broth and water. While in the hospital my diet was clear liquids.
Saturday: Was released from the hospital and sent home. I'm now able to have a full liquid diet (which added milk, sugar free popsicles, yogurt). I was so excited to be home. Hubby was awesome getting me all set up in our room.
Sunday: Feeling good enough for some exercise. I took a 10 minute walk with hubby and felt amazing. I was tolerating the diet and vitamins really well. I'm still in awe at the fact that I hadn't felt hungry.
Monday: Started off great. I did a 15 min walk. I was taking my pills and vitamins on time. My pain was being controlled well with the medication. At about 5:00 pm I started feeling nauseous. I tried to take the nausea medication and threw it up. I wasn't able to tolerate water either. I laid down and decided I would try to drink again when it was time for my pain medication. I tried again and was unsuccessful. I laid down for another 4 hours and tried again only to dry heave more.
Tuesday: At 1:00 am I called the surgeon. At this point I was able to take small sips of water. The nurse called me back at 4:00 am and told me to call the clinic at 8:00 am to be seen. The clinic was unable to see me and told me to go to the ER. I arrived at the ER at 10:30 am. They gave me IV fluids, pain and nausea medicine intravenously. I started to feel better almost immediately. Later that day, they tried to get me to take oral medication. I immediately got nauseous. They decided to keep overnight at 5:00 pm. 5:30 pm I had a CT scan of my abdomen to make sure that everything was working right. I was finally given a room at 9:30 pm. That evening they gave me a "banana bag" IV which is like Gatorade with vitamins. Apparently it gets bubbles in the IV. I didn't sleep much because the alarm kept going off.
Wednesday: I was able to tolerate drinking even more. I actually ate broth at all three meals. A lot of progress as I had had nothing the day before (but still without hunger). In the morning they thought I actually might go home. My CT scan came back normal. The final diagnosis for the episode was that I had one of the side effects of the pain medication-nausea. Then I began to dehydrate which causes nausea. After they had changed my pain medication I was doing a lot better. My nurse came and in and told me that they wanted to keep another day to see if I was still doing well.
Thursday: I feel great. I am off all pain medication. I've been up since 2:30 am because they hung another banana bag. The buzzer was going off every 10 minutes. Why don't they do these during the day, I don't know. I just found out that I will be going home today. Yipee!
Whew! I hope that wasn't too much for you. I wanted to be as descriptive as possible for anyone considering bariatric surgery. You need to understand it's not a cake walk. Staying hydrated in your number 1 priority, especially since you can't just guzzle a 20 oz bottle of water in 2 minutes.
I am still really motivated. I knew it would be a journey coming in to it. I was a little down yesterday. Mostly because I was sooooo bored. I hate being alone so I really wanted to be home. The rational side of me was quite happy that the medical staff was taking such care to make sure I would be good once I returned home.
Well it's now the moment you have all waited for. How much does she weigh?!? As a reminder, my start weight was 320 lbs. My new weight is 306.8 lbs!!!! I have lost a total of 13.2 lbs! Yay me! In case you're wondering, that's the weight I was on Monday before I got sick. I weighed in here at the hospital and I am the same weight.
I didn't think it would be so much so fast, but I am very pleased. I want to be 300 lbs by Nov 27 my 1 month surgery anniversary. Only 6.8 lbs to go for the month!
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Thursday: Surgery day and everything went well. I was in a good bit of pain but was given a pain pump which I used. I was able to walk down the halls.
Friday: Pain wasn't as bad. I walked more and was sipping broth and water. While in the hospital my diet was clear liquids.
Saturday: Was released from the hospital and sent home. I'm now able to have a full liquid diet (which added milk, sugar free popsicles, yogurt). I was so excited to be home. Hubby was awesome getting me all set up in our room.
Sunday: Feeling good enough for some exercise. I took a 10 minute walk with hubby and felt amazing. I was tolerating the diet and vitamins really well. I'm still in awe at the fact that I hadn't felt hungry.
Monday: Started off great. I did a 15 min walk. I was taking my pills and vitamins on time. My pain was being controlled well with the medication. At about 5:00 pm I started feeling nauseous. I tried to take the nausea medication and threw it up. I wasn't able to tolerate water either. I laid down and decided I would try to drink again when it was time for my pain medication. I tried again and was unsuccessful. I laid down for another 4 hours and tried again only to dry heave more.
Tuesday: At 1:00 am I called the surgeon. At this point I was able to take small sips of water. The nurse called me back at 4:00 am and told me to call the clinic at 8:00 am to be seen. The clinic was unable to see me and told me to go to the ER. I arrived at the ER at 10:30 am. They gave me IV fluids, pain and nausea medicine intravenously. I started to feel better almost immediately. Later that day, they tried to get me to take oral medication. I immediately got nauseous. They decided to keep overnight at 5:00 pm. 5:30 pm I had a CT scan of my abdomen to make sure that everything was working right. I was finally given a room at 9:30 pm. That evening they gave me a "banana bag" IV which is like Gatorade with vitamins. Apparently it gets bubbles in the IV. I didn't sleep much because the alarm kept going off.
Wednesday: I was able to tolerate drinking even more. I actually ate broth at all three meals. A lot of progress as I had had nothing the day before (but still without hunger). In the morning they thought I actually might go home. My CT scan came back normal. The final diagnosis for the episode was that I had one of the side effects of the pain medication-nausea. Then I began to dehydrate which causes nausea. After they had changed my pain medication I was doing a lot better. My nurse came and in and told me that they wanted to keep another day to see if I was still doing well.
Thursday: I feel great. I am off all pain medication. I've been up since 2:30 am because they hung another banana bag. The buzzer was going off every 10 minutes. Why don't they do these during the day, I don't know. I just found out that I will be going home today. Yipee!
Whew! I hope that wasn't too much for you. I wanted to be as descriptive as possible for anyone considering bariatric surgery. You need to understand it's not a cake walk. Staying hydrated in your number 1 priority, especially since you can't just guzzle a 20 oz bottle of water in 2 minutes.
I am still really motivated. I knew it would be a journey coming in to it. I was a little down yesterday. Mostly because I was sooooo bored. I hate being alone so I really wanted to be home. The rational side of me was quite happy that the medical staff was taking such care to make sure I would be good once I returned home.
Well it's now the moment you have all waited for. How much does she weigh?!? As a reminder, my start weight was 320 lbs. My new weight is 306.8 lbs!!!! I have lost a total of 13.2 lbs! Yay me! In case you're wondering, that's the weight I was on Monday before I got sick. I weighed in here at the hospital and I am the same weight.
I didn't think it would be so much so fast, but I am very pleased. I want to be 300 lbs by Nov 27 my 1 month surgery anniversary. Only 6.8 lbs to go for the month!
Hang in there, girl. I think it is great that you are documenting everything. I am doing well here. I go back to work on Monday. Still struggling with getting 64 oz of water a day but getting better. Had only been drinking protein shakes until Tuesday when I tried strained cream soup for dinner. Tolerated that well so have had it for dinner the last 2 nights. Have my first follow up on Tuesday, so I will know my new weight then. (I started at 266) Not really feeling hungry but frustrated when I smell foods that I cannot enjoy :( Thank goodness for sugar free popsicles! Did you have to do a LS diet before surgery?
ReplyDeleteSyree, you are brave and I do pray that God gives you a complete healing in all aspects. You are still ever so beautiful to me!
ReplyDeleteLove ya
Tonya Garris
@ Ms. K-I'm doing good on my fluid intake and I'm hitting just 60 grams of protein a day. For me food smells are really messing me up. I actually haven't smelled anything that I actually want to eat. I guess that's a plus. lol. I haven't felt hungry at all. I will start the pureed foods Sunday. Not sure what a LS diet is but I cut back substantially my quantities and my sugar intake.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tonya for the support. Just trying to make a healthier me.:)
ReplyDelete