Lisa's experiences are giving me pause

(Please note that posting date is stuffed up because I didn't know how to turn a draft post into a final post until today!!. This was actually started on the 17th April and finished on the 18th April 2009).

Most people posting appear to have had a pretty good recovery after surgery but it has not been such a fun ride for Lisa, my partner, who was banded on the 9th April. She did ok for the first day or two (and only nights were difficult) but then she started experiencing extreme bloating and had not been able to keep anything (not even water) down for two days from the nausea and heaving. She had been trying everything (simethicone preparation, walking, massage, yoga positions, etc, etc) to help but nothing made much difference. She really had gotten into a very bad cycle where the gas leads to nausea, the nausea leads to retching, the retching means she can't keep fluids down, she hyperventilates to try to avoid retching but this means she swallows more air, she gets dehydrated and tired, which means she is not walking so much, so the gas is not escaping, so she ends up with more gas pain ...

We saw her surgeon on Friday who checked everything out and reassured her that everything is ok with the band and that the gas problem would eventually pass (when pressed for how long - he replied it varied across people). Lisa is apparently an "air-swallower" (evidenced by the fact that she did a lot of burping before the procedure). It is harder to burp once the band is in and it is this that is causing her extreme discomfort. Our surgeon (who is wonderful) gave her a Maxolon shot. Our surgeon has a recovery room at his rooms so we sat in there until the shot took effect and Lisa was able to swallow sips of water. In the afternoon, as well as keeping water and fluids (electrolyte fluids) down again, she took some Phenergan and more Maxolon (in tablet form) plus some charcoal tablets. On Friday arvo she was finally sleeping (after little to no sleep for 2 nights) while I had everything crossed (even my eyes!) that she'd be feeling better after a sleep.

That night Lisa had her first night without heaving and it was heaven (for both of us!). Yesterday she was back to nutritious fluids (soups, protein drinks, etc) and back to walking, so by last night she was feeling her old self. So all is good here again.

The moral of the story - if you are heaving, get a Maxolon shot (or something similar) quickly - don't let yourself get into the vicious cycle Lisa found herself in.

I had been having major second thoughts. I'm due to have my banding done on the 23rd. Now we have some Maxolon shots at home that Lisa can administer (she's a retired nurse) if I get chucky (which doesn't usually take much). So, all in all, I'm feeling better about surgery on Thursday

To all those who posted to wish Lisa well - a very big thank-you.

Its so great to read about couples getting banded around the same time! Talk about a great support system! For the rest of us, the spouse is supportive but really probably doesn't "get it" at least in my case because my husband is a natural skinny! Its also great to hear the band stories from the SO instead of the patient herself...a little different perspective...thanks for your blog! Cali