Hi there.

Well, I am now finally BANDED!! Hip hip HOORAY! I'm also feeling well enough to post to my blog - YEAY!!

This is how it all went ...

Firstly (apologies if this is too much info) I get my period the night before. GREAT! - NOT!!! My period is totally irregular but one thing I can ALWAYS rely on is the fact that it is going to come at the MOST inconvenient time.

Got to the hospital for the 11am check-in. Pretty straight forward - pay up (just in case you die on the table!!) and up to your room. Hang around the room till the nicest nurse (thank-you dear Tina for looking after me sooo well) comes in and hands me the most gorgeous gown in a delightful shade of hospital blue and a pair of huge white paper undies. She gives me some chlorhexidine wash to have a shower with (paying particular attention to the tummy area). I wasn't going to tell her that I had my period because I knew that she'd tell me I'd have to wear a pad into surgery but then BIG MOUTH Lisa tells her! Now she makes a note for the nurses in the OR and in recovery that I have a "sanitary pad in situ". I beg - can't I please wear a tampon?? No, is the answer - she says don't worry, you'll be back here in a couple of hours anyway and the pad won't need to be changed till you get back. I can't stand those damn things and if looks could kill, I'd be arranging Lisa's burial now. Anyway, I take the shower but put a fresh tampon in (I only took it out and put TWO pads into the undies right before they wheeled me to the OR). Tina, my nurse, comes back and asks a multititude of questions that she already has the answers to (she has the form I filled out for the hospital in front of her) and then weighs me so that the anaesthetist knows how much anaesthetic I'll need. Then its time to just hang around some more. Unfortunately, Lisa had to leave to go to a funeral (my best friend's dad had passed and I insisted that Lisa should represent us there). I pass the time playing Nintendo DS. Then the anaesthetist comes in to say g'day and ask the same questions the nurse had asked and to warn me of everything that could go wrong (thanks be to a litigious society!). Then its hang about and play Nintendo till about 2.30pm when two people wheel me up to the waiting room for an OR.

At 3pm, I get wheeled into the OR and there is our surgeon, Stephen Blamey. I reiterate how worried I am about my liver - he is very reassuring that everything will be fine. He makes me laugh by asking me whether I've finished some work that he knows I have due for the Dept of Health in our state. Then the nice anaesthetist sticks me in the arm with a 10mL syringe full of clear liquid. I say "See you all later. Please look after me".

Somewhere around 4pm I wake up in recovery and I am freezing cold. They pile three heated blankets on top of me and around my head until I don't feel so cold. I struggle to stay awake but don't succeed. I feel as though I have been kicked real hard in the stomach but I don't ask for any drugs 'cause I hate feeling out of it. They wheel me back to my room where Lisa is waiting. I make my presence known by starting to heave and throw up (I think the wheeling around all those corners gave me motion sickness). Lisa, being a nurse asks for me to be given some anti-nausea meds. I get a shot of ondansetron (Zofran) and then they ask how my pain is on a scale of 0-10 - I say 3. Thankfully, Lisa was there and tells them that my 3 is everyone else's 7 - please give her pain relief. They ask what I'd like (presumably because I used to be a pharmacist) - pethidine or Tramadol - I choose Tramadol as I believe it causes less drowsiness. Our surgeon, Stephen Blamey, comes into the room at some point to see how I'm doing. I tell him I feel good (I don't know how convincing I was) and ask how my liver was. Apparently ('cause I can't remember his answer), he answers that the liver was a bit lumpy but he expected that anyway. Now, I have to tell you that I feel like I was totally with it when all this was going on but Lisa assures me I was actually away with the pixies. Lisa hung around the hospital till about 10pm when I still had not woken up properly. Before she leaves, she asks if there's anything I need - she arranges a shot of Phenergan to keep nausea at bay and I say I'd like to get up and pee (which in my mind was also code for - I would also like to get a tampon in and get rid of this blasted sanitary pad!!). Lisa calls the nurse in and the nurse says she'll bring me a pan - I say "Forget that! I don't have to go that bad!! I'll wait." Lisa tells me this was hysterically funny to both her and the nurse but it didn't seem funny to me - again I think I was so out of it, I didn't really know what was going on.

Around 2am, a nurse comes in and checks on me and this time I properly wake up. I ask if I can get up and she says "of course". I could have kissed the woman - I was sooo happy. She unhooks me from the pumps on my lower legs that inflate and deflate to prevent clots and lets me go to the bathroom. I am able to pee, have a wash, get rid of those hideous paper undies and the pads and get clean undies and a tampon in. I tell you I never felt more like a new woman than I did at that moment. I went back to bed and started sipping ice and water - I have never enjoyed those things as much as I did at that time. The nurse makes me put the oxygen mask back on before I go back to sleep but the plastic of the mask stinks! Once she's out of the room, I push it off my face. Everytime she comes back into the room - I think she was checking my vitals (blood pressure, oxygen saturation, temperature, etc) every 30 minutes - she tells me I must put the oxygen mask on and every time I say " oh sorry must have forgotten to put it back on after I had a drink". In the morning, I wake up to a visit from Mr Blamey who tells me something but I can't for the life of me remember what. Finally, Lisa arrives and I get ready for discharge. On the way out, loulou09 comes over to say hi and see how it went. I can't remember exactly what I said (again - at the time, I thought I was totally lucid but looking back it is all a bit foggy) but I did lie by suggesting to her that I was feeling fine - just a bit sore and uncomfortable (sorry, Lou - you'd find out soon enough how it really felt). I know I looked like I was pregnant - WITH TWINS! Oh I do remember that she might want her hubby to tell suggest to visitors that tonight would not be a good night to visit. I still think that might have been good advice.

Finally, got home. First thing was jump on the scales - OMG!! 2kg [5lb] UP (!!). The doctor says it takes 3 houses full of gas to weigh 5lb. So, although I did look I was expecting twins, most of the gain was apparently from fluid retention (they gave me 4 litres of Hartmann's solution in the 12 hours starting from surgery time!!) and inflammation (I have actually dropped below my surgery weight now). After that, checked my e-mails only to find that my business e-mails had not been coming through for the last 24 hours. I had a full-on screaming match with my web domain provider (who let my domain expire despite my having paid the renewal ages ago [oh, sorry, we just found it!!]). After this, I collapsed back into bed. Lisa kept me walking but also drugged up with anti-nausea stuff and analgesics and charcoal (to keep the gas under control). I couldn't get comfortable. Last night I had a good night's sleep - could roll over to any side - ahhh HEAVEN!! I'm still bloated (though I look like I'm only preggers with one baby now) but am feeling loads better. If I continue to improve at this rate, I'll be very happy. I could probably work tomorrow but won't!

Last thing to say is that I was a GENIUS to let Lisa have her op done first (i.e., let her be the guinea pig) 'cause we both learned so much from her experience, especially:

• to stay ahead of the pain by taking pain relievers before you need them;
  
• to stay ahead of the nausea by taking Maxolon and Phenergan before it was necessary;
  
• to stay ahead of the gas by taking charcoal in between (separated from other meds by at least 2 hours) [so much better than simethicone, which we both found practially useless]
  
• keeping hydrated with frequent sips of water
  
• moving and walking to help move gas as often as you can bear.
  

Of course, Lisa is a real nurse and was much better equipped to help me than I was her (I feel sorry for her that she had to have an inept ex-pharmacist look after her) and I'm sure I wouldn't be feeling so cheery if it wasn't for her wonderful care (Thanks babe).

I love your story, so honest and yet i must say even funny! Hope all is well.

Great details! I wonder if we have 'charcoal' in the States? I've only heard folks talk about simethicone. Luckily, I haven't had too much problem with gas as it comes and goes pretty quickly. I can't believe you can sleep on your side already. I tried last night and lasted about 30 seconds...felt like my incisions were ripping. Feel better soon, and CONGRATULATIONS BANDER!

I'm going to look for it in the pharmacy. I think its the same stuff you take to soak up an ingested poison and I THINK I've seen it at the drugstore...worth a try! Cali

Hi Lili

Thank God!!! :thumbup: I am so pleased you put on a brave face - I think I may have talked myself into the fact that I will be okay. In a lot of pain but we went for a coffee after surgery and then wandered around at home - was okay until yesterday - sad sacks hit. and sore as anything on my shoulder and war wounds. Being a day behind you I could sleep on my side and tummy last night - what a beautiful sleep. Did you get shoulder pain? - that seems to be my worst part at the moment. Loved the blog - told everyone not to visit on Friday night - thanks, Jim came in, but I was in la la land so he didn't stay long. Sister called and kept falling asleep on the phone. A laugh a minute I was :thumbdown:.

chat soon

Lou

Congratulations, Lili! I've been thinking of you and wondering how you were doing. Glad to hear you're being so well taken care of! And you're down 16 lbs. now! How fabulous! Thanks for all the wonderful tips! I will definitely get some charcoal tabs at the pharmacy. Continue to take good care of yourself.! :thumbup:) Ann

Congratulations, Lili! I've been thinking of you and wondering how you were doing. Glad to hear you're being so well taken care of! And you're down 16 lbs. now! How fabulous! Thanks for all the wonderful tips! I will definitely get some charcoal tabs at the pharmacy. Continue to take good care of yourself.! :thumbup:) Ann

Hi everyone,

Firstly, thanks heaps for your supportive posts.

Yes, Lou, I had very bad shoulder pain especially the first couple of days but once the gas started dissipating so did the shoulder pain. It was almost - shoulder pain - burp (in the charming way a beer-guzzling Aussie bloke would do!) - no shoulder pain! Lou - did you actually know you were in la la land - I was there but, in my head, I thought I was all put together (very scary!)

As far as charcoal goes, I'm sure you have it in the States - as Cali (xavier) says, its the same stuff you take to soak up an ingested poison. However, because it absorbs so much stuff, you need to be very careful to make sure you don't take in within 2 hours of any other meds ('cause it'll soak those up too) - you need two clear hours before and after the dose. I would only use it if the gas pain is bad (oh and be warned - there'll be green poo after you take it).

BG - hope you're able to sleep on your side soon (mind you, it still hurts like hell to turn over) and hope everything is ok now with the chest pain issue you have posted about.

Ann, your turn is coming shortly!! Good luck and please stay in touch.

I really love all you wonderful people I've met through LBT!