Reading stories on here helped me soooo much I thought I would do so on return. Had surgery THurs., Aug. 13th.

My doctor required a 10-14 day liquied diet, if you have the option go for 10, why torture yourself an extra 4 days if you don't have to. I did great with the pre-op until about the 11th or 12th day then I was afraid to cheat because it might mess up the surgery. It was horrible!

The night before surgery I was told to drink a bottle of mag citrate to "clean everything out". Nothing really happened that night which I didn't think much about because after all, I'd been on all liquids for 2 weeks. The next morning on the way to the hospital though, it decided to kick in. Ugh!

I had bought of (sorry) explosive diarrhea. Luckily that didn't take long.

Next they took me back, did vitals, changed into the gown, brought me socks (what a great thing, PACK THICK SOCKS!) and rolled me into the holding area. Talked with all the nurses, anesthesia personel and the doctor for any last min. questions. They said the catheter and intubation would take place after being put to sleep. The next thing I remeber was waking up in the recovery area, freezing and hurting! A shot of moraphine and then the next thing I remeber was being rolled into a room with my husband. The nurse handed me the moraphine pump and life was good.

Four hours later the nurse woke me up and said "time to walk". I just knew I was dreaming. Rolling out of that bed, OUCH! The walk to the door was like running a marathon. At that point I started thinking "what have I done?"

Day 2 Still very groggy and now itchy, ALL OVER! I apparantley dreamed that I told the nurse because no one remebered me telling them. My husband either. By 8 am it was time to walk again. THe second hardest time I've ever had trying to get out of a bed. Made it half way down the hall. Heeved many times from horrible nausea. (that felt great on the ole' stomach) The doctor came by an hour later and decided still nothing by mouth for one more day, just to be safe. My mouth was SOOO dry. THank goodness, I had packed the chap stick. Decided the best way to heal was rest so everytime I even felt conscience that night I hit the pain pump.

Day 3 What a difference a day makes! Nause gone. Walked all the way down the hall like 5 times. Finally got something by mouth. Now I know what everyone meant about things tasting too sweet. I've always loved "sweet" tasting. The crystal light was gagging me. Then came the crushed pills in the mushed up popsicle. Oh, MY! yuck:crying: Whose bright idea was that???

I finally actually told them about the itching and so the moraphine stopped that morning. I think I only took pain meds twice that day.

Day 4 Feeling like a new woman, waiting for the on-call doc to show up and release me, as it is Sunday. So to kill the time I walked, rested, walked somemore. Still very sore. Then the gas pains kicked in. WOW! It felt like somebody was stabbing me with a knife. Finally went home late Sunday afternoon. Personally I thought the gas-x strips and the heating pad helped the best.

Day 5 (today) Kind of a rough night sleeping. Couldn't get comfortable lying on my back so sat up on my couch and "slept". The worst of the pain is from this drain. The rest of my inscisions are just sore. Anybody else have issues with the drain? Thank goodness, it comes out Thurs. Love the broth and very diluted Crystal light. My husband was having fajitas today, I have to say, I've thought many times today "what have i done? Am I going to regret this? Was being fat really THAT bad?" Hard to believe I would even consider that notion, huh???

As I had prayed about this decision so many times a passage of scripture came to mind, Jesus said "If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better to enter heaven mamed than into hell physically whole" PARAPHRASED. food had become like my golden calf. It was what I turned to in times of happiness, lonliness, sadness....everything. It took the place of my holy perfect God. So, I literally "plucked it out".

Will keep you all posted in the days to come.

Sorry this was so long. Hope it helps someone else the way others stories have helped me. God bless you all wherever you are in your journey.

Great story, it's so important to share, so we all don't feel alone on this journey. Everything went great for me until I got home and had to bathe my dirty kitten and blow dry him (long haired persian) and our hot Water heater broke this morning. Besides that....life is good :-))) Keep up the good work!

I have a long-haired, four-legged baby too. He's 13, black and white and about 15 pounds. He's been so upset with me because I haven't been picking him up. The doctor said nothing over 5 pounds for two weeks. He hasn't been that light since he was a kitten.

Coinsidence too, we just replaced the old water heater not too long ago. Thank goodness it's in the garage and didn't created too much of a mess. Now something on the central heat/air has gone out. Not a good thing during the month of Aug. in Tennessee. Ahhh, the joy of home ownership. :smile:

Vegas, how are your spasms doing? Are you eating more than mushies now?

I have a long-haired, four-legged baby too. He's 13, black and white and about 15 pounds. He's been so upset with me because I haven't been picking him up. The doctor said nothing over 5 pounds for two weeks. He hasn't been that light since he was a kitten.

Coinsidence too, we just replaced the old Water heater not too long ago. Thank goodness it's in the garage and didn't created too much of a mess. Now something on the central heat/air has gone out. Not a good thing during the month of Aug. in Tennessee. Ahhh, the joy of home ownership. :thumbup:

Vegas, how are your spasms doing? Are you eating more than mushies now?

WOW -5 lbs. really? Dr. Aceves said nothing over 15 lbs. for the first six weeks ... yikes!

My spasms, I believe are getting better -- or I am learning to work around it perhaps. I have found that as long as I stick with warm liquids in the morning until about 11 am, that I don't have as much trouble eating lunch and dinner. I've also found that whatever I do eat needs to be pretty moist or it doesn't work -- I tried a potatoe skin one day at a going away luncheon for a friend and after 3 bites I couldn't eat anymore - it was stuck. I guess they were too dry. So I pretty much still stick with mushies and venture onto solids cautiously.

Thank you so much for asking!