My surgeon says that I will not need to stay overnight in the hospital after surgery. Reading through some of the threads, it appears quite a few folks have stayed overnight (some several days). I forgot to ask the surgeon when I met with him on Friday and plan to send him an email tomorrow, but do most people stay overnight with the sleeve? Would be interested in hearing from others...Thanks!:thumbup1:

I did not stay overnight which was fine with me. I had the option of inpatient or outpatient (with my surgeon's personal cell phone number). I would not recommend outpatient unless you have someone to stay with you and help you out.

Good luck!

Kerri,

Who is your surgeon? I just had surgery in Houston, TX with Dr. Fernando Miranda. I definitely recommend you stay at least 1 night! I have a very low tolerance for pain and after surgery I was in quite a bit of pain, plus you get to have a morphine drip (at least I did), not only that but you need to be on IV fluids for at least 24 hours! I don't see how this can be an outpatient procedure. Does he give you the option to stay hospitalized?

Ok, keep in touch....when is your surgery scheduled for?

Sury

My surgeon gives the option of outpatient or inpatient, provided there's nothing unusual in any of the labs. I'm planning on doing outpatient. My DH will be here at night and I have a friend coming to stay with me during the day.

Standard procedure with my surgeon is 2 nights in the hospital. I know a lot of surgeons are doing this outpatient, but in my opinion the first 24 hours is so vital in recovery. There is a lot of gas pain, overall discomfort typically at the larger incision site, and some patients have difficulty getting fluids in the first week. Lack of fluids lead to so many other problems, and it's just not worth it to be shipped in and out of the hospital. This is major surgery and I would not choose outpatient as an option.

I agree with Tiffy, my surgeon originally told me 2 to 3 days but kept me in the hospital for 5. I had round the clock attention and a visiting nurse came to my home for the first couple of days to change my dressing. I had excessive bleeding from the largest incision I think it was where the drain was. I went back 1 week later to have my surgeon check me out and remove the drain. I had a catheter for 2 days and the day it was removed I was having a difficult time urinating on my own so two nurses came in and went in there (while I was lying in bed) and forced the urine out! After that I was able to go on my own. Based on my experience which was not bad from a surgical standpoint, I can't imagine this being an outpatient procedure.

My surgeon says that I will not need to stay overnight in the hospital after surgery. Reading through some of the threads, it appears quite a few folks have stayed overnight (some several days). I forgot to ask the surgeon when I met with him on Friday and plan to send him an email tomorrow, but do most people stay overnight with the sleeve? Would be interested in hearing from others...Thanks!:blushing:

My package included a 3 day stay in the hospital. . I'm glad I did . . . felt more comfortable knowing that there was IV pain meds if i needed them. ..

I had surgery Wed morning at 11:30 and was released next day at 4:30. I loved the pain pump that I controlled. I was in a lot of pain the first night and I think I would have been frightened of every little thing if I had been home alone. It was reassuring to be in the hospital where the nursing staff checked my vitals every two hours and woke me to walk every four hours. I could have stayed a second night but knew I would rest better at home. I was alone at home and did just fine.

My jaw hit the floor when I read that outpatient is even an option. NO WAY!! And I consider myself pretty tough when it comes to pain and whatnot. WOW! Day two was, as predicted, the worst and I would not have wanted to been anywhere else but in my hospital bed. We are still so delicate those first couple of days afterwards; why risk it? Also, what about leak testing? Will you have to go running back to the hospital in a day or so? What if you develop a fever? Aceves keeps his patients three nights; two would have probably been fine but none??? Definitely not. Please re-consider, everyone here wants you to SkAtE through this procedure and not suffer, it really is a big deal that you come thru the surgery safe and sound so you can focus on the big picture and all you will have to deal with regarding eating! Good luck!!!!

I would NOT have wanted to go home the day of surgery. I stayed overnight and was fine with going home the next day, and had no problems with it.

i wouldn't have any thought about going home the same day. i went home the day after. what does your physician do about the leak test? good luck if you do decide to go home the same day after the procedure...

Hmmmm....thanks everyone for the feedback. I will DEFINITELY send a note to the surgeon. I can't believe I forgot to ask this....spent over an hour with him during the consultation and had previously sent him an email with 1 1/2 pages of questions.

My surgeon is Dr St Laurent...I have only seen positive feedback on him but would be interested if others have a different perspective. I felt very comfortable with him and definitely liked him better than the other two I visited.

I recognize this is different than a cesarean, but am curious about the level of pain. Unfortunately, I am familiar with the operating table...cesarean, 3 laproscopys, 2 ankle surgeries, reconstructive jaw surgery, and a few others.:blushing: Is the pain signficantly different? Either my husband or mom will be with me 24/7 after the surgery.

Either way...I will definitely send him an email and also ask about the leak test.

Thanks again!!!

the pain is no worse than the laposcopys that you had. the same incision as the laps also just in sort of a circular pattern. i used the morphine drip a little but the tordol worked the best for me. good luck and i am sure you will do fine.

I had a "pain ball" - it was a little ball with pain meds that were delivered via catheter. The ball was held in a little sling. (The doctor removed it a few days later - no pain at all with it coming out.) It did a good job on monitoring the pain except for at my larger incision site - but I had another pain medicine to take that helped with that.

For me, the pain was more than I anticipated. But, that was because I didn't anticipate any. But looking back, the first was the worst & each day was a bit better. My surgery was on a Wednesday and by Saturday evening, I was feeling much more like myself.

My surgery is scheduled for 3/3/2010. In some regards you could consider it out patient surgery as I'm scheduled to stay 23 hours (so insurance considers it out patient surgery) but you do stay overnight in the hospital the day of surgery and go home the next day. The procedure is being done in a hospital (rather than an outpatient facility) so if any problems are encountered I would be admitted from outpatient to the hospital and stay longer.