hey guys and gals so i have 1 month from today till i get my sleeve done the countdown is on........anyway i hope im one one of them people that has an easy time with hardly any pain, i lucked with childbirth so i hope this is the same. i just wanna know from both perspectives people that have had an easy post op and people that have had a couple complications. im the first one to get surg the day im gettin so its real early in the morning, is it gonna hurt after surgery? what do they do right before you go in the op room? were you feeling better the next day? deatail is great people

My surgery was on a Tuesday and the week before I was so nervous I almost cancelled my surgery. I prayed a lot about it. Suddenly Thursday before I got this calm over me and never was nervous. Even up to them wheeling me out. When I got there they put in my IV's and everything and gave me some chill out medication and I don't remember anything until they got me back to my room. I was doing great. They approved for me to have pain medication every hour but I took it about every 3 hours. I was never in a whole lot of pain but I took it every 3 hours just to make sure I didn't hurt. I was suppose to go home the next day but my doctor had me stay an extra night just to be careful since I had my band removed and sleeve done all in one surgery. I was never in a tremendous amount of pain. I went home on Thursday and was feeling pretty much back to normal by Friday. I returned to work on Monday. On Monday I ended up having to go back to the doctor because one of my incisions was red and oozing and I ended up with a staff infection. Even with that being traumatic for me it was not a bad experience. The surgery was nothing compared to the infection which was only bad because I freaked out. I'm now 4 weeks out and I've been eating anything I want. I have no trouble eating anything. I only lost 5 lbs the week of and after surgery then stopped for about 2 1/2 weeks. Just this week I've started to lose again and have lost 2 lbs for a total of 27 lbs so far. I'm sure all will go well for you too. Good Luck on surgery day.

I had it easy, no problems with surgery. The second day was the worst for me dealing with the gas pains and I did have to ask for a dose of meds due to feeling like I was going to get sick. They told me by the third day I would feel better and I did.

The day of surgery they gave me something to help me relax and when it was my turn they wheeled me in. They started putting me to sleep and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room.

Just remember to drink, drink, drink.

I was on Clear liquids for 10 days, full liquids for 10 days, soft foods for 10 days and then started regular foods. The time actually went by very quick and the weight has fallen off.

Good Luck with your surgery.

I forgot to mention to. After reading so much about the Gas being the worst I stocked up on Gas X before my surgery and I never had a problem with that either but I know the nurse said they were putting stuff in my IV for that so I don't know if that made the difference.

wow thanx everyone you really made me feel way better surg day is sept 23rd!!!

I had surgery on 8/16. I read and read and read entries on this site. It made a world of difference for me. I was on a 2 week pre-op, almost harder than the surgery itself. On that morning, I was scared and apprehensive. Praying did calm and center me. When I came in, they asked a lot of questions I answered 13 times already...lol. What meds am I on? What's my name and date, checking the wrist band. Met with various nurses and Drs that "prepped" me. Got my IV. Surgery was done about 2 1/2 hrs after I arrived. It took about 1 hr 15 min.

Woke up in recovery room, felt kinda like hit by a Mack truck, just confused, out of sorts, thirsty!!! Once in my room, got the pain pump. Used more in the first 3-4 hours and tappered off to maybe 6-8 "hits" per day. Pain went from a 9 to a 6 in a matter of a few hours, then down to a 4. I asked for no bladder catheter, I get bad UTIs. So schlepping all the stuff (IV and pain meds stand) in and out of the bathroom was a nuisance. I walked around the unit twice that day. I stayed 2 nights because I had issues with my heart rate dropping. The 2nd day walked 4 times around the unit. Ate minimally while I was there. Rested on and off. Was very bloated. I had to keep mindful that the first week wasn't about weight loss, but recovering. Detoxing from the anesthesia and meds took a few days too. Now feeling really good. The "worst" is behind me and I can't wait to getting better and better and more "normal". It's just a couple weeks of inconvenience, sacrafice and being uncomforatble for hopfeully a lifetime of better living. Good luck, we're all here for you. Keep us posted.

Melinda

Sleeved 8/16/10 by Dr Lynch

HW 333, pre-op diet start 323, surgery weight, 309, weight today 300! Yippee!!!

After my surgery, I was in recovery, when they went to draw some blood and nothing came out. They stuck me a few different places and the same thing happened. My pulse was VERY low. They did a hemoglobin count and realized that I was bleeding internally.

It reached a point where they couldn't get my veins at all so the anesthesiologist came in and they inserted a central line into my neck. They had to give me 4 pints of blood before my hemoglobin leveled out. The bleed slowed down but 2 days later, they gave me another pint of blood.

I had severe swelling in my abdomen and had serious Water retention. I was released on the 5th day and when I got home and weighed, I had gained 26 lbs.!

Between my ballooned out belly, the internal swelling and 5 pints of blood that was still pooled in my abdomen, I had trouble trying to move my diaphram enough to breath. I tried to use the spirometer(sp) to keep my lungs working but it was so difficult that, 4 days later, I was readmitted for phneumonia. I spent another 4 days in the hospital for that.

A few weeks after that I started having gallbladder attacks and ended up in the ER. While there they did a CT scan of my belly to check for a leak. What they found what that instead of absorbing back into my body tissue, that all those 5 pints of blood had "organized" and created 3 large clots. By now, 1 of them had liquified, so they inserted a drainage tube.

They also did another endoscopy to look inside my new tummy. This was to look for a leak or infection from a different direction. The surgeon showed me a picture along the staple line that was a different color from the rest of it and had a slight protrusion. So, he added some clamps to the area.

Three days later I had a gallbladder removed. Normally the gallbladder requires 1 small incision. But, when the surgeon took a look, he could see 1 of the other blood clots (the largest one) and decided to cut it up and take it out. This meant I ended up with 4 more incisions instead of 1.

In all, I was under anesthesia 5 times in 7 weeks. My stomach looks like a tic-tac-toe board. I'll be honest, I was really scared there for a while and my poor hubby was put through the ringer with worry. There was honestly a point where I didn't care if I ever lost weight. I just wanted to stay out of the hospital.

I am 2 months 3 weeks out, even though it feels like it been longer. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been getting stronger and feeling better. I have now lost a total of 61 pounds.

I am off all blood pressure meds. I no longer require my CPAP machine. The weight loss has eased the pain in my back due to 4 herniated discs. I don't get out of breath when I walk around. My knees don't hurt as much.

I spent a good while with buyers remorse. But, as I get stronger and my health starts to get better and better, I know I made the right choice.

Any surgery comes with risks. I was just unlucky. There are peeps who sail through and sadly some that have it so much worse than I did.

All you can do, is get as much info as you can so that you are mentally prepared for whatever happens. Listen to your dr and your nut and take good care of yourself.

I wish you the very best.

My surgery was on the 29th of July. It was really early in the morning, the first surgery of the day. It lasted more than everybody expected it to last because I had some bleeding during surgery and a huge stomach that was a bit of a chore to take out. I woke up in pain and the painkiller they gave me actually had an adverse reaction which sucked and I was without a real painkiller for many hours after that. I had to get a catheter (which I had overnight too) because I couldn't possibly get up (although they did make me get up but much later that day, because I really couldn't move) and there were too many fluids for IVs that needed to get out. Because of the bleeding, I had some extra internal sutures that actually really hurt and they hurt even more on the second day. I stayed in hospital for 4 days with a drain (although my surgeon doesn't usually use one), which was taken out before I left (and after the leak test). I stopped taking painkillers when I got home but I was still in pain. I couldn't really sleep in my bed, I couldn't twist etc. For me, things started getting better around day 11. And on day 21 I was able to actually sleep on my sides at last.

Tomorrow I'm one month post op and I'm feeling just fine. There's some soreness in the general abdominal area but that's about it. I'm able to drink just fine, I've tolerated whatever I've tried to eat, nothing has come up or anything like that. So, although the first 10 days were very hard for me, it does get better, much better.