Hello everyone, I would like members to post thier "day of the surgery " stories. Good and bad (if bad maybe an update to see that things got better. I know some will be the same but I will gladly read them all. I believe reading these will give me some incite on what to expect when my day comes. Thanks in advance.

I love day of surgery stories!! I could read them for hours all day lol. Wish they had a forum for them.. Unfortunately I haven't been sleeved yet so I do not have one... This will be my very first surgery so knowing how it goes is insightful. Thanks for this post and thanks to anyone who will share there stories!

My surgery was originally scheduled for noon but an emergency came up and it was postponed until 6pm. Since I still had my tummy I was starving and so thirsty. They had me in the pre-op area all that time, so they did eventually start my IV so that helped a little. My wife and daughter were able to stay with me so we talked and tried to forget how long we were waiting. I eventually fell asleep so I guess they just sat there and watched me. Finally a nurse from the OR came and talked to me. She told me that they would put in a catheter while I was in the OR. (Wasn't too thrilled to hear that) She also told my wife the surgery would take about an hour (it was three hours and my wife was scared because it was taking so long) More waiting then finally the anesthesiologist came, he tried to take a life history while they were trying to roll the bed off to the OR. I wil be honest the guy was a real jerk, but he put me to sleep and I woke up, so that is all I will say about it. They gave me a shot of Versed just as I left the pre-op area, so I really don't remember much until after I got to my room. They took the catheter out in the recovery room and I was still pretty groggy so I barely remember it, They took me to my room and my wife and daughter were there waiting for me. I was scared to even more because I figured it was going to hurt. It was 11pm by the time I got to my room and I just wanted to sleep. The nurse had lots of questions, but thankfully she let my wife answer them. She did tell me that at 2am I was going to have to get up and walk. My wife was able to stay in the (private) room with me. At 2am the nurse and an aide came to get me up. I was laying on some sort of a bariatric mattress that they blew up and kinda just sat me up. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. I was a little unsteady from lying down as long as I had (14 hours at that point) but I was able to walk after a few minutes. The nurse let my wife take me on a stroll and I made it once around the nurses station, clutching my dance partner the IV pole. One turn was enough! While we had been gone the nurse took the blow up mattress off my bed and had given me nice clean sheets. I figured while I was up I would use the bathroom too and had no problem with that. After I was back in bed the nurse asked me about my pain level. I was pretty uncomfortable, not awful pain, but not comfortable. She gave me a shot of demerol in the IV and it was back to dreamland. I woke up about 4 hours later and my wife suggested another walk. My doctor told me the more you walk, the less you hurt. This time I made it 3 loops and back to bed without pain. Around 8:30 I went down to x-ray for a upper GI to make sure that I had no leaks. Passed with flying colors and was told I could eat. I was a little worried about it, but it slid right down painlessly. Then, the only problem I have had with the entire thing happened. Hiccups. They were incredibly painful and would not go away. They gave me the liquid Lortab and I just fell asleep, still hiccuping. They came and went over the first two days and the doctor said all I could do was take the Lortab and ride it out. Finally after about 24 hours at home they finally left and have not returned.

ok so the link didn't work:

I survived Vertical Sleeve Gastrecomy and all I got was… well **** I didn’t even get a shirt WTF

I was sleeved Jan 25 2011 at the MHH.

My SIL picked me up that morning and off we went. We ended up waiting until close to noon to finally be taken back. I was taken back and introduced to my “bartender” a guy I happened to embarrass a few days before at my registration. (See aside at the bottom of this post for back story) Shortly after they put me under. The worst part of this whole ordeal was being intubated and I think this is purely unique. I remember freaking the flip out when they were putting the tube in. I remember trying to “claw” my way back to consciousness because I felt this blind panic like I.Was.Going.To.DIE because I couldn’t breathe. I remember buzzing voices too like they were trying to communicate to each other to do something. Apparently someone (I suspect Romulus my bartender) gave me some “b***h be cool” juice and all was well. Next thing I remember is coming out of my sleep with an annoying thing on my face and more buzzing in my ear. Why are there f**king bees in the hospital? I kept telling the bees to get that thing off my face it’s f**king annoying.

The eagle had landed in the recovery room. I stayed there for several hours. I finally was able to get that annoying mask taken off and replaced with a canula. I dozed off again and the canula had fallen out so they eventually took it off. I got them to let me sit in the recliner next to my bed. When they bent that bed back completely straight.. omfg I thought they were cutting my ass in half it hurt something awful. It was close to 7-ish I think when I finally saw BB through the glass. He wasn’t allowed in there but I got to see him when they wheeled me to a room shortly after. LOL I remember asking what time it was and saying “oooo I can still catch glee!!”

So my night nurse was cool. Nothing to report except she kept waking me up every hour or so to give me shots of stuff. The 2 day nurses from the next day I dubbed (secretly) Harold & Kumar. Harold was cool.. Kumar not so much. I gave him **** on purpose. LOL You know, all of this from getting my room until BB coming to pick me up is a big blur. I vaguely remember sleeping A LOT.. watching the Bravo marathon of Top Chef (I know, I know.. the irony) and I BELIEVE Real Housewives of Atlanta. I don’t remember much until right before I was being released and the night nurse who had relieved Harold & Kumar came in to give me my “shots for the road”. One was in my STOMACH. W…T…F….over. She said “ya you’ve been stuck a lot here”. I’m seriously like W…T…F…OVER!!! I look over at BB like “stop HER” and he’s looking like he’s gonna puke…. So I get my shot in my stomach and all my other shots too. By now I feel like a rabies patient. They kept me good & doped up though so thumbs up to MHH. I’m finally released and home by like 11pm. Yep that damn long. It could’ve been longer had the dr not come to see me at 5ish.

BB frogmarched me up the stairs once we got home and that was my jail cell for the next 2 days. BB is one very protective mother hen and he’s taken to calling himself The General. LOL I think he’s enjoying it. Tonight I’ll call him General Bear just to see what his reaction is. So Thursday and Friday, our friend Badger came by to baby sit me. I slept most of the time.

I demanded my release from my jail cell Friday night which was SO nice. Saturday I lounged around with my big furry babies (and BB who could easily fall under that description ) and watched TV. Sunday we went to see my parents and his mom came over later that evening. I’m finally getting back to normal I think. I have my appointment on Wednesday to get my staples/stitches/whatever they are removed. I’m no longer narcoleptic girl and falling asleep every 30 mins. Things are definitely on an upswing. I’ve lost 22 pounds since the night before my surgery. Granted, that WAS after my wonderful foray into the magical world of magnesium citrate but I’m not gonna even THINK about that anymore lol.

aside: They were discussing whether or not to give me another chest xray. Ex smoker.. quit Halloween… plenty young… so no need. This “bartender” (my anesthesiologist) asks me “so were you heavy?” Now… I wasn’t paying attention. I was zoned out texting on my phone. I look up at him with the “are ya stupid?” look comPLETE with eyebrow (my forest friends KNOW when The Lady In The Tutti Fruity Hat raises that eyebrow, no good can follow)… look down at myself and say “um ya I’m having the surgery aren’t I?” LOL This poor guy turns red and starts laughing and I realize he was asking me if I was a heavy SMOKER. He said something about his mama beating him for sounding rude. He was a good ol boy from Louisiana. LOL Anytime I saw him I teased him… “stillllll heavy”. I did that on the table when he came into the surgery room. I don’t think he’s ever going to forget about that

Thanks for your story LVikingfan, Disneyaddict I'm looking forward to the "b***h be cool" juice.

Thanks for your story LVikingfan, Disneyaddict I'm looking forward to the "b***h be cool" juice.

LOL It was a freaky moment and it's even freakier that I remember that feeling.. that clawing feeling... and then nothing.. just waking up in recovery with crap strapped to my face and feeling like I'd been steamrolled. They kept me nice & drugged while I was in the hospital. I walked as often as I could. I was begging them to let me get up asap. I was stiff & sore and bloated but I wasn't in pain. Funny bit that didn't make it into my blog post. There was a girl having the surgery same day as me. Funny enough, I remembered going to jr high with her. She got wheeled in after me and I swear she was wailing like a banshee. At one point when one of the nurses was tending to me I whispered to her "was i that bad??" lol she whispered back "no you were a good girl". Also funnily enough as well.. one of the male nurses in recovery? I'd worked with years before at pizza Hut. small small world.

My day of surgery was pretty common, I'm guessing. My mom came to town for my surgery (I'm not married and my boyfriend's deployed) and she took me to the hospital. I was sooo scared, not regretting anything, really, just scared about the anaesthesia (I'm almost positive I spelled that wrong). I had this terrible, irrational fear that it either wouldn't work for me or I would wake up in the middle of surgery or something horrendous like that. Anyway, they reassured me that it was almost impossible for that to happen, so that made me feel better.

I was still tearing up as they wheeled me into the surgery room. The people were all nice and spoke to me, and then all of a sudden, I was waking up and they were rolling me into my room. I don't even remember being knocked out! All of a sudden it was just over! Best blessing I could have had. Anyway, the first time I tried to get up and walk, I felt really nauseous, but it got better from there. I wasn't nauseous any other time in the hospital, and my incisions only hurt a little - more like soreness. The only down side? I had to pee CONSTANTLY!!! Like every hour on the hour I was ringing my nurse's buzzer to ask for help getting unhooked from all my cords so I could use the bathroom. It was absolutely ridiculous. But I guess it was just from all the IV fluids, so no worries.

I had some juice and Water the next day, they did a really quick (but terrible tasting) leak test, and I went home that evening! It was honestly the quickest, easiest thing ever. After I got home, my incisions got really sore and I couldn't sleep on my stomach, which is how I always sleep, so that was difficult. A couple sleepless nights initially. Also, the liquid hydrocodone they gave me gave me reeeaallly bad dreams, so as soon as I felt like I didn't need it anymore, I went off of it and went to Tylenol instead. Good choice!

So that's my story! Not very interesting...but hope it helped somewhat! Good luck on your journies!

I love the stories...please keep them coming

Toyia

Mine went very smooth! Hubby and I left at 7:30am in order to arrive at the hosptial at 10:00.Got signed in and they took me up to preop and asked all the questions, etc, weighed in, arm band put on, iv line placed. Then they brought hubby up. Then came the anes doc and the my surgeon. At noon they wheeled me off to OR and I really dont remember anything until I was woke up by a nurse and transfered to my room. Surgery was suppose to an hour and recovery and hour but I was in recovery longer cuz my heartrate was so low. Slept alot at first, got hooked up to my pain pump and chilled out! I had a cath in place which I for one am always grateful for so I do not have to wait for someone to help me go to the bathroom. I had a cannula for oxygen cuz of the pain pump. I had them add a humidifer too it so that my nose would not dry out and start bleeding. They were suppose to get me up for a walk 3 hours after surgery but they too busy and were not able to get to me. My hubby got upset (he is a veterinarian so he knows the dangers of blood clots) so I told him just chill and you can get me up for a walkabout. No big deal. So that is what we did. The only problems I had were my low heart rate. Other than that it went very smooth. Did the swallow test mid afternoon. Once that was check by the surgeon I was able to be released. So the drain was removed and all my fluids, cath, and iv line and out the door I went!

Keep these stories coming, I'm really enjoying them. Any story no matter how common or uneventful please post. Just hearing what went right and wrong is inciteful.

My surgery was early morning, I think the second of the day for my surgeon. I was in pre-op at like 6:30am, everything was pretty calm. The nurse came in to start my IV line and for the next hour and half I had a variety of people trying to find a good vein. A couple nurses and an anesthesiologist all took turns. They even gave me a local in several places trying to minimize the pain. I believe i was stuck about 7 or 8 times in total. Luckily they got one 10 minutes before I was supposed to be wheeled in to surgery.

The OR nurse came in and much to my surprise I had gone to High School with her and we were on the Pompon squad together. She offered to remove herself from my case if I felt uncomfortable but I said she was fine, no biggie. I hadn't seen her in 20 years what difference did it make. I walked to the OR took a look around at all of the equipment and sat myself up on the table. Once I was laying down I was out within seconds.

I woke up in recovery, very groggy. They allowed my husband in there where he made several phone calls to family to let them know everything went well. I couldn't really look around but there was someone else in recovery, don't know what kind of surgery they had, may have been something other than bariatric and I kept hearing the nurses talk about how they were watching them and might have to take them back for another emergency surgery. I never did find out what that was all about or what happened to the person.

I was catheterized while in surgery and that stayed in for all of the first day and I was allowed ice chips while still in recovery. I had the compression boots on and I kept pointing and flexing my toes just to keep things moving. I slept a lot that first day. I did get up to walk around with my IV pole and catheter, that thing is fun to walk with. My biggest pain was trying to sit up and i could not sit up unassisted and get to the side of the bed alone. Once I was up I was good but then getting back into the bed was painful yet again.

I had no gas pain whatsoever and I did not have a drain. My catheter was taken out on day two.