Starting a thread so I have a place to consolidate thoughts/info/etc.

I've been bandless for a little more than 6 months now. Sometimes it's like I was never banded, and other times it's like I still am.

Surgery is at 9am tomorrow, check-in at 7am. I'll be in the hospital for one night. My parents are driving down tonight to spend the week. Having them here to help with DD (and DH, and me) will be nice. Poor DH is a nervous wreck; he always is with things like this. I have twinges of anxiety when I think about how miserable I expect to feel tomorrow, but I'm not nervous. I rarely get very nervous, I just get pragmatic, I guess. And the closer it gets to time, the less anxious I am (typically). Thankfully! I suspect tomorrow will be all business. And trying to calm DH.

My surgeon requires a 2-day pre-op diet. sugar free liquids + 4 Protein drinks. Check. Just chugged the bottle of Magnesium Citrate solution he also requires. DH picked it up for me and didn't think to get the flavored one (thanks DH). My best description is 10 oz worth of sour/salty boiled eggs.

I developed a whammy of a sinus headache Saturday. Changing weather patterns. Usually a cocktail of ibuprofen and benadryl wipes them out, but both are on my pre-op no no list. So it has been a long few days...

Still have a lot to do. Prep my hospital bag, make sure DD's clothes are set out, tidy the house, etc. I'm just a little lacking in motivation.

"See" you all when I can...

Well you're certainly in my thoughts for tomorrow. I wish you the very very best, it is my hope that your sleeve does as well or better for you as mine has been for me.

I'm sorry you're last few days have been a little rough, but trust me they will be worth it all.

Xox

I hope everything went well!! Please check in when you feel up to it.

Sleeve surgery was a piece of cake. Recovery was not nearly as bad as I expected. My pain level was noticeable and more than with previous surgeries, but I did not have any significant issues with nausea or gas. I was on morphine rather than dilaudid. Had someone not made that decision, I think my pain level would have been a lot less. Morphine is never my first choice (I was rating myself a 6 - 7 on the paint scale as I came out of anesthesia, wanting to manage it to around a 4). It was definitely more painful than band insert or removal, but nothing at all like what I expected.

Surgery was at 9am and by 3ish my pain was completely managed. I was told to expect some extra soreness because I had a large degree of scar tissue/adhesions that had to be dealt with, so both surgery time and invasion were more than expected. I was fine to walk around by 6 or 7 that evening, so I went for about 10 walks during the night. Felt so nice.

I felt great the next morning (Wed) & was eager to get home. Discharge took until about 2pm. Then came the complication. I had an aytpical presentation of allergic reaction to one of the medicines - we still don't know which, because it's not a documented side effect. Within a few hours of getting home, from my neck to both wrists the skin was beet red and purple, think horrid sunburn,radiating extreme amounts of heat, and with seriously intense muscular aching that was truly close to agonizing - and I have a high pain tolerance. We tried to draw the heat out with ice bags but the temperature of my skin would melt all the ice within a minute or two. My skin was so hot to the touch that it was uncomfortable for other people to touch me. I called my surgeon's PA and was told to take Benadryl and wait it out. That was about 5pm. By about 2am I truly could not stand it any longer so I went to the ER. My radiant skin temperature in the affected areas was nearly 22 degrees higher than the rest of me by that time and ambient air temperature was unbearable and would cause instant muscle seizure. 5 hours in the ER with IV predisone, pepcid and dilaudid had me feeling much better. It's now almost completely cleared up. Just a few sore spots left. Definitely manageable.

I'm now at home, very comfortable, with an addl Rx for prednisone and something to coat my stomach so that it doesn't overly irritate the sensitive staple line. I've beent old to postpone the Arixtra shots (I don't mind that one bit). Omeprazole and Lortab as needed, but my pain level isn't bad enough to need the Lortab.

I just feel slightly achy/tight except for the spot where my drain was. That's the only spot that's actually painful.

I should've done this the first time around!

Oh wow!! That's different, I've never heard that happen before. I'm glad you went to the ER though, because that's definitely different.

Other than that, welcome to being sleeved!! It is my hope you will continue to recover now without incident!!

Wheetsin,

Wow, what an experience for you. So sorry for your pain. I hope that it is smooth sailing from here on out. Keep us posted.

Glad you posted...maybe something some else will run into down the line.

Blessings to you as you recover!

Doing great now. There are two small spots on each arm, near the elbow, that ache occasionally or when touched. It's barely noticeable now, and I suspect it will be gone by morning. Everyone involved is still baffled by the particular reaction I had. I'm just glad to be rid of the pain - words can barely describe it.

In the ER I learned something I didn't know, that might be valuable to message board land... two of the best things to have on hand in the event of a medicine allergy are Benadryl and Pepcid. I didn't know this, but apparently Pepcid is an (accidental) H1 blocker. It was one of the first things they put in my IV in the ER. ER doc told me anyone with known medicinal allergies should always have Benadryl and Pepcid on hand.