Did anyone experience issues with leaks? My surgery is on Wed and that's probably what I'm worried about the most.

I totally know what you mean. My kids text me a million times a day now asking me if I am ok. If they don't think I am feeling well they become the parent "Mom please call the dr before you end up back in the hospital". Hard to explain that some days are just bad days. It makes me sad.

As I look around now when I go out and way others and think of my previous habits. I realize I had given up on myself. I was eating fast food' date=' large quantities etc. and yet I couldn't understand why I was fat. Denial. I had convinced myself this surgery was my only way back to being healthy.

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My son does not want me to go to a doctor because he thinks they will "keep" me He was 6 when I did it, recently turned 7. He was amazingly great during the two months I wasn't able to care for him, but like you, I see the little hints still left over of worry he shouldn't be burdened with at his age.

I personally think that they should offer us one of the procedures they did on me...they stick this knitting needle sized hollow needle down your back from about shoulder blade area and then push it down into your lungs (the sac they are in actually). They do a topical anesthetic but you basically feel every inch that damn thing slides down into your body, then they drain your lungs of Fluid...one drop too much and you have massive seizures (happened once to me) or god forbid the doc miss the sac....which happened to me as well (new doc). Anyhoo...PAINFUL and you are awake for it. ONE of those would have made me join a gym LOL

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that Holly. I hope your well.

Thank you Knowledge. It has been an adventure.

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My son does not want me to go to a doctor because he thinks they will "keep" me <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> He was 6 when I did it' date=' recently turned 7. He was amazingly great during the two months I wasn't able to care for him, but like you, I see the little hints still left over of worry he shouldn't be burdened with at his age.

I personally think that they should offer us one of the procedures they did on me...they stick this knitting needle sized hollow needle down your back from about shoulder blade area and then push it down into your lungs (the sac they are in actually). They do a topical anesthetic but you basically feel every inch that damn thing slides down into your body, then they drain your lungs of Fluid...one drop too much and you have massive seizures (happened once to me) or god forbid the doc miss the sac....which happened to me as well (new doc). Anyhoo...PAINFUL and you are awake for it. ONE of those would have made me join a gym LOL[/quote']

You have a young child. Mine are 20, 16 and 13. I would wake up in the hospital and my oldest would be there during the days after her classes. I had to make her go home. My younger ones didn't see me for the first few weeks. I was too sick and thought it would be too much on them. They said it was harder NOT seeing me.

Your procedure sounded incredibly painful. I am a nurse but have not heard of that one. Most of my stuff I was asleep but I had 5 abscesses. The last one they found was by my bladder. They kept me awake to put in my JP drain. I had to lay on my belly (4 JP drains and a J tube for feeds already in it). They went in through my upper left buttocks to drain 6 ounces of fluid and put in a drain. Not enough pain Meds in the world for that. I cried like a baby. Show me that ( or what you went through) at a seminar and watch me hop on a treadmill!!

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It's so hard to know how to deal with illness and the kids. Your's sound like troopers! I did let my son see me because honestly, I thought I wasn't going to make it and wanted every second I could have with him. The reality of that was I just cried whenever I saw him like they were sticking a tube in my butt....but I still needed those mins. He and DH were about three hours away so I couldn't see him as much as I wanted and he really missed me. He's been ill most of his life so when he was in hospital I never left his side. We rarely are separated for any period of time so I'm a big fixture in his little world of sanity He did well when I was gone, but when I returned home he had lost a great deal of progress in his feeding (he has an eating disorder) as well as behavior in school. We're fortunate he is at a small school that worked with him and understood, but it was hard to see that he slid backwards like that.

Because he spent so much time in hospital I was comfortable having him there. He's a funny little guy....shove tubes up my nose, mom bawling constantly, gad one visit I just vomited bile the entire time, and he sat on the bed and colored and told me stories I wish he wasn't that comfy in hospital, but it did help with this.

I regret having this surgery for many reasons. But like you, mostly because of what it did to my family. I thought it was going to be a cake walk so I did it when he started school. Turns out that was rather stupid! If I could turn back the clock...well I wouldn't have the surgery LOL But the other thing I would do if I did have it, would be to wait until he was older. No it's obviously not easy even when kids are older as yours were, but then if I'd have died he would have been in a better place medically to move forward from.

Kids are funny little beings. As yours have said, it was harder not to see you than to see you suffering. Of course they didn't see that (and that's honestly not a bad thing) so they have no frame of reference for that. I think you made a good choice there. A hard choice, but still I think it was the right one. Your older daughter probably has the best perspective on that as she did see you when you were at your worst. WHat a wonderful child you raised. She sounds very strong and a 20 year old who doesn't hate their mother? gad rare too LOL

Your torture sounds...well torturous! It's amazing how mid evil medical care to save your life can actually still be. I had my bad procedure four times, and then because it wasn't working (my plural sacs would just fill back up in less than 6 hours) they had to put a hose in the front attached to a pump to keep pumping out the fluids. I spent a lot of time in the pulmonary unit! That's a scary unit by the way...don't work in there LOL I would hear people coding CONSTANTLY! I told my doc to fix me quick because I was afraid my number would be pulled next in the lottery of life, just given the high odds in that unit!