**May 31st**

[ksredhead 29]

Has anyone tooted yet? I've had lots of burps but haven't yet tooted.

No toots here...probably no fuel to create one.

[MizzouGirl 148]

I must be a total wimp. I'm really uncomfortable, can't stand the liquids, battling bouts of nausea and my abs are killing me when I move which I have to do every 1.5 hours as they are pumping me so full of IV fluids. It seems like so many folks make this out to be a breeze. It has been far from that for me. Praying it gets better soon!!!!

[ksredhead 29]

I must be a total wimp. I'm really uncomfortable' date=' can't stand the liquids, battling bouts of nausea and my abs are killing me when I move which I have to do every 1.5 hours as they are pumping me so full of IV fluids. It seems like so many folks make this out to be a breeze. It has been far from that for me. Praying it gets better soon!!!![/quote']

You are NOT a wimp. Everyone is different. I am comparing mine to when I had the band surgery and it was aweful.

Today has been a little harder, I guess that makes since because most of the time it takes your body time to realize a change has happened.

Sending tons of prayers your way...take it one minute at a time. (((Hugs)))

[MizzouGirl 148]

You are NOT a wimp. Everyone is different. I am comparing mine to when I had the band surgery and it was aweful.

Today has been a little harder' date=' I guess that makes since because most of the time it takes your body time to realize a change has happened.

Sending tons of prayers your way...take it one minute at a time. (((Hugs)))[/quote']

Hugs and prayers back at you. I also had my gall bladder removed and a liver biopsy as the nurses reminded me so 3 of my organs were impacted. Here's to tomorrow being much better for us both.

[MizzouGirl 148]

Hi All - just wanted to give an update on my surgery this past Friday....

5/31 - Surgery at 8:30, had sleeve, gall bladder removed and liver biopsy. Surgery done at 10am -- I was in a lot of pain when they woke me up but they fixed it within a few minutes. I think I was in my room at 11am and my husband met me there. The surgeon said all went well with the surgery and they did a leak test and all was fine. I was able to eat a small Popsicle, a cube of Jello and some Crystal Light for lunch. For dinner I had a Popsicle and some Crystal Light and got nausea. They gave me some nausea medicine and it went way. Had quite of bit of pain that night so took a liquid pain killer in addition to the pain ball twice that night. Didn't sleep well because of the staff coming and going, the pain and some intermittent nausea. Almost threw up but luckily didn't happen. Walked the halls twice for about 5 minutes and burped ALOT. Not a great day but could have been worse (like day 2). Oh, I also had to go #1 about every 1.5-2 hours because of all the liquids they were pumping into me. This was not pleasant as it was painful to get up and down. The frequency didn't change for the time I was in the hospital but it did get easier to get up and down.

Here are the medications they gave me:

1. Pain ball - tubes inside me going to surgery points. Had to carry the darn thing around which was a bit inconvenient but I wouldn't have gone without the pain ball. It had run out when the Dr. took it out this morning. I didn't control the dosage on this -- it was automatic.

2. liquid pain killer as needed - a liquid cocktail of vicodin and tylenol that I had to take orally. Not great tasting but did the trick.

3. Nausea medicine - inserted through my IV

3. Blood Thinner - shot in my stomach

4. Pepcid - inserted through my IV

Also had to have massaging sleeves on my calves and oxegyn tube in my nose. Had to do that exhale thing where you lift the ball 10 times each hour I was awake. I think that's it.

6/1 - Couldn't eat without my stomach seizing then tons of gurgling. Was really worried it would be permanent so posted under the Post Op forum and got reassurance from several people that it happened to them and went away. Also talked to nurse and she assured me it was temporary. I was actually really hungry and couldn't eat and was regretting having the surgery. Broke down and cried for a bit but after the support, I was hopeful. At least the pain was reducing and no more nausea. Walked the halls 4 times for 10 minutes each time and still burping all the time. Was able to get much more sleep this night.

6/2 - Woke up feeling a ton better I think in part because I got pretty decent sleep. Was able to do 10 sips of Protein for Breakfast and lunch and lots of sips of Water. No stomach seizing and no nausea - still some gurgling but that is manageable. In the night I had my first toot and then have since had 4 BMs - pretty much all liquid. Walked in the morning for 15 minutes and found out that I was going to get to go home.... yippeee!!! Home now and feel pretty good. Can't wait to be off the liquid diet -- should get to move to full liquids this Friday which includes Greek yogurt, blended Soups with no meats, thin oatmeal, cream of wheat, unsweetened apple sauce and grits. That will be so much better. In week 3 I get to add eggs, soft baked fish, mashed potatoes, soft cheeses, mushy vegetables and bananas. I've got week by week acceptable food choices thru week 8 from my surgeon's office.

The hardest parts for me were the 3 day post op liquid diet and how difficult it was to eat day 2. I'm confident in the upcoming weeks, I'll have plenty of "best parts" to post. Just taking it a day at a time and appreciate the support from my fellow sleevers.

[MizzouGirl 148]

Correction to my above post....

The hardest parts for me were the 3 day pre op liquid diet and how difficult it was to eat day 2....

[MizzouGirl 148]

Survived my first night at home. Slept pretty well but still not super comfortable as I'm a tummy/side sleeper and that's just not happening yet. I did manage to find a side position that was comfortable and slept like that for awhile. I woke up once with really bad acid reflux (never had this before surgery). I sat up for awhile and sipped Water and luckily it didn't happen again in the night. I'm having bouts of diarrhea - almost total liquid now. Can't believe I even have anything in me to poop! (Sorry if TMI!). Seems like each day gets a bit easier - can't wait to have some more solid food.

Would love to hear how everyone else is doing -- hopefully well. I'm going to take my first shower since surgery today (have just washed up so far). Can't wait to feel clean and have clean hair! And, today I must walk and walk and walk as I have so much Fluid in me and still some gas --- I weighed myself when I got home and I was over my highest weight even though I've barely had anything to eat (or drink rather). I understand it's all the fluids and stuff and should drop off. Just a bit of a bummer that I'm over 10 lbs higher than I was date of surgery. Best wishes to all!!!

[mistysj 1,939]

The diarrhea is totally normal. Just ride it out. Get some baby wipes. They help. I still have it about half the time three weeks out. Its the only negative symptom I have and I'm confident it will stop when I'm on solids. Have some salty broth as some of your liquid to keep your electrolytes up. My body was craving the salt. It's only 13 calories a cup.

Are you on an acid blocker like nexium? Take that and sleep with an extra pillow. Maybe stop drinking an hour before bed.

[MizzouGirl 148]

The diarrhea is totally normal. Just ride it out. Get some baby wipes. They help. I still have it about half the time three weeks out. Its the only negative symptom I have and I'm confident it will stop when I'm on solids. Have some salty broth as some of your liquid to keep your electrolytes up. My body was craving the salt. It's only 13 calories a cup.

Are you on an acid blocker like nexium? Take that and sleep with an extra pillow. Maybe stop drinking an hour before bed.

Thanks for the advice! Baby wipes have definitely been my friend and I will try some salty broth today. I am propped way up when I sleep which isn't the most comfortable but does help with the reflux. Thanks again.

[mistysj 1,939]

Also try sleeping on your side. Your body won't let you hurt it. You'll stay still but you will sleep. I could sleep on my side by the second night and it got comfortable by day 4. Took me a week to sleep on my stomach. If your stomach is big you may need a pillow under it to sleep on your side.

[ksredhead 29]

I find it helps to wedge a pillow under my tummy when I sleep on my side. It prevents me for putting too much pressure on my incisions. Also, make sure everything is thoroughly thru your tummy before you go to sleep. If you have residue from medicine or something you drank, it can give you the reflux.

Glad you are doing good at home. I will be home this afternoon and can't wait to sleep in my own bed!

[Mrs26 0]

Hi MizzouGirl- I had my surgery on May 30th Just got home last night from the hospital! My surgery went well, Doc said I was able to get my liver small enough for him to work around everything. Ended up having to stay an additional day in the hospital because I wasn't hydrated enough; first night home and I am a bit sore, especially when I stand, or try sleeping on my side! I hear you clear when you say sleeping is not fun when its on your back. I to am a stomach or side sleeper. I have found the pillow wedge helpful but it doesn't do justice.

Still trying to see what I can keep down, with out it making me nauseous. I have found I am a big fan of crystal light and Chick-fil-a Soup (drained of course, the broth to it is good) Just trying to take it one step at a time. Wish I wasn't so light headed all the time. I know this should go away when I can actually get more fluids in. Doc says I can get my staples taken out on Thursday, thats something to look forward to! Just glad to see there is another sleever so close to my date that I can try to compair storys with; as far as loosing weight, I am up 3 pounds since surgery... hoping that will turn around quickly. I would love to see a change on the scale, cause I'll tell you, it sure as heck through me off when I weighed in last night. Hope all is well- Mrs26

[MizzouGirl 148]

Hi MizzouGirl- I had my surgery on May 30th Just got home last night from the hospital! My surgery went well' date=' Doc said I was able to get my liver small enough for him to work around everything. Ended up having to stay an additional day in the hospital because I wasn't hydrated enough; first night home and I am a bit sore, especially when I stand, or try sleeping on my side! I hear you clear when you say sleeping is not fun when its on your back. I to am a stomach or side sleeper. I have found the pillow wedge helpful but it doesn't do justice.

Still trying to see what I can keep down, with out it making me nauseous. I have found I am a big fan of crystal light and Chick-fil-a Soup (drained of course, the broth to it is good) Just trying to take it one step at a time. Wish I wasn't so light headed all the time. I know this should go away when I can actually get more fluids in. Doc says I can get my staples taken out on Thursday, thats something to look forward to! Just glad to see there is another sleever so close to my date that I can try to compair storys with; as far as loosing weight, I am up 3 pounds since surgery... hoping that will turn around quickly. I would love to see a change on the scale, cause I'll tell you, it sure as heck through me off when I weighed in last night. Hope all is well- Mrs26 [/quote']

Hi Mrs26 - would love to compare stories. I'm going to try some Campbell's chicken noodle soup (drained) for dinner. Need to put something that tastes halfway decent into my tummy. I hate artificial sweetener and struggle with the Protein shakes so yummy broth sounds good right now. Good luck on your journey and let's stay in touch.

[Wags 549]

I'm back from Mexico!!!! Made it safe and sound! I am going to type up my whole story like you all did and post it tonight :-) my story has both good (mostly) and not so good (just a little), but I'm going to lay it all out there so anyone still preop will have more info going into this.

That will be for those who want the LONG version. For the short version: made it through with really similar experiences as others have posted, and now I'm home laying in my soft, comfy bed, typing to all of you while my sweet husband is taking a nap :-)

It is so great to read what has been going on with everyone. This journey is very unique to each of us, but we have this common bond now. We all made it!!! So happy about that. Has anyone heard from Kailisa? She was May 31st too, I thought.

[Wags 549]

May be TMI for some people, but it’s the LONG version – sorry J

Travel to Mexico, Thursday, May 30^th – 6 am

We got up at 4 am to get to the airport for my flight to Cancun. I made the decision to travel alone because I speak Spanish fairly well (NOT fluently, but I understand everything they say to me) and I felt comfortable traveling alone. Plus I am a big baby about pain and I would rather not have anyone there with me while I whimpered my way through this. In hindsight, I wish I had someone there with me. It got really lonely for 3 ½ days with no one to talk to. Although the patient facilitator I worked with, Sheri Burke, said a lot of people there spoke English, hardly anyone did. Here are the people that spoke English fairly well during my stay there – Vanessa, the clinic representative (really good English – saw her for about 10 minutes total), Esteban, my driver (learning English – really nice! After discharge, he took me to the mall so I could walk and he stayed there with me for an hour), dr. verboonen (fairly good English, who I saw for 10-15 minutes total during the trip), Dr. Perez (great English, 10 minutes total), and the anesthesiologist (good English - can’t remember her name, but she was so sweet - I saw her for 5 minutes total). Remember that you are unconscious during the surgery, so it’s most important that the nurses speak English well and hardly any of them did. Well really, none of them did.

Sheri Burke, my patient facilitator, (so nice! – and speaks perfect English – but she was not in Cancun the weekend I had my surgery) arranged for me to spend the night at the hospital on the night before the surgery because I had such an early surgery. In hindsight, this was probably not the best idea because the bed was so uncomfortable – didn’t bother me the first night too much, but I still had two more nights to spend in it!

I got to Cancun at about 2:00 ish – a little early - and it was arranged for a van to take me to the Ambiance Hotel. I don’t know why I went to the Ambiance Hotel to wait because I wasn’t staying there after surgery. I was going to be staying at the Ramada. Well, I got there early – about 3:00 and my driver was not scheduled to pick me up to take me to the clinic until 4:00. I contacted Sheri by phone to tell her I was early, and she contacted the driver. He was working and came about 4:20 or so. I waited in the lobby of this hotel that I wasn’t going to be staying at for over an hour to get a ride to the clinic. It was kind of weird. I’m not sure why I wasn’t taken directly to the clinic. But I got there, so everything worked out all right.

I got to the clinic about 5:00ish, met Vanessa, signed some papers and waited in my room for surgery for the following morning. That’s a LONG time with no one to talk to L But I like to read, so I read all night.

Surgery, Friday, May 31^st – 7 am

Up at 5 am for prep. The nurse gave me antibiotics in my IV in preparation for the surgery and I promptly threw up. You could tell I did a good job on my pre-op diet because there was only Fluid coming out.

Nothing eventful happened after that and I remember NOTHING about the recovery room.

I’m going to be honest and say the first day is a blur.

I was surprised that it didn’t hurt more. Not to say it didn’t hurt, it did. I’m sure the pain meds helped a lot. Mostly the pain came at night when I was trying to find a comfortable way to sleep on my back.

Every time someone came to put something in my IV, I asked “what is that?” I had to ask a lot of questions because they didn’t offer a lot of information. Looking back it’s probably because they didn’t speak English, but I’m just speculating. I feel like in the US, we normally expect our nurses and doctors to tell us what they are putting in our IV, or what our blood pressure is, etc.

I know I urinated a couple times the first day. I wasn’t surprised at the blue urine because I had read someone else on the forum talking about that before (thanks VST!) That was from the blue dye they used to check for leaks during the surgery. (ALSO, it’s a good sign you’re not leaking as you’re recovering if no blue goes in your drain).

I was not allowed any liquids or ice chips until Saturday evening. So nothing went into my mouth or tummy that first day (and most of the second day).

The surgery night was difficult psychologically. I kept beating myself up about whether this was the right thing to do or not. If someone was with me, I probably would have broken down crying. But I needed to work through this on my own anyway because it was already done! I thought a lot about my kids and my husband and how this would affect them if something went really wrong. I think other people work through a lot of this with their psych in the US. Choosing Mexico, it’s something you have to work out on your own OR find the support that you need in other ways.

There were a few other bariatric patients there and one of them was having such a rough time. I heard that person through most of the night vomiting and crying out. This was hard for me to hear and it made my state of mind even worse. I was glad that the person had a companion for comfort.

If I were to offer any suggestion for someone going to Cancun, I would say “take someone with you!” It’s worth the extra airfare. They don’t have to pay to stay at the clinic with you or the hotel (unless you stay extra days, of course).

First Day Post-Op, June 1^st

This day was better in some ways and worse in others. I began to feel the loneliness quite deeply. I wished I had someone to talk to. And I really wished I had somewhere else to sit in my room besides my bed because my back was starting to hurt quite a bit. There were no chairs in my room so I just had my bed and it was getting to me.

I don’t have anything to share about my liquid intake because I wasn’t allowed any. My doctor (Verboonen) came by and asked if I had any questions. I asked him about the barium test and getting the drain out. He said that didn’t hurt and nothing to worry about. He also said I could have ice chips later in the evening and that he was leaving town but his partner would follow up with me on Sunday. Then he left.

I did have a little bit of ice in the evening, but I had to ask for it. Then I thought better of eating ice made from Water in Mexico, so I stopped. I was getting plenty of IV fluids, so I knew I wouldn’t be dehydrated.

Second Day Post-Op, June 2^nd

Well, this is when the “…. hit the fan”. It was about 5 in the morning on my second day post op. I had a really vivid nightmare in which I was watching my dog die and I woke up scared to pieces. My blood pressure shot straight up and my heart rate was through the roof. My hands were swollen and wrist area looked like I was having IV extravasation. It looked like the fluid was not going into my vein but into my arm (It looked like bloating in my arm).

The nurse came in and I tried to tell her about my hands, arm, heart rate and blood pressure, but she did not completely understand me. She said my hands looked fine (they didn’t – trust me, I’ve had them attached to my body for 53 years and they weren’t fine). She did take my blood pressure and it was 160/100. Even though I take blood pressure medication, my blood pressure had been in the normal range the entire time I was at the clinic without taking it, so this was way high! She called the doctor and he told her to have me take my blood pressure med (which I hadn’t taken that day) and give me a nitroglycerin patch (wait, what?!) At the same time she was trying to give me antibiotics in my IV, which I felt was flowing into my arm instead of my vein. I said “No” to all of it. I told her I needed to call my husband (who is a pharmacist).

I called my husband in the US and he told me this was all fine to do and I really should have the antibiotics. So when the nurse came back in the room, I told her to go ahead and give me the antibiotics, but to move my IV to my other hand before she did it. She said no – you are going home today and the doctors will be here soon so we are not giving you the antibiotics and we don’t need to move the IV. (Ok, I’m speculating, but I’m pretty sure she called the doctor while I was freaking out with my husband and they decided to get me out of there fast). I took my blood pressure med (which was the first time I had swallowed liquid since surgery, so I was scared about that) and she gave me the nitro patch. By this time I was about ready to jump out the window. I was so stressed!! THEN, she comes in with an 8 ounce cup of blue liquid and tells me to drink it. I looked at her like she was crazy. Or maybe I just looked crazy! I told her that I hadn’t had anything to drink since the surgery (besides my sip with the blood pressure med) and how was it possible for me to drink all of this. She just said I needed to drink it. So I did. But I was so confused, because I was supposed to have a barium test, not the blue dye test. She told me that Doctor Perez (works with Dr. Verboonen) would be here soon to do my test and take out my drain and then I never saw her again. I had a different nurse after that.

HAHAHAHA! I have to laugh whenever I think of this next part. So about 9:30, a doctor walks into the room with the anesthesiologist (sounds like the beginning of a bar joke) and he greets me in Spanish. I say to him “Dr. Perez, nice to meet you. Do you speak English?” He says “Dr. Perez! Dr. Perez!” and stomps out of the room. I’m standing there stunned and I look at the anesthesiologist and say, “What? Why is he mad? I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings!” She says it’s ok, it’s ok and goes out to the hallway to talk to him. He won’t come back into the room, but Dr. Perez DOES come into the room. And I have to say that this was the best part of the experience. He spoke perfect English, explained everything to me about this blue dye test, pulling out the drain and all my post-op instructions. I was SO relieved! He looked at my drain container (I don’t know what those are called) and said do you see any blue in there? I said no. He said, that means you have no leaks and you do not need the barium test. YAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! I was elated.

Here’s the bottom line for my suggestions for those thinking of Cancun. I am looking at this from the perspective that having it done in the US is not a choice for you and you are trying to decide how the Mexico experience would work for you.

1. I would definitely take someone with me.
   
2. Go to Dr. Perez and make sure the surgery is at the hospital rather than the clinic. I believe this way you will have more nurses who speak English.