Anyone from Ga? Would like to make some local Ga friends.

HI! I'm in Woodstock. Sleeved August 12, 2013

Edited December 30, 201312 yr by paisita411

Hey everyone. I live in Lithonia. I'm a newbie. I don't even have my first appointment yet but I'm ready.

I was sleeved 12/31/13, just under the wire. My insurance drops bariatric coverage 1/1/14, so at least the most expensive part (actual surgery) was covered 100%. Dr. Dennis Smith in Marietta was my surgeon. I had it done at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.

My surgery went fine, but the recovery was bumpy. I was supposed to be a 23-hr stay, but I spent 12 hours in the recovery room due to no available beds. Yeah, that was fun. I went to my room at 8pm. I don't remember much about that night, except that they were worried because my oxygen level kept dropping, even on oxygen and CPAP. The next day, I continued to have trouble keeping the oxygen up and they did a chest xray--small collapse in both lower lungs. I was short of breath just walking to the bathroom. Needless to say, I was NOT going home that night.

Or the next day. They stopped my PCA pump and decided to put me on an oral pain med. There was much discussion about that because I'm allergic to codeine--had an anaphylactic reaction to it once--but I can take Percocet, a synthetic codeine derivative. Frankly, they didn't believe I was really allergic to codeine at all. So the doctor decided to try Lortab, also a synthetic codeine derivative, but slightly different chemically. Okay. So I took a small amount of Lortab--success! I proved them right! I did lie about being allergic to codeine! But alas...they increased the dose and I had a whopping allergic reaction--turned red all over within 3 minutes, hives everywhere, itching like 1000 bee stings. Oops! I guess I'm allergic to Lortab, too. They switched me to Dilaudid, a very strong morphine-type drug. I took a very small dose and it did the trick. I took my psych meds at 9pm and promptly went south. I was extremely sedated and incoherent. Sometime in the early hours I woke up and thought I was in a morgue. I somehow know it wasn't a morgue, but I didn't know where I was or how to get help. So I just had to suffer through it until someone made rounds.

Day 3 was better. The itching was finally under control, the oxygen levels were better and I could finally walk the halls without passing out. Yay! But around 1pm I started running a high fever. Phoooo! One more night in the hospital! We got my psych meds straightened out and I slept decently.

Day 4(yesterday) they finally let me go. I was elated. Stayed up all day just so I could get my fluids in. Took my pain meds at 9pm and went to sleep. I slept until about 4am. I woke up in moderate pain, but decided I could go back to sleep and try to sleep it off. Bad idea. I should have woken my husband and got him to get me something. I woke up at 9am in a lot of pain. Moved to the couch, started the fluids. I took a 1/2 of a dilaudid. 90 minutes later, I'm still in pain so I took the other half. I should have gone to bed, but I stayed up. Really bad idea. Suddenly I had bad vertigo. Then a monstrous migraine, so bad that I couldn't move to even turn off the TV or the lights. I immediately lay down on the couch and tried my best not to throw up. My DH had run out to costco and I was too sick to even dial my phone. Thankfully, he called me about 20 min later and I was able to tell him to come home right away. Needless to say, I couldn't drink anything, not even to take some nausea medicine. I was utterly miserable.

After about 2 hours I was able to tolerate a few ice chips. I sat up and made a nominal run for the bedroom, jumped in bed and turned off the lights. I lay real still and the nausea settled down. I fell asleep for another 2 hours, blessedly, and that broke the migraine. Since then I have been "hungover" and nauseous, but at least now I can sip some fluids. I am hopelessly behind but doing my best. Who knows what tonight will bring? I have no Tylenol in the house and I'm sure as shootin' not taking any more Dilaudid.

I haven't been able to walk much the last 4 days, but hopefully, if I do okay tonight I can get out and maybe walk a little at the local Publix. The food won't bother me--I'm not the least bit hungry--and it will be flat & climate-controlled. It's just too cold for me to walk in the neighborhood.

Would I do this again? Absolutely. I think that by next week I'm going to be in a whole better place. I'll see the surgeon on Tuesday. Hopefully I can increase my Protein and fluids over the weekend, and get my walking in.

I am from the lawrenceville area, but we are currently living outside Columbus/fort Benning. We are active duty military. Starting my pre op diet today. As long as insurance goes smoothly scheduled for surgery the 18th of feb

From Augusta, had my surgery on 1/13/14 so I'm 11 days out...was 233 on pre-op day and 227 on surgery day...am now at 219...have had zero problems with drinking water, shakes, or soup...still trying to make the distinction between head hunger and real hunger...have not cheated at all, but the old me wants to...I have to keep reminding myself that I didn't go through all that for nothing and I refuse to sabotage myself...

Hello in from fairburn ga I would love to make new friends I'm a newbie getting my surgery soon

Northwest GA, had my surgery on 1/22/2014. Not nearly as bad as I was anticipating. Reading on the internet is one of the worst things I have found to do. I haven't had any of the problems/issues I have read about.

Recovery has been smooth, and if I didn't have heavy lifting at work I would be back already.

Douglasville. 2 weeks post op

I'm in Georgia and my surgeon will (hopefully) be Dr. Rashid in Decatur. I'm still waiting on insurance approval. Minutes seem like hours at this point!

Hello I'm in the Atlanta area

Douglasville. 2 weeks post op

Great! Another guy. I like your username.

We had surgery a few days apart. How are you doing and what type of post op diet are you on? I went straight to puréed and if all goes well I will get to go to soft foods in about a week and a half.

Day of surgery I was 305 today 275. 1st two weeks on liquids now on soft foods. Had surgery on 1/23/14

That's great hadtodoit!! R u back to work yet? I'm thinking I will take off a week and work from home a week then return to duty as usual.

I return on 2/18/14. Had almost a month off.

I'm in Tucker. Haven't been sleeved yet. I've had my first visit, labs, and letter from my pcp. I have my psych appt next week, my group nutritional early march and my endoscopy the next week. Things are moving so fast, I'm kind of overwhelmed. I'm glad I found this forum because I have felt really alone on this journey.