I am so nervous about my surgery tomorrow. I cannot tell you guys how amazing it has been to be able to read all your posts here on this site. It has helped me so much. I am a mom of two and all I can think of is not coming home to my kids. At the same point the life im living not being able to do much with my kids is just as damming. any positive words or experiences? thanks everybody!!!

so the headache turned into migraine and nothing would touch it. So I have only gotten up twice today to walk the halls which im not proud of. The dr ordered me a med that I am waiting for. Kind funny how my belly pain is nothing compared to this headache. I GOT TO TAKE A SHOWER! it was amazing!!! LOL i feel so hungry but when I try to drink or eat Jello it kinda hurts. I really can't wait to just hurt at home.... it's lonely in the hospital :-(

omg guys.... i thought once I got home I would be so much better..... HOW WRONG WAS I. Please tell me this gas pain get better. I have been taking my gas-ex every six hour but It does NOTHING!! im laying in bed in agony. I need to eat and drink so I dont get dehydrated but it all just hurts so much. I just took tylenol but nothing seems to be taking the edge off.... when does the pain start to go away???

Are you sure it's gas pain and not acid reflux? Lately those two feel almost the same to me!! Try to walk and take a Tums, see if that helps

when I get up and move around I can feel the bubbles move and it kills. They gave me tons of reflux meds in the hospital and I start prilosec tomorrow morning. my belly is just full of gas. It wont come out.... i toot every now and again but its is only a small relief. Omg thank you guys for being on this board.... I really dont know what I would do without you!!!

THANK YOU!! I am hoping my monday I can tolerate the pain better and walk around more easily.

Walk as much as you can, stay upright as much as you can! Can you sleep propped up? I'd still suggest a Tums just to quiet down any residual acid and see how you feel.

There have been a couple times I've swallowed too fast / too soon and got a bubble trapped in my stomach under the food... Once I half-barfed but then it all kinda rearranged and I burped and that was that. Felt much better.

Hang in there!! You'll get through this!!

im so scared of eating and drinking too fast. I dont know if im doing it now. its so hard to change that kind of habit.... swallowing LOL yea id say ive been 50/50 with being up and being in bed. being up hurts so much because of that stupid stitch he put in but laying down is bad with the gas. i hope i get a good night sleep in my own bed and tomorrow brings some relief. How was your first few days home ELFNOW?

Surgery was on a Monday and I came home Tues eve (36-hr observation).

My first few days home were pretty reasonably foggy with dilaudid. I am still nursing my toddler and she likes to put her cold little babyfeet on my belly... I was SO glad I was not sent home with a drain tho!!! That would have bothered me so bad.... I had to keep her from kicking my incisions.

I wasn't sent home with a belly-support so whenever I stood up I felt like I had to hold my belly up a little with my hands. It helped, and eventually after a few days I didn't have to do it anymore.

I have tegaderm Patches and carefully covered up each incision with a waterproof barrier so I didn't feel like I was messing things up by showering. I took a LOT of showers in the first 2 weeks. I think partly it was boredom and partly my skin felt crawly from the dilaudid. I sorta just weaned and stopped using dilaudid within 4 days, tho I had enough for a week. I just didn't hurt. Showers probably help there, too.

I tried to go to the gym with my partner and just sit and watch the baby on that Wednesday morning... That was epic fail. Total epic fail. I felt like someone had run over me, and I was in pain, and chasing a toddler whose ENTIRE GOAL IN LIFE was to climb the center staircase at the gym was the worlds worst idea.

As I started getting back on-schedule and stopped hurting so much, things got easier. Also being able to wear jeans on Saturday (5 days post) felt good. I just kinda focused on drinking things and mitigating pain. I stopped using the nausea meds and scopolamine by the next Monday.

There were MANY issues where I found that too warm or too cold fluids would make me hurt. If I wanted "cold" it needed to be at least room temp, and if I wanted "hot" it needed to be no more than body temp. One little tub of SF Jello was like an hour-long three-course meal.

But by 10 days I was like "ok now I need food!! When does food happen??" LOL

Oh also I got a truckload of little one-oz cups from the hospital but I prefer my little lidded 2-oz "midgets" from Tupperware. When I sipped fluids? I seriously barely got my lips wet. I mean I SIPPED. Gulping was right out!!!

The first few days are always hard but it does get better... After a few weeks maybe two you will be back to normal... The gas pain is the worst... Keep walking and moving it will pass.

yea these gas pains are terrible!! I ate a little Soup today and some Jello. I just want FOOD! I want anything but this crap that they have on the list ..... gimme anything else LOL I am starving. I just dont want to over do it.

You had your surgery same day as I did! Great someone I can follow. I hope all went well with you. I ended up having a hiatia hernia removed as well. ( didn't know I had it) That bothered me more so. I think if I hadn't had that mine would have been a lot easier. My third day was the worst. Pain meds wore off, hernia spot was really sore and I slept off and on the entire day. Today was better though. I've been up and about today. Hope you are doing okay. Let me know. Mercedesgirl