What to expect right after surgery?

[tnl1031 52]

I was extremely tired. Had trouble waking up and staying awake. I didn't have pain, more like soreness across my stomach. I had issues with the morphine, it made me sick, so I stopped taking it. Wasn't allowed food or Water the first day, just mouth swabs. After the leak test the following morning, I was allowed Jello, broth and water. Was not anywhere near as bad as I was anticipating. Everyone is different though, good luck!!

[JerseyJules 862]

My new sleeve was so swollen, that there wasn't room for Water. I drank 1 or 2 ounces right after my leak test and threw up immediately - that was the only time it happened. There just wasn't room for that much water.

How long did the swelling take to go down?

[juliedee 11]

I'm 2-days post op (surgery was on Tuesday, 1/6). I didn't have any pain when I woke up. I was really nauseous, though. They kept me in recovery a little bit longer than expected to get that under control, but they did. When I got to my room, I slept for a bit and when I woke up, I felt "ok". Again, no pain (toradol is GREAT!), but very sore. After the first trip to the bathroom, and walked a lap in the halls, felt much better & only got better from there.

Everyone's experience is different, but overall mine was pretty good. A little nausea when I woke up, but no pain.

By the evening of surgery I was up & around & feeling pretty good.

Now, the drinking part... when you sip, you feel it hit your stomach, and you get a little "twinge" that lasts about 2-3 seconds, but then it's gone. You get used to it, and today at 2-days out, it's much better.

Don't stress over it, because the whole experience is over relatively quickly and the nurses will definitely take care of you. If you have nausea or pain, they will be prepared to give you something!

[JerseyJules 862]

I'm 2-days post op (surgery was on Tuesday, 1/6). I didn't have any pain when I woke up. I was really nauseous, though. They kept me in recovery a little bit longer than expected to get that under control, but they did. When I got to my room, I slept for a bit and when I woke up, I felt "ok". Again, no pain (toradol is GREAT!), but very sore. After the first trip to the bathroom, and walked a lap in the halls, felt much better & only got better from there.

Everyone's experience is different, but overall mine was pretty good. A little nausea when I woke up, but no pain.

By the evening of surgery I was up & around & feeling pretty good.

Now, the drinking part... when you sip, you feel it hit your stomach, and you get a little "twinge" that lasts about 2-3 seconds, but then it's gone. You get used to it, and today at 2-days out, it's much better.

Don't stress over it, because the whole experience is over relatively quickly and the nurses will definitely take care of you. If you have nausea or pain, they will be prepared to give you something!

Thanks for the advice. Are you out of the hospital? How long did you stay?

[juliedee 11]

I was only in one night... out by noon the next day!

[JerseyJules 862]

Awesome thanks!!! FYI I just found my solid inspiration that just cleared up every doubt I had in my mind with this thread right here : http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/329016-not-by-surgery-alone/?p=3718369

I felt as if he was describing my life to a friggin T....I almost cried..Seriously..

[jenbaby75 283]

If you are concerned about the pukes coming out of surgery..tell the anesthesiologist you have issues, and they will help with that.

[DreaDH 12]

I agree with a lot of people in this thread. It's different for everyone. That being said, I went into it terrified about the pain and nausea I would feel when I woke up. It was the scariest thing about this surgery to me. I knew I could live with the lifestyle, but the pain scared the hell out of me and I read all these horror stories from people about how awful the first week was. When I woke up from surgery, I felt mildly nauseous and did have some pain but nothing at all like I was expecting. It was really quite tolerable. My nursed asked about pain and nausea, I told her and was given drugs for both within a couple minutes. They got me hooked up to the morphine and up to my room. I wasn't allowed to drink anything until the next day so the cotton mouth was a bit uncomfortable. I made sure to hit my morphine right before I had to reposition myself or anything the first night and I was able to sleep pretty well (aside from being woken up every couple hours for vitals) By the next morning I felt 10 times better. I was barely using the morphine, I was able to sip liquids (I had no pain at all, just a lot of burping) and was up and doing laps around my floor. To be honest, the worst pain for me was when they removed the drain and even that was over pretty quickly. My incisions hurt / burned for about 2 weeks and got milder by the day.

[JerseyJules 862]

I got my self over anxious about my shoulder surgery..Woke up was in very little to no pain. The worst part was the headache I woke up with and the vomiting any time I ate or drank anything. But that was from 4pm till about 2:30-3:30 am..After that it was fairly easy..I have had multiple surgeries, but never abdominal surgery, but have had broken ribs..THAT sucked..Uggggg....3 more days...I wish I could just skip the whole night before and day of the surgery and be done with it..

[AFmom 3]

I am 4 days post-op and I agree that it is different for everyone. I have a HIGH pain threshold, so I was expecting this surgery to be no problem for me. I do have a problem with anesthesia making me very nauseated, so I talked with the anesthesiologist at pre-op and they started me patch the night before surgery and gave me extra meds before and after surgery to help combat the nausea.

That being said, I woke up feeling nauseated. They gave me meds right away. I had some pain, but recognized the pain mostly as gas pain. I was on a morphine pump and didn't use it often because it was giving me a headache and didn't really help with the gas pain and the incisions were not really that painful. I had one drain, nasal oxygen (only for the first few hours), bp cuff on, pulse ox monitor on finger, IV, and catheter (not taken out until the next morning).

I was up and sitting in a chair and then walking with an hour of getting to my room. As soon as I started walking I started burping, the more I walked the more I burped. I have a bad back, and so for me it felt better to be up moving than to be laying in bed or even sitting in a chair. I was allowed nothing by mouth the first day and so the dry-mouth was horrible.

The next morning I felt much better once the catheter was out. That made moving around much easier. I felt ready to go home that day, but my surgeon makes everyone stay 2 nights. I continued to walk, had my IV discontinued, and looked forward to going home.

[Laura_W 3]

I didn't take the time to read through all the responses so this might be redundant. But there is a lot of gas pain. They have to inflate your entire abdomen with air in order to perform the surgery. Some air gets trapped in when they close and it will reek havoc on your chest, your stomach and your shoulders and back. The only way to get rid of it will be to walk. You won't feel like doing it but get up and walk every chance you get. It will make a huge difference in your recovery. Once back home get up and walk often. Take a could laps around the house every hour even at night time your first few nights at home.

[MyssJones 84]

I woke up in hell. I could hardly breathe, my body hurt and I felt extreme nausea. I immediately needed to lay on my side in order to get any relief. When I got up to my room I immediately vomited violently. It was brownish looking so I'm not sure if it was blood or whatever. After that I began to feel better.

They had a portable toilet for me to use, but I just walked to the bathroom because I didn't want to use that thing. My most pain was turning, getting up, etc. it took a few weeks for me not to have tenderness around my bigger incisions.

Nausea and gas were the major issues after I returned home. I gave up on Protein shakes and artificial sweeteners and that pretty much eliminated that issue for me.

Every experience is different, so just hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That's my best advice.

[JerseyJules 862]

I woke up in hell. I could hardly breathe, my body hurt and I felt extreme nausea. I immediately needed to lay on my side in order to get any relief. When I got up to my room I immediately vomited violently. It was brownish looking so I'm not sure if it was blood or whatever. After that I began to feel better.

They had a portable toilet for me to use, but I just walked to the bathroom because I didn't want to use that thing. My most pain was turning, getting up, etc. it took a few weeks for me not to have tenderness around my bigger incisions.

Nausea and gas were the major issues after I returned home. I gave up on Protein shakes and artificial sweeteners and that pretty much eliminated that issue for me.

Every experience is different, so just hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That's my best advice.

How far out are you now and how do you feel? Can you get your Proteins in now? Cause you can get sick from not getting them in..

[JerseyJules 862]

Oh and PS, 2 days to go and I cant tell if in nervous or excited to start a new episode in my life. My stomach has been in knots for the past few days...

[Countrygrrl 450]

I had no pain. I woke up and smiled at my nurse asked her did I have surgery. She laughed. We spoke for a moment asking me my pain level. It was zero. She had me start moving me feet and legs then sit up. She got me a walker and I did a short walk sat down for five min. Walked the second time where she told me to slow down. And I was terrified before hand . Some post op people were moaning and groaning. I walked slow but didn't even need pain pills I took them the first night out of fear of pain. By the next day I walked 5 miles. And was a little tender that's it. I'm almost two weeks post op. And it was a cake walk