June 29th Bypass Surgery

[smrogg 49]

I'm home!! Yay!

[Arianna0228 25]

Yay... I'm still in my hospital room, eating the usa world cup game with my sister and niece.

[SoCalSue 4]

I came home this afternoon after a 6 hour surgery yesterday.

Not feeling too bad, mostly a lot of discomfort in the area of surgery as well as my left shoulder/neck. I was told this was deferred pain. Pain medicine is helpful but I have a heating pad on the stomach area which also helps.

I am struggling to drink Water, I get reflux. I think I have to learn to drink much smaller volume. Does anyone who had surgery experience similar problems?

I keep remembering that this is a temporary phase and I will get through this to follow my journey.

[Arianna0228 25]

I've tolerated the Water very well, haven't really had any problems. May I ask why your surgery was 6 hours? Mine was right about 2

[Mobeans63 32]

@@smrogg -- OMG!!!

[smrogg 49]

@@SoCalSue, how come your surgery was 6 hours. You've got to be in a lot of pain! My surgery was only 57 minutes.

[TeeNahh 40]

Guys the pain sucks for me. I've been nauseous from the pain meds, only walked twice. I went in at 1 for surgery didn't wake up up until 3am. Today's pain is better but still horrible. Haven't ate yet tho. Good to everyone out there !

[smrogg 49]

@@TeeNahh, I'm so sorry you're having pain! I hope the nausea goes away for you so you can eat something. Just remember it's all gonna be worth it a year from now!

[SoCalSue 4]

@@SoCalSue, how come your surgery was 6 hours. You've got to be in a lot of pain! My surgery was only 57 minutes.

Hi smrogg

My surgery was long because my surgeon had to do a revision from previous thoracic surgery resulting from a paraesophageal hernia and diaphragm repair. (I am a cancer survivor and had bad vomiting from the chemo which caused the damage). I did not know when I went into surgery on Monday whether it would be 2 hours or 6 hours it depended on the scar tissue. I am fortunate that my surgeon is very experienced and a center of excellence he was able to revise the previous surgery, remove the scar tissue and perform the roux-en-y. I am very fortunate.

I don't think my post surgical pain is worse then others and today it has become more manageable. The nausea

[SoCalSue 4]

Guys the pain sucks for me. I've been nauseous from the pain meds, only walked twice. I went in at 1 for surgery didn't wake up up until 3am. Today's pain is better but still horrible. Haven't ate yet tho. Good to everyone out there !

Hi TeeNahh, sorry to hear you are experiencing the nausea. Me too. You should speak with your nurse or surgeon. I asked my surgeon to give me Zofran oral disintegrating tablets - they work very well for nausea (but can cause some constipation.)

I was fine with sipping the Water but as soon as I was asked to try the apple juice I started to feel sick. I stopped and went back to just Water. I am taking it slowly - this evening I had some chicken broth which felt good.

Take it slow and at your own speed.

[Arianna0228 25]

My nursing team wouldn't allow me to even think about touching apple juice... I think it has a ton of sugar in it. The only juice they allowed was diet cranberry juice

[kell778 46]

Ohhh my surgery was 4 hours. Started at 1 on Tuesday and was not done until 6 with the hour of recovery. It has not been easy guys. Anesthesia was hard on me. It took me a long time to come out of. Even still I didn't get any sleep Tuesday night. Anesthesia had me very itchy and gave me weird dreams. The beds are so tough to sleep in too. I have had broth and Water but cannot tell when I'm full. I wonder if my pain is hunger or internal incision pain.

I was not able to walk until Wednesday morning which was tough!!!! I feel very lightheaded. I also have a lot of gas and diarrhea. Yikes. Tmi, sorry.

[Arianna0228 25]

I'm so sorry @@kell778 I couldn't even imagine that. I guess that I'm lucky that I knew anesthesia gave me bad nausea so they pumped me full of anti nausea medication during the surgery, during my hospital stay, and gave me some to go home with just in case. I didn't really have any other reactions otherwise.

On another note... since I've been in the hospital and almost eating/drinking nothing for the last few days, I've gained almost 3 pounds since I went in for my surgery. Do you guys think that this is from all of the IVs they pushed into my body, or just overall inflammation that will be going away? I hate seeing a higher number than when I went in, haha.

[smrogg 49]

@@Arianna0228, I too gained 4 pounds since being home. My husband said it is from the IVs like you said. I looked this morning at the scale and I'm down 2 pounds from what I gained. Guess we just have to pee it out.

I also feel hungry too. I think it is from the gas and that our stomachs are swollen...or at least I read that somewhere and a lot of people have a hunger feeling afterwards. Even a few other patients at the hospital I was staying at said they were hungry.

I'm so sorry to those of you feeling nausea, pain, and any discomfort. The worst I have is the neck/shoulder pain but my pain meds are helping me with that. No nausea whatsoever. Reading everyone else's posts, I'm counting my blessings I am doing so well. I am going to say a prayer for everyone to heal quickly. Everyone keep us updated! It's all gonna be worth it, that I am sure of! ❤️

Edited July 2, 2015 by smrogg

[Arianna0228 25]

@@smrogg I guess that does make sense, especially since I was in the hospital longer than you as well and had a lot more IV bags I'm sure because of it. I also feel sorry for everybody that is going through such a bad time with pain and nausea, I'm lucky I haven't really had to go through either. The nausea just because I knew that it would happen so we were proactive. I haven't taken anything for pain since tuesday, I'm sore but it is manageable. I do have a couple of medications they sent home with me for pain if i do need it though.