To My dear Bariatric Pals!

I wanted to thank you all for your support during my jitters in the weeks leading up to the OR. Indeed, it was probably one of the most nerve wracking things I’ve ever done! As I close in on a week post opp tomorrow, I have refrained from posting too much about the experience because I think I needed a little bit of time, first of all to recover enough to be lucid enough to write coherently, but also because I needed to regain some of my emotional footing, as I let the enormity, irriversability and life changing capacity that this surgery has afforded me sink in.

I will post several things on how I prepared emotionally for the surgery and also the things I found helpful on surgery day to help those who are close to the date and need support to make it through, at a latter date. But in this post I wanted to update you all on how I’m doing in a synopsis.

First off…my surgery started at approximately 10:30am and lasted almost 3 hours, because along with the Sleeve, Band removal and Gallbladder removal, they found a hiatal hernia to repare (in short, I got the Blue plate special). Anasthesia was my biggest concern. Coming out of it took a long time…I was in pain and naucious but communicating with my caretakers gave them a chance to stabilize me such that by evening I was somewhat coherent.

At first, I was really tight…even taking down an ice-chip was hard. And ofcourse there was the bloated gas to contend with. Knowing this I was armed with my on Gas Ex strips, forget the baby Simithicone they were giving me, but most importantly, as SOON as I could semi wobble, I started walking the hallways…my 2 hour cycles ran like this…sleep, take pain meds, sip liquid, pee, and walk those hallways as much as I could, and very soon, the gas problem was mitigated. Leaving the worse problem my banged up throat (from intubation) which was so raw and bad he surgeon took a pic of it to show the anesthesiologist! It felt like a layer of skin has literally been sloughed off, and so red and raw. And when I swallow…some skin seems loose like I’m swallowing my throat…yeah…bad).

After a nasty Barium swallow on day two I was clearned for liquids and the watered down Apple juice from an ounce cup felt like heaven!

I was release at the end of day 3. Back home I continued to walk. My fitbit registereing 6k steps all week and today I did 10k steps. Now these are veeeery slow put persistent and steady steps throughout the day, and after pain meds, and the only reason I can do this is because in the months leading up, I got a fitbit and worked my way up to about 12k steps, so I highly recommend you start walking now.

I finally was cleared from Clear Liquids to cream Soups today…wooo hooo. First few days I was not as hungry, but now, be it head hunger or what…mama wants some sustainance! And broth ain’t cutting it! The cream of mushroom was devine!

I’m weaning off of Hydrocodine and moving to liquid gel Aleve.

Upon my return home, gained Water weight coming back home from the IV as expected. My stomach feels distended and droopy as expected. And I have 6 incisions to nurse.

The more I drank, the more I started to shed the IV Fluid weight. So keeping hydrated remains key. And now I’m lower than pre-op weight.

I also found a book online. Emotional First Aid Kit Bariatric Surgery Patients to help hone some couping strategies for when I’m back in a world of doenuts.

And that’s where I am folks! Just learning how to live in this Brave new world I’ve been born into. Much like a toddler, taking baby steps, learning what I can and can’t do. It’s still just a week, so I’m looking forward to more healing and the rewards which we all so freverantly seek.

I hope my account is helpful to you.

Sending you peace and love,

Ellie123

I really enjoyed reading your post, thank you for sharing! Congratulations on the surgery and best wishes for a speedy recovery. It sounds as if you know what you are doing and doing it well. Keep posting so we know how you are getting on and be kind to yourself. :)

Thanks, Ellie 123. I really appreciate the post and I hope you are well.

Thank you for sharing. It sounds like you are on way. Please keep us posted. I need to estimate how much time off of work I will need. God Bless your journey.

Deb

That's a very thoughtful and inspirational post. Thanks for sharing. Congrats on your successful surgery and first week as a post op! I have a feeling you are going to do great!

Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear that you are on the mend.

Just one question. Isn't Aleve an NSAID? You might want to double-check on that one. I had good results with liquid Tylenol.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.

@@Inner Surfer Girl

A question: The only liquid Tylenol I've been able to find is the children's, which is sickeningly sweet. Is that the type you've used, and if not, where do you find it?

Yeah, the children's has high fructose corn syrup which is absolutely ludicrous.

I found generic adult at my pharmacy but I had to ask. They didn't even realize they had it until they looked.

I used the liquid initially, but further post-op I have been able to use the tablets.

Congratulations on being on the other side

Congrats my friend!! And thanks for keeping us updated!!!

@@Inner Surfer Girl

A question: The only liquid Tylenol I've been able to find is the children's, which is sickeningly sweet. Is that the type you've used, and if not, where do you find it?

I found adult strength Equate brand liquid Acetaminophen at Wal Mart

@@Inner Surfer Girl

A question: The only liquid Tylenol I've been able to find is the children's, which is sickeningly sweet. Is that the type you've used, and if not, where do you find it?

I found adult strength Equate brand liquid Acetaminophen at Wal Mart

I found the same. They had no Tylenol, only the generic (my store doesn't even carry the name brand - no place on the shelf and the person working there could not locate it).

Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear that you are on the mend.

Just one question. Isn't Aleve an NSAID? You might want to double-check on that one. I had good results with liquid Tylenol.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.

Thank you for the concern, but indeed this is per doctors orders. Aleve, Advil and Ibprofen are all fair game post surgically and were in discharge instructions. Odd that post op instructions vary so much from doc to doc ...:/

Edited November 13, 201510 yr by ellie123