My surgery day... A to Z

nkcaump · September 29, 2007

(FYI... For the uninitiated, DW = Darling Wife)

5:00 AM (ok, more like 5:20 AM...) - WAKE UP CALL - Shower, Shave
5:25 AM (wake up DW)
5:30 AM (wake up DW again)
6:00 AM - Depart for Weight Loss Center - KC to Overland Park @ 6:00 AM = 33 minutes
6:30 AM - Arrive - Some paperwork - DW is cranky so I tell her to leave and get herself some caffeine.
6:45 AM - They take me back to the pre-op room where I change into my lovely gown. The anesthesiologist has a University of Kansas cap on. Not a good start to the day. I get dressed and the nurse starts to draw blood and start an IV. Turns out, not good on the veins to drink only Water for a day. She had a helluva time getting the needle in, but she did get it started.
7:00 AM - The anesthesiologist comes in and goes over his spiel and I spot a quick glance of Dr. Selim. Just a hi and bye. I made sure to tell them to not wheel me back before DW got back.
7:30 AM - Now, at this point, I've got to tell you that the level of obnoxious and my level of nerves both increased exponentially as the morning progressed. However, this is where the rubber hit the road and I really wanted to express all of the love you have for a person... For their courage to take this journey with you... For all of the little things and the big things...

Yeah - missed opportunity there - because I think I just made a dumb comment and got wheeled away. (I'm sure she knows...)

So, they wheel me back to the OR. They are very calm but not laughing at my jokes - probably because the jokes weren't funny by that time. They tell me to switch to the other bed and breathe dee..............

8:50 AM - Out of surgery.
8:51 AM - Nauseous. Dry heaved a little bit. She said that was due to the morphine or the anesthesia - I don't remember which. She said she gave me "something" for the nausea. It worked.
8:51 AM - Dr. Selim came out and told DW that everything was fine, that I was in recovery and I was coming out of it.
10:00 AM - I'm back in the recovery room now and the nurse is really trying to keep me taking big breaths. I guess I got diagnosed with a little sleep Apnea while I was under. Weight loss will only help this in the future, but for now, it was causing me to block my deep breaths when coming out of surgery. She gave me oxygen and that seemed to help.
10:10 AM - DW comes back to talk to me. I'm in and out of consciousness for the next couple of hours. This was partly due to the anesthesia wearing off, but mostly due to the lack of sleep. I was TIRED.
10:10 AM to 12:00 PM - DW kept offering me ice chips. I think I ate two. Mmmm.... Ice chips....
12:00 PM - My humor starts to come back, and my color starts to come back. I think I was given morphine at one point, but it started to wear off around noon. I actually started pretty good. I rested for a couple more minutes. The nurse asked me if I wanted a popsicle. Well, sure! I ate about half of it. It was orange and creamy. Gooooooood....
12:30 PM - The nurse asked me if I wanted to try to pee and walk around a little bit. Well, sure! So, I got up, got my gown retied and started walking. I really didn't feel that bad! There was some obvious skin pain on my stomach from below my chest to my abdomen - however it kind of just felt like I was punched with a medicine ball or something. That pain remained constant, but even at this hour is just about a 4 - easily managed with medicine.
12:45 PM - Was walking and talking and even managed to trickle out some pee. Apparently, that's all the checkmarks they need to get you the hell out of there because next thing I know I was signing forms and changing back into my clothes. I still hadn't seen my scars or anything, but the nurses and doctors were keeping DW pretty informed. I was still sort of groggy so I'm glad they weren't giving me the directions on how to build something complicated.
1:00 PM - In the car on the way home. Yep, it was just that simple.
1:45 PM - Overland Park to KC @ 1:00 = 45 minutes. LOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG car ride.
2:00 PM - My symptoms at this point are the stomach pain and a sore throat (due to the intubation). However, I'm still very tired at this point and slept until about 6:30 PM.
6:30 PM to Now - Feeling pretty good. Walked outside for a little bit and had a popsicle. Even feeling well enough to update this blog and keep everyone up to date.
In all, I wouldn't say my pain level ever rose above a 5 and from what I can tell, I was in and out in near record time. That wasn't my goal, but it's always better to recover at home. They did give me a liquid prescription for some pain meds which I took once since I've been home.

I'll keep you posted on the details. Here's a picture of what my stomach looks like now (click on the link - it's not for someone who is eating of doesn't like scars.)

Things from the message boards that I haven't seen yet:

Gas
PB
Major pain

Thanks for everyone's prayers and good thoughts!! It seems like today was an unqualified success!!!

ParaGirl · September 29, 2007

Thanks for this post. My pre op was today and my surgery is Oct 11. It is good to get an idea of how long this will take

MistyDTX · September 29, 2007

Thanks for posting! I go in Tuesday and it's good to hear someone elses experiences. Keep us posted!

lachica39 · September 29, 2007

everytime I hear the positve outcomes, I know this is the procedure for me. Best of luck on your recovery and new life:clap2:

nkcaump · September 29, 2007

Quick follow up 12 hour later.

I slept comfortably last night until about an hour ago. My stomach still feels no worse than if someone really punched me hard in it. But that was enough this morning for me to get up and take some hydrocodone.

Waiting for that to kick in.

I'm more astonished that I haven't had anything to "eat" since almost 36 hours ago. The last time that's happened was probably never.

I'm hungry just out of habit. Drinking Water seems to keep me going fine at this point. I don't think I drank 64 oz yesterday, but I'm going to try to hit that mark today.

Actually thinking about doing some running around today - get caught up on some chores. I have all of next week off and if things keep going this way, I'm going to get a LOT done!!

Thanks everyone for their kind words!!

cookielover · October 2, 2007

Yeah this post was SO helpful! I am under the knife tomorrow and I wondered what the day might look like. I am not nervous, as I am actually excited about the surgery. I am more scared about the pain afterwards. If I get a hangnail I tell everyone about how much pain I am suffering.

However, the goodnews is that I am determined to tough it out! Thank you again for your post you did amazingly well, and I hope I do as half as well as you.

nkcaump · October 2, 2007

You'll do fine!! The pain is only temporary and the drugs they give you are good!!!

CajunCutie · October 2, 2007

Thanks for posting Chris. I am pre-op and having anxiety about the procedure. Reading about your experience has helped calm me down a little!

nkcaump · October 2, 2007

Thanks for posting Chris. I am pre-op and having anxiety about the procedure. Reading about your experience has helped calm me down a little!

Hey Cajun,

Like I said, It's not something I'd want to do every day, but even after 5 days, I KNOW this was the right decision and I feel better already. (Still a bit weak, but that's because I'm hard headed and don't know when to quit...)