I had bypass yesterday and the nurses are not trying to get me to walk. They’re serving me ice cold water. Im supposedly in the bariatric area of the hospital and no one seems to know how to handle my situation. I now have major congestion in my lungs. You can hear it when I barely breathe. Im
Scared.

1 hour ago, Harborgurl said:

I had bypass yesterday and the nurses are not trying to get me to walk. They’re serving me ice cold Water. Im supposedly in the bariatric area of the hospital and no one seems to know how to handle my situation. I now have major congestion in my lungs. You can hear it when I barely breathe. Im
Scared.

Ask to see the PA or your surgeon and discuss your concerns. I would tell them you want to walk- just buzz them to come help you up. Just be your own advocate and ask for whatever you need. Broth , room temp water, popsicles

tell them younfeel congested- ask for an incentive spirometer and start using it 10 times an hour or as much as you can. Just try to stay calm ...

No one got me up, I got myself up and I weighed over 350 pounds on my day of surgery.

I was up walking on my own the day after surgery in the hallway without too much difficulty. Yes, it was uncomfortable but it was doable.

If you prefer warmer water, ask for it that way.

You have to use your spirometer and walk to prevent congestion after surgery/anesthesia.

Hospitals are very busy places, ask for what you need.

Time to advocate for the best care you can get. Ask to speak with patient relations, head nurse on shift, etc.

Also walk if you know you're supposed to walk and tell them to contact your surgeon if they have questions.

And try your hardest to treat them kindly despite the pain you may be in.

Get well soon ?

Edited February 16, 20197 yr by GreenTealael

I agree w KimTriesRNY, ask for what you want. If you are just laying in bed thinking that someone needs to come walk you then you can push the call button and ask for help. You don’t want ice water? Then say “no ice, please” when they take your pitcher to refill.

I walked around with my mom but really only needed her to take the squeezey things off my legs. If you have a reason for wanting a nurse to walk with you then just ask them. I would take my water pitcher with me when when I walked to refill it since I would go through the whole thing.

Nurses are there to assist you to do things on your own. (Unless you require more help for safety)

No one told me to walk either, and I was given ice water in the hospital in a pitcher along with 1oz medicine cups to pour out for myself.

We're adults - we can do hard things! I don't think anyone was purposely neglecting you, and I'm sorry you felt that way. It's probably just how they do things, and they were busy. Hugs.

I dont think anyone was neglecting me. But the nurses the first night were clueless. She would remove compression socks and forget to put them back on. Im glad I had this forum because I knew what I needed tp do.

Ice will melt. You can walk without asking. But yes be more vocal

Time to advocate!
Get up and walk, no one needs to help you.you are going to be sore, but get up anyway!
Ask for water with no ice
Problems solved

On 02/19/2019 at 20:55, Mikeyy said:

Ice will melt. You can walk without asking. But yes be more vocal

In the amount of time I was there that ice never melted. It turns out I had an ulcer and my recovery was not typical. I was in excruciating pain so I wasn’t allowed to go to bathroom without help nor could I walk without help. When I asked for room temperature water the nurse just rolled her eyes. It wasn’t a horrible experience but I didn’t know that my tacky heart and the amount of pain I was in wasn’t normal. It was my first bypass surgery.

On 02/16/2019 at 19:19, Boldilocks said:

No one told me to walk either, and I was given ice Water in the hospital in a pitcher along with 1oz medicine cups to pour out for myself.

We're adults - we can do hard things! I don't think anyone was purposely neglecting you, and I'm sorry you felt that way. It's probably just how they do things, and they were busy. Hugs.

Because of the extreme pain and drugs I was on at the time I Didn’t explain myself well. When I mentioned to the nurse that the ice water burned when I tried drinking it she rolled her eyes. I wasn’t allowed to walk alone because I had a tacky heart. Long story short I had an ulcer and they didn’t know it and I didn’t know it. I thought that level of pain was normal as I had never had gastric bypass before. Everything has worked itself out since surgeon started me on ulcer protocol.
If I had not had the ulcer the ice water would not have bothered me and I would not have had tacky heart because my pain levels would have been more moderate. They thought my tacky heart was because I had a leak and was becoming septic. Thank goodness it all worked out.