Hi,

We are through the 1st week of June already, can you believe it??

Any how, I've been enjoying reading about everyone's surgery experience, but it's hard to find them, some start a new thread, some post in the June Line Up etc. I thought it would help to have a centralized place to post our stories.

My sugery was Thurs. June 5th, scheduled at 1pm. They wanted me there by 10 to get ready and sometimes the surgeon is ahead of schedule. I did get in early but only 30 min. early. I was not nervous at all the morning of surgery, the day before I was scared to death and wondered if I was doing the right thing. I arrived at the hospital at 10, and had to sit in the waiting room til about 1030, at which time they came and got me. I had to weigh on this huge scale in the hall, I was down 3 from the surgeons office the day before, not sure if that was a real loss or just different scales. My vitals were taken, and then I was to change into my lovely hospital gown. Mine had a big rip across the boobs, good thing it was so big I sortta wrapped it around. Then they came and got my IV going. My surgeon came in to see if I had any last minute questions and to sign off on my chart, he was on his way into the surgery before me and said he'd be sending for me shortly. Then the anestesiologist came and checked somethings over and signed off on something. Next thing you know the OR nurse is there to get me. At that point I sortta got emotional and started crying saying good bye to my husband and daughter. To calm me the nurse had me describe my most favorite place on earth, I picked Hawaii. I had to say what I was wearing, what the weather was like etc. As I entered the OR I said I was drinking a Lava Flow, Dr. S said it better be a low carb one. Then they scooted me onto the OR table, all sorts of folks were surrounding me. Dr. S asked how I was doing and I said okay but more importantly how are you doing? Always the jokester, he said fine but I'm a little shakey and hung over. That was the last thing I remembered until waking in recovery. My first thoughts upon awakening were: 1) should I be waking up or am I still in surgery and 2) it's done! They sure don't let you come out of the anestesia slowly, the nurse had me sitting up right away and walk with assistance to the bathroom. She then put me in a wheelchair to await transport to radiology for the swallow test. Well there was miscommunication there and Isat there for about 30 min. I got really whoozy and nauseaus. I called for a nurse and they promptly put me in a recliner where the rest of my recovery was going to be and rehooked up my IVs. She said it was from sitting there too long and with no IV. Finally they came from radiologoy, that wasn't real pleasant but not painful. I was still too much in zombie land. After that I go back to my recliner and my husband and daughter meet me there. I got the shivers/shakes real bad and they kept piling warm blankets on me and then put some demerol in my IV. She told me to remember that for next time I ever have surgery that I react that way. She said it was fairly common to get the shakes. Then my 1 oz every 15 min of liquids started and had to do that for 2 hours before being considered to go home. 1 oz every hour was Protein. After a short nap (probably from the Demerol) I felt much better and was heading for home about 630pm. Today is day 3 and I've not taken any pain pills and am feeling pretty good. Have a weird pressure type feeling by my port and a really growly tummy and a little bit of diarrhea. I am nervous for when I start having mushies. So far I can pretty much drink anything. I carry a Water bottle with me and try to get in 70 to 80oz water a day. I never needed the gas-x strips nor the toilet tongs! Never got the shoulder pain either, he said he tries to suck most of it out before closing up after surgery.

That's my experience, next???

This is a good idea:thumbup:, it is hard to find the post mixed up with all the others.

I will be happy to share my surgery story, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I went to the grocery store with my DD today and it wore me out, but I needed to walk.

I will have a long story tomorrow! Promise!

Hey Long2bThin it sounds like you had a pretty easy surgery. Congrats on that!! My day is the 17th and I hope mine is as easy as yours.:confused2: Glad you are home and doing so good. Thanks for your story.

Thanks for the update Long2bthin! I think it's a great idea having a centralized place for updates.

I think I'm going to tell Dr. Carter he needs to suck as much gas out of me as possible like your surgeon! The only thing I'm really nervous about is that left shoulder pain that so many people talk about.

My surgery was Friday, June 6. :cool:

I was to be at the hospital at 8 am and arrived right on time.:smile: I had to wait a few minutes while they cleaned a room for me.:glare:

I knew I was to be the 3rd surgery of the day for Dr. Kramer. He was being proctored by Dr. Jamie Ponce for the new Realize Band.

There were two men before me, (erv, a member here was right before me.) So much for ladies first! :glare:

For reasons unknown to me my surgery was an hour late. :scared2: I was scheduled for 9:30 and it was 10:30 before they came to get me. :smile:

That really made me antsy! :willy_nilly:I kept thinking they forgot about me, I had already sent my daughter and two grandchildren to the waiting room so I was alone in my holding pattern. :eek6:I said a few prayers :pray2:and thought about the days ahead.

The nurse who checked me in was doing her 6 month diet to qualify for full bypass. :cool2: She was very interested in me and supportive, but could not resist telling me and my family about a woman who was in the intensive care unit:yikes: after having bypass and not complying to the diet. I thought to myself, "she should have been banded.":hand: The story upset my daughter, :scared:but I just blew it off and said I was a very compliant person and I would do exactly as my doctor said. :clap:

I finally made it into the pre-op waiting area and the anaesthesiologist started my IV:rolleyes2:. I have very deep veins and they are small, :crying:plus I was a little dehydrated so his first attempt caused him to "blow a valve" :clap:(his words) so I got stuck twice. :tongue2: The meds they put in really stung and burned, but it soon was not an issue! :sleep:

I remember going into the OR and Dr. Kramer speaking to me and asking me what I was having done. I told him "gastric banding":wink2: and he said something and that was lights out! :Yawn:

I woke up in the recovery room and two nurses were helping another patient, one asked me about my pain scale, :unsure:and I remembered telling the admit nurse that I wanted pain meds when my level was at 5. :smile2: So I said my pain was at 6! :biggrin2: LOL I wanted to be sure to get enough!

I stayed there for a while, I don't know how long, but I wanted to leave when they came to get me. :mad2: I was anxious to see my family. :wub: When they got me to my room, my BF:tt1: was there and I was glad to see him. My DD and GS AND GD had gone out for awhile, (the kids had gotten restless, :boxing_smiley:understandable). The BF was sweet and very helpful. My sweet sister :Angel_anim:showed up and my DD came back to the room.

I was ready to go potty as soon as they got me to the room, and since I went so quickly they immediately ordered my swallow test. :drool:

Erv (a member here) :ear:was in the next room and was ready to go home, he said he heard them getting me ready. :seeya:

I don't remember much about the ride :car:to the lab for that, but the radiologist was there so he was able to verify the results immediatley.

After that they were ready to get rid of me. :clap: I was ready to go home. So my BF drove me home, he is 6'4" and strong, :woot:I felt safer with him. LOL

I got home and got into my bed and was good to go!

My sister went to the pharmacy to get my pain meds and Ykes!:jaw: They gave me Lortab that has codine! That is the bad part of my story! :huh2: I felt a little sick in the hospital :cryin:when they gave me the pain meds, but I didn't say anything about it. When I took the dose at home, it really felt nauseated. :puke: I took a look at the pharmacy sheet and could not believe :glare:they had given me something with codine in it!

I guess they ask you at least a hundred thousand times what you are allergic to! :clap: I always told them Codine and what it did to me and even codine variants effect me.

I am sure it was an oversight. But, give me a break! :wub: I called the number they gave me and I go the doc on call. I told him about my trouble and he said I would have to come back into the emergency room to get different pain meds!

:mad3: I was not about to do that! Then he said, buy this time I would do just fine with tylenol.:clap: (how did he know my pain?)

Thank goodness I do have a high tresshold of pain. I did continue with liquid Tylenol ( a full bottle in 2 days).

But I think I have passed the bad part.:cool2:

I stayed in bed most of the day on Saturday the 7th and slept most of the time. :sleep: I was up some on Sunday and did take a trip to the grocery store to walk a little. :bolt: That was good for me!

OH, when my bowels woke up on Sunday morning it was the trotts for me! I still have some diarrea. So stay close to a potty!:wink:

On Sunday, I took a shower :bathbaby:and removed my bandages. I am kinda a whimp when it comes to cuts on myself,:sad: so I felt a little weak in the knees when I saw where I was cut, but it isn't bad. Looks like 4 little bullet holes :biggrin:and one incision abut 2" where the port is.

BTW, the port is what hurts :confused2:the most! It grabs whenever I move. I still have some pain in between my shoulder blades and I kinda feel like I need to burp! :crying:

Today, I am spending the day alone at home. :biggrin2: I have watered my plants on the deck and now writing this. :rose: I feel much better. My doc said I needed to be off work for 2 weeks:cool2:, but I will have a total of 10 days with weekends included. :cool2: I think that will be enough. I don't know how those who returned to work in two days did it. :mellow:Cheers to them!

I will go back to work (I teach at a career college) and work for a week and then we get a 2 week break. So that works out perfectly!

As far as what I am eating.... nothing! :wink2: I am drinking liquid protein and have had a little tomato soup, sf jello and sf popsicles. I have gotten sick of sweet taste and drinking only clear water. :smile: The hunger is not bad and getting less every day. I have lost 14 lbs :smilewinkgrin:since my pre-op doctor's visit. So I am on the road down! :crying:

Good luck to all of you and ask if you want to know anything. :clap:

I won't tell the same story as long2bthin did and cathy because I would just be repeating everything they have said. For me it was a piece of cake. I was concerned about the diarrhea but now I know it does happen. I've been losing about a pound a day and I'm not hungry. I think I'm not hungry because I am very diligent about getting my protein in and I truely believe that really helps with feeling hungry.

Cathy and livn4Jesus,

I'm so glad that you guys are doing fine! Thanks for letting us know! Livn, anything you want to write, I'll read even if I've read it before!:biggrin2: The first thing I do every morning is see how my fellow June Banders are doing!

Take care,

TX Diva

Me too! Congrats! Sounds like the band is in tune and playing your song! I love reading your posts - don't ever feel that you are repeating info - I am on the countdown for June 24th and really like reading anything I can get my hands on so I am prepared. Best wishes to both of you!

TXDiva: Thanks for writing me. Please don't worry about the shoulder pain. I did not have any with my surgery. I've had a moderate amt of gas but nothing to bad. I've used a lot of Gas-X strips which I think has helped me alot. I've had no nausea to speak of. It's really been uneventful thus far. Just try to relax.

God's Blessings,

Susan

Thanks for the updates. Happy to hear you guys are on the road to recovery and doing well.

Thank you guys for sharing your stories.. it sure does help those of us that are still waiting our June dates to know what's ahead.. I can't wait to post about our recovery and you guys will be way over your recovery by then!!

TXDiva, the shoulder pain was my biggest worry post op as well. I never had it at all, I did ask the surgeon and he said he tries to extract as much as he can. I have had a little uncomfortableness between my shoulder blades, not sure if that is gas or not. I bought all these Gas X strips and they sit unopened. Kindda wish I hadn't gotten them now, but I threw out the receipt.

Today is day 4 and I am feeling pretty good. Tomorrow I may add some mushies. They said I could at day 5-7. Though I'm not feeling a lot of hunger. It's been fun stepping on the scale after the initial shock of an 8 lb gain the day of surgery. But after 2 days that was gone and I'm down about 5 more.

Hey everyone! I thought I'd check in. (Warning! I'm babbling alot - Blame it on the Lortab and I have a lot to tell! Some of this is from my diary but I thought it might help someone.)

I was banded on June 4th. I was super nervous! Almost to the point of backing out nervous. I joked to myself that the anesthesiologist should lurk in the hospital lobby and put me out as soon as I crossed the threshold!

So after dealing with my little voices arguing for and against surgery for the two days before, THE DAY finally arrived. I had tried switched to Clear liquids the last two day pre-op, and really tried to push Water as much as I could, because I felt a little dehydrated. So I drank and drank before midnight on the 3rd, but the morning of the 4th I was still peeing pretty dark. I figured I'd make it up with the IV.

So I needed to be at the hospital at 7am and my surgery was scheduled for 8:30am (Dr McBride's 1st of the day) on the 4th. Got to bed around midnight the night before and work up at 6am. Got ready and it was just a 10 minute drive over to the hospital for us. Checked in at registration, waited a little, signed some paperwork, got my oh so fashionable bracelets, then back to the waiting room for another 15 or 20 minutes. Then a tech called my name and someone else's and both of us went upstairs with our families (I just had DH). Tech Jacquelyn showed me to my little pre-op area, and I met Nurse Geri. She gave me my lovely gown and told me to strip down and put it on. Then they took all my stuff and put it in a locker. Nurse Geri got me situated on the bed and put on the little booties, (and I hated that my legs were like hairy gorilla's because I'm getting them waxed next week! - so embarrassing!) Of course she didn't mind at all. Then she put a Scopolamine patch behind my ear, and started my IV and gave me a shot of Lovenox in the thigh. The Anesthesiologist's resident Dr Lowell, stopped by and talked to me for a couple of minutes about what to expect, and later my surgeon's fellow stopped by and said hello, double checked all my info and signed off on my procedure (initialed my tummy!). The pre-op area of UNMC was very nice, it's was all just built a couple of years ago with very soothing lighting and cool fiber-optic stars in the ceiling.

I think it was almost 8:30 and I still hadn't seen Dr McBride, but I didn't worry. After another 15 minutes or so, Dr Lowell was back, and said he was going to give me some Versed. Then we wheeled off down a couple of corridors to the OR. I was surprised by how big and very white the room was! They moved me to the other bed, and I remember meeting Dr Margalles, and thinking as she introduced herself, "you're the anesthesiologist" and "I think I might have met you once before about 10yrs ago for some care for my DD" but I was too sleepy to say anything and that's all I remember until Dr Lowell woke me up in recovery!

I got to recovery around 10:30am and my nurse there took great care of me, I had oxygen, and she gave me another shot of Lovenox in my tummy. We chatted about Mary Kay (my job) and I had brought goodie bags of samples for everyone.

About 12:30, they moved me over to the Extended Stay area where I was going to spend the night. I wasn't in any pain until I switched to the bed, and it wasn't too bad sort of "too many sit-ups", with a bit of burning when I pulled at the incisions. I wasn't expecting too much because I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I was in a nice private room, and my DH came in and stayed until around 2:30pm or so, then I sent him home because he hadn't had anything to eat yet.

I was on bedrest for 2 hours, and fell asleep for a while. I was only allowed a few ice chips for a few hours, and I was sooo thirsty! Around 6pm, my nurse (the 2nd one) brought me a cup of ice chips and just told me to limit them to a few at a time. Lots of pain. OMG. LOTS of PAIN. Apparently I was super swollen. I only was able to drink about 100cc of water all day long. Got up and walked around at 6pm and 11pm. Was able to pee after my 6pm walk (but it was still pretty dark urine). I think they hung 3 or 4 bags of IV fluids during my stay and I only went pee about 3 times!

June 5 - The next morning, the hospital's surgical staff did general rounds, then the surgeon's Fellow, Dr Varnell, came in and saw me, and about 1pm I saw Dr McBride! I teased her that she must have been in the OR because she had left her marks on me! She's 8 months preggers, and apparently fell down after my surgery so they made her stay in Labor and Delivery for a few hours which is why I didn't see her yesterday post-op.

I got to go home around 2pm. Got home and settled in and got a phone call from my DH's office - They knew I had surgery, but not what kind, and they called to see if I'd rather have flowers delivered or pizza. LOL! Since I already had 3 flower arrangements, I told them to send pizza for the family. That was a special kind of torture, because she asked me about a dozen questions about what we'd like. Irony at it's best! I can't fault them, I could have picked the flowers! And it was nice not to have the family fussing around in the kitchen and coming up to ask me a zillion questions about food. The pizza arrived around 6pm, they ate downstairs, and I stayed up in my flower scented bedroom! (Which is my major coping mechanism for the next 2 weeks!) Home from the hospital. I was pretty sore. I'm also having trouble getting down liquids. I'm still a bit bloated from surgery. I hope the swelling goes down soon because I'm starting to get dehydrated. I took one dose (10ml) of pain meds when I got home and one dose at bedtime (20ml). Took a colace gel cap - had a very hard time getting it down it got stuck and I had major pain and nausea until it went down. I'll skip those until the swelling goes down a lot more. Slept with a heating pad. Slept pretty well.

June 6 - Actually I'm just feeling pretty dry and in a little pain. More muscle soreness today, and now (6am) I've got a lot of gas rumbling around in my stomach. I'm going to take more pain meds and see if I can stay ahead of the pain today.

4pm: I've managed to get down nearly all the rest of my Isopure. So that's 10oz Fluid and 20g Protein. I've also had my chewable Vitamins and Calcium. Still have a lot of gas pain with every little sip, but not as much in between.

8pm yay me! I had a whole protein bullet and it went down well - still took a couple of hours, but it's progress!

Got a shower for the 1st time since surgery. Removed the bandages. Looks sort of icky. Had a fruit bar. Feel pretty bad, thirsty. I'm going to take some Lortab and got to bed.

June 7 - Ok, still having trouble with drinking without pain. I worked all morning to get in 8oz of water. Took lots of gas-x. Still working on the vitamins.

12:30 took more Lortab. Mixed up a shake of 8oz labrada lean body banana & cream and 1 scoop of chocolate Protein powder plus a splash of divinci SF caramel. Much better than the banana plain. I'm going to try to get it all in while the pain meds are working then grab a nap.

7pm: I think Ive had a break through! I've felt awful all afternoon, hot, low grade fever, gassy, dehydrated. Just miserable. Finally I decided to take a 20ml dose of Lortab, lie down and wait for it to work, and then try to get in some fluids. It worked! I've had about .75 liters so far. I'm going to try to drink some more.

TMI alert! - I finally had a BM today. (Ok, it's totally a liquids in/liquids out situation, but at least something is happening!

June 8 - Well that was exciting! At 2:30am we were roused out of bed by the tornado sirens. (It turned out to be an EF2 tornado in the SW part of the city. The damage missed our area by a few blocks) Had to hustle down two flights of stairs into the basement. Major pain. Got the all clear and went back upstairs around 3:30, took another dose of lortab and got back to sleep around 4am. Good news is even though my stomach was just roiling with gas, I was able to pass a lot of it, so I feel a little less bloated today.

11am: I've been able to drink about 16oz of water! Yay! Did take one swig too big and paid for it dearly. Pain, nausea, saliva glands in overdrive - but I was able to stand up and walk it off, so I didn't puke. I'll take it easy for a little bit, then get back to the water.

I think I have a big gas bubble sitting up under my diaphragm, because I'm feeling a little short of breath this morning, like I can't quite draw a deep enough one. Some shoulder pain too.

3pm- I took a nap for about 2 hours. I'm feeling better now, except for the shoulder pain. Oh and joy...TOM started. At least it's still on schedule.

After my nap, I took some more Lortab, and about 4pm I started on a protein bullet. I finished it around 5pm. Yay! Now back to water.

7pm starting to have more pain and getting short of breath again. It's the pain - I start breathing more shallow and just cant draw a deep breath. Took more lortab. Got my water and vitamins in after my 7pm lortab. Feel much better. Also had another Protein Drink.

11pm Ok I've had my protein drink. I feel good. Clearly the key is to keep the pain under control. I'm sure in a couple of days I have recovered enough not to need the pain meds.

June 9 Today, I feel better. I'm still having a lot of pain when I swallow and I had one incident where I took a sip too large and felt like I was going to hurl (I still need to keep the sips in the teaspoon range), and I'm still having to work pretty hard to get in enough fluids and protein, but now that I've figured out I HAVE to take the Lortab first then wait, then drink, I'm at least making progress.

Feeling less muscular/incision pain today. Actually got out of the house (had to go to the pharmacy for a refill on the Lortab.

I'm actually really surprised by how much I've needed the Lortab! I hardly even need pain relievers. But I'm not fighting it. I know it's just for this week or so and things will be back to normal.

I had to take off one of my steri-strips today. One of my incisions was bleeding a little in the hospital, but it eventually stopped. When I took off the bandage on Friday, and showered, that steri-strip looked like it was a bit puffier than the others. Pain was similar to the others, no redness or excessive warmth (they all felt warm). I've been running a low grade fever -mostly 99ish, since coming home. It went up to 100, then briefly to 101 (like an hour) when I was at the worst of the dehydration, but hit normal once I finally got that first liter of water in. So today the steri-strip oozed out a tiny bit of gunk - like less than a drop. I pulled off the strip, checked the wound, no redness or streaks, no other drainage. So I cleaned the area, put some peroxide on it, let it dry a bit, then covered it with a band-aid. I'll shower tonight, then pull off the bandage and let it dry out again. It's not open much. I think it just leaked and stayed more moist than the others right after surgery. I'll keep an eye on it!. Temp is 99 which is consistent with how much water I've been able to drink. I don't think it's infected.

Sorry this was soo long!

Always

Hunzi

Thanks for sharing guys, interested to see what to expect on Friday. Can't wait to get it behind me.

Thanks for sharing. Tomorrow is my band day and this has helped to know what to expect. I haven't been nervous about it until today. Prabably could have been talked out of it... but I am going to do this. Next time I post anything, I will be a fellow bander!

Thanks for sharing your adventures, long2bthin, cathychatts & hunzi. You all sound like your on the path to a great recovery. Your stories really ease my nervousness about what's about to happen. knowledge is power as they say!

greythope & julesk - wishing you both a easy time - I'm sandwiched right between you both on Thursday. I look forward to hearing how you made out.

Congratulations to all Jazzy Junes who are on the other side of their surgery - and to all those who are coming up this month - my thoughts are with you and good luck!:thumbup:

I raise my (protein) drink to all us Jazzy Junes!