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4 weeks post op, still painful



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I'm four weeks post op but still in quite a bit of pain. By now I am supposed to be able to eat scrambled eggs and tuna, etc. but even though I eat very, very slowly it really hurts and gets stuck, so I'm sticking with liquids for now. Even yogurt can get stuck! I had an hiatal hernia that was fixed at the time the band was installed. I was up and walking around as soon as I got to my room after surgery, but they kept me overnight as my "vitals" didn't look good. I was planning on taking a week off work, but the pain was so bad that three weeks later I was still not able to do much but walk, sip fluids and sleep. Now I am off pain meds but still wake up really sore, and can't quite get anything much down. My doctor says the pain is because the hernia repair involves a lot of stitching of the muscle tissue. Normally I heal incredibly fast, so this has been a real surprise for me. I insisted on getting an upper GI, and everything looked textbook--restriction right where the band is supposed to be, and no hernia.

Anyone else here had a hernia repair and had pain for so long after the band was installed? I just want to start feeling good again! I'm beginning to wonder if I will always have this pain?

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Thanks, Jack. I just keep thinking that if I wait, it will get better. And it is getting a little better every day. Last night I slept from 10pm to 6am, the first night I've slept through, and woke up in only moderate pain. Maybe I really am on the mend.

Reading other posts, it looks like there are some people that never quite have smooth sailing with the band but keep it anyway.

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Hi, I thought i was going crazy as my surgery was 2/27/09 and here is is March 20th and I have an appt for the exact same reason today. I don't have problems swallowing but the pain is similar to a hot knife. How long before your pain resolved as I need to get back to work? Could youlet me know if there was specific testing done? Just curious and hope you are doing great.

Karen

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By fifth week post-op I was finally feeling fairly good--not great, but much better. I still have no idea what was wrong or why it took so long, I may just be more sensitive than other people, or perhaps there was something else going on, but in any case I was able to begin working again productively about 5 weeks after the surgery. Now it is three months and there is no pain at all, though I can say that I do feel the band there; again, I might just be very sensitive. But if I lie on my side, I can feel the band "digging in" against my stomach, and when I am hungry I can really feel it (I know exactly where it is, can feel how it is attached, how it goes around my stomach).

My doctor, who is a great surgeon but has very poor "bedside manners", didn't think there was any additional testing needed (after the upper-GI). So I didn't press it. I trust his opinion (and more importantly, his statistics.)

Good luck, I hope you start to feel better soon. Let me know how you do!

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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