Hi!
I flew out to Durham, NC, for my surgery on 9-30-00. I met Dr. rutledge on the 31st for my office appointment, and my surgery was on 11-1-00. the surgery went well. I went into surgery at 8:30am, the first case of the morning. The last thing I remember was laying down on the operating table, the OR tech starting to secure my hands, and I remember waking up saying, "is it done already?" the recovery room nurse gave me a cup of ice chips and wheeled me back to my room. (NO NG TUBE!!!)
The procedure only took 42 minutes laparoscopically. I had horrible back pain from some of the lap gasses settling in my back. BUT... almost no incisional pain. I had a pain pump for pain relief that I used for my back pain... not for incisional pain because I had almost none of that. My tummy for the next week felt like I'd done a lot of "situps" that's all.
I was up and walking the halls within minutes of getting back to my room.
I was discharged the VERY NEXT DAY, and able to walk over a mile to another surgical center to try and see others who had had the same surgery as I had. Unfortunately they weren't taking visitors, so I went back to the hotel.
I was required to stay in town at a hotel for a week to make sure complications, like leaks and infections, didn't set in. Dr. Rutledge required daily follow up calls to his office to make sure he knew how I was.
One week later I went to his office for my followup appointment. I'd already lost 16 pounds in a week! He removed my staples and I headed to the airport to return to the Portland airport.
I got a suprise on the plane.... My seatbelt fit and actually needed to be TIGHTENED!!!!
I saw my primary care doctor the next week and he was very impressed. His father had WLs recently and was having quite a time with continual nausea and vomiting. when I related my story and the fact that I've not yet had ANY nausea/vomiting he said, "clearly you had the superior procedure." WOW
I'll weigh either today or tomorrow to get my 2 month results on weight lost. I do know that I've had to retire 2 pair of jeans, size 28, because they were far too loose. *G*
I see my primary again on Jan 17th. I can't wait to hear his comments then.