deemarie65

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Well today is the 4 week mark. I had to stay off work for an extra week because the incision on my left side refuses to heal and close. It is getting better but I still change the dressing 2x a day and it still has some drainage.

I had a problem last week with dreaded constipation. I was warned that it is common but I was a breath away from going to the ER! I won't give the gorry details but PLEASE take fibersure daily!

I have my 4 week Doc appt. today so I will be exchanging all of my protidiet drinks for Tropical Fruit flavor. I am having a hard time toleratating anything but water, Tropical fruit Protidiet, and slimfast Low carb.

I have only lost 20 lbs since surgery day but it's all good. I know it will come off eventually. I am afraid I'm not eating enough so I wonder if my body is holding on to the calories/pounds just like it did before I had surgery. I need to work on eating more foods but the pureed foods are just not appealing. Actually not much of anything is appealing. Hmmm.

I could really use some variety about now. I am living on Protidiet's Tropical Fruit amd Slimfast Low Carb w/ beneprotein added. I will admit that getting up and drinking chocolate every morning has been fine by me, however, everytime I try to eat a "Cream of...." it tastes yucky. My taste buds are all outta whack. So here is my protein for the day:
Slimfast chocolate Low carb diet  20g protein (say oh yeah!)
Beneprotein powder 2 scoops     12g protein (tastes OK with the slimfast)
2-3 oz. skim milk to dilute            ?g protein 
                              Total     32grams!!
Lunch- Protidiet 15g protein.  I like Tropical fruit and pinapple. Kiwi melon is OK. If you don't have Protidiet then you can use your fave Crystal Light and add Beneprotein powder. Each scoop is 6g protein. I personally think it has an aftertaste but my husband liked it. Whatever! Lol!

Dinner- some kind of soup. I can only stomach a few bites so it realy doesn't count for much of anything, except maybe making me nausous.

After dinner drink- protiediet  15g protein.

Daily protein 62 grams!  Not much variety but it's working for now.

I have tried SF pudding w/ beneprotein, watered down w/ milk.  Tastes OK.
I have tried Dannon Fit and Light w/ Beneprotein and thought I was gonna throw up!
Chicken broth with NOTHING added for protein is still good.

OK, diet is covered. Now back to my incision. It hurts. It's been hurting and I wish I had some more Percocet to make me feel better. No whining here, just stating the facts. Lets hope tomorrow is better is the pain dept.

My trip out of the hospital and to the house was relatively uneventful. I'm afraid that the rest of my day went downhill from there. I remember reading that the left side is often the most tender but nobody said that every core muscle was going to hurt, contract, and cramp up every time I tried to move. It took 5 minutes to roll from my left to my right side, get my pillow situated and settle back in to rest. Frustrated and hurting, I took my pain pills and went to bed. It felt like getting a "charlie horse" inside my abdominal wall muscles. 
      Today has been much better. I have mastered rolling to my side BEFORE trying to push up off the bed. I also keep my hand over my left side where my drain is and apply pressure when I'm up and walking. That has really helped.
     Drinking water has been easy because I still have such a dry mouth. It tastes so good. Using Protdiet wilth water to get in my protein. The great thing about all of this is that I am not hungry. How cool is that??
     
    

I am sitting here in my hospital bed at 130 am and feel absolutely wonderful. Dr. Myers said that everything went well with my Roux n y except for some bleeding concerns because of Plavix. I was off of it for 7 days but he suggests 10 days. He had platelets on call to the OR  just to be safe and he ended up having to use them. He said I was bleeding too much while he was making his sticthes so he stopped. When the platlets were completely infused (4 units) he began again and said things were MUCH better. He is so prepared! That is a wonderful trait to have in a surgeon!! Also, Mike ( his asst.) and Dr. Myers said my liver was ver small becasue I didn't cheat during the liquid diet. He said that it was easy to move around and to see all of the cuts he had to make. As a word of advice to anyone having this surgery by laparoscope, DO NOT CHEAT on the preop diet. You are making this unsafe for yourself by blocking the view for you surgeon! So don't do it!
I have had a great day, except for a case of the nerves this moring. I was the first case but didn't go in until 930 or 10 am. Post-op was smooth. I was already extubated, foley catheter removed, and just laid around waiting for my blood pressure to come down (didn't take my toprol today  ) so I could go to my room.

So now I'm in my room. sipping water and wishing I could inhale the whole jug! I have cottonmouth and I am soooo thirsty! I am being good though and just taking my sips. The air pockets or gas pockets are in my chest and my upper back. Some are in my bowel and they just feel crampy. I have been out walking and I think that this just stirs it up and helps get rid of them.
I have been put on antibiotics as precautionary for all patients, lovenox shots (it's like heparin), senakot laxative (I think) dilaudid for pain, and tomorrow it will be changed to percocet.
          I will spend the rest of the day walking, sipping, and timing my sips Today I didn't have to write down my drink time and my wait time. I just tried to take in 1-2 ounces every 15 minutes. I'm sure that I drank too much on several occasions because I could feel pressure in my chest!
Well I guess that's it for now. Will try to post tomorrow

It's after midnight and I am no longer allowed to drink before my upcoming surgery. OMG, it's actually here. I am getting ready to start the rest of my life in a new and improved healthier body!! WOOHOO!! 
 My heart problems will improve. My cholesterol will become normal range. My diabetes will go away. Wow! I am SOOOO ready to feel and look better! Maybe I should go to bed and get a little rest before this monumental event occurs. I'll try to sleep but I am so pumped up right now that it feels like have been drinking pots and pots of coffee!

OK, my last meal was at Damon's on Wednesday night. It was wonderful and I didn't even eat my whole meal! What was I thinking!!!  I have been on the liquid diet since Thursday morning which happened to be the day of my pre-op appointment. I met with Dr. Myers, signed all of my consent forms and received my bag of goodies (AKA liquid shakes, liquid soup, and protein bars).
well the second day I was feeling kind of sick to my stomach. I had only drank one shake (tasted great) but I hadn't had a chance to drink anything else. My "partner in crime" Annette reminded me that I NEEDED to drink these shakes often to keep up my energy. So  I have been trying but I  have only had maybe 5 shakes and 2-3 chicken noodle soups over the past 4 days. I had severe nausea for most of saturday night and was dry heaving along with it! I was finally able to go to sleep and decided that sleeping was way better than puking so I slept until 2pm!  Yea!  I woke up and felt great! I still have only had a couple of shakes but I feel good. Tomorrow is Monday and my surgery is Tuesday morning so 1 more day of liquid protein then it's off to the hospital. 3 weeks of liquids after that won't be fun but at least I can have a little more variety. In the grand scheme of things, this really is a small sacrifice to make when I will ultimately be getting back the rest of my life. Still nervous about being in the .5 percent (if you know what I mean) but if I don't have this surgery I will be dead in a few years anyhow. Wish me luck!!