phil4thirteen
Five months post-surgery
Sep 27, 2008
I haven't written much, so I guess it's time. I am so pleased that I made the decision to have the surgery. Things are going well. My diabetes is in full remission -- no more medications needed! My blood pressure is doing very well on greatly reduced meds. My knees don't hurt any more. I have energy and motivation to be active. I have lost between 95 and 100 pounds so far!
One of the things I have taken up is kayaking. I wanted one form of exercise that worked my upper arms, but I wanted it to be fun at the same time. Kayaking will do that for me in the good-weather months. The sense of freedom I have out on the water is incredible! I could never have handled anything like that before my surgery.
I will have my six-month check-up at the surgeon's office in one month. At that time I will see if all my vitamins and nutrients are doing well. I should definitely have lost more than 100 pounds by then. Perhaps I will be able to go off the final blood pressure medication, too. That would be great.
Bless all of you on this journey or contemplating it. I thoroughly believe that this was the right decision for me. I suppose we never know when complications will be the result of the surgery, as they have been for one of my friends, but take the steps and go forward in the light of the best knowledge you have. I believe for most of us, it's worth taking the chance to regain our health.
Li
One of the things I have taken up is kayaking. I wanted one form of exercise that worked my upper arms, but I wanted it to be fun at the same time. Kayaking will do that for me in the good-weather months. The sense of freedom I have out on the water is incredible! I could never have handled anything like that before my surgery.
I will have my six-month check-up at the surgeon's office in one month. At that time I will see if all my vitamins and nutrients are doing well. I should definitely have lost more than 100 pounds by then. Perhaps I will be able to go off the final blood pressure medication, too. That would be great.
Bless all of you on this journey or contemplating it. I thoroughly believe that this was the right decision for me. I suppose we never know when complications will be the result of the surgery, as they have been for one of my friends, but take the steps and go forward in the light of the best knowledge you have. I believe for most of us, it's worth taking the chance to regain our health.
Li
I'm on the other side of surgery!
Apr 27, 2008
It felt like I waited so long, it's hard to believe I'm through the surgery already. It sure does feel good to come home from the hospital! People were very kind and attentive there, but nothing feels as good as being in one's own bed! My primary doctor says he is amazed by how well I'm doing. He said my progress was "remarkable." It was such a blessing that the doctor doing rounds from my primary care clinic this week was my own doctor. There are sixteen doctors in the clinic, so I don't imagine that they each do rounds more than three or four times a year. So I can see God's hand in the timing of my surgery, even from that point of view. It was so personal to have him be the one to visit me and not some stranger. Of course, the surgeon came in every day, too, but he didn't take much time. I think he would have if I'd had questions, but everything was so well-explained ahead of time that I really didn't have questions. Here's a little run-down:
Surgery was at 11:00 am on Tuesday (earlier than scheduled because the person before me had to be cancelled at the last minute). I really didn't have time for anxiety. The first thing I knew, they were waking me up in the recovery room. The most uncomfortable part was the NG tube (nasal-gastric tube) that went in through a nostril and down into my stomach. No dignity left in the hospital! I had also had to have a PICC line (an IV recepticle put in through my upper arm and threaded down near my heart). They put everything in and out of me through these two semi-permanent ports. I had that because I was diabetic.
Tuesday night after the surgery I used my pain pump quite regularly. I had so many tubes and lines attached to machines and IV bags that it was really hard to get up to take care of my needs. I also had pneumatic stockings on my legs. They took those off when I had to get up. I think they should have had more accessible handicapped grab bars in the restrooms for bariatric patients. One was on my right, but behind where my body was positioned. The other was really the towel bar on the back wall of the bathroom, so I really couldn't use it at all. It made me much more dependent on the staff. Almost all the PCAs were men. Again, no dignity!
Wednesday evening I finally got the NG tube out. That was almost the best part of the whole deal! It felt so good to get that out! Wednesday I felt so much better than Tuesday. Each day got better and better -- noticeably. I began to be able to take long walks, more than I could do before surgery!
Friday I got to take a shower and wash my hair! Again, luxury! They took the dressing off the wound. I can't say too much for the food, though! My first meal, on Thursday breakfast, was chicken broth and clear jello cubes. They wanted me to get a chest x-ray because I had pain when I was breathing. When I got back from that, the kitchen crew had removed my breakfast -- I had had about two bites before they took me! On Friday, they brought cream of wheat for breakfast. That, too, was a treat! They said I was on "full" liquids. Then they got mixed up and started bringing me clear liquids again for meals -- my diet paper said I'd had lapo RNY surgery! I got worried and had to ask the nurse if I'd really had the open version! She assured me that I had. But they kept bringing me the wrong kind of food the rest of the time. I rejected it and asked for full liquids. Actually, I didn't really feel like eating, but I figured that I wanted the most I could get for variety and not just clear liquids.
They'd told me I could go home on Friday, but I had to be cleared by three doctors (the surgeon, the endocrinologist, and my primary care doctor), plus I had to be visited by the diabetes educator, and also had to have the nurse take out a drainage tube in my side draining out from my stomach plus my PICC line. That drainage tube and bag was pretty gross. So, finally I left the hospital around 7:00 pm.
I'm taking tiny little morphine pills here at home. Sometimes I hurt quite a bit, but there's an ebb and flow. The best position is lying on my back in my own bed. I really don't feel the surgery pain then. I'm sleeping pretty well here, too. They literally waked me up every thirty minutes a couple of the nights to prick my fingers for the glucose checks. The pricking part wouldn't have been so bad, but they kept strongly kneading and kneading my fingers to try to get a big drop of blood. That hasn't been my experience here at home. The prick gets a big drop of blood without kneading. I don't know what they were doing wrong, but i would have slept better without all that.
Here it is, Monday morning, April 28. I'm almost six days post-surgery. I'm doing very well and so looking forward to all the days ahead of me on this road to health. Bless those of you who are sharing this journey with me. it's such an encouragement.
Surgery was at 11:00 am on Tuesday (earlier than scheduled because the person before me had to be cancelled at the last minute). I really didn't have time for anxiety. The first thing I knew, they were waking me up in the recovery room. The most uncomfortable part was the NG tube (nasal-gastric tube) that went in through a nostril and down into my stomach. No dignity left in the hospital! I had also had to have a PICC line (an IV recepticle put in through my upper arm and threaded down near my heart). They put everything in and out of me through these two semi-permanent ports. I had that because I was diabetic.
Tuesday night after the surgery I used my pain pump quite regularly. I had so many tubes and lines attached to machines and IV bags that it was really hard to get up to take care of my needs. I also had pneumatic stockings on my legs. They took those off when I had to get up. I think they should have had more accessible handicapped grab bars in the restrooms for bariatric patients. One was on my right, but behind where my body was positioned. The other was really the towel bar on the back wall of the bathroom, so I really couldn't use it at all. It made me much more dependent on the staff. Almost all the PCAs were men. Again, no dignity!
Wednesday evening I finally got the NG tube out. That was almost the best part of the whole deal! It felt so good to get that out! Wednesday I felt so much better than Tuesday. Each day got better and better -- noticeably. I began to be able to take long walks, more than I could do before surgery!
Friday I got to take a shower and wash my hair! Again, luxury! They took the dressing off the wound. I can't say too much for the food, though! My first meal, on Thursday breakfast, was chicken broth and clear jello cubes. They wanted me to get a chest x-ray because I had pain when I was breathing. When I got back from that, the kitchen crew had removed my breakfast -- I had had about two bites before they took me! On Friday, they brought cream of wheat for breakfast. That, too, was a treat! They said I was on "full" liquids. Then they got mixed up and started bringing me clear liquids again for meals -- my diet paper said I'd had lapo RNY surgery! I got worried and had to ask the nurse if I'd really had the open version! She assured me that I had. But they kept bringing me the wrong kind of food the rest of the time. I rejected it and asked for full liquids. Actually, I didn't really feel like eating, but I figured that I wanted the most I could get for variety and not just clear liquids.
They'd told me I could go home on Friday, but I had to be cleared by three doctors (the surgeon, the endocrinologist, and my primary care doctor), plus I had to be visited by the diabetes educator, and also had to have the nurse take out a drainage tube in my side draining out from my stomach plus my PICC line. That drainage tube and bag was pretty gross. So, finally I left the hospital around 7:00 pm.
I'm taking tiny little morphine pills here at home. Sometimes I hurt quite a bit, but there's an ebb and flow. The best position is lying on my back in my own bed. I really don't feel the surgery pain then. I'm sleeping pretty well here, too. They literally waked me up every thirty minutes a couple of the nights to prick my fingers for the glucose checks. The pricking part wouldn't have been so bad, but they kept strongly kneading and kneading my fingers to try to get a big drop of blood. That hasn't been my experience here at home. The prick gets a big drop of blood without kneading. I don't know what they were doing wrong, but i would have slept better without all that.
Here it is, Monday morning, April 28. I'm almost six days post-surgery. I'm doing very well and so looking forward to all the days ahead of me on this road to health. Bless those of you who are sharing this journey with me. it's such an encouragement.
I have a surgery date!
Apr 13, 2008
My surgery has been set for April 22, 2008 at 1:00 pm. Now it is becoming more real!
Another delay!
Mar 30, 2008
My endoscopy showed gastric polyps. Now I'm waiting for the pathology report from the biopsies. I don't know for sure what this will mean for the surgery, but I probably won't find out until the end of this week.
No surgery date yet
Mar 13, 2008
I saw Dr. Rupp yesterday. I really like him and have confidence in him. He seem very thorough and very knowledgeable. He wants me to have an endoscopy before he schedules me for surgery because I've had unresolved anemia. I wasn't really focused on the fact that part of our digestive tract will be essentially inaccessible after this surgery. This is why he wants to take a look at it before the opportunity is lost. I understand that, but it's hard to wait. I'll post more when I get a date!
Appointment with surgeon set
Jan 31, 2008
I finally have an appointment scheduled to see the surgeon! I will be seeing Dr. Rupp on March 13, 2008! At last, things are moving. I've gone through all the preliminary steps and come to this. If he clears me, the next step is the surgery!
