My surgery - Long

[Guest guest]

This is my story of my surgery. I got to the hospital

about an hour befor surgery. Talked with the nurse

again going over the stuff I went over with the nurse

over the phone. A guy came and got me and let me use

the potty and I had to put on the dressing gown. He

covered me with a nice warm blanket and I stayed on

the gurney with my mom chatting. People kept coming

by checking on me. The anastisiologist came and

talked with me and asked me all kinds of questions.

Then we waited for DR E. to come and talk to me. He

finally showed up. We went over the surgery I was

going to have and then he asked if I knew what I would

have to do for the rest of my life, the vitamins and

all that. I told him I did.

They hooked up the IV and put some quickly acting

drugs in and my head began to swim. I commented on

how it worked fast. Kissed mom good bye and was

rolled into the operating room. I remember them

asking me to move to the operating table and to put my

arms tight to my body... that was all I remember until

the recovery room.

I was in the recovery room for 4 hours why they found

me a bed. I remember screamming kids. They put two

different kids next to me and they were very upset. I

swam in and out of consciousness and they let my mom

and hubby come back right before I went to my room. I

remember going to my room.

Pepe my nurse shuffled everyone out and took care of

hooking me up to everything. I was on oxygen at the

time. Teri the tech came in and took my blood

pressure and my temp. I remember my mom and hubby

sitting there but I couldnt seem to keep my eyes open

for very long. I had those things on my legs that

inflate and deflate. Still on oxygen. I do remember

pushing the button on the pump, however i dont really

remember any pain.

The next day they got me up out of bed to clean up. I

was pretty emotional, I imagine from the drugs. It

was tight getting up but I wasnt in a lot of pain. I

went to the bathroom to get cleaned up but I still had

the catheter in so I didnt have to go potty by myself

yet.

The doctor who assisted my doctor came in the morning

and talked to me a bit. Said that my stomach was very

stretched out so that my stomach was going to be

longer than most and that I should have no trouble

adjusting. My throat was really sore and she told me

there were three different tubes down my throat. I

don't remember much of what she said, but the other

thing she said was that I probably wouldnt have to

have the Upper GI. Later the nurse came in and told

me the same thing. I was pretty elated. They brought

liquids in to drink, but all I wanted was ice. I

think I might have has a sip of soup and that was it.

They took out the cathetar that day and I got out of

bed and walked a little bit. The JP tube dangled and

it felt wierd... finally they gave me a safety pin to

pin it to my gown. Felt dizzy from the pain meds and

slept about 15-20 mins out of every hour. I didn't

sleep well as it always sounded like someone was

walking in my room

Dr E came and saw me at 11 pm on the second night and

told me my temp was up and that I needed to get up

cause he thought it was because of my lungs. They

were also giving me antibiotics. He said I would

probably get to go home the next day. Meals came and

went and I didnt eat much.

Oh yeah, on the first day I was pretty swollen from

all the IVs but my kidneys were working fine and

eliminating properly.

ON the last day, I walked more, and my temp went down

to normal. Doris, my nurse, was very informative and

finally called the doctor so I could be released. Got

all the paper work done, removed the IV. (I do have a

sore vein and it is kinda tuff...but the pain, I was

told would go away, the vein however would always be

hard.)

One thing I loved was the toilet seat extender. Made

it easy to get up and down from the toilet and to be

able to clean myself. I bought one at the store for 30

bucks.

I haven't taken any pain meds since being out of the

hospital. I dont like the feeling of taking drugs and

I really never had the pain I thought I would.

I had very good nurses and techs, they were all very

nice and except for one tech, knew what they were

doing. The one tech tried to get blood from me but

ended up just bruising the heck out of me. I really

think she was supposed to get blood from the person

next to me anyway.

So that is my story. Pretty basic and no big

surprises. The JP tube was the strangest thing coming

out and I did cry over that. Still might have been

the pain meds but I was off of the IV when they

removed it. They took out the stitch and pulled it

out. Felt like my intestine was being pulled out a

tiny hole. Other than that, I think I knew what to

expect.

Surgery 4/12/01 - 296lbs

4/17/01 - 282.5lbs