It's been one week since you looked at me... - LONG

[Guest guest]

Good Morning -

For those of you with no patience to read the long post (hey, I am

one of ya! so I know how you feel) here is the short and basic report

for you:

As of May 14th - 380

Sleeve Only May 15th

As of May 22 - 349

31 pounds gone

Feeling great!

For those of you who are pre-op or like to hear the whole shebang..

here it is:

Hellllooooo everyone...

Well it has been one week since surgery and I thought that this would

be a good time to finally post.

Monday May 14th -

I had my Magnesium Citrate cocktail at 4p - took me 30 minutes to

drink both bottles, I chose the lemon flavored over the cherry. I

got my Cottenelle rolls ready in the bathroom and waited for the

magic to begin. At 5p it started. 12 hours and 1.5 rolls of toilet

paper later, and a few tears from the rawness, picks me up to

take me to the hospital.

Tuesday May 15th -

Bri and I arrive at the hospital quite early (5:30a) and hang out

outside the surgery admissions door until they open it at which time

we go in to have a seat. By 6:30a I am in a gown on a gurney and

flirting pretty hard with any hot looking doc that comes into my

little waiting area. The anesthesiologist comes in and is talking to

me about how they are gonna knock me out and he says, " blah blah blah

hiatal hernia blah blah.. " I say, " WHOA! Do you have the right

chart.. what hiatal hernia?? " . He explains that during one of my

tests they found a hiatal hernia. I ask if that is going to be cut

off and never really get a straight answer - so I will ask Dr. E on

my follow up. I drink some nasty nasty tasting antacid which I have

lovely photos of my scrunched up face after tasting that stuff.

By 7:30a I have IV in and say goodbye to while they wheel me

into the operating room. They get me to slide over onto the

operating table and put my arms out like I am making a snow angel on

these boards that come off of the operating table. I help adjust my

fat to the center of the table, then I look over at one of the

monitor screens and I see a big fake tarantula taped to the screen.

I say, " Is he scrubbed up? "

Nurse says, " No, the surgeon is scrubbing up now "

I say, " No.. is the spider scrubbed up for my surgery "

Nurse laughs..

That is all I remember.

11am I wake up in recovery, not really disoriented, but tired as all

get out as I did not really sleep the night before. I continue to

sleep off and on until 2p when they finally wake me up to take me to

my room. At one point during this time they give me something to

take and I throw up blood a good few CC's of it. I say, " That's not

good " - then she tells me that it is dark blood from the inside of my

stomach from surgery and it is ok - only if it is light red should I

be concerned.

2p I am in my room and I just remember my roommate and her husband

watching wrestling on TV and talking really loudly. Out again for

while.

4p finally shows up, they forgot to tell him that they were

taking me to my room.

6p leaves, I am pretty sure that I slept quite a bit while he

was there but I don't really remember.

8p Nurse tries to give me painkillers in sherbet. Puke again,

little more blood. Decide sleep will make this pass sooner.

Thank god for catheters and IV's.

I wake up every hour or so through the night to do the breathing

thing. For you pre-ops - make that thing your best friend, I cannot

tell you the difference that it made for me.

Wednesday May 16th

By mid-afternoon I am up walking, catheter out, IV gone and they tell

me that they want me to go home that evening. I have a breakdown and

cry to the nurse and tell her that I can't imagine going home at this

point as I can hardly make it to the bathroom or anything. She tells

me that I have not had pain medication since the day before, so if

she gives me the percoset, then I will be ok. She gives me a dose

and by 5p I am on a 2-lap walk around the floor of the hospital on my

own.

7p and I leave the hospital to take me home. gets me

home and into bed, makes sure I can get out of bed if I have to go

potty, then he heads off to get my drugs. Actigall, painkillers and

Prevasid along with a thermometer and a pill crusher. My friend

Dharmesh comes over to take care of me for a few days, returns,

they drug me up and heads home for a much needed rest.

Thursday May 17th - Saturday May 19th

Dharmesh stays with me. All in all I feel good, it is just slow

moving, and a little difficult to get around. No real pain, just a

series of cramping here and there in my abdomen. It is not really

the pain that kicks you in the rear, it is the fatigue. Naps in the

afternoon, walks in the hallway of my apartment building every day.

I have been going 1/4 mile from Thursday on.

Sunday May 20th - Monday May 21st

On my own at home - bending is a bit of a strain, eating has been

interesting trying to come up with new, yet safe things to eat. On

Sunday night I accidentally overeat. I had 1/2 jar of baby food

(Banana Cream Pie - MMMMMM), 1/2 espresso cup of pudding and an hour

later I feel hunger pangs again. So I have 3 imitation crab legs,

and whoa daddy.. bad move. I suffer for the next few hours while the

feeling of total " Thanksgiving Day I Wanna Throw Up " passes over me.

I put the bucket next to me and continue to burp for 2 hours until

the feeling finally subsides. I tried really hard not to throw up,

as I did not want to cause my stomach that kind of discomfort.

Tuesday - May 22nd

I am going to hit the shower in about 10 minutes then I am going to

head out of the house for the first time. I am gonna take a trip to

the bank, and then to the grocery store as I have a craving for earl

gray tea and the commercials for Special K's Red Berries have been

calling my name for a few days now.

Overall

I feel great. Later on Tuesday May 15th after surgery I certainly

had my regrets.. thinking, I electively chose to do this - what was I

possibly thinking?! However, by the next day I regained my composure

and knew that I had totally done the right thing. As of last night I

have lost 31 pounds since Monday May 14th. I can see it in my face,

I can feel it in my lose housedresses that I wear around the house.

A friend came over who had not seen me since last Wednesday and he

freaked out as he could totally see the difference.

That is my report... over and out!

Lorelei

As of May 14th - 380

Sleeve Only May 15th

As of May 22 - 349

31 pounds gone

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Lorelei. Glad to hear you are doing well. I live alone with five cats and have some concern about the post op phase. I can get my brother the nurse to stay for a time, but I really hate to suck up his time when he can be earning a living. Tag team helpers might be a good idea. Do you think you will be going for the switch, or are you leaving that decision for later?

Nan E. Pre-op Panni in CA

[Guest guest]

Lorelei:

Thank you SO much for your thorough report. That is EXACTLY what I wanted

to see from post op's when I was a pre-op. And it is even fascinating to me

now though I don't really know why. We are all different and our reactions

to the various surgeries is different.

I don't know if I have heard the full story of anyone who has had the DS in

two parts before. I know that you won't have the second part for a good

while but I encourage you to stay around and give us a similar report when

you get the next surgery. Doing it in two parts makes a lot of sense to me

and I want to hear some first hand reporting on it.

Again, thanks for the report.

Joe Frost, old gentleman, not old fart

San , TX, 60 years old

Surgery 11/29/00 by Dr. Welker

Lateral Gastrectomy with Duodenal Switch

340 starting weight, currently 240

http://www.duodenalswitch.com/Patients/Joe/joe.html

It's been one week since you looked at me... -

LONG

> Good Morning -

............................

>

> For those of you with no patience to read the long post (hey, I am

> one of ya! so I know how you feel) here is the short and basic report

> for you:

> Lorelei

> As of May 14th - 380

> Sleeve Only May 15th

> As of May 22 - 349

> 31 pounds gone

>

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

>

[Guest guest]

Lorelei,

Thanks for sharing your story. I am preop and find it very helpful. I am glad things are going so well for you. gwen

[Guest guest]

Congrats, and thank you so much for the long detail.

Couple questions... What is " sleeve only " and why in

gods name didn't you have a morphine drip? But it

sounds like you came through with flying colors, how

much do you anticipate the recovery time to be?

--- dreanika@... wrote:

> Good Morning -

>

> For those of you with no patience to read the long

> post (hey, I am

> one of ya! so I know how you feel) here is the short

> and basic report

> for you:

>

> As of May 14th - 380

> Sleeve Only May 15th

> As of May 22 - 349

> 31 pounds gone

> Feeling great!

>

> For those of you who are pre-op or like to hear the

> whole shebang..

> here it is:

>

> Hellllooooo everyone...

>

> Well it has been one week since surgery and I

> thought that this would

> be a good time to finally post.

>

> Monday May 14th -

> I had my Magnesium Citrate cocktail at 4p - took me

> 30 minutes to

> drink both bottles, I chose the lemon flavored over

> the cherry. I

> got my Cottenelle rolls ready in the bathroom and

> waited for the

> magic to begin. At 5p it started. 12 hours and 1.5

> rolls of toilet

> paper later, and a few tears from the rawness,

> picks me up to

> take me to the hospital.

>

> Tuesday May 15th -

> Bri and I arrive at the hospital quite early (5:30a)

> and hang out

> outside the surgery admissions door until they open

> it at which time

> we go in to have a seat. By 6:30a I am in a gown on

> a gurney and

> flirting pretty hard with any hot looking doc that

> comes into my

> little waiting area. The anesthesiologist comes in

> and is talking to

> me about how they are gonna knock me out and he

> says, " blah blah blah

> hiatal hernia blah blah.. " I say, " WHOA! Do you

> have the right

> chart.. what hiatal hernia?? " . He explains that

> during one of my

> tests they found a hiatal hernia. I ask if that is

> going to be cut

> off and never really get a straight answer - so I

> will ask Dr. E on

> my follow up. I drink some nasty nasty tasting

> antacid which I have

> lovely photos of my scrunched up face after tasting

> that stuff.

>

> By 7:30a I have IV in and say goodbye to while

> they wheel me

> into the operating room. They get me to slide over

> onto the

> operating table and put my arms out like I am making

> a snow angel on

> these boards that come off of the operating table.

> I help adjust my

> fat to the center of the table, then I look over at

> one of the

> monitor screens and I see a big fake tarantula taped

> to the screen.

> I say, " Is he scrubbed up? "

> Nurse says, " No, the surgeon is scrubbing up now "

> I say, " No.. is the spider scrubbed up for my

> surgery "

> Nurse laughs..

> That is all I remember.

>

> 11am I wake up in recovery, not really disoriented,

> but tired as all

> get out as I did not really sleep the night before.

> I continue to

> sleep off and on until 2p when they finally wake me

> up to take me to

> my room. At one point during this time they give me

> something to

> take and I throw up blood a good few CC's of it. I

> say, " That's not

> good " - then she tells me that it is dark blood from

> the inside of my

> stomach from surgery and it is ok - only if it is

> light red should I

> be concerned.

>

> 2p I am in my room and I just remember my roommate

> and her husband

> watching wrestling on TV and talking really loudly.

> Out again for

> while.

>

> 4p finally shows up, they forgot to tell him

> that they were

> taking me to my room.

>

> 6p leaves, I am pretty sure that I slept

> quite a bit while he

> was there but I don't really remember.

>

> 8p Nurse tries to give me painkillers in sherbet.

> Puke again,

> little more blood. Decide sleep will make this pass

> sooner.

>

> Thank god for catheters and IV's.

>

> I wake up every hour or so through the night to do

> the breathing

> thing. For you pre-ops - make that thing your best

> friend, I cannot

> tell you the difference that it made for me.

>

> Wednesday May 16th

>

> By mid-afternoon I am up walking, catheter out, IV

> gone and they tell

> me that they want me to go home that evening. I

> have a breakdown and

> cry to the nurse and tell her that I can't imagine

> going home at this

> point as I can hardly make it to the bathroom or

> anything. She tells

> me that I have not had pain medication since the day

> before, so if

> she gives me the percoset, then I will be ok. She

> gives me a dose

> and by 5p I am on a 2-lap walk around the floor of

> the hospital on my

> own.

>

> 7p and I leave the hospital to take me home.

> gets me

> home and into bed, makes sure I can get out of bed

> if I have to go

> potty, then he heads off to get my drugs. Actigall,

> painkillers and

> Prevasid along with a thermometer and a pill

> crusher. My friend

> Dharmesh comes over to take care of me for a few

> days, returns,

> they drug me up and heads home for a much

> needed rest.

>

> Thursday May 17th - Saturday May 19th

> Dharmesh stays with me. All in all I feel good, it

> is just slow

> moving, and a little difficult to get around. No

> real pain, just a

> series of cramping here and there in my abdomen. It

> is not really

> the pain that kicks you in the rear, it is the

> fatigue. Naps in the

> afternoon, walks in the hallway of my apartment

> building every day.

> I have been going 1/4 mile from Thursday on.

>

> Sunday May 20th - Monday May 21st

> On my own at home - bending is a bit of a strain,

> eating has been

> interesting trying to come up with new, yet safe

> things to eat. On

> Sunday night I accidentally overeat. I had 1/2 jar

> of baby food

> (Banana Cream Pie - MMMMMM), 1/2 espresso cup of

> pudding and an hour

> later I feel hunger pangs again. So I have 3

> imitation crab legs,

> and whoa daddy.. bad move. I suffer for the next

> few hours while the

> feeling of total " Thanksgiving Day I Wanna Throw Up "

> passes over me.

> I put the bucket next to me and continue to burp for

> 2 hours until

> the feeling finally subsides. I tried really hard

> not to throw up,

> as I did not want to cause my stomach that kind of

> discomfort.

>

> Tuesday - May 22nd

> I am going to hit the shower in about 10 minutes

> then I am going to

> head out of the house for the first time. I am

> gonna take a trip to

> the bank, and then to the grocery store as I have a

> craving for earl

> gray tea and the commercials for Special K's Red

> Berries have been

> calling my name for a few days now.

>

=== message truncated ===

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hi !

Sleeve Only means that I only had the stomach part done lap. My

surgeon was unable to do full DS on me lap due to my weight, and so

we opted to go for just the stomach part first, then in 8 months +

when I have lost a lot of weight and I am at a lower risk, we will

decide if we need to do the second part of the DS with the intestines.

I did not have morphine drip as I did not have the full DS done. I

was really not in a lot of pain, just discomfort.

I think that it is gonna take me a full month to really feel " all

better " , but I don't know.. just kinda playing it by ear now. =)

Thanks for your support and questions. I love being part of this

group.

Lorelei

> Congrats, and thank you so much for the long detail.

> Couple questions... What is " sleeve only " and why in

> gods name didn't you have a morphine drip? But it

> sounds like you came through with flying colors, how

> much do you anticipate the recovery time to be?

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Nan!

I have three cats, so I totally know the boat you are in. I was

really worried about the cats jumping on me and stuff while I slept.

As long as you get enough pillows to keep your feet elevated while

you sleep, and then one extra pillow on your tummy to protect you a

bit, you should be good.

I felt guilty about my friend coming to stay with me from Wednesday

to Saturday. But you have to get to a point where you just say to

yourself.. I need the help, these people are offering.. take them up

on it! It was much easier having someone around and available to me

when I just did not feel like crushing another pill to save my life.

As for the second part of the DS. If I can do this without the

second part, I am gonna do it. If I find that I just can't, I am

fully ready to have the second part done. Although, yes, I have to

just wait and save this decision for later when it is a more

appropriate time to make that decision.

Good luck to you.. use your friends/family help.. they want to help

you, swallow your pride like I did and let em do it! =)

> Thanks, > Lorelei. Glad to hear you are doing well. I

live alone

> > with five cats and have some concern about the post op

phase. I can

> > get my brother the nurse to stay for a time, but I really hate to

suck up

> > his time when he can be earning a living. Tag team helpers might

be a good

> > idea. Do you think you will be going for the switch, or are you

leaving

> > that decision for later?

> >

[Guest guest]

Joe..

Thanks for your kind words. I felt the same way when I was pre-op..

I just wanted someone to tell me exactly what to expect.. even though

I knew that my circumstaces may be a bit different when I finally got

there. I plan on posting at least a mini-update every week, I find

that is easiest for me as I go along here. I am finding it hard to

take pictures at this point and get the website I intended to do up

and running although I can blame this on the fatigue at the moment.

I am interested to see how this two-part deal goes as well. If I can

succeed without it - great, if I can't - great, then I get the second

part done.

I followed your story as well as Joy's before either of you had the

surgery. Your information has been a valuable asset to this group,

and the two of you are glowing examples of silver linings on dark

clouds. You deserve a medal for all you went through.

Thanks again.

Lorelei