Greetings from the Other Side!!! (LONG/Crosspost)

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I am seven days post op and have been staying at my parent's

house in CT since my release from Mt Sinai Hospital on

Friday. I am feeling OK at the moment so I wanted to take

this chance to thank all of you for your prayers and

wonderfully positive healing thoughts; and my Angels,

Ashford, Jill K and for their terrific and uplifting visits

(either in person or by phone) during my time in the hospital.

And , thank you SO very much for searching out the

peri-bottle for me; it has been a god-send these early days

when my bowels are screaming " What the He** did you DO to

us??? " Of course the nurses at My Sinai kept trying to get me

to drink from it, not having a CLUE as to what it was really

for! LOL! I also had a lovely visit with Alice from Delmar,

NY (we are practically neighbors but had never met except

through the duodenalswitch yahoo group). She was in NYC

for another pre-op consult and dropped in to say Hi.

So, here is my story; I'll try to keep it brief but I know I have

really loved reading everyone's details as a pre-op which

helped me know what to expect. Late, late Friday afternoon

(6/22), my dh got a call from Gordon at Dr Pomp's

office with instructions for me to eat light on Sunday, nothing

to eat of drink after midnight and be at Mt Sinai at 9:00am

Monday Morning (6/25) for an 11:00am scheduled surgery

time. Of course, by the time I got home from work and he

relayed the message, there was no time to ask my big question

as to whether I had to do anything special to clean out my

bowels the day before; the office was closed.

So Sunday came and we spent a glorious afternoon at a catered

beach picnic – I had beef chicken and shrimp shish-kebobs

with grilled zucchini and summer squash, and a piece of cake

and a white chocolate/macadamia nut cookie. I could have

eaten a lot more, but I stopped at about 3:00pm. For dinner I

had nearly a quart of chicken broth around 8:00pm while

everyone else had kielbasa and steak on the grill.

Monday morning, my big day, we woke up around 5:15am and

drove to NYC for my 9:00am arrival time expecting loads of

rush hour traffic. But it was all quite manageable and even

after missing our exit and making a wrong turn in Central Park,

my dh and I found our way to the Mt Sinai Parking garage and

Room 400 – Pre-Surgical Check-in with 15 minutes to spare.

We waited in that room until about 10:30am when I was taken

to a shared room with curtins between the beds and 2 hospital

recliners in my section. Took a seat on the recliners while a

nice woman named Remi got some last minute info from me.

She showed me the day's surgical schedule and I was clearly

marked for arrival time at 10:30am with a 12:30pm scheduled

surgery time. While we definitely could have used the extra 90

minutes of sleep, it was good to see they were at least on time

with their own schedule. She had me change into my hospital

gown while I waited to be called into surgery prep…good

news, the gown was plenty big enough and even overlapped a

good 12-15 inches in the back so I didn't need the 2nd gown she

had brought.

Remi came back at about Noon and said it looked like there

would be a delay, the surgery before me was taking a bit longer

than anticipated. I asked if it would be possible to find a room

with an open bed so I could get more comfortable than in the

recliner chair. She came back and took us to a private room

that had opened up with a bed for me and a recliner for my dh.

I layed down and tried to relax, even slept a bit!

Someone came to get me around 2:15pm and took me to the

surgical prep place which also had the recovery area adjoining.

I had to say goodbye to my dh and then sat in a recliner to wait

for a bit. Before too long, a young woman came by and

introduced herself as my anesthesiologist. She asked me some

questions as to whether I had previous reactions to anesthesia

or family history of reactions. No, and no; though the last time

I was under general anesthesia I was at 185 lbs (considerably

lighter!).

I told her I had brought my CPAP machine and she

took it and stowed it in the nurses station so they could use it

when I was in Recovery. She did explain that because of my

size and history of apnea that they might try to intubate me

before they `put me under' so my airway would be less likely

to collapse. She said it would probably be somewhat

uncomfortable but much safer for me. While I was pretty

much dreading this thought, I said " Do what you have to do –

you're the boss. "

And with that, Dr. Pomp arrived, chiming in that she was the

boss of the anesthesia but he was the boss of the surgery.

" Wouldn't you like a nice, simple, laparoscopic tube

gastrectomy today and get in and out in two days and then

come back in six months for the duodenal switch procedure? "

I replied that with all that I had been through in getting

insurance approval and everything else, that I felt really

strongly about just getting it over with – ALL at the same time.

If that meant he needed to do the surgery Open, then so be it.

He said if it were him, he would want to get it over with too.

So he had me sign the consent forms in which he described the

procedure as an Open BPD/DS, but Laparoscopic if possible.

By this time it was 2:45pm and I knew he had been in surgery

pretty much straight since 8:00am. I asked him how he was

feeling, was he up to this? He said, in his slight French-

Canadian accent " Baby, I'm ready to Rock and Roll! "

A few minutes later I used the bathroom one last time and then

walked with the anesthesiologist to the Operating Room where

they helped me climb onto the Operating table (sort of

reminded me of a crucifix, with panels to support outstretched

arms). While I centered my body on the table, the

anesthesiologist started an IV and several other OR techs fitted

my lower legs with those pressurized cuff things to keep my

legs from filling with fluid. I saw Dr Pomp working at a

computer in the corner of the room.

The anesthesiologist kept spraying my mouth with some yucky

numbing stuff, telling me to swallow, swallow. She consulted

with an older gentleman and they both asked me at separate

times to open my mouth as wide as I could to look at my air

passage. She said she though they should intubate BEFORE

general but he seemed to think it would be OK to wait until

after. Experience RULES! I didn't have to endure the

intubation in a conscious state! I looked over at the clock, it

was 3:15pm, and that was the last thing I remember from the

old side.

I woke up in Recovery and remember having my CPAP

headgear put on me. They said my oxygen levels were still too

low and they wanted to switch me over to their machine

because they could add extra O2. I asked if I could use my

headgear with their machine (I prefer the nasal pillows to the

mask units). They were able to make that work. I vaguely

remember just a few things. I asked if Dr Pomp did it Lap or

Open, I was told it was Lap. My dh told me he received my

room assignment and telephone number and he was in the

process of calling family and Angels with the info.

When they were getting ready to wheel me to my room my dh

said he would go to our car and get my pillows from home and

meet me in my room. But I didn't see him again until about

10:00 the next morning. Didn't matter, though because I was

pretty out of it. Turns out the time he was returning with the

pillows was nearly midnight and the guard at the front gate

wouldn't let him in! He said he could have probably protested

more, but he knew I was safe and just figured he should get

some sleep in his $175/night Sinai Residence room! He came

up after he checked out the next morning.

So I was very lucky to have a Private room on the 8th floor

(Center?). My Dear, Dear Husband stayed in my room with

me from Tuesday on. He had a recliner to sleep on, but a nice

day nurse named Spencer got a fold-away bed for him which

he kept in the corner during the day. He helped me do laps

around the floor, checked to see if I was OK in the bathroom

and fetched whatever I needed. He ordered Chinese food for

dinner every night – I thought the smells might bother me but

they didn't at all. I never needed to hire a companion or

Private Duty Nurse and was SO lucky he was able to stay with

me and he never complained, even once. I was up and walking

just a bit the next day, on Tuesday. I was getting Morphine

every 6 minutes by PCA pump – yes the little red button was

my FRIEND! I still had the foley catheter and a JP drain.

During the afternoon on Tuesday they brought me downstairs

to do a leak test. I had to drink 2 Dixie cups of stuff; tasted

terrible, but wasn't as thick and chalky as I expected. They x-

rayed the stuff going through me and let my dh watch with

them so he kept reporting back to me what they were saying.

When the test was done, they wheeled me out to a waiting area.

My belly area was feeling rather sore so as my dh and I waited

for the transport to take me back to the room, I continued to

push the little red button. I started feeling a bit drowsy and my

dh was feigning mock-insult that I was " falling asleep on

him " but when he was sure transport was on the way he said he had

to hit the men's room and would meet me back in my room. I

decided to take the opportunity to nap awhile.

The next thing I knew there were six doctors around me saying

I gave them quite a scare. I was in the ER and they were

giving me NarCan (sp?) to counteract my drug overdose.

Guess when they were prepping me to go for the leak test,

someone hung a bag of pain meds and started it into my IV

drip, but no one disabled or adjusted the morphine PCA, so I

was getting both! I went to sleep and stopped breathing with

my apnea and my blood O2 level got so low my fingernails and

lips turned blue! So, when the NarCan kicked in I could feel

myself waking up and all the pain come back to me at once; it

was really lousy – and they took away the morphine altogether.

They would alternate between shots of Demerol (which gave

me headaches) and Torodol by IV. The only problem was that

with these, they wouldn't just put me on an automatic dosing

schedule. I had to ask the nurses when I was actually feeling

pain and they still wouldn't give me a dose unless I was

" due " and only then if they weren't busy with other

patients. By then the pain was pretty intense and the dosage

didn't seem to be as effective. Sheesh, I always felt like this

pathetic junkie begging for my next hit! So while I can understand

why they were being conservative, given my little OD incident, I

would have to rate my pain as usually moderate to intense even

though I ONLY had a Lap procedure. God Bless you folks who have

endured Open procedures!

So, when my leak test cleared I was put on clear liquids, only

to have them taken away again when I spiked a 102 fever for

12 hours. I think they also said my potassium level was off? I

believe it was Wednesday when I was put on clear liquids

again and then " Stage 2 " (aka pureed everything) on Thursday.

I was released Friday.

I returned to my parent's house in CT on Friday, the 2 hour

drive made me nauseous but it seemed to go fairly quick.

Tried to eat a few spoons of tuna and some milk, but it came

right back up on me. Just slept a lot. Every day I feel a little

bit better. I am able to eat a decent amount of protein at meals,

but not yet a full 3 oz serving plus maybe a half cup of milk I

need to sip with my somewhat dry protein sources (tuna,

broiled chicken breast, ground beef (all grease sopped away

with a paper towel). Don't want to tempt fate by starting too

many fats too soon. Have absolutely no room for much more

than my protein and water/sugar free liquids. Tonight I might

try some grilled salmon! I have not vomited since Friday

(twice) though the nausea and discomfort has been present,

though less, every day since then.

I still have not found a good protein drink which I know I will

have to begin supplementing soon as the nutritionist wants me

to shoot for 80-100 gms/day due to my 6 foot height. I will

sample a few single serving sizes before choosing which to buy

cases/large cans of.

All in all, I'm OK. Would I recommend it? While I don't

have my weight loss to substantiate it yet, but if that proves out

and you are serious about doing something permanent to improve

your health, go for it! It is definitely a tough row to hoe, even

laparoscopically, for the first few weeks…and it hurts like

he**!! But I just took a leisurely 20 minute walk with my 6 year old

daughter on this absolutely gorgeous day and realized that a

miracle has taken place. For this I am truly thankful!

[Guest guest]

Great Post, Terri! I'm so happy for you. It was great to see you on Wednesday

too! Hope to hear you're feeling better every day.

Fondly, Alice from Delmar

[Guest guest]

Dear Terri,

Am so glad you are resting at your parent's house in Ct. I am so sorry we

couldn't meet in the hospital. Everytime I wanted to sneak down the elevator

someone saw me. Only kidding. Hope you know that you were in my thoughts and

prayers everyday. from Philly and I always thought about you and

wished we could go down and visit. Hope to hear from you real soon.

Meanwhile, I too am at my parent's home resting. Our apartment building's

elevator is being repaired and we won't be going home until the end of July.

Can't believe it would take that long to fix it. Anyway, I certainly don't

think it is a great idea for me to climb four flights of stairs. I am just so

appreciative that we had a place to go.

Well I have to say the care given to both and I at Mt. Sinai was

very good and having a companion at night certainly helped.

I have an appt. with Dr. Gagner on July 25 and hopefully he will be as

pleased as he was after my procedure. and my parents said he was

beaming and said that it couldn't have gone any better. I am so relieved.

Talk to you soon,

Terry

[Guest guest]

terry

hope all went well for u sorry i have not writting been stuggling with nausea and daily survival good luck

karen

[Guest guest]

Glad to hear you are doing good...nice description and may you have

an uneventful, full weight loss

dan berman:

> Hi Everyone,

>

> I am seven days post op and have been staying at my parent's

> house in CT since my release from Mt Sinai Hospital on

> Friday. I am feeling OK at the moment so I wanted to take

> this chance to thank all of you for your prayers and

> wonderfully positive healing thoughts; and my Angels,

> Ashford, Jill K and for their terrific and uplifting visits

> (either in person or by phone) during my time in the hospital.

>

> And , thank you SO very much for searching out the

> peri-bottle for me; it has been a god-send these early days

> when my bowels are screaming " What the He** did you DO to

> us??? " Of course the nurses at My Sinai kept trying to get me

> to drink from it, not having a CLUE as to what it was really

> for! LOL! I also had a lovely visit with Alice from Delmar,

> NY (we are practically neighbors but had never met except

> through the duodenalswitch yahoo group). She was in NYC

> for another pre-op consult and dropped in to say Hi.

>

> So, here is my story; I'll try to keep it brief but I know I have

> really loved reading everyone's details as a pre-op which

> helped me know what to expect. Late, late Friday afternoon

> (6/22), my dh got a call from Gordon at Dr Pomp's

> office with instructions for me to eat light on Sunday, nothing

> to eat of drink after midnight and be at Mt Sinai at 9:00am

> Monday Morning (6/25) for an 11:00am scheduled surgery

> time. Of course, by the time I got home from work and he

> relayed the message, there was no time to ask my big question

> as to whether I had to do anything special to clean out my

> bowels the day before; the office was closed.

>

> So Sunday came and we spent a glorious afternoon at a catered

> beach picnic – I had beef chicken and shrimp shish-kebobs

> with grilled zucchini and summer squash, and a piece of cake

> and a white chocolate/macadamia nut cookie. I could have

> eaten a lot more, but I stopped at about 3:00pm. For dinner I

> had nearly a quart of chicken broth around 8:00pm while

> everyone else had kielbasa and steak on the grill.

>

> Monday morning, my big day, we woke up around 5:15am and

> drove to NYC for my 9:00am arrival time expecting loads of

> rush hour traffic. But it was all quite manageable and even

> after missing our exit and making a wrong turn in Central Park,

> my dh and I found our way to the Mt Sinai Parking garage and

> Room 400 – Pre-Surgical Check-in with 15 minutes to spare.

>

> We waited in that room until about 10:30am when I was taken

> to a shared room with curtins between the beds and 2 hospital

> recliners in my section. Took a seat on the recliners while a

> nice woman named Remi got some last minute info from me.

> She showed me the day's surgical schedule and I was clearly

> marked for arrival time at 10:30am with a 12:30pm scheduled

> surgery time. While we definitely could have used the extra 90

> minutes of sleep, it was good to see they were at least on time

> with their own schedule. She had me change into my hospital

> gown while I waited to be called into surgery prep…good

> news, the gown was plenty big enough and even overlapped a

> good 12-15 inches in the back so I didn't need the 2nd gown she

> had brought.

>

> Remi came back at about Noon and said it looked like there

> would be a delay, the surgery before me was taking a bit longer

> than anticipated. I asked if it would be possible to find a room

> with an open bed so I could get more comfortable than in the

> recliner chair. She came back and took us to a private room

> that had opened up with a bed for me and a recliner for my dh.

> I layed down and tried to relax, even slept a bit!

>

> Someone came to get me around 2:15pm and took me to the

> surgical prep place which also had the recovery area adjoining.

> I had to say goodbye to my dh and then sat in a recliner to wait

> for a bit. Before too long, a young woman came by and

> introduced herself as my anesthesiologist. She asked me some

> questions as to whether I had previous reactions to anesthesia

> or family history of reactions. No, and no; though the last time

> I was under general anesthesia I was at 185 lbs (considerably

> lighter!).

>

> I told her I had brought my CPAP machine and she

> took it and stowed it in the nurses station so they could use it

> when I was in Recovery. She did explain that because of my

> size and history of apnea that they might try to intubate me

> before they `put me under' so my airway would be less likely

> to collapse. She said it would probably be somewhat

> uncomfortable but much safer for me. While I was pretty

> much dreading this thought, I said " Do what you have to do –

> you're the boss. "

>

> And with that, Dr. Pomp arrived, chiming in that she was the

> boss of the anesthesia but he was the boss of the surgery.

> " Wouldn't you like a nice, simple, laparoscopic tube

> gastrectomy today and get in and out in two days and then

> come back in six months for the duodenal switch procedure? "

> I replied that with all that I had been through in getting

> insurance approval and everything else, that I felt really

> strongly about just getting it over with – ALL at the same time.

> If that meant he needed to do the surgery Open, then so be it.

> He said if it were him, he would want to get it over with too.

> So he had me sign the consent forms in which he described the

> procedure as an Open BPD/DS, but Laparoscopic if possible.

> By this time it was 2:45pm and I knew he had been in surgery

> pretty much straight since 8:00am. I asked him how he was

> feeling, was he up to this? He said, in his slight French-

> Canadian accent " Baby, I'm ready to Rock and Roll! "

>

> A few minutes later I used the bathroom one last time and then

> walked with the anesthesiologist to the Operating Room where

> they helped me climb onto the Operating table (sort of

> reminded me of a crucifix, with panels to support outstretched

> arms). While I centered my body on the table, the

> anesthesiologist started an IV and several other OR techs fitted

> my lower legs with those pressurized cuff things to keep my

> legs from filling with fluid. I saw Dr Pomp working at a

> computer in the corner of the room.

>

> The anesthesiologist kept spraying my mouth with some yucky

> numbing stuff, telling me to swallow, swallow. She consulted

> with an older gentleman and they both asked me at separate

> times to open my mouth as wide as I could to look at my air

> passage. She said she though they should intubate BEFORE

> general but he seemed to think it would be OK to wait until

> after. Experience RULES! I didn't have to endure the

> intubation in a conscious state! I looked over at the clock, it

> was 3:15pm, and that was the last thing I remember from the

> old side.

>

> I woke up in Recovery and remember having my CPAP

> headgear put on me. They said my oxygen levels were still too

> low and they wanted to switch me over to their machine

> because they could add extra O2. I asked if I could use my

> headgear with their machine (I prefer the nasal pillows to the

> mask units). They were able to make that work. I vaguely

> remember just a few things. I asked if Dr Pomp did it Lap or

> Open, I was told it was Lap. My dh told me he received my

> room assignment and telephone number and he was in the

> process of calling family and Angels with the info.

>

> When they were getting ready to wheel me to my room my dh

> said he would go to our car and get my pillows from home and

> meet me in my room. But I didn't see him again until about

> 10:00 the next morning. Didn't matter, though because I was

> pretty out of it. Turns out the time he was returning with the

> pillows was nearly midnight and the guard at the front gate

> wouldn't let him in! He said he could have probably protested

> more, but he knew I was safe and just figured he should get

> some sleep in his $175/night Sinai Residence room! He came

> up after he checked out the next morning.

>

> So I was very lucky to have a Private room on the 8th floor

> (Center?). My Dear, Dear Husband stayed in my room with

> me from Tuesday on. He had a recliner to sleep on, but a nice

> day nurse named Spencer got a fold-away bed for him which

> he kept in the corner during the day. He helped me do laps

> around the floor, checked to see if I was OK in the bathroom

> and fetched whatever I needed. He ordered Chinese food for

> dinner every night – I thought the smells might bother me but

> they didn't at all. I never needed to hire a companion or

> Private Duty Nurse and was SO lucky he was able to stay with

> me and he never complained, even once. I was up and walking

> just a bit the next day, on Tuesday. I was getting Morphine

> every 6 minutes by PCA pump – yes the little red button was

> my FRIEND! I still had the foley catheter and a JP drain.

>

> During the afternoon on Tuesday they brought me downstairs

> to do a leak test. I had to drink 2 Dixie cups of stuff; tasted

> terrible, but wasn't as thick and chalky as I expected. They x-

> rayed the stuff going through me and let my dh watch with

> them so he kept reporting back to me what they were saying.

> When the test was done, they wheeled me out to a waiting area.

> My belly area was feeling rather sore so as my dh and I waited

> for the transport to take me back to the room, I continued to

> push the little red button. I started feeling a bit drowsy and my

> dh was feigning mock-insult that I was " falling asleep on

> him " but when he was sure transport was on the way he said he had

> to hit the men's room and would meet me back in my room. I

> decided to take the opportunity to nap awhile.

>

> The next thing I knew there were six doctors around me saying

> I gave them quite a scare. I was in the ER and they were

> giving me NarCan (sp?) to counteract my drug overdose.

> Guess when they were prepping me to go for the leak test,

> someone hung a bag of pain meds and started it into my IV

> drip, but no one disabled or adjusted the morphine PCA, so I

> was getting both! I went to sleep and stopped breathing with

> my apnea and my blood O2 level got so low my fingernails and

> lips turned blue! So, when the NarCan kicked in I could feel

> myself waking up and all the pain come back to me at once; it

> was really lousy – and they took away the morphine altogether.

>

> They would alternate between shots of Demerol (which gave

> me headaches) and Torodol by IV. The only problem was that

> with these, they wouldn't just put me on an automatic dosing

> schedule. I had to ask the nurses when I was actually feeling

> pain and they still wouldn't give me a dose unless I was

> " due " and only then if they weren't busy with other

> patients. By then the pain was pretty intense and the dosage

> didn't seem to be as effective. Sheesh, I always felt like this

> pathetic junkie begging for my next hit! So while I can understand

> why they were being conservative, given my little OD incident, I

> would have to rate my pain as usually moderate to intense even

> though I ONLY had a Lap procedure. God Bless you folks who have

> endured Open procedures!

>

> So, when my leak test cleared I was put on clear liquids, only

> to have them taken away again when I spiked a 102 fever for

> 12 hours. I think they also said my potassium level was off? I

> believe it was Wednesday when I was put on clear liquids

> again and then " Stage 2 " (aka pureed everything) on Thursday.

> I was released Friday.

>

> I returned to my parent's house in CT on Friday, the 2 hour

> drive made me nauseous but it seemed to go fairly quick.

> Tried to eat a few spoons of tuna and some milk, but it came

> right back up on me. Just slept a lot. Every day I feel a little

> bit better. I am able to eat a decent amount of protein at meals,

> but not yet a full 3 oz serving plus maybe a half cup of milk I

> need to sip with my somewhat dry protein sources (tuna,

> broiled chicken breast, ground beef (all grease sopped away

> with a paper towel). Don't want to tempt fate by starting too

> many fats too soon. Have absolutely no room for much more

> than my protein and water/sugar free liquids. Tonight I might

> try some grilled salmon! I have not vomited since Friday

> (twice) though the nausea and discomfort has been present,

> though less, every day since then.

>

> I still have not found a good protein drink which I know I will

> have to begin supplementing soon as the nutritionist wants me

> to shoot for 80-100 gms/day due to my 6 foot height. I will

> sample a few single serving sizes before choosing which to buy

> cases/large cans of.

>

> All in all, I'm OK. Would I recommend it? While I don't

> have my weight loss to substantiate it yet, but if that proves out

> and you are serious about doing something permanent to improve

> your health, go for it! It is definitely a tough row to hoe, even

> laparoscopically, for the first few weeks…and it hurts like

> he**!! But I just took a leisurely 20 minute walk with my 6 year

old

> daughter on this absolutely gorgeous day and realized that a

> miracle has taken place. For this I am truly thankful!

[Guest guest]

Wow Teri! I'm speechless! Thanks so much for sharing. I too will be having Lap with Dr. Pomp on 7-18. Also feeling a bit nervous. Will definitely remind someone to make sure they d/c my meds b4 adding another. Thank God you are alright. May your condition continue to improve, Sincerely Rose. P>S I also need an angel

[Guest guest]

Terri,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I'm going in september

and now it seems like its getting closer and closer! I'll pray that

you continue to heal and do well as each day passes.

All the best

M

> Hi Everyone,

>

> I am seven days post op and have been staying at my parent's

> house in CT since my release from Mt Sinai Hospital on

> Friday. I am feeling OK at the moment so I wanted to take

> this chance to thank all of you for your prayers and

> wonderfully positive healing thoughts; and my Angels,

> Ashford, Jill K and for their terrific and uplifting visits