Re: CATHETER? Judi

[Guest guest]

> If I need it fine. But if I don't thats BETTER.

> I'm sure I'll have plenty to think about after the 26th

> with porthole dicomfort,tummy discomfort,reflux

> discomfort,.....I have to feep a few orifices problem

> free. Thx for the update, great news

> Lv Judi in Fla

I had virtually no pain from the trocar holes. After about

2-3 days, I had some intense itching that turned

out to be more from the adhesive in the bandages than from

the actual incisions. I actually got some raw skin from that

adhesive. I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to latex and the

adhesive has latex in it. Getting rid of the bandages and

getting bandaids helped a lot. By day 7, when I took the

staples out, the staples were getting pretty annoying, too.

Be sure to ask the nurse for a staple remover before you leave

if you are going to take your staples out yourself (it's easy

to do).

The gas pains go away pretty fast, especially if you keep the

head of your bed raised and make a real effort to

burp and pass gas (you're alone, it's okay...) that first

day in the hospital. Keeping your head raised lets the

gas go up and out and keeps the pressure off your incisions.

Unlike Trish, I had *no* trouble sleeping during the day and

night of my surgery (I guess my nurse didn't think I was

precious enough . . . lol!)

Sleeping is what I did as much as possible after surgery

for the first 6-10 hours to make the time pass quickly and

not feel the gas pains. Whenever I woke up, I got up

and walked " around the block " (the hallway is a big square

over in the pediatric section where I was), visited with

one or two of the other MGB patients, went back to my room,

got a pain shot (I preferred a shot of demeral and phenergan

to the pain pump), talked on the phone for a few minutes,

read a little or listened to tapes, and went back to sleep.

Walking caused me no pain whatsover, I just felt a little

lazy and unmotivated to do it at first.

I didn't have any reflux at all and I don't know why you would

have reflux after the surgery. Your stomach is much smaller,

and you aren't eating much of anything, so there's nothing much

to come up.

I got a lot of bile and excess liquid from Actigall, but you

don't take that until a week or so after the surgery. My

mistake was taking Actigall on an empty stomach (never do that).

When I did finally eat something about an hour later,

it made me barf something terrible and I had a *lot* of bile

and nasty liquids coming up. I did that on two other

occasions, with the same result so I'm sure it was from taking

Actigall on an empty stomach. You won't have to worry about

that in the hospital or the first week. Also, the first month,

you are taking Carafate, which coats the stomach and pretty

well keeps your stomach tame, though it doesn't taste very good.

I hope your whole MGB experience goes as smoothly as silk!

Hugs!