my surgery was 3/5/04

[Guest guest]

i am a 43 year old woman. i weighed 357 before surgery... i've lost

33 pounds (probably more - that was the data from a week ago)

i had my surgery 4 weeks ago. mine is a bit strange because i had 2

stomach staplings done (in 1989, and 1991)... THEY NEVER WORKED. i

initially lost about 60 pounds each time and then gained it back.

i started having so many problems about a year ago - i started

trying to get approved for a bypass... but it was a big problem

because of my previous surgeries.

to make a long story short(er) - i was finally approved for

the " revision " - change to roux n y (spelling?).

because of my prior surgeries a laproscopic surgery was out of the

question... so i had a HUGE open proceedure. i was in surgery for

7.5 hours (the first 5.5 hours were spent removing scar tissue). i

was in ICU for a day and in the hospital for 8 days. i watched the

laproscopic patients going home after 2 days. i needed a blood

transfusion because of all the blood i lost in the looooong surgery.

so i get home and am trying to get help and sympathy from my husband

and kids (good luck) and am in HUGE pain... then a week later my

incision (huge - from my chest to my belly button) EXPLODES with

this toxic oooooze (it was so gross - tons of fluid came gushing out

of my belly). so the doctor orders a visiting nurse to come every

day and irrigate the wound... i have to change the bandage every few

hours... it's soooooo gross.

anyway, i'm depressed because my husband is being mean to me... i

think he thinks i did this to get pretty and leave him.... WHERE THE

HELL DID HE GET THAT IDEA FROM? i'm also depressed because my tummy

hurts... not inside... all that is OK... but the wound that is still

ooozing (YUCK).

i'm almost never hungry. i drink crystal lite and water all day. i

eat when i think about it. cottage cheese feels good. some

strained soups (i add some soft tofu for protein)... i can't do the

protein drinks - they taste like poop. i have sugar free popsicles

when i think about it. a bit of sugar free jello. i tried a soft

scrambled egg and hated it. i had a few tablespoons of fat free

refried beans with a bit of melted cheese and some water to make it

a bit soupy... that was good. i had some string cheese the other

day and liked it. all my " plumbing " is working fine, it's just this

darn incision wound that has me down.

i'm depressed. i feel alone. i miss food... i used to drown my

sorrow in a big bag of cheetoes when i felt like this.