Two days post surgery and I am surviving

Ok here is the real truth about my lap band surgery. I am not feeling terrific so this description will be a bit clinical, but hopefully will give others info about what this involves and let my friends and family know what is going on (the phone is not my friend when I don't feel well).

Big drama before surgery was that my mammogram had a suspicous area that warranted spot mammography and ultrasound and almost delayed my surgery. Fortunately, it was a cyst they think recently enlarged because I started bio-identical hormones 6 months ago. Geez...finally got the all clear for surgery at 4pm on Friday. Whew.

It is Wednesday afternoon and I had my surgery done at 7:45 on Monday am by Dr. Traul and Eaton at RVMC. Did really well on the pre-op liquid diet and lost at least 10 lbs according to the weigh in the morning of surgery. Was not really nervous going into this. Mike was there the whole time and Jess was in my room when I arrived. Pre-op at RVMC was excellent. I am an IV nightmare (last ER visit a few years ago took 5 attempts before success) so warned them to get their best person to do they IV which they did thankfully so no problems there (props to 40 year veteran nurse Iris...you rock). Read a book until the relaxing shot kicked in and off I went. Made a faux pas when I asked who the anesthesiologist was and he told me and I said "but I requested Dr. Hall and you are not him". He was nice and treated me well. Recovery room stay was longer than expected and felt pretty awful but made it to the room at 10:30am. The anesthesiologist used a smaller intubation tube after learning that I was an opera singer (thank you). Biggest complaint after surgery was definitely cotton mouth. I am a huge water drinker and could not have but 30 mil of water every 15 minutes...dying for water. Then, that night my IV hand started swelling and burning which meant I had to get a new IV (infiltrated out of the vein) and no one was around that was willing to attempt a new IV with my history. They finally got a CCU nurse at 2am to come do it but it was put in my right arm (elbow) so that everytime I bent my arm the IV buzzer went off! Nothing is easy. Poor Mike spent the night between two chairs (I love him so much) and helped me through everything waking me up every 15 min to drink. We managed to get a few hours of sleep but between every 2 to 4 hour nurse visits and my IV buzzing, it was a sleepless night. Found out late in the day Monday that I could get morphine every hour (dang...nice to learn that 12 hours post op!) Did that frequently but could not stand the wiped out feelings so gave up morphine on Tues am. They give you two antibiotic IV treatments these days to fight off infection so hopefully that all went well despite the IV issues. Tuesday am slept a bunch...Dr. Traul came in and said all went well. I have 5 incisions on my abdomen at 12 o'clock, 2, 10 and 6 and then one on the bottom of my left rib cage. I asked about that one because being a PT made me question the location. Apparently they "blow up" your belly with gas to do the surgery and that is the last incision made to expel the gas. Have no external stitches...just internal dissovable stitches and steri-strips that will fall off in a week or so.

Big post surgery issue is the after effects of the gas in your abdomen...no way to rid that except walking and movement which aint easy. Sort of feels like a big weight on your chest and uncomfortable pressure. Once they made sure I could swallow well I left the hospital and walked out (no more wheel chairs these days) and got home at 1:30pm on Tuesday. First challange was our amazing tempur-pedic bed. We love it but it is not good for post op abdominal surgery. Thankfully Luke's bed is hard and low to the ground so that is my new spot until my stomach incisions heal and I can get up and down from a lying position easily. Finding that I can drink lots of water thankfully and have only had a few uncomfortable stomach sensations. Not sure what is what yet so I look forward to understanding all of that. Had the energy to make and liquefy my favorite soups before surgery so my diet is fine. Have to get 50 to 70 grams of protein a day which is easy to do with all the choices these days of flavored and unflavored protein (but less than 5 carbs and no sugars).

So, today I am home alone and doing fine. I thought I would need folks to check on me but I think I am going to be ok and I am miserable company so would just as soon be left alone. Jessica left for LA this morning after being home a month. I cried and Hanna hooted (her version of crying I think...so pitiful...sounds like a howl/hoot..so sweet). Hard to Jessica go after such a long visit.

Emotionally I am wiped. Have had a few moments of feeling "oh my gosh what have I done and did I really need to do this to lose weight?". This is no cake walk for sure and is major surgery. So far so good and I pray things continue to go well. Thanks for the prayers and good wishes.