Not what I expected

Or maybe I'm just a big wuss when it comes to pain.

My surgery was on Monday and the surgeon said it went pretty much by the book and there were no complications.  I was really nervous going into surgery but as soon as they got me into the OR suite they gave me meds to relax me and then a mask over my face and I was out.  I don't remember too much from the recovery room but my first vivid memories are those of crying in pain as they were transporting me from the recovery room to my hospital room because every time they hit a bump it hurt terribly.  I remember thinking it wasn't supposed to hurt that bad, no one really said the pain was that bad.  Oh but it was...

I slept quite a bit on Monday but I remember my husband coming to my bedside and I told him even though I was sleeping I didn't want him to leave.  They had me hooked up to a PCA pump and I could push the button for pain meds through my IV whenever I needed to and I did that pretty much whenever I was awake.  I had a foley catheter in my bladder so I didn't need to get up to use the bathroom but I did ring for the nurse to help me stand up at the bedside sometime in the middle of the night just because I needed to get out of bed.  It was tough but I needed to stand up after laying for almost 24 hours.  The hospital had me in an inflatable bariatric bed that was super comfortable to sleep in but absolute HELL to get in and out of.  It sat too high up off the ground and needed to be deflated for my feet to even come close to the ground to stand, and it was impossible to use my arms to push myself up to get to an upright position. Not to mention that once they pulled that bladder catheter I needed to pee when I needed to pee and if no one came to deflate the bed it was hard to get out.  Needless to say my last night in the hospital I slept in a high back chair, which was fine, too.

The pain medicine and the pain itself frequently made me nauseous and they were giving me IV nausea meds as well.  I decided to wean myself back on the IV pain meds which was a bad idea because while the nausea from the pain meds improved the pain skyrocketed until I was in tears not knowing what to do.  I was miserable all day on Tuesday.  I did walk with physical therapy on Tuesday, it's the last thing I felt like doing but I knew I had to do it.  I had to go for a swallow test on Tuesday morning where they make you drink this vile, bitter, syrup like contrast material so they can see if there are any leaks.  It literally left a bad taste in my mouth for half the day afterward it was so gross.  At least there were no leaks so I could start drinking clear liquids Tuesday instead of just swabbing out my mouth.

On Wednesday they had me up walking even more and changed me to oral pain meds which seemed to help.  I was drinking more and didn't have to deal with the nausea as much, and if I did it was tolerable or at least manageable with a protonix pill that helped reduce acid in my stomach.  I felt a little better on Wednesday so I had a feeling every passing day was going to see me feeling better, even if only a little bit.  Dr. Garza decided that I needed to stay over night one more night in the hospital and really concentrate on getting more fluids in and make sure that the nausea was going to be OK.

I walked a lot on Wednesday and Thursday.   Danny spent time with me and  the kids came for a visit Wednesday night.  Paige stayed home from school Wednesday because she hadn't seen me Tuesday night as planned, and basically had a melt down before school.  She was fine after she got to see me Wednesday night.  I guess I didn't really think about how this was going to affect everyone in my life, even though I did it for me.  In the long run it will be worth, but right now it sucks!

They turned down my IV fluids and let me drink all I could on Thursday and by Thursday evening Dr. Garza said I could go home.  I follow up with him on Tuesday morning in the office.

I still have a lot of pain and I am needing my oral pain meds every 4 hours.  I am beginning to think I just have a low pain tolerance because I really don't remember reading much in blogs or forum posts about how bad the post-op pain is.  I can honestly say the amount of pain I've had post-op took me off guard.  He did take my gallbladder out too, which I guess contributes to the pain after surgery, but holy cow, I didn't think it would be quite this bad.  He did leave an open incision in my side that the stapler passed through and the visiting nurses come once per day to pack and re-dress it.  I hate that part, it is painful and gross and I can't even really watch...gross!  It sounds like that will take about 2-3 weeks to heal.  I guess I don't understand why this incision is left open, I know he said he does it for infection control purposes but it seems so barbaric to me and I really haven't heard of other surgeons doing that.  I guess as long as it heals well that is all I ask.

I came home Thursday evening to a super clean house and all my laundry run through, thanks to Tori.  She had been busy all day to make it look nice.  That was so sweet of her.  I basically set up my "place" in my bedroom.  I have my bed and a hard straight back chair from the kitchen and a recliner.  Danny has been sleeping in the recliner so he can help me if needed.  I can really only sleep on my back if I lay down very carefully and even then I only sleep for 3 hours maximum before the gas pain or internal pain wakes me up.  Then I usually walk the upstairs hallways for a while until it is time to take more pain medicine.  The gas that rolls around in my stomach is audible to anyone within a 6 foot radius of me and I have been having some loose stools every day which is how I expel the gas.  Gross I know, but the surgeon said that is all normal at this point.  My intestines are swollen and are not going to be acting like they should.

I am so thankful I took off work the amount of time I did, and I may tack another weekend on there if I need to for recovery.  I know I am not going to recover as soon as I thought I would but I am just taking it one day at a time and taking baby steps hoping for little improvements every day.

I got my period yesterday, too, it's been great fun managing that.  Great timing!  I can't bend at the waist  because of pain so if I drop anything it just stays on the floor for someone else to get.  I can't reach the floor to get dressed and pull my pants up, so I need help from my husband for that.  It's been a humbling experience, to rely on someone for even the most basic of needs.  I said I was going to write a book called "The joys of trying to get a pad into your underwear after abdominal surgery and other hilaroties post gastric bypass."  It's been a journey and it's far from over. 

That is all I can think of for now, I'm sure there is much more and I will post as I think of them.  I didn't weigh in last week Thursday because I was still in the hospital, I guess I will see what I weigh at Dr. Garza's office on Tuesday and then I'll be back to my own Thursday weigh ins again.

OH...one other fun thing!  I am going to cut my hair short and dye it blond before I go back to work.  I have decided to do something radical!!!