Originally posted April 12, 2009
Just a warning, this post is gonna mention some stuff that ain’t the sort of thing one usually talks about in polite company.
Wednesday morning everything was going fine… by about 12:30 they brought me back to change into a gown. Put me in pre-op in this wonderfully flattering paper gown and some compression socks to help prevent blood clots in my legs. And it’s there I lay and wait, and wait, and wait.
Another surgeon had some issues and my surgeon was called in to assist. Wasn’t a bariatric surgery, something unrelated. It was just after 5pm by the time I was actually wheeled to the operating room… and I don’t remember much after that… cept they played air-hockey with me. Well, not really, but there was some pad thing I was on that inflated and .. floated me from the gurney to the operating table.
I have some vague recollections of waking up in my room. Mom was there… I sorta remember coughing, and there was some concern cause there was some blood. It was blood that had gotten in to my new pouch during surgery, so nobody was terribly concerned.
Thursday was very much a blur. That morning they wheeled me to down to xray to check for leaks. They had me stand in front of a digital xray machine and take a couple sips of this… stuff.. and watched as it flowed. It made me very nauseaus… sort of a theme for the next couple days.
I wasn’t in a lot of pain… don’t think I ever got above a 4 on the 0-10 chart. When it got to 3-4 they would inject something in my IV and I would get hit with a wave of nauseua. They tried cutting it back to half-dose and that helped some.
Took a shower that morning as well, changed in my own shorts and tshirt. The rest of the day was just laying around, getting up to walk down the hall and back, sipping water, laying down, getting up to walk down the hall and back, sipping water. You get the idea. I was very much in a fog. Because of the late timing of my surgery, they didn’t want to let me go home Thursday night… so I got to stay over another night.
Friday was pretty much a repeat of Thursday… walk, drink, rest. But when Dr. Johnson checked on me he was concerned because I .. well.. wasn’t farting. I think he actually said passing gas, but same thing. A few taps on my bloated gut sounded like thumping on an over-ripe watermelon. Now, this is the part I warned you about in the opening… I had the joy of getting a supposetory and enema. Happy happy, joy joy.
As pleasant as it was, and as sorry as I felt for my nurse, it worked. See, they pump yer gut full of CO2 to expand your gut and give them room to work in there. If you don’t start farting, that gas just sits in there… and I could feel it every time I tried to draw in a deep breath. I would put a LOT of pressure on my diaphram, making it so I couldn’t draw in a full breath. Overall my breathing was good and clear, I just couldn’t draw in a full breath and it was effecting my O2 level in my blood… and made it hard to cough… and while things ended up fine it was increasing my risk of getting pneumonia or other not-so-fun stuff.
So by Friday afternoon, they had taken me off liquids, cause they didn’t want me swallowing air when I drink (everyone does) and add to the gas problem. Which meant I wasn’t gonna be going home that night.
I still wasn’t in much pain. It was mostly… stiffness… achiness… and I was just overall in a fog.
Saturday morning I started on my liquids again, took another shower, changed clothes, and did the usual walk, rest, drink… and finally about 2pm I got discharged.
It’s Sunday now, and I’m still a bit achey, and a bit foggish, but it’s getting better. I really did not know what to expect here, even with all the reading I’ve done. But I think I’m doing ok. On the plus side, other than one dose they gave me in the hospital, my blood pressure has been fine. They want me to stay off it and will check me out when I got in for my 1-week check on Thursday. I kind of figured as I took off the weight that I would be able to wean off the medicine. Never expected to be off it right away. Hopefully I’ll be able to stay that way.
So, that’s a bit of a summary for the last few days. I just want to say thanks again to all the folks that have been sending me well wishs from Dragon’s Mark, and from Identi.ca. I’ve been slow to get back into a routine of updating folks, but knowing so may folks have had me in their thoughts has been very cool.
For now I’m off to go take a shower, see if that will wake me up a bit then try going for a walk down to the end of the block and back (the short side for now).
