July 16, 2004
In the beginning
I realize that many people who are researching weight loss surgery have questions about life in the few months after surgery, and then a few years after surgery. As best as I can remember, I'll try to talk about my first experiences.
I started a post very early this morning. I had planned on writing about what my life was like in the first few weeks after surgery. After an hour of writing, I realized that I hadn't even begun to make a dent. So, rather than tackle it all in one post, I start from the beginning.
Waking in recovery:
I was in no pain and I panicked. I had heard stories about surgeries that were stopped due to some problem: liver too fatty, something to do with the pancreas, years of diabetes had made one woman's stomach too hard to penetrate. I was certain I had just become one of those stories. I searched my stomach for the staples that should be covering my incision. There were none because they were also bandaged. Then I had a heart attack. I don't mean to make light of it, but I truly believed that I was having a heart attack in the recovery room. The nurse wasn't as nice as she could have been to someone convinced she was dying, but it turns out that I wasn't. During a laparoscopic procedure, air is pumped into your body to inflate you. I had air trapped in my chest and it was excruciating. I asked about my surgery, and was assured that it went fine. The only other memory I had was that of another patient that went before me. She moaned the entire time. She was in much more pain that I. She used 2 pain pumps of medicine during our 1 day stay. After recovery I was up and walking withing a few hours. That night, I slept on my stomach. Actually, I awoke entangled in my IV. I didn't use any of the pain pump that had been given to me.
Why? Besides having a high tolerance for pain, there are few pain receptors on the stomach. From what I understand, the intense pain from a gastric bypass comes from the splicing, rebuilding, and then attaching the intestine(Roux-en y) . The mini gastric bypass uses the Billroth II procedure, and since there was no division, there was less pain. My procedure was also performed laparoscopically. Even today, many surgeons chose to do an open procedure. I didn't have a slice through my body to recuperate from.
I didn't want to eat the first night, but the nurses made me. And what would you guess they gave me? Fruit juice and jello, and not the sugar free kind. I had learned enough from other patients to know better than to try to eat anything with sugar in it for a while. Fortunately, a friend dropped by the hospital with some yogurt. I consumed so much yogurt the 3 months following surgery that I can no longer eat it. I can't stand the thought of eating it. But it was a life saver in the beginning.
I left the hospital the morning after my surgery. I was tired. We went back to the hotel and rested. My mother tried to force food on me. The last thing I wanted to do was eat. I sent my dad out for yogurt, he came back with TCBY, sugar free of course. He rocks. So I lived off of yogurt and saltines. I had some nausea in the first few days, but nothing extreme. I learned soon to stop eating when I felt full. I puked a lot, because I was over eating. Each time I over ate, my mouth began to fill with saliva and I knew to get to the bathroom, or nearest trash can quick. It still happens, only much less frequently. I learned in the early days to chew EVERYTHING for a long time. Remember, I was only eating saltines. Even they needed to be chewed carefully. I slept, did a little walking, went to a few stores, but took it easy. I was lucky to have an uneventful surgery. My new life had just begun. I was reborn. I still insist on celebrating my re-birthday every year on March 12th.
I'm often asked if I made the right decision. absolutely. Do I regret it? absolutely not. Would I do it again? each and every year for the rest of my life if need be.
Posted by Manda on July 16, 2004 09:53 AM