So it was time for my Gastric Bypass Surgery – I was being wheeled down to the operation room. No turning back now, but that was ok because I was ready. Now let me walk you through how the day went from there.
A bit of a warning before you continue on with this post. I promised to share The good, The bad and The ugly here on my site and some of what you may see below is in the UGLY category. I will be sharing some photos of after the surgery and hospital things – so if you are easily creeped out then stop here. If you are considering having the surgery yourself – get over it cause you will going through it too. It is really not that bad at all. Ok I have said my warning, now I will continue on….
I gave my hubby a kiss and off I went to the operation room. Was I nervous? Nope not at all actually. You may find this very strange, but I enjoy the whole operation room experience. I have been in there 3 times before for 2 C-Sections and a Hysterectomy. I just love looking up at the white light and hearing all the nurses and assistants in the room getting ready and the attention is all on “Me”. I also love when they place the warm blankets on you because the room is always so cold. Everyone introduced themselves to me and one of the guys in the room was named “Angel” – I said that is cool I have an Angel in the room watching out for me. When you are in the room it almost feels fake – I dunno I just like it. Told ya I was strange.
I remember the anesthesiologist telling me he was going to put some meds in my IV and I will feel a little burning, but not to worry it was just the meds. It was nothing to me since I was taking in my surroundings and listening to the action in the room. Then came the mask – the anesthesiologist never told me to count backwards (I was waiting for that too) – he placed the mask on my face and said I am going to relax you now. I was ready for my countdown now, but instead LIGHTS OUT for me.
Next thing I can remember was waking up in recovery. My stomach was in sooo much pain and I was very groggy. I looked around and could see the line up of others just out of surgery recovering as well. I had oxygen in my nose and my throat was so dry. The nurses came over to ask how I was doing and to take my vitals. They asked my pain level – in our hospital we have a pain scale that is 1-10 with 10 being the highest. I told them it was 10 for sure – so I got some more pain meds. The time I was in recovery I began to question what I had just done because the pain was horrible. What did I do to myself – was this pain worth it? My time in recovery seemed short lived to me because I was in and out of consciousness.
I ended up getting to my room at about 12:00pm. So I had been gone from 8am – 12pm between the Surgery and the Recovery. I later found out the surgery was only about 1 1/2 hours long so the rest of the time I was in recovery. I remember being set up in my room and meeting the floor nurse who again took my vitals and accessed my pain – which was still horrible. My hubby finally got to the room about 1:00pm and I was so happy to see him. Having him there made me feel a little better. At this time the pain meds they had me on was Dilaudid and even with that the pain was still felt. I drifted in and out for a while from it all (as you can see in the picture up top to your left).
At about 2:00pm I was still in horrible pain – a little better but still pain. My hubby had to run to the car to get my bags and while he was gone I asked the nurse if I could get up and walk. I just felt that I needed to get up and maybe it was gas pain from what they pump in you. So the nurse helped me out of bed dragging along my IV, Heart Monitor, Drain (tell ya bout that in a minute) and Catheter – so much for losing weight huh? Anyway – I did a couple laps around the nurses station and believe it or not it felt good to be up, I was surprised.
When I got back in my bed they hit me up with another pain med called Toradol. Well guess what? That horrible pain went away and then I just had what felt like soreness (I did just have major surgery) and cramping which I was able to handle. I honestly think the horrible pain I was feeling was the gas in there – so if you are having this surgery make sure to walk as soon as you can.
NOTE: I just have to add that my belongings including my glasses that were taken prior to me going in for surgery were MIA. For some reason they did not make it to my room. They were later found around 4:00pm. So not being able to see was no fun either. Just sayin’ – lol
The picture above shows my belly the same day I had my surgery. My Gastric Bypass Surgery was Laparoscopic obviously and they went in 5 places as you can see in the picture above. They were small openings which look worse in the photo from the dried blood. On them was just steri strips – there were no stitches at all. The drain was weird to me and kinda gross. This was a tube that went into your belly to drain out the extra fluid and blood around your stomach. That had some stiches to hold it in place and at the end of the tube on the outside was this container that would hold the fluid (yup this freaked me out too). It did not hurt – just felt weird.
One thing I hated was the dryness in my mouth and throat from the anesthesia – I sounded like I was a frog and it was hard to talk. I was not allowed to have anything to drink, BUT I was allowed to have a swab that can be dipped into ice water and rubbed around my mouth. It was like a little scrubber sponge on a stick, but at that time it was heaven. The nurse also gave me a cup with mouthwash in it I could use with another swab – loved that since my mouth was so gacky.
Me and my swabs became best friends for the rest of the night – I scrubbed my teeth with it, sucked on it, rubbed it on my tongue – it was great. If you are gonna have this surgery you will understand my swab obsession for yourself – trust me – Swabs Rule !! I went through many swabs – I liked them fresh and I also had my nurse re fresh my ice water often too – it was so much better ice cold.
At around 6:30pm I kicked my hubby out, my poor baby was so tired and I felt so bad. Even though I had the nurse track down one of those reclining chairs for him (which was so much more comfy than the others) he had to go home to rest up. I was fine and well taken care of and really – how much can you sit and watch someone sleep. So he left to go home to relieve my sister from kid duty and I was just gonna chill – what else was I gonna do? Of course right before he was out the door the nurse came to give me my first shot of Lovenox in my belly (that is to prevent blood clots) so he had to stay to hold my hand for that. Guess what? it was not a big deal at all – did not even feel it.
Later that evening I asked the nurse to take me for another walk, which I did and again it felt great. The only thing that I hated was bringing half the hospital equipment with me. I did more rounds this time and I cannot stress more to those going for surgery to do the same thing – walking not only will help you recover quicker, but it moves any of that operation gas out.
For the rest of the evening I watched some TV on and off . Oh and ya know what I was feeling hungry too. Yuppers I was hungry. I started to think – why am I hungry ??? I thought I should not feel hungry after my surgery and it was not even a full day out. How weird huh? OH and let me tell you that commercials do not make any of it easier. I so missed my DVR that night so I could just skip them. Maybe it was just a mind game, but I swear I was hungry. OH well nothing I could do – it was just me and my swabs.
So overall my Gastric Bypass Surgery went very well if you ask me. I only had horrible pain for about 2 hours and the rest of my day was smooth sailing and I felt pretty darn good. By this time any regrets I may have had in recovery were far gone – I was ready for my new life. The next morning I would get to see my surgeon and hopefully get my first meal which I could not wait for.
Stay Tuned for my next post on the rest of my hospital stay…
Just a shout out Hug and Kiss to my hubby who is truly the bestest ever. I took a pic of him from my hospital bed with my phone – he was catching a couple zzzz’s in that recliner I had them find late in the day. I am one lucky girl to have such a great guy and I cannot say it enough.
