November 3rd was the big day! I had worked the night before and got off at 0330 to make my 0730 arrival time at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, in Wilmington, NC. After work I had gone home to grab my bag and do my last pre-op shower, using the special soap I needed to wash with. My mind was going a million miles an hr. What was I doing? My stomach will never be the same. I kept apologizing to my belly for what it was about to go through. Silly, I know. My daughter kept insisting I was going to die. Of course I played it off cool, like she was ridiculous to even think that....but in my head I was thinking, oh gosh, what if? I kissed the kids goodbye and my friend picked me up around 0530 and we headed to the hospital.
The whole way to NHRMC it was raining like crazy. I arrived on time and the process was pretty simple. The staff at the hospital was exceptional and the facility was amazing. They processed my info, had me pay my co-pay and handed me a pager. When the pager lit up, I left it with my friend to continue waiting while I went to get prepped for the big event.
When I got to the patient prepping area the nice nurse had me go pee, and then take off everything but my hospital gown and issued socks. There she attempted to place an IV in my left arm. I made her nervous I think by telling her I was a nurse and she of course blew the IV, leaving me with a big bruise. She continued to the right arm where she was successful at the placement but again left a beast of a bruise and was in a very tender spot. Then she put on some thigh high SCDs and gave me a shot of Lovenox, so I wouldn't get a blood clot. The Anesthesia Doc and Dr Harris rounded on me pre-op as well. My friend, Tabitha, was callled back to sit with me til I was wisked away to the OR.
I don't even remember going to the OR actually. I do remember anesthesia coming in and giving me some Versed (I think???) but the next thing I remember, I was waking up in PACU.
It is amazing how someone can get medicine and go through a huge process, like surgery, and not know anything happened, but still wake up. So I remember waking up and falling asleep over and over. The nurse would come and talk to me and most of that recovery room stuff was hazy about what all happened. I do know they were waiting to find a room was the major hold up. It wasn't til 8pm that one was available and I was one of the first there in PACU to get a room. How can you know you are going to have x amount of people needing rooms and not have the rooms ready for the patients? Definitely something I will put on my survey.
So when I got to my room and got settled, Tabitha was finally allowed to see me. It had been a long day for her, I am sure. Waiting on someone else feels like forever, but she had been waiting about 11 hrs for me. What a true friend she is! Then of course I was hooked up to a PCA pain pump, so was pretty much zonked for the night because every time I hit the button I was out. The pain wasn't bad at all, but I hit the button thinking I would be in pain, I was more nauseated than anything. Through the night the nurses and nurses aids were all concerned because my temp went up to 100.5F and pulse was up in the 110-120s consistently.
The next morning was rough for me. I wasn't really in pain, just continued to be nauseated. Typically, the next morning/afternoon should have been my discharge day. But for me, I got to go to X-ray and have a swallow study done. NO FUN! First off, all I wanted to do was vomit anyhow. I was still NPO so didn't have anything in my system to bring up. Sometimes that is the worst feeling! Then I had to stand by the Xray machine and swallow this stuff that tasted like a lemon lime cleaner. It was so bitter and horrible, and made me gag, literally. Then I had to take down some barium and do the same, 3 big gulps of each. Luckily, the test came back ok and no leak was reported. So I went back to my room and pretty much rested the rest of the day.
Later that evening I was able to take in fluids by mouth. They gave me a big drink cup of water and some medicine cups.I had to fill the cup to the 30cc line and take 10-15 min to drink that little cup.Once I did, I put it in the dirty pile and got a new cup. This was to show how much I was drinking. The goal is to have 48-64 Oz of water / day. Doesn't sound like much, but is a daunting task to get it in, only taking it one ounce at a time.
I also got out of bed more and did several laps, which allowed me to get rid of the PCA pump and go to oral liquid pain medication. I felt so much better off the PCA! I slept pretty good that night as well and in the morning was given the OK to be D/C. The Bariatric Nutritionist came by to give me some guidance and set me on the right path when I got home. I took notes and glad she gave me some tips and timelines to follow. There is a lot of learning about this whole ordeal and didn't want to screw up.
So I got home on Nov 5th, safe and sound.... Now the job is to Sip Sip Sip. It is now Nov 6th,and tonight I get to have my first protein since Nov 1st (I have been on clear liquid all this time since the 2nd). I am excited to be progressing well. More posts to come as progress is made.
These are my measurements when I got home from the hospital:
NOV 5Th
Arm: 15in
Neck: 15.5in
Breast: 48.25 in
Waist: 46.25 in
Hips 54.5 in
Thigh 28 in
Calf 18.5 in
Weight hasn't been done since preop, which was 250#
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