I guess I need to update a bit as to what I have been up to the last few weeks. I posted a few weeks ago that I was heading toward Gastric Bypass Surgery (GBS) and well, I had it on March 8th. Everything went well and I am now in my second week post surgery.
I went in to the surgery and was shaved, poked and finally prayed over (thanks) by Chaplin Terry (who is a friend and fellow Vineyard attendee). Really, after the IV was put in, I was out, so do not remember anything until I woke up in my room... even that is a bit fuzzy other than realizing I had tubes coming out everywhere... even places you do not want to know about! I am told all went smoothly (though some issues with the catheter which I really do not want to talk about). Everyone was really nice at St. V's. Dr. Hatch seemed to think it was a job well done... and I felt like I had lost a knife fight even with the nice narcotics they let me pump into myself. To say this was the easy way out would be really a misnomer. It hurt like hell... trying to sit was truly painful and they had me sitting up almost right away. Really, I became thankful for the catheter as I realized that getting up to go to the bathroom would be more painful than it was worth.
Dr. Hatch came in and asked me how I felt… and I laughed. She asked me were the pain was, and pointing to my incisions and said, “About right here where you did the surgery.”… she laughed.
I seemed to sleep about an hour or two and then would get up to walk. I am not sure if the meds were aiding in helping me rest or not… (Most likely they were, but I never slept more than a couple of hours at a time.)
Day two, they removed the catheter and stated that if I could not pee, they would have to take me back to the OR and do another one… which did not sound fun. TES and the kids were there as I was trying to pee… and the kids were getting more and more restless, and I realized I may be too stressed to pee, so let them all go home. Within minutes, I peed. (I know that does not sound that significant, but since my intestines had been rerouted, it was nice to know that peeing was still a valid option.)
Then the other good news was that I had diarrhea! Yeah! (Again, that may not sound like a thrilling thing, but with this type of surgery, having any movement this early is a great sign.)
Day three came and I was double checked if I was still fine. I was now on different meds, but still a bit out of it. Pastor Allen came by and we talked for a while… he stated the other day that I was quite lucid for the narcotics I was on… really I do not remember much of our conversation… but I am sure it was stimulating as usual. = )
I was getting ready to pack up and go, when Casey showed up (another Vineyard friend). Casey helped me get dressed and pack things up. I was then wheeled out to the car and came home.
The first few days were hard. I had to use a cane to aid myself in getting out of bed. Mostly, I slept and then rose to walk a bit and then slept some more. I thought I was going to get a ton of reading done, yet it seemed the narcotics were still doing a number on me so I was not able to concentrate long enough to read. I also accidently doubled my meds and had he worst itching sensation all over my body. I thought the itching was worse than the pain! Finally, I realized I had been taking too much of my meds and took the right dosage which helped stop the itching. I guess I will never be a good drug addict. And oh yeah… there was diarrhea… but you may not want to know much more about that.
At the end of week, one I was on Tylenol, and clear liquids. I now don’t need the Tylenol, and have moved on to liquids… and today, Saturday I just could not take it anymore and had my first solids… scrabbled eggs.
Some of you followed me on Facebook.com throughout this. If you go back a bit you will find some posts where I seemed to repeat words or may not have made much sense… (Almost like a normal day for me) and well, those are the days.
I am improving day by day. I started out around 7 months ago weighing in at 320lbs, last time I weighed I was 292… that was a few days ago so I expect I have lost even more. I was able to even get into size 40 pants… though 42 still fit better. I also seem to be having better blood sugars which was the goal of all of this.
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