ONE TIME AT BAND CAMP...

I could literally copy and paste - A FORMER FAT CHICK'S blog here - our surgeries went very similarly.

We were up at 0300 to be at hospital at 0500 ( I live about an hour away from where I had surgery) We arrived at the hospital at specified time and since I was pre-registered; they pretty much just put an armband on me and took me back to the waiting room. We then waited there for an hour and a half wondering why we needed to be there so early. Once we were taken back we waited for another 30 minutes while the nurse who was supposed to prep me for surgery tried to find someone else to do it because she was behind. This turned out to be a blessing because this girl entered my cubicle twice and never smiled, said hello, or bothered to introduce herself or give an explanation for the delay. That's okay I got her name.

At 0700 - two nurse's came in to pick up the slack for the first and they we fabulous. Very personable, efficient and I appreciated them immensely ( Can you tell I'm a nurse? - Just a side note When I or anyone in my family are patients I never tell anyone I'm a nurse because technically in that situation I'm not - I'm a patient or a mother or whatever other assigned role I am for that day but I'm not in the nurse role The only reason to let the nurse know I'm a nurse would be to intimidate her and what purpose would that serve. I do however let the vet know I'm a nurse it speeds up the explanation. ha ha)

Next my doc comes in to say hi! Now I have to mention on the pre-op visit, she was very nice - didn't really engage in chit chat when I tried but much more pleasant than the last visit. Well today she had her game face on - she was in and out and not very pleasant. I've decide she is not a people person. Which is not a worry because I will be seeing the PA for fills from now on and she is great. Oh which I need to mention the doc did tell me at this time they needed to see me back in 2 weeks to evaluate my incisions and see if I am ready for a fill. What?!! I wasn't expecting to start fills until 6 weeks out.

Next up the OR - I know I went in there slid over to a table, was joking with the nurse and anesthesiologist and then I was waking up in pacu. I was banded - also had hiatal hernia repair. And I was hurting. It was a pain under my diaphragm. I got morphine 3 times before I felt better. and I was pretty much asleep the rest of the pacu experience.

On to the next recovery area - where I spent about an hour in a recliner before they let me go home. The nurse gave me a four ounce bottle of water to drink and I had no problems getting it down. I did have that pain under the diaphragm again and my nurse explained to be that was pain related to the co2 gas they put in to help them visualize better. He encouraged walking to get rid of that pain when I got home. He did give me some torredol in my iv to help with the pain and it lasted until I got home.

I slept most of the day. I just could not keep my eyes open for longer than 15 minutes. My biggest problems are I am only peeing little amounts at a time which tells me That my bladder is probably over distended and I'm only peeing off the excesses. I hoping that It will improve as I don't want to go to the er to have a catheter put in. and secondly I want to eat. A piece of toast sounds lovely to me. So I have to keep reminding myself I am only on clear liquids. And I can drink them without any problem at all. If I drink a large amount of fluid, I have noticed that shortly thereafter I will belch and then I can feel the liquid trickle down my stoma.

I am a little more sore today than yesterday day but will be taking my pain medication on a schedule today and will go back to prn basis tomorrow. (Here is the nurse's tip for those of you who have not had your surgery yet. Take your pain medication - There are no medals given out to post op heroes. It takes a great amount of energy for your body to deal with pain - energy that you need for the healing process so you don't want your body wasting that energy on pain control. Secondly, people who do not keep their pain under control have higher rates of post op infection - I'm stepping down from my soapbox now).

Probably the biggest problem I had yesterday was the dogs wanting to mob me - my sweet babies.

I have my key to the clubhouse now and I'm officially a band member