Re: My hospital story(long)

[Guest guest]

Wow Jeanne! what a trooper!! I'm still so scared about the surgery. It has

only been a few days and it sounds like you are doing wonderful:) It's great

that you don't have staples. I've heard that they are not pleasant to have

taken out. I do have one question for you and maybe someone else can answer

it also..

Are you placed on " Lovenox " injections after the surgery? And if so, are you

injecting at home? My surgeon briefly discussed this with us at the consult.

Just wondering if anyone has had this or if they have been placed on Coumadin

instead.

Liz

pre-op

275

Indianapolis

Cacucci/

[Guest guest]

Liz,

Sorry for the ignorance, but what ARE these injections? Why are they

necessary?

Donette

[Guest guest]

Donnette,

they are blood thinners. When I went in for the initial consult it was

briefly discussed and the surgeon made it sound like it was standard

procedure to send patients home on these injections for up to two weeks.

Gonna find out more and I'll let ya know

thx

Liz

pre-op 275

Indianapolis

Cacucci/

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 5/26/02 10:13:18 PM Central Daylight Time,

vitalady@... writes:

> I've had stay here just made a " nest " with extra pillows

I had to stay in a motel room 8 days post-op so I did that very thing

nested with pillows for comfort..

[Guest guest]

Jeanne;

Do you know what an absolute ANGEL!!!!!! you are!

Honest to GOD, you are! I wonder every day what will

it be like what are they gonna do etc.. etc... and

here you go and put in dialogue for me ! I printed it

out! HOW WONDERFUL!!!!! I cant say thank you

enough!!!!! I hope everything that the future holds

for you is perfect, that every day you will wake up

and smile, feel blessed and know that you are special!

thanks,

eileen in philly

--- Dave and Jeanne Graves

wrote:

> OK. I tried to document things fairly well, but

> after the first day and a half in the hospital,

> things became more routine, so not every single

> little detail is accounted for. Let's start with

> the day before my surgery - I had 3 phone calls from

> the hospital - one from the surgery department

> telling me what time to be there, and nothing to eat

> or drink after midnight. The second call was from

> the admitting dept. - they pretty much took care of

> it over the phone, so I did not have to go to

> admitting on my surgery day. Third call was from

> the anesthesiologist to go over my surgical history.

> I told him I had previous experience with nausea

> from anesthesia so he was going to make sure he

> added extra meds to my IV to fight this.

>

> So Tuesday we got to the hospital at 9 a.m. We

> waited 10 minutes where they took me to a check in

> desk and gave me a bracelet to wear, and copied my

> insurance card. Then we were taken back to the

> middle waiting area. I was told to come with the

> nurse where I had to put on a gown, placing my

> clothing in a bag in a locker. Then I needed to

> leave a urine sample, have blood drawn, and had a

> mini-physical with one of the P.A.'s that work with

> my surgeon. After all that, I got to rejoin my DH

> in that middle waiting area. About 10:30 they took

> me to a room where I had to sign the forms and the

> nurse asked me all the particulars about what

> meds/vitamins/herbs that I take regularly. Around

> 11:20, they took me into the holding area which is

> also right by the recovery area. In the holding

> area, they put 2 IV's into me, one in my left wrist

> which was strictly to monitor my blood pressure

> during surgery, and the main regular IV in the back

> of my right hand. I have to admit these were the

> least painful IV's I had ever had because they

> numbed the area first with a small shot, so I hardly

> even felt the bigger needles going in. I wish my DH

> could have still been with me during this part, but

> that's not the way they did it at this hospital. I

> was given some medication to help relax me, and at

> 12:30 they finally wheeled me into the OR. My DH

> was told that surgery began at 1:00 and that I was

> in recovery at 2:30. I had some rather pleasant

> surpises when it came to the surgery - no drains and

> no staples. I already knew that there would be no

> catheter, no NG tube, but no drains was a pleasant

> surprise, and so were the no staples. They take the

> time now to sew up the incision from the inside, so

> that no staples have to be used. They told me it

> only takes maybe 10 minutes longer, and will heal up

> so much more nicely. Also, they do the leak test

> right away while I am still opened up, so that if

> there are any leaks, he fixes them right then and

> there without involving another surgery. I was very

> impressed by that. I got sick one time when coming

> out of the anesthesia in recovery.

>

> I finally got into my room on the regular surgical

> floor at 5:30 p.m. The IV in my left wrist had been

> removed during recovery, but of course the main one

> in my right hand was still there. They hooked up the

> morphine pump, had my left index finger with a clip

> on to measure the oxygen in my blood. I had oxygen

> through those little nose inserts. And they also

> had stocking on my legs that would inflate and

> deflate to help prevent blood clots. I got out of

> bed for the first time at 8:45 p.m. to use the

> bathroom, but I couldn't go. They made me try again

> at 10:30 and threatened me with a catheter if I

> couldn't make it happen, but I did. :-)

> I slept on and off rather fitfully during that first

> night. By Wed. morning, I was getting nauseous, so

> they decided it was from the morphine, and took it

> away from me. I asked for IV Toradol because I had

> a bad headache, and they also gave me some liquid

> stuff, loritab, if I remember correctly. My clear

> liquids for that morning consisted of very salty

> chicken broth, and apple juice. I didn't get any

> more food until 6:30 p.m. because I wasn't feeling

> up to it. At that time, I got jello(regular with

> sugar), and some more broth. I asked the nurse why

> they serve us regular jello when we are supposed to

> avoid sugar after this surgery, and she said that

> they did have diabetic jello available, but that if

> I wasn't diabetic, this little bit of sugar wouldn't

> hurt me. I couldn't eat much of it anyways. There

> big thing for feeding was 6 oz. every 3 hours. The

> nurses were too busy to maintain that very strictly

> so it was more like 6 oz. of food for b/l/s. It

> wasn't until Friday when I was leaving that someone

> stuck to that 3 hour schedule. Speaking of the

> nurses being busy, there were several times when my

> alarm would go off on the IV pump because it was

> time to change it, and I had to wait a long time for

> someone to get around to it. The longest time was

> about 50 minutes, and I was not a happy camper at

> that point. That's when I really wanted to leave

> the hospital where I could go home and take care of

> myself.

>

> Well, this is much too long already, and I'm ready

> for another nap now. If you have any questions I

> didn't answer, then ask away. I will get to them

> next time at the computer.

>

> Jeanne in WI

> Age 38

> Open RNY 05/21/2002

> 314/ /150-175

> 5' 8 "

> djgraves@...

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Most of the posties I've had stay here just made a " nest " with extra pillows.

Then it was changeable to fit the mood.

Thanks,

http://www.vitalady.com

For info on PayPal, click this link:

https://secure.paypal.com/affil/pal=vitalady%40bigfoot.com

My hospital story(long)

OK. I tried to document things fairly well, but after the first day and a

half in the hospital, things became more routine, so not every single little

detail is accounted for. Let's start with the day before my surgery - I had

3 phone calls from the hospital - one from the surgery department telling me

what time to be there, and nothing to eat or drink after midnight. The

second call was from the admitting dept. - they pretty much took care of it

over the phone, so I did not have to go to admitting on my surgery day.

Third call was from the anesthesiologist to

[Guest guest]

Hi Jeanne!

It's so good to see you posting again. Thanks for writing down you

experience thus far. I'm interested and I'm know it is very good for the

pre-ops to hear it blow by blow. When I was pre-op I hung on every word out

of a post-ops mouth, lol!! I don't know how I would have made it this far

without this group. The education I have received here is priceless as is

the love, support and friendship.

It took me three weeks to sleep in my bed. I tried many times, but wasn't

able to lay flat. I hope you found a wedge.

It sounds like you are doing very well, bless your heart!!!! I look forward

to more updates.

in California

Open RNY - 03/29/02

272.5/238.5 - as of 05/17/02

My hospital story(long)

OK. I tried to document things fairly well, but after the first day and a

half in the hospital, things became more routine, so not every single little

detail is accounted for. Let's start with the day before my surgery - I had

3 phone calls from the hospital - one from the surgery department telling me

what time to be there, and nothing to eat or drink after midnight. The

second call was from the admitting dept. - they pretty much took care of it

over the phone, so I did not have to go to admitting on my surgery day.

Third call was from the anesthesiologist to

[Guest guest]

It makes sense, but I just couldn't get comfortable. I have at least 10

pillows on my bed and a body pillow, but I'm a stomach sleeper so that's

probably why nothing else was comfortable.

in California

Open RNY - 03/29/02

272.5/238.5 - as of 05/17/02

Re: My hospital story(long)

Most of the posties I've had stay here just made a " nest " with extra

pillows. Then it was changeable to fit the mood.

Thanks,

http://www.vitalady.com

For info on PayPal, click this link:

https://secure.paypal.com/affil/pal=vitalady%40bigfoot.com

[Guest guest]

Glad it helped, Eileen.

Jeanne in WI

Age 38

Open RNY 05/21/2002

314/ /150-175

5' 8 "

djgraves@...

[Guest guest]

Liz,

Thanks for answering that one. Had I kept on reading, I wouldn't have had to

bother you. :-) Keep me posted on whether it's " normal " or not.

Take care and keep up the good spirits!

Donette