New posting

November 10, 2003

I took a book and magazine's to read, and never read a one. I was to tired

and not up to reading or anything else. But you might be different. This is

my 2nd time under the knife. The first time was C-Section and now this. I

have my surgery Lap and my best friend had her's the same day and she was open.

Hope this helps some.

Pam

November 10, 2003

Hello all. I have been a member of this group for a few weeks and it

is a great resource to me. I am a very shy and withdrawn person (as I

am sure many of you are) and this group is a great way for me to be

able to ask questions without my anxieties getting in the way. Until

now I have remained relatively silent, but as my surgery date fast

approaches I find myself getting more scared, so my husband suggest I

use this group more often.

My surgery is on December 3rd. I am only 26 but this is far from my

first time under the knife. I have an extremely supportive spouse,

family, and friends but I am still scared to death. I think being

scared of this surgery is probably a healthy thing, but it does not

make it any less painless

I have some silly " hospital-stay " questions for the post-op people. I

get extremely anxious when I have to stay in the hospital and I was

wondering if bringing games like Yahtzee, trivial pursuit, cards,

etc. was a good idea or just a pipe dream? My husban will be staying

with me in the hospital and I though it would be a good idea to bring

games to pass the time and ease my anxiety and " cabin fever " , but

then I started thinking maybe I won't have any concentration. I am

curious for anyone who wants to talk about their post op experiences

in the hospital. I am pretty educated on the procedure itself, but I

have not heard enough about people's personal experiences. So anyone

who would like to share, I would love to hear (or should I say read),

I would really appreciate it. Especially from anyone who has had

their procedure at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital.

November 10, 2003

Hi Bethany! Welcome to our cozy little family! I'm in Milwaukee and

possibly the only one other one of us up at this early hour so I'll take a

stab at your questions...

I am a very shy and withdrawn person (as I am sure many of you are)

Oh yeah, we're a very shy and withdrawn crowd here, can't you tell???

Mostly we're just just honest and open, some prefer to lurk (like me) and

rarely pipe up and others we can't shut up but we love them anyway.

I was wondering if bringing games like Yahtzee, trivial pursuit, cards, etc.

was a good idea or just a pipe dream?

Pipe Dream, though your hubby might find cards good for solitaire.

My husban will be staying with me in the hospital and I though it would be a

good idea to bring games to pass the time and ease my anxiety and " cabin

fever " , but then I started thinking maybe I won't have any concentration.

That concentration thing will get you every time. Aren't painkillers

wonderful to have when you need them most?

I am curious for anyone who wants to talk about their post op experiences in

the hospital.

Hmmm...you realize that's a loaded question, right? We LOVE to talk about

our hospital experiences. I was at St. Luke's in Milwaukee, my first

experience there and I hope my last. I swear the dieticians didn't have a

clue what a clear liquid diet was, much less a bariatric version thereof!

Cream of wheat is not a clear liquid by any definition! So I basically didn

t eat in the hospital, which was fine by me because I had zilch appetite.

Then there was the walking thing...now I have nothing against walking, a

lovely exercise, but it was the getting in and out of bed that I dreaded.

Of course on the morning I was released the Physical Therapist tells me she

is the therapist who usually works with bariatric surgery patients and that

there are ways to get up more easily which of course her counterpart who had

tortured me the previous two days and the nursing staff never bothered (or

perhaps didn't know?) to work with me on. And then there was the lack of

sleep...between calls bells and the IV's running out and people taking my

blood at 4 a.m. and a roommate whose family thought they had to entertain

her all day and all night I was exhausted. When I got home I crawled into

bed and refused to come out until the next morning, whereupon I took up

daytime residence in the recliner for two weeks. The pain thing wasn't all

that bad in the hospital, I had my morphine pump and was very happy with

that. I just wish that the Physicians Assistant who pulled that one drain

had warned me what he was going to do, I'd have " pumped " first! That really

stung! Conversely when the doctor pulled the other drain two weeks later it

was virtually painless.

Hope all this helps, I'm sure you'll hear more, and welcome to the group!

Open RNY 8/7/03

316/250/150 (Only 100 to go!)

November 10, 2003

Dawn, My hospital stay went smooth. I would say overall I did not

have the concentration to play games. I took my hand held yahtzee

game and maybee picked it up 1 or 2 times to play 1 or 2 games. Even

a magazine was hard for me to read and I read all the time normally.

It was simpler to let the tv entertain me. I did not have family

with me all the time. If my husband had stayed with me he would of

course would want the remote (ha ha).

JIll H.

> Hello all. I have been a member of this group for a few weeks and

it

> is a great resource to me. I am a very shy and withdrawn person (as

I

> am sure many of you are) and this group is a great way for me to be

> able to ask questions without my anxieties getting in the way.

Until

> now I have remained relatively silent, but as my surgery date fast

> approaches I find myself getting more scared, so my husband suggest

I

> use this group more often.

>

> My surgery is on December 3rd. I am only 26 but this is far from my

> first time under the knife. I have an extremely supportive spouse,

> family, and friends but I am still scared to death. I think being

> scared of this surgery is probably a healthy thing, but it does not

> make it any less painless

>

> I have some silly " hospital-stay " questions for the post-op people.

I

> get extremely anxious when I have to stay in the hospital and I was

> wondering if bringing games like Yahtzee, trivial pursuit, cards,

> etc. was a good idea or just a pipe dream? My husban will be

staying

> with me in the hospital and I though it would be a good idea to

bring

> games to pass the time and ease my anxiety and " cabin fever " , but

> then I started thinking maybe I won't have any concentration. I am

> curious for anyone who wants to talk about their post op

experiences

> in the hospital. I am pretty educated on the procedure itself, but

I

> have not heard enough about people's personal experiences. So

anyone

> who would like to share, I would love to hear (or should I say

read),

> I would really appreciate it. Especially from anyone who has had

> their procedure at Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital.

November 10, 2003

Thanks to everyone for their responses

I am not sure if my surgery is open or lap yet. We are planning a

lap, but my weight is right on the border of the limits for a lap

procedure, and I have a problem with ovarian cysts so the surgeon

says I might have a lot of scarring. So they are going in planning a

lap, but things could change.

I really appreciate everyone's advice.

November 10, 2003

Honestly I would not bother with the books or the games. I brought my book

to read and never even opened the bag. I was soo out of it when I was in

the hospital that all I could do was sleep. In fact my husband and son

(He's almost 17) both came to visit both days (I sent my husband home as

soon as I went into surgery...he was making me nervous and he had no sleep

the night before) and I could not even stand to visit with them for more

than about 20 minutes so I told them to go out and eat or something.

Soooo...your hubby may want the cards because you are going to be sleeping

and he is going to be bored.

In all honestly I would bring nothing to the hospital except clothes to go

home in and maybe a hairbrush or something. That was all I ever used.

Most Docs will want you up and walking same day as surgery so I brought

rubber sole slippers for this. However the hospital said I had to wear

those so I didn't even need those.

I think I must have been the only person I have heard of that did not walk

the first two days after surgery though. The morphine machine they had me

on left me like a rag doll and there was no way I could walk. I could not

even get to the bathroom. I had to go from bed to wheelchair to bathroom.

It wasn't until the day I was going home that I was clear headed enough to

attempt walking with someone helping me. Course they did have someone come

in from physical therapy and they kept my limbs moving so that I would not

get blood clots and they also kept some kind of things on my feet that kept

things moving as well. I was so out of it I can't really recall what they

were now though.

Candi