Update! I did it!!

Well my surgery went off without a hitch! It went just a little over an hour. I barely remember any of the pre-op stuff. There were two minor complications. One is that the gas they pumped into my abdomen some how caused a pinched nerve in my left shoulder. It was probably the worst pain I felt in my whole recovery. The second was that upon finishing up my surgery, one of the tools they use caught on some stomach muscle and cut it. This required the surgeon to put in "lateral stitches" to pull the skin tissue close to the muscle to stop the bleeding. So I had a bit of a divet at that incision site. That incision was the only one that hurt me in my recovery.

After my surgery was over, I went to a recovery area for about an hour or two. The only part of this I remember was waking up with horrible pain in my shoulder and the nurse telling me why. The next thing I remember is seeing Joel briefly in my room. I was originally supposed to be in a shared room, but a private room became available so they let me wait for that one. It was really great to see Joel even if it was just for a few minutes. I was truly blessed to have that private room though. I don't think I would have done very well in a room with two old men in it. So I was very thankful for that.

My recovery in the hospital was filled with a lot of sleeping, some walking, and lots of swabs for my mouth. I was not allowed anything to drink at all for 24 hours after my surgery. Then I went to x-ray to do a swallow test to be sure there wasn't any leaks in the new pouch. Once I passed that test I was cleared for clear liquids. When my "meal" of 1 oz of chicken broth, 1 oz of sugar free jello, and 1 oz of apple juice came to me, I was so excited! It tasted like the best thing I have ever eaten. The second day of recovery was better than the first. After my swallow test, my pain pump was removed and replaced by liquid Loratab. I also got my catheter taken out, which was great! I had to write down all of my liquid intake so they could be sure I was able to get in enough liquids. I was able to walk more easily without the catheter.

In the afternoon, Joel and the kids came to see me. It was great to see them, but it was harder than I thought it would be to have them there. The kids wanted to be on the bed with me, but I was much too sore for that. Joel also bought me some beautiful roses, but I was worried about them tipping over so asked him to bring them back home. It was very sweet of him though. He knows how much I love flowers. So they didn't stay very long, but it was great to see them.

That night I was able to get some pretty good sleep. The next morning was filled with lots of different things to get me ready to go home. They called me in a script for some anti-nausea medication since I was having some problems with nausea. I saw my surgeon again, and he said I was doing really well. My drain came out the night before but leaked several times, so it took a while to get a good enough bandage on it. They got me some supplies to make sure I could change the dressing on that drain site as needed. I was able to put some normal clothes on again and get my IV taken out. I got weighed again before coming home. Joel and the kids showed up at about 1pm. I decided to walk to the car myself. I had asked for another dose of my pain medication since I knew my time for that was coming up and the car ride would be long, but they could not give me anymore until 1:30pm. We couldn't wait for that. So I just had to suffer through it. That was the worst car ride of my life! Half way home my pain meds wore off completely. I was so glad when we arrived at home so I could just pass out on the couch for a while. And pass out I did! After some pain meds of course.

That week was very hard at home. I was having real trouble with anything resembling anything sweet, even sugar free things. This really limited the things I could have so I wasn't getting in enough protein at all. I was at least getting in enough liquids and trying to get protein in when ever possible. Then once I passed the one week mark things started to change for the better. I kept retrying things to see if they could be tolerated, and finally some things could be. So this opened up a lot of options again. Just in time too as I was getting really sick of broth!

I went in on the 6th for my post op appointment. I was back to what I weighed when I went in for my surgery. I was happy with this as I gained 13 lbs in the hospital from all the IV fluids. Things are going well with my recovery. Eating is also getting better.

Today I decided to get on my scale just to see because I was curious. I was so surprised by the number that I had to check it several times and have Joel witness it. I had gone down from 304 on Wednesday the 6th to 293 lbs! That is really incredible! I am really encouraged by this. Now I know I can do it.

So that's my update for now. I will try to write more than I have been.