My Gastric Sleeve Surgery Experience

April 25th, 2016- The First Day of My New Life

We got to the hospital at 12:30 and had to wait a bit. Finally they took me back to a room and asked me a ton of questions. They I had to get in a hospital gown and they put in an IV. My husband was then able to come in the room with me while we waited for my surgical time. The surgeon came in at 2:30 and said he was running late and was just going to start the surgery before mine. UGH! So my surgery was pushed to 4:00. I wasn’t happy about waiting even longer, especially since I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since midnight but I think the nerves and excitement took over and got me through the wait.

Eventually the nurse had me give my glasses to my husband, give him a kiss, and they wheeled me into the operating room. I remember them having me scoot from the bed I was on in the  initial preop room to the operating table. They must have given me a sedative right after that because I don’t remember anything else from the operating room. The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room with 80% less of my stomach.

I don’t remember much from being in the recovery room and I’m not sure how long I slept. Unfortunately there were no beds available on the surgical floor when I came out of surgery so I had to wait in a recovery room until after 9 pm. I remember wanting to see my kids but they weren’t allowed in the recovery area and by the time I was in my own room it was past their bedtime and my sister had already taken them home. I got to talk to them on the phone to say goodnight but not seeing them was a little hard. Our original plan was for me to have my surgery at 2:30 and have the kids go out to dinner and then come visit me after but with my surgery pushed later and the lack of available beds, our plans changed. At the time I was devastated but looking back it really wasn’t a big deal.

I had my girls each draw a heart on my wrist with Sharpie marker so at least I had a little bit of them with me for surgery.

Once I was in my room I was allowed ice chips but no water yet. I was on a morphine pump as need and I used it mainly when I wanted to get some rest. I tried not to over use it but I also wasn’t trying to be a hero and not use it if I needed it. I never really had the gas pain in the shoulder like many people mention. My gas pain and pain in general was in my abdomen which is no surprise since my stomach now had 5 freshly stitched up holes in it. I took GasX for the gas. I had brought my own GasX strips but they gave me chewables in the hospital so I saved the strips for when I got home. I was determined to get up and walk as soon as they allowed me to so once I was settled into my room I had the nurse help me up to walk the halls. I had to drag my IV stand and catheter bag with me, fun fun, NOT! But it was good to get up and walk. The more I walked over the next few days the better I felt. Sure I was still in pain (much less than I had from my 2 c-sections) but when I sat for too long I stiffened up so walked was the best for me. When I was in the bed my legs were attached to pressure cuffs (not sure the exact name for them). They are like blood pressure cuffs but for your legs to prevent blood clots. They alternate inflating on each leg. Normally I had things on my feet, hate socks in bed, etc. but thankfully they didn’t bother me.

April 26th, 2016- Post Op Day 1

Around 6 a.m. they removed my catheter which was a blessing and a curse. It was much easier to walk around and get comfortable without the catheter but without it, every time I had to pee I had to unhook the pressure cuffs from the bed, unplug the IV pump from the wall, and go into the bathroom to pee into a collection bowl that was in the toilet aka a hat as the nurses called it. Then I’d have to call the nurse to come empty the hat. I felt like I was peeing often and constantly having to get the nursed to empty it. After a while I almost missed how easy it was when I had the catheter and didn’t have to go through the whole production to go to the bathroom. Same thing for walking around the hospital floor. I tried to walk every few hours and each time I had to go through the whole unhooking process with the cuffs, IV pump, etc. but I was happy to be up and walking.

I was now allowed room temperature water in addition to the ice chips. I was only able to have a sip at a time and each time I took a sip I would get a sharp pain in my stomach a few seconds later that would last a few seconds. My stomach did a lot of gurgling all day. I was afraid to get constipated like I did when I had my 2 c-sections so I had the nurse give me a stool softener. I wish I could say the stool softener helped but I had to take stronger meds later in the week to get things moving if you know what I mean. I spent the whole day resting, walking the halls, and playing around on my phone. The pain level was better than the night before but I was still using my morphine pump as needed. It was more intense discomfort than unbearable pain. Nothing I couldn’t handle fortunately.

April 27th, 2016- Post Op Day 2

Early in the morning on post op day 2 I was taken off the morphine pump and switched to pain pills. I was so excited when I was brought my first meal tray with broth, jello, warm tea, and room temperature water. Again I had sharp pains a few seconds after I took a sip when it would hit my stomach but it only lasted a few seconds. The broth was warm, soothing, and delicious after not having anything besides water in the last 2 days. There was still a lot of gurgling going on in my stomach but the nurses said that is normal. I was sore and tired but excited when I was finally released from the hospital around 1 pm. The rest of the day I sipped room temperature water, warm broth, and warm tea. I continued to take the GasX and pain pills as needed.

Check Out What I Ate and Drank Week 1 Post Op

Read more about my Gastric Sleeve Weight Loss Surgery Journey.