Jillybean8
Member
Please be aware that these are my thoughts right now and I am aware that when I feel better and see progress, my thoughts may change. I'd never had an operation before and it was stressful. I wish I had had more information.
Tuesday - checked in at 9. Put in gown, and wheeled down to waiting area at 10.
Left alone crying til 12ish
Woke up to the anaesthetist yelling Breathe, breathe.
Taken to Intensive care. The nurses who moved me onto the bed were a little too strong and whacked my head off the headboard.
8pm friends came to visit. They were allowed in for an hour. Intensive care bed was really comfortable but the machine they had me hooked up to which took my blood pressure with a sleeve on my right arm was really strong and the next day I couldn't close my hand as my fingers had swollen to sausages and the hand was bright red with white knuckles. The machine was also connected to sleeve things on each calf which inflated and deflated all night to prevent thrombosis. So... no real sleep but things were ok.
Wednesday - Anaesthetist came to give the all clear for me to be moved up to the ward. I as lucky and got a room to myself. People can visit from 7 am to 10 pm so as soon as I was in a room which was 2:30pm I had visits and things were ok. A friend stayed over night with me but neither of us got any sleep as nurses were in and out all night.
Thursday - Low Moral. Desperate to sleep. uncomfortable. Had a few wanders up and down the corridor with my drip and drainage pot. Sick of my life. A doctor came in and said maybe I could go home but then saw I still had a lot of blood coming out of the drainage tubeAnother friend stayed and the nurses weren't in and out between 12 and 6 am so we both got some sleep.
Friday - Morale much better. Wandered up and down the corridor more happily - just with drainage pot. No drip today. No pain. Just discomfort. Got set free at 3pm. Home - excited for my own bed.
Had problems putting the injection in my leg which prevents thrombosis. Have to do this every day for 30 days.
Saturday - Too uncomfortable to sleep. Really fed up. Injection has made a big lump in my leg and is all squishy. I got scared and went to the local doctor. Doctor and nurse were really nice and assured me everything was progressing well, my wounds were healing and I just had to be patient.
Feeling much better today but scared of today's injection. Friend came and showed me how to do it at an angle and did it for me and didn't feel a thing.
So.... all in all the food intake is going well. I tolerated soup and juice in hospital. I'm now on a diet of alternating actimel type stuff and tiny protein shakes made with semi-skimmed milk. 8 little meals a day and water. I've only managed half a litre so far but i still have a couple of hours.
At the moment if given the choice, I don't think I would go through it again, however I am sure that in a few months when there is progress, I will feel more positive.
There is so much stuff they don't tell you - like... you breathe with your lungs and with you stomach too so they gave me a machine to practice breathing and I had to do it a few times every hour to get my lungs up to a certain capacity - which I did.
Taking the drainage tube out is the strangest most horrible feeling (apparently mine was in really deep) but the sensation goes away quite quickly.
I'm still not sure what I feel about the whole thing.
I didn't do it for aesthetics - I did it because I have diabetes type 2 and I really want it gone. This has been good so far. I was having an injection at night of 60 units, another of a different type in the mornings and a pill in the mornings. The doctor has taken away the morning pill and morning injection and I am only using 30 units at night. The Doc said to reduce this little by 2 at a time until my sugar stabilises. I am really happy about that and looking forward to being able to come off the meds when I have lost enough weight. The doctor is happy about it too
OK I have tried to be really honest about everything here. I'm sure things are different in other hospitals. (I'm in Spain) I know the pre-op diets certainly seem to vary wildly.
Hugs and good luck to everyone.
Tuesday - checked in at 9. Put in gown, and wheeled down to waiting area at 10.
Left alone crying til 12ish
Woke up to the anaesthetist yelling Breathe, breathe.
Taken to Intensive care. The nurses who moved me onto the bed were a little too strong and whacked my head off the headboard.
8pm friends came to visit. They were allowed in for an hour. Intensive care bed was really comfortable but the machine they had me hooked up to which took my blood pressure with a sleeve on my right arm was really strong and the next day I couldn't close my hand as my fingers had swollen to sausages and the hand was bright red with white knuckles. The machine was also connected to sleeve things on each calf which inflated and deflated all night to prevent thrombosis. So... no real sleep but things were ok.
Wednesday - Anaesthetist came to give the all clear for me to be moved up to the ward. I as lucky and got a room to myself. People can visit from 7 am to 10 pm so as soon as I was in a room which was 2:30pm I had visits and things were ok. A friend stayed over night with me but neither of us got any sleep as nurses were in and out all night.
Thursday - Low Moral. Desperate to sleep. uncomfortable. Had a few wanders up and down the corridor with my drip and drainage pot. Sick of my life. A doctor came in and said maybe I could go home but then saw I still had a lot of blood coming out of the drainage tubeAnother friend stayed and the nurses weren't in and out between 12 and 6 am so we both got some sleep.
Friday - Morale much better. Wandered up and down the corridor more happily - just with drainage pot. No drip today. No pain. Just discomfort. Got set free at 3pm. Home - excited for my own bed.
Had problems putting the injection in my leg which prevents thrombosis. Have to do this every day for 30 days.
Saturday - Too uncomfortable to sleep. Really fed up. Injection has made a big lump in my leg and is all squishy. I got scared and went to the local doctor. Doctor and nurse were really nice and assured me everything was progressing well, my wounds were healing and I just had to be patient.
Feeling much better today but scared of today's injection. Friend came and showed me how to do it at an angle and did it for me and didn't feel a thing.
So.... all in all the food intake is going well. I tolerated soup and juice in hospital. I'm now on a diet of alternating actimel type stuff and tiny protein shakes made with semi-skimmed milk. 8 little meals a day and water. I've only managed half a litre so far but i still have a couple of hours.
At the moment if given the choice, I don't think I would go through it again, however I am sure that in a few months when there is progress, I will feel more positive.
There is so much stuff they don't tell you - like... you breathe with your lungs and with you stomach too so they gave me a machine to practice breathing and I had to do it a few times every hour to get my lungs up to a certain capacity - which I did.
Taking the drainage tube out is the strangest most horrible feeling (apparently mine was in really deep) but the sensation goes away quite quickly.
I'm still not sure what I feel about the whole thing.
I didn't do it for aesthetics - I did it because I have diabetes type 2 and I really want it gone. This has been good so far. I was having an injection at night of 60 units, another of a different type in the mornings and a pill in the mornings. The doctor has taken away the morning pill and morning injection and I am only using 30 units at night. The Doc said to reduce this little by 2 at a time until my sugar stabilises. I am really happy about that and looking forward to being able to come off the meds when I have lost enough weight. The doctor is happy about it too
OK I have tried to be really honest about everything here. I'm sure things are different in other hospitals. (I'm in Spain) I know the pre-op diets certainly seem to vary wildly.
Hugs and good luck to everyone.
