Hi,
Another one to add to the list of sleevers, had my Op on Monday by Mr Marcus Reddy. Ever since I decided to have this op I've been pretty relaxed about it all, no real excitement or concerns, and as yesterday was my first time going into hospital it was all going to be a new experience for me.
So at 06:00 my cab arrived to take me to Parkside Hospital, after a bit of waiting around (my fault arrived quite a bit early) I was taken to my room and met the Staff Nurse who was looking after me for the day. After form filling, being weighed and having an ECG I was given a gown (that easily fitted), dressing gown and the most unflattering pair of pants I've ever seen, they were more like a hairnet and very snug along with a pair of equally sexy compression stockings.
At about 08:00 I was seen by my surgeon who went through and explained everything for me, shortly afterwards I met the anaesthetist who also went through what would be going on. Now it was just a case of sitting around in my room to be taken downstairs.
About 11:00 one of the theatre staff came to my room to collect me and take me to the theatre, once settled down on the trolley and hooked up to a heart monitor, pulse/ox monitor and BP cuff it was time to relax and wait, and wait. I was with one of the theatre staff and we had a long chat really got very relaxed, so chilled out my pulse was in the mid 60's. Apparently the anaesthetist had been called to elsewhere in the hospital to attend to an elderly patient so I was more than happy to wait and chat.
At 12:00 it was all systems go the anaesthetists assistant arrived and attached some foot supports to the end of the trolley along with some extra bits on the side for my arms to rest on, they then put some cuffs around my lower legs, the anaesthetist then arrived and put a line in the back of my hand, l hardly noticed him do it as it was a really fine needle. I was then given an injection that made me feel slightly lightheaded and some oxygen to breathe, after a couple of minutes it was time to knock me out after which he attached a syringe to my cannula and began injecting the drug, and that was the last I knew of it.
The first time I remember seeing on a clock was 3:00pm but I had been awake for a bit before then, just not sure how long. I was told that the surgery should take less than an hour beforehand, so had probably been awake for awhile. I remember being asked about if I was feeling any pain or felt sick, the answer to both was yes. Now you have to remember I'm a bloke and despite what we always say we don't do pain, well I don't. So to me my pain level was about a 6 out of 10, for most others it would most possibly be about a 4. I was given a shot of morphine and that bought it down to a 4, followed by another shot a few minutes later, which got me to 2. They were obviously feeling sorry for me so I was given an injection of something else that totally took the pain away along with one which stopped me feeling sick. My throat was very dry so was given some water to sip on, and with that it was back to my room. They had already transferred me onto my own bed downstairs before I came round so there was no shuffling from one to another.
I then had some inflateable cuffs put on my legs that kept blowing up and deflating, I was told they were to help prevent DVT, I asked how long I had to have them on for, and was told until you get up and start walking around. Realising there was no way I was going to sleep with them on at 4:30 I was up out of bed, saline drip in hand and after a brief wobble off to the toilet. My surgeon deliberately doesn't cathertarise you and so you have to get up to go to the toilet if you need to go and don't want a bottle!
At 5:00pm my surgeon came to see me and was pleased to see me up and about, I had already had a small cup of coffee to drink and he said I could have some smooth soup and yoghurt if I wanted it.
So at dinner time I had about 6 spoonfulls of soup and half a small muller light smooth yoghurt - that didn't taste of anything, but maybe that was due to the anaesthetic. Spent the rest of the evening sipping water before being pumped full of drugs for the night, I was given antibiotics, some anti nausea medication through my cannula along with something else I can't remember, then had a blood thinning injection into my stomach - didn't feel a thing, so no worries there. Then had some anti-reflux tablets crushed up in water, followed by my normal meds, crushed up in water, finally followed by some soluble paracetamol.
A new drip was hung up and I was left in peace until 10pm where they came to take my obs, they did the same again at midnight and put a new drip up to replenish the other one along with my final dose of paracetamol for the night. So it was then off to sleep, well kind of, with a drip attached and still on an oxygen mask as my saturation level kept dropping to about 90 without it I wasn't going to get much sleep, then it was obs every two hours throughout the night. At 6:00am I was given some more paracetamol, didn't really need them as there was only the slightest bit of discomfort, along with three other syringes full of antibiotics, anti nausea and the one I can't remember what it's for.
I got away with only 4 incisions and no drain and feel extremely comfortable. Had a tiny bit of trapped wind but have so far taken 2 Deflatin (one last night and one this morning) which I sucked on and allowed to disolve in my mouth.
At 8:00am my surgeon came to see me and was pleased as to how I was going and said the drip could come out, so will have a bit more freedom instead of having to remember to take it with me when I get up and will get the chance to have a shower shortly.
The only other thing I discovered was my urine is now dark green! Was a bit alarming at first but I asked my surgeon about it, with a smile on his face he said, sorry forgot to warn you about that. He said he filled my stomach up with a blue dye to check for leaks before he finished and when it makes its way out of the body it turns green.
Today is a day of pottering around to see how I feel and the plan is home tomorrow - so now it's breakfast time and I'm looking forward to my cup of tea and a yoghurt.
For all of you due to be sleeved soon, relax, don't stress and go with the flow - it's not scary at all, and if I can do it anyone can. And for all of you who wished me well prior to my op thank you very much it was most appreciated.
AE
Another one to add to the list of sleevers, had my Op on Monday by Mr Marcus Reddy. Ever since I decided to have this op I've been pretty relaxed about it all, no real excitement or concerns, and as yesterday was my first time going into hospital it was all going to be a new experience for me.
So at 06:00 my cab arrived to take me to Parkside Hospital, after a bit of waiting around (my fault arrived quite a bit early) I was taken to my room and met the Staff Nurse who was looking after me for the day. After form filling, being weighed and having an ECG I was given a gown (that easily fitted), dressing gown and the most unflattering pair of pants I've ever seen, they were more like a hairnet and very snug along with a pair of equally sexy compression stockings.
At about 08:00 I was seen by my surgeon who went through and explained everything for me, shortly afterwards I met the anaesthetist who also went through what would be going on. Now it was just a case of sitting around in my room to be taken downstairs.
About 11:00 one of the theatre staff came to my room to collect me and take me to the theatre, once settled down on the trolley and hooked up to a heart monitor, pulse/ox monitor and BP cuff it was time to relax and wait, and wait. I was with one of the theatre staff and we had a long chat really got very relaxed, so chilled out my pulse was in the mid 60's. Apparently the anaesthetist had been called to elsewhere in the hospital to attend to an elderly patient so I was more than happy to wait and chat.
At 12:00 it was all systems go the anaesthetists assistant arrived and attached some foot supports to the end of the trolley along with some extra bits on the side for my arms to rest on, they then put some cuffs around my lower legs, the anaesthetist then arrived and put a line in the back of my hand, l hardly noticed him do it as it was a really fine needle. I was then given an injection that made me feel slightly lightheaded and some oxygen to breathe, after a couple of minutes it was time to knock me out after which he attached a syringe to my cannula and began injecting the drug, and that was the last I knew of it.
The first time I remember seeing on a clock was 3:00pm but I had been awake for a bit before then, just not sure how long. I was told that the surgery should take less than an hour beforehand, so had probably been awake for awhile. I remember being asked about if I was feeling any pain or felt sick, the answer to both was yes. Now you have to remember I'm a bloke and despite what we always say we don't do pain, well I don't. So to me my pain level was about a 6 out of 10, for most others it would most possibly be about a 4. I was given a shot of morphine and that bought it down to a 4, followed by another shot a few minutes later, which got me to 2. They were obviously feeling sorry for me so I was given an injection of something else that totally took the pain away along with one which stopped me feeling sick. My throat was very dry so was given some water to sip on, and with that it was back to my room. They had already transferred me onto my own bed downstairs before I came round so there was no shuffling from one to another.
I then had some inflateable cuffs put on my legs that kept blowing up and deflating, I was told they were to help prevent DVT, I asked how long I had to have them on for, and was told until you get up and start walking around. Realising there was no way I was going to sleep with them on at 4:30 I was up out of bed, saline drip in hand and after a brief wobble off to the toilet. My surgeon deliberately doesn't cathertarise you and so you have to get up to go to the toilet if you need to go and don't want a bottle!
At 5:00pm my surgeon came to see me and was pleased to see me up and about, I had already had a small cup of coffee to drink and he said I could have some smooth soup and yoghurt if I wanted it.
So at dinner time I had about 6 spoonfulls of soup and half a small muller light smooth yoghurt - that didn't taste of anything, but maybe that was due to the anaesthetic. Spent the rest of the evening sipping water before being pumped full of drugs for the night, I was given antibiotics, some anti nausea medication through my cannula along with something else I can't remember, then had a blood thinning injection into my stomach - didn't feel a thing, so no worries there. Then had some anti-reflux tablets crushed up in water, followed by my normal meds, crushed up in water, finally followed by some soluble paracetamol.
A new drip was hung up and I was left in peace until 10pm where they came to take my obs, they did the same again at midnight and put a new drip up to replenish the other one along with my final dose of paracetamol for the night. So it was then off to sleep, well kind of, with a drip attached and still on an oxygen mask as my saturation level kept dropping to about 90 without it I wasn't going to get much sleep, then it was obs every two hours throughout the night. At 6:00am I was given some more paracetamol, didn't really need them as there was only the slightest bit of discomfort, along with three other syringes full of antibiotics, anti nausea and the one I can't remember what it's for.
I got away with only 4 incisions and no drain and feel extremely comfortable. Had a tiny bit of trapped wind but have so far taken 2 Deflatin (one last night and one this morning) which I sucked on and allowed to disolve in my mouth.
At 8:00am my surgeon came to see me and was pleased as to how I was going and said the drip could come out, so will have a bit more freedom instead of having to remember to take it with me when I get up and will get the chance to have a shower shortly.
The only other thing I discovered was my urine is now dark green! Was a bit alarming at first but I asked my surgeon about it, with a smile on his face he said, sorry forgot to warn you about that. He said he filled my stomach up with a blue dye to check for leaks before he finished and when it makes its way out of the body it turns green.
Today is a day of pottering around to see how I feel and the plan is home tomorrow - so now it's breakfast time and I'm looking forward to my cup of tea and a yoghurt.
For all of you due to be sleeved soon, relax, don't stress and go with the flow - it's not scary at all, and if I can do it anyone can. And for all of you who wished me well prior to my op thank you very much it was most appreciated.
AE
I even tried the direct 'no', so I followed it passing out on her 
