I did it!

Thursday was my surgery. I was not really prepared for the ammount of pain that it consisted of. I thought, "laproscopic, easy" - wrong. Not so easy. I was in incredible pain. I desperatly needed to get up and move around. The other two ladies who were banded just before and after me were both up and moving around that evening. Not me. I could get to the bathroom and back. I was dizzy and nausiated anytime I stood up for too long. But after a great couple of shots into my IV (for pain and nausea) and a sleeping pill. I awoke at 3am ready to walk the halls. This helped to release some of the gas thus relieving some of the pain in my abdomen.

Friday was slightly better - but I seemed to be a day behind in the recovery proccess compared to the other 2 patients. I am slow to recover (my husband reminded me of my last surgery - I took me about 2 days longer to be 'up and moving' than most people). So, it is what it is.

Immediatly after surgery we were given all the ice chips and water we wanted/were able to get down. I thouroughly enjoyed the ice chips. Chewing was satisfiying. And I drank about half the bottle of water. Friday morning was the first "real" meal. It consisted of chicken broth, grape juice (I am not a tea drinker), apple juice and pineapple jell-o. I was not fearful of eating as I had absolutely no trouble drinking the water the day before. My friend, however, was scared to swallow the jell-o. After much bravery - she realised that everything goes down easily. The juice made my stomach hurt. I'm not sure if it was too acdic or what, but it felt like pouring lemon juice on an open wound. ouchie! So I decided to wait on the juice for awhile.

Lunch on Friday consisted of the same thing. I again tried the juice and got the same painful results. Everything else went down easily. We left for home on Friday after lunch. The nurse was surprised that we were leaving and wanted to be sure the doctor knew. After the OK we headed out. I wasn't feeling so hot, so she gave me some pain killer and sleepy medicine in my IV for the drive home. I thought that I would sleep the entire time. Wrong.

It was the worst ever! About half way through I wasn't sure if I wanted to even get back into the car my tummy hurt so bad. We stopped a lot and walked. By the time I got home I thought my insides were going to burst. I totally thought I would be ok - and my friend was! She slept most of the way (and she didn't even have any extra meds). I made the decision to go ahead and come home...not my best decision to date.