It's been five days since I was banded, and things are going pretty well. I arrived at the hospital at 10:15 on Saturday morning and was called back about 45 minutes later to begin prepping for surgery. Everyone was very nice and things progressed smoothly. I had to strip down and put on the hospital gown and compression hose. When it was time to put on my gown, I noticed that the nurse had dropped off an extra one- just in case. Well, the extra one was the size of a small house, so in order to preserve a shred of my dignity, I put on the smaller one which fit just fine.
Once my IV was in and my belly was all washed I was off to the second holding room where they fitted me with a gorgeous hospital hairnet. I was there for a total of 10 minutes or so and then I was whisked away into the operating room. Once I got there, it seemed like ten different people confirmed who I was and what surgery I was going to have. (I guess they didn't want to amputate the wrong leg! :)) Of course the room was freezing, but all the techs. were super nice and they moved like there was a race to be won- which was a little unnerving. One lady was strapping me down and placing warm towels on my body while another was placing "boots" on my lower legs which massaged them during the surgery to increase circulation and help prevent blood clots from forming. That felt nice for all of two minutes, because before I knew it, the nurse anesthetist told me she was putting something in my IV to help calm me and I passed out a second later. I was gone.
"Diane...Diane....you need to cough for me honey. Diane? Diane, you need to breath honey, you're not breathing....come on honey....breath."
Where was I? And who the heck was Diane? Oh no! Maybe they DID preform the wrong surgery after all.
I finally came around and the nurse took out the
intubation tubing that was still in my throat.
"Diane, honey you need to breath."
No, no, my name is Lynn.
"Diane, I know it hurts, but I can't give you any more morphine."
No, my name is L y n n. (I couldn't talk because my throat was all sore and scratchy.)
"Diane, I can't give you any more pain medicine because you have already had too much, that is why you are having a hard time breathing."
No, my name is LYNN. Finally it came out.
"Oh, I am so sorry. My sisters' names are Lynn and Diane and when I heard your name, I was thinking I wouldn't forget it".
PHEW. That means the right surgery had been preformed after all.
Right then, my surgeon came around the corner and told me that everything went smoothly and that I was all done. I nodded and went back to sleep. I woke up in the recovery room where my husband was able to join me. My husband told me that the surgeon said that my hernia was more severe then he had suspected, so I immediately assumed that I was no longer a candidate for single incision surgery and expected to see five or six holes. They kept me there for about an hour and made sure that I could walk, pee and drink water. The water tasted nasty so I made my husband drink it, but only after making sure that I could keep a few swallows down. While I was getting dressed I looked down at my poor belly only to see a beat up belly button and one small little hole just below my two breasts. My surgeon was able to do the banding and correct the hernia all through my belly button, but the hole at the top was for an instrument that held my liver out of the way. They reviewed my diet restrictions and I was home by 5:00pm. I ended up sleeping for almost three whole days, and even five days later, I am still wanting to sleep all the time.
I am thinking that at this point, I am just weak and tired from a lack of calories. It's really hard to only have 200-300 calories a day while you are healing from surgery. But I have to say, it is definitely getting easier. My best friend Kate came up with her girls to stay with me and help with my boys. She is such a God sent.
I have lost 14 pounds over the past six days and I am looking forward to what my future holds. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, no regrets.
Posts
