Post Op Questions...

hi, sleeves are nearly always keyhole in New Zealand as well, havent heard of anyone having open surgery for a sleeve downunder here.
Catherine

wow just overnight.... Mine was done keyhole. I watched the op on the net and it was done in the US by keyhole and he also said the person would only be in overnight. I really could not imagine having had come out the next day....i was very tired and i was still hooked up to pain relief, saline drip and i had a drain in my stomach. I stayed in for 4 nights.
I also had 3 weeks off work...like Bigbugger i work at a school and made it fit in with holidays...i could have gone back after 2 weeks but it was nice to have 3 weeks break.

Nicole

Dear Holly
I'm in the UK, it was done keyhole (easier to spell but same as that laparos... word!) I thought I would be out sooner but there is no way on this earth I could have come out before 2 nights. They like to make sure you have attempted something else to eat rather than water here too. The first 10 days were the worst, but I've been on school holidays so been lucky to have 5 weeks post op to recuperate. I was on holiday after 2 weeks, and was fine, some stomach pain when hungry/sneezing or eating! I think a week before going back to work is optimistic, as you can't be lifting or doing too much, you're just too tired and washed out! Saying that, everyone is different! I'm not a great one for recovery! You could always plan another week off to convalesce!
BB

Holly

mine was done laparo... lapra... keyhole surgery hahahaha. And most people I've heard of have also been.
But I was advised to take two weeks off... I needed the break from work anyway - although I healed pretty quickly and probably could have gone to work earlier, I did feel it was good to take it easy and to be at home while I got used to the whole eating experience after the op. I guess the fact that I didn't tell anyone at work about it made it better for me to have more time off work. And I have certainly experienced times where I am quite exhausted - I have an office job so only slows my work down a bit, isn't a huge problem.

Hi, I am wondering since most of you are from overseas (from me here in the US) does your doctor do your surgery laporoscopiclly? (sorry about the spelling). It seems like you are staying in the hospital a long time if it is.

Here, I will be in the hospital only over night. They have already told me that I will be up and walking the day of the surgery so I need to be sure and take my pain medicine. And I will be out the next day. They say I only have to stay off work for one week also.

It seems like a lot of you are staying off work for weeks.

That is why I was wondering if they are doing your surgeries laparoscopically? or a major operation where they open you up for the surgery?

thanks
holly

Yes there are a few to choose from, several in Auckland, a very popular one in Hamilton and a few elsewhere, haven't heard of any in the South Island yet.
Cat.

Are there many surgeons to choose from in NZ? I am from the Waikato but moved over 6 years ago. :-)

Here, we are seeing a dietetician before and many times after the surgery. She gives us ideas how to live with a sleeve and what to do to continue to lose healthy.

Hi Kittycat,

I'm sorry to hear what you went through.

You are the first bad news story I have heard about this surgery. I hope you recover quickly and are feeling much better soon.

steph

HI Cinni, No we had different surgeons, I was bit put off using her one, funny that !!

Thanks for sharing Kittycat. :)

Wow did you have the same surgeon as your neighbour? That is freaky how you both had complications.

Cinni

Hi Lynette, I've just posted on the other thread under 'Complications' about my neighbours one.
Catherine

Glad you are feeling better now, but sounds horrible that you went through all that yukky stuff.

What complications did your neighbor have? I'm still two weeks pre-op, but would like to know.

Thanks, I'm feeling bit better each day, just tired and a bit sore and definitely feeling sorry for myself !! why me ?? why me ?? my neighbour had sleeve with a different surgeon last october and had worst complications than me so i thought i'd be safe cause to have two in the same street would just be unfair !! :<a href=htt
anyway can't change it all now and I think I'll be happy when i'm finally allowed to have some REAL food, am way over having Optifast now.
Catherine

Heck Kittycat, My op is in 5 weeks and I was pretty confident that things would go well.
But I will still be positive as the journey will be here before I know it.
I hope you recover fully and have no more hiccups.
Get well, Ang

Oh gee, kittycat, what a trauma. I can only imagine what it was like with that tube - I would have been distressed over that, too. :[img]http://ww :[img]http://sm
I know you didn't want to go through any of this, but at least the guy admitted his mistake and didn't just try to cover it up. Does that mean he'll cover your bills? I guess that'd be too much to ask, wouldn't it?
But it sounds as though the worst is now over and you're starting to heal okay, so I hope that's the case and that you continue to improve steadily.
I'm so sorry that you had to go through it all though. Get lots of rest and take care of yourself, won't you?
Chris

WARNING !!! Bad post-op story follows !!!
I went in Sunday night (10 days ago), had the op Monday lunchtime and woke later in the day to people around my bed, my surgeon looked worried...I thought I would have an IV in but there was a gastric tube in my nose, I could hardly swallow, wicked sore throat and nose and tummy sore cause a drain in there and some icko liquids coming out and the stuff coming out of my nose -ewww and had the IV of course. Surgeon told me he had made a tear when dissecting my new stomach and so i had a special part there that needed special healing in other words would need all that stuff on for a week and just the iV etc...I was pretty devastated as you can imagine.
The gastric tube completely did my head in. Felt like someone had their fingers down the back of my throat trying to make me sick 24/7. Couldnt sleep so got quite emotional and exhausted. Anyway...the worst day was Wednesday morning when they came in and said they'd ordered an ambulance to take me to radiology and then transfer to intensive care cause probably having stomach leak from wound !!! (don't know why they thought that)
but xrays were OK so went back to provate hospital very relieved. Got the tube and stuff out on Friday and went to Mums late in the day. Now I'm home and feeling alot better. Am on water and diluted optifast for several weeks.. THATS the short story ....

Gee Pretzel, who wouldn't be happy with that! You're doing amazingly well - good on you!
Chris

Hey Steph
I'm at 9.5 kilos loss today - nearly 4 weeks.

I'm happy with that as it's about 3 kilos a week.
I've been super busy with work and haven't done any real exercise yet so hopefully that will help as well as it starts to slow down.
You look like your doing brilliantly - are you still losing consistently every week?

Wow Pretzel,
I'm amazed........... that's great. You are doing fabulously. How is your weight loss going?
steph

OMG - you did ROLLER COASTERS?????
I'm in awe!!!
Chris

Quote :

I'd rather hear the bad stuff and be prepared then be 'protected' from the truth. :)

I second that ! :)

Hi Jo,
I might not be the best example because I seem to be brezzing through all of this but I drove day 4 - when I got home from hospital (i forgot what the Dr had said, plus I live in a small country town so if you need o go anywhere you have to drive) My car is automatic and not a huge 4WD but one of the Holden Captiva AWD cars.
I didn't have any problems.

My Dr says I am one of those very lucky people who has no reaction to anaethetic and seems to heal and bounce back very quickly. I was walking to the toliet the night of my operation and watching tele with the nurses 3 hours after recovery - fully awake and alert.

Last week at 3 weeks post op I had a business trip in Qld and even went on a few roller coasters at Movie World when we had a free day - I asked my Dr and he said it was OK.
I guess what I'm getting at is that we are all different, how you heal and recover may be like me or you might be a much slower healer like Chris, your not going to know until the OP unless you can guage past experiences.
Cheers,

Hi Catherine
Welcome. I'm sorry you've had such a bad first week, but hopefully it will improve very soon.
I agree - it's good to let others know, so that we can all make more informed decisions.
Chris

I'd rather hear the bad stuff and be prepared then be 'protected' from the truth. :)

Hi Kittykat and welcome to our group.

Do you mind me asking what sort of problems you had post op? Or maybe here is not a good place to put it in case it might scare the pre oppers. You could always PM me.

steph