Post Op Questions...

I had my sleeve 5 days ago at 9.30am in the morning and was up walking to the toilet about 5 hours later. My hubby and kids came up to visit me that night and I was fine to see them. I was still really zonked out about 3 hours after surgery but definitely ok for visitors that night. I was on morphine and paracetamol through the drip so felt not too bad.

imocai wrote:

Just wondering if those who have had their op could help. My husband and 2 children aged 14 and 9 have to travel an hour to visit and I am wondering if I will be too zonked out on the first night to appear ok. It is important for me to be with it as I had cancer 7 years ago and they don't cope with mum being sick in hospital. I won't need them to visit emotionally as I have had so many operations. I am worried after reading posts of people who were really out of it for the first 24 hours .... What do you think
Thanks
Imocai

Hi Imocai my kids are the same age :) I regret having them see me the first night. I was zonked, covered in tubes and not normal. It freaked the kids out, I could see they were really scared for me and emotional. When they visited the next day when I was feeling more normal and could get up and move around and go for walks, the relief on the kids face was enormous, particularly for the 14yr old I could tell he was really worried, and so relieved when he knew I was ok.

I know everyone is different, however I was in with around 5 others, and saw more come in on my 3rd day, and they were all zonked.

You most probably will be out of it however it's only an hr. You could have hubby ring the hospital to see how you are before they plan to leave in case you are really tired etc. If it's important that the kids see their Mum it's important, ask them out it. I was in hospital for 3 nights and didn;t have my daughter visit. I rang her once to see how she was and she said hello and that she was too busy having fun lol

cheers

imocai wrote:

Just wondering if those who have had their op could help. My husband and 2 children aged 14 and 9 have to travel an hour to visit and I am wondering if I will be too zonked out on the first night to appear ok. It is important for me to be with it as I had cancer 7 years ago and they don't cope with mum being sick in hospital. I won't need them to visit emotionally as I have had so many operations. I am worried after reading posts of people who were really out of it for the first 24 hours .... What do you think
Thanks
Imocai

Hi, tonight it my first night home as I was sleeved on the 26th. I have two daughters a 4 year old And an -8 month old. I most definitely would recommend that you see your kids T least 24 hours later. It took a real toll on me as I couldn't stomach the pain relief. I saw my kids 48 hours after surgery and my little one was to scared to come to me :( the following day I made sure they temporarily removed the drip and I sat in a chair so I wouldn't scare my 18 month old.

Best of luck.

Thanks ladies, I usually come out ready and rearing to go ... I have often pleaded with nurses to get up and have a shower not long after coming back from recovery ... I will wait til I find out the time of the op, 2 and a half weeks to go! I will keep you posted.

Hi Little Miss Princess. Am so happy for you that you have beaten cancer. So good to see you are also having the sleeve done, I had my op at about 2 pm and i was up and going to the toilet etc by around 7-7.30 that night and i was great,your pain is well under control with the morphine pump,which at that stage is pretty much all you would feel if you do not use the pump when needed,keep aware of the time you will need to use it. It depends on how well you come out of antheistics and if you have had quite a few ops you would be the one who knows,it would be great to have your family with you at this time, if your op is scheduled early i think you would be ok to have them with you that night.Do remember everyone is different handling pain thresholds and how the knock out man effects you,go by your past re actions after your last ops and that would be a great guide for you,if you re cover quickly coming out of them you will do fine.Good luck and i hope you do well,keep us posted.

I would wait until you feel good. No need to worry them unnecessarily and the first 24 - 48 can be a bit tough. Good luck.
G

Just wondering if those who have had their op could help. My husband and 2 children aged 14 and 9 have to travel an hour to visit and I am wondering if I will be too zonked out on the first night to appear ok. It is important for me to be with it as I had cancer 7 years ago and they don't cope with mum being sick in hospital. I won't need them to visit emotionally as I have had so many operations. I am worried after reading posts of people who were really out of it for the first 24 hours .... What do you think
Thanks
Imocai

Thanks Ritaz1964 and sassyjane,

I seem to be worried more about the shoulder pain lol as i have had shoulder surgery and it was not pleasant and i guess it just brought back all those memories, so we will see maybe i will be one of the lucky ones. I don't remember shoulder pain when i had my gallbladder out.

Thanks x

with any type of laproscopy surgery, they try to remove what gas they can, but theres some left and it can cause pain. I, personally ahve never experienced shoulder tip pain thru laproscopic surgery, but I understand it can be very painful...I wish you well.

Hi Mazz 59 ,i have not heard of the gas being taken out, i know that it can go up into your shoulder and is then know as shoulder tip pain which gradually disappears over time as you heal. I was lucky i never had it and many dont,seems to vary with each individual. i was sleeved on the 13 th Dec in Bunbury and no problems at all.

I was wondering if any one after having the operation if the surgeon has sucked the gas out of there stomachs. I was on FB and people in America said that is what the surgeon did and they had no shoulder pain.

Thanks

Marie

Thanks guys! You've given me a lot to think about!

I'm day 10 post-op and have a 5yo daughter and a very helpful partner who I couldn't have done it without.We are in the situation where we don't have anyone who can help.

I had3 nights in hosp and there is no way I could have cared for my daughter alone on the 1st few days home. My partner has done all the washing etc. I did lots of preop cooking of soups and broths etc for myself, My daughter has had alot of easy meals loke eggs and baked beans & DP who is also trying to loose too has been having frozen meals.

If you do lots of prep maybe your Mum could pop over every 2nd day and help with the washing and dinners or something? As for your daughter, my daughter is about to start big school and we've had some special cuddly afternoons on the lounge "watching" (me snoring) her fav movies lol

Mez4prez, everyone is very different in their recovery but if you are prepared food wise before I think it's quite possible just to have 3-4 lazy days around the house with your 4 year old daughter. That is if all goes smoothly which you need to presume it will. She would probably love some home days with you. Dont stress about getting her to ballet lessons, skipping a lesson or two is nothing in the whole scheme of things. Not sure of the circumstances but the other alternative is your mum to take your little girl for a few days when you get out of hospital and you stay and relax at your home. That way your little one can have some special time with nana and you can recover guilt free.

Hi, i am 6 weeks post op and i had an amazing recovery.Every surgeon is different and will expect different things from each of us. No lifting for a few weeks so if you have to lift a young child you would need someone else around,i was not allowed to drive for a week.If you have trouble free surgery you will be fine at home doing meals and the normal home things etc you would only need some one around to carry out heavy wash baskets etc and lift your child if needed. I can relate to not being too long under the same roof as Mother,we never saw eye to eye and the less we were together the better for all. Do check with your surgeon though as you will need to find out his guidelines as they do differe quite a bit. Good luck and keep us posted. I have lost 11 kgs in the 6 weeks and i am very pleased and i recovered easily.

Hi All!
Congrats on being sleeved! My sleeve date is on the 12th of Feb so I am super excited to get it done. I wanted to ask those who have gone through the surgery already.

I'm married with a 4year old daughter. My husband is busy ALL THE TIME! But my mother has generously volunteered to pay for my operation and care for me and my daughter after the operation for 2 weeks. I am happy to be cared for, but I live on the North side of Brisbane and my mother lives on the south side- which means I won't get to see my husband and my daughter will miss out on kindy and ballet lessons etc.

MY QUESTION is this: After your surgery, did you need someone to care for you totally in this way, could you care for any children/dependents after the 2 nights at hospital or did you struggle with everyday actions- making food for your family, driving them to school etc... I don't plan on doing any vigorous exercise or doing a lot- but I would like to be independent at least 4-5 days after my surgery... (also, my mother and I do NOT get along under the same roof- so I would like to preserve my relationship with her by avoiding staying any length of time with her)

Any information on this would be helpful.

Thanks!

Mez!

I am on things like V8 vegie juices, soups, fruit juice... Tomorrow I am lashing out and stepping up to Up N Go's, sustagens, protein milks and more soups. Whatever can get up a straw :) Hang in there, and check out the thread on recipes for this stage in here, and also the Nov sleevers monthly group :)

Hi All,
I had my sleeve surgery on the 16th of November so 12 days ago now, I have been extremely lucky, only really had pain when I came to after the op, only had a puke once and that was in hospital and very minimal nausea which I can easily control with meds. I have been a little sleepy but I guess considering what my body has been going through that's to be expected.
The main problem I'm having is that I am supposed to be on fluids for another 4 days and I am going insane with it! I can't stomach the meal replacement shakes or soups anymore, they make me want to puke from pure boredom, I'm pretty much surviving on tea, diet cordial, water and Berocca's!
If anyone has any ideas to get me through the next 4 days I will be really grateful. Each day is such a struggle to not cook some scrambled eggs or something.
Thanks!

freedom2Bme wrote:

Hi Jay Jay Im 15 days post op today and I to found it very hard going was actually scared of comming home as I was having lots of pain mid uper chest area around 2-3 seconds after swallowing.
I asked surgeon and he told me that it is just residual bruising from breathing tube and the sleeving tube and that there is also a bit of swelling to contend with as well, so I found for me that warm fluids where easier to swallow and that anything other than water eg skim milk or warm milo etc as I to didnt like the up and go (to sweet), the surgeon also put me on an anti inflamitory twice daily.
I found that it seemed to be easier to swallow very small amounts at a time eg 1Tbl spoon sips or around 5ml, and that it helped to stand and sip (gravity helps), I can honestly tell you that by around day 7 I was allot better still not perfect but deffinatly better and by around day10 back to normal and can comfortabley drink a cuppa in around 15-20mins with no troubles.

I would be asking your surgeon for the anti inflamitories as I feel for me this realy helped to settle things down quite quickly- just remember that befor taking the anti inflamitories that you need to have drunk at least 1/ 2 cup of nourishing fluids eg 1/2 cup skim milk or 1/2 cup of milo or other thin nourishing fluid this can be done by drinking 1/4 cup before tablet then take tablet using this fluid then sipp any thats left over after tablet (dont worry the tablet is very small only alittle bit bigger than the birth control pill)
Hope you are drinking more comfortably sooner

this helped me lots, thank you!

Depends on your surgeon/dietician Emma, they are all different with their requirements.
Some a few days, some 2 weeks, I would check

Hi All, I just had my sleeve on the 22nd of November and just have a few questions.. How long after surgery do you stay on fluids and then move on to the puree?. Cheers!!

I got put onto Zoton after I had my gall bladder removed. I think it is the same type of drug. Glad I am on this one as it has a chewable variety that I will be fine with after surgery.
There are a lot of PPI drugs on the market and you might have to shop around before you find the perfect match....just think of it as finding your hubby again LOL

Hi DBFiveGirl,

I had a similar thing to you when i got sleeved on 11 Oct and it was an intolerance to milky things and carbs. My dietitian told me that the high amount of carbs in the Sustagen I was drinking wasn't aggreeing with me and that it was getting more common in other sleeve patients.

It doesn't last long and before you know it you will be constipated!

If that happens I was saved by Senokot tablets.

Good luck with it all!

Oh Neat that sounds awful! Glad you've got it sorted (for now)... I'm on Pariet too - I have next to no issues... Definately have a crack at that one :)

Hi

chasedbytigers and josie2, thanks for getting back to me. My doc had me back in for another gastroscopy the day after I called, first of all they gave me a light anaesthetic but I coughed so much where my oesophagus was so burnt, that they gave me a much stronger anaesthetic, once he saw my stomach he drained out the gastric acid. Im now on nexium once in the morning, and sulfracate half an hour before meals and another before bed, Im also on zantac one before bed and maxolone 2 before bed. It's been 5 nights now that I havn't woke up choking, and I have a voice back too, the acid burnt me so bad I was really croakey, then after surgery I had NO VOICE for 2 days, when I went back and saw my doc last week I said "what happened" so he drew me some piccys and we had a talk, if taking these tablets didn't work then he was booking me in for a gastric by pass which I did not want. I wasn't on nexium before my op. I will ask doc about pariet.

THANKS girls

Neat xx