My Gastric Bypass, Part 2

They went over everything again, (and they had weighed me a few days before...I had lost 11 pounds ,my Mom and I were both surprised...I must have been so stressed out I lost weight, because I did NOT excercise,etc) and hooked me up to some IV's and made me walk down to the surgery room. I laid down on this table where you have your arms outstretched, and they said to count backwards...so I did...and was goneeeeeeee.

When I woke up I was in a dark room and freaking out...I was told I was in recovery and to calm down...but there was something wrong. I could tell. I was choking on something. I said the tube (that goes from your nose through your throat into your stomach) was wrong, that I was choking. I tried to tell them but they said the tube was fine and I just needed to calm down. As I started fading out, I heard someone say the tube had curled up onto itself. When I woke up next, I saw my Mom and sisters...they were fuzzy...I had no glasses and was on morphine. The tube had been taken out, and they told me how the the doctor had told them what happened, and that it wasn't safe to put it BACK in again.

My Dad had gotten sick and wasn't able to visit me the entire time. I was there Friday through Monday early evening. This is NOT the time to be in a hospital. I was sharing a room, and the other patient was NOT a gastric bypass patient, so she had food going in and out ALL the time. My Mom was my angel...she stayed the entire time with me...sleeping in a hospital chair.
When I woke up early the next day I was in such agony. I wanted it taken back...so BADLY. And I was itchy, me and Morphine do not mesh. And those foot things that puff every few seconds were annoying the crap out of me, I couldn't sleep. They put you on this nice medicine, diazapam, aka hospital heroine...it helped, not greatly but not bad. The itching didn't go away for months. I didn't have to reach people...they had sliced my stomach and wall and cut my intestines and moved them around then stapled me 1000's of times and stitched me closed. My surgeon had left after my surgery, hey it WAS the week before Thanksgiving, he was off, I never saw him in the hospital again. His partner would be there though if I needed him. Anyway, they showed up every 3 hours or so, with this painful shot that had to be injected in my stomach...yeah so not cool and every 3 hours the entire stay. Heppherin or something like that. They had to draw blood constantly and check my vitals, and make me use this machine where you have to blow in it like 10 times every hour. It was the worst experience of my life. The nurses and tech's I had were so mean. 100% serious. They obviously didn't want to be there...and made sure I knew it. My Mom, a nurse, was really surprised. Because of the nose tube, so for 2 days straight my tongue and lips were dry and cracked...it was horrid. The only good thing, I had the cathater removed Saturday morning and put underwear on...I made sure it was riding low, but I felt SO vulnerable, so it was a relief to me.

On Saturday night, a nurse entered and asked me what my pain level was....1 of 10, I said 8, and she was aghast that I was not on a larger dose of the pain med, so she upped it to 4 pills, and was so...sweet...this is when I chose to break down...I was so used to everyone being so mean, this one nice person made me bawl like a baby...which hurt my stomach. I never saw her again after that shift and never could remember her name, but she was the best I had...I got the same mean nurses after her. On Sunday I was told I could have a shower. I was so sweaty and disgusting, it didn't matter what pain it gave me, I was so happy to get clean. My mom waited outside the curtain and I was shocked that after 2 minutes I needed to use the shower chair (my germophobia was is such horror), I was so tired and drained. I had to be very careful of my stitches and the things that pull the skin together. Oh and I almost forgot. When you have surgery, you have to wear this binder starting immediately after surgery and wear it for weeks. When my Mom adjusted it for me the day before I had felt some relief so she let me keep it off for an hour while we knew they wouldn't check. So when I had a shower, it was such a releif again. And my Mom didn't make me put it back on...shhhh...it was a big secret and I never wore it again. For Sam, it was a comfort, she worreid her guts would spill out. My scar is up higher though so it felt too constricting. I was finally told I could have ice chips, it was like heaven on my tongue. Not that I was hungry...no hunger AT ALL! And then my nurse entered the room and YELLED at me, saying I was munching on too much ice and took it away. My Mom was shocked again...she is still surprised at how I was treated. Then that nurse had my surgeons partner go see me and she, SHE, convinced him I should not be on this much pain medicine. So he said he was knocking me down to 2 pills, and NO, he did NOT ask me what my pain level was...he didn't CARE. And when she returned she had only 1 pill...and he had gone home and my doctors' physicians assistant didn't work until Monday. So this nurse decided for her self, with no authority, that I could only have 1 pain med, which did nothing for me...and the foot things kept me awake the entire stay too. I didn't see either sister on Sunday, Katie got Dad's cold. So it was just me and Mom. That night we actually watched the TV, Desperate Housewives was on...and after...I actually fell asleep for the first time. And was rudely woken around 11pm because my roomate was friends with the nurses and techs in real life, so they were LOUDLY gabbing for hours...my Mom was pissed, but what could we do? They worked there...there was no way we were gonna get someone to make them shut up...so that was all the sleep I got...for 3 days after the surgery.

So finally it was Monday...and I had thought I would get out in the Morning....no. I was having panic attacks by this point. Sam arrived and they tried to calm me down, but I was threatening to leave if they didn't get me discharged. They found the P.A. and she talked to me and said she would see what she could do...but I had to *WARNING-GROSS FACTOR* poop once before I was released, and had to drink 2 protein shakes before I was released. It was odd, I was yelled at for crunching ice and now I had to drink 2 big cups of shake??! I was like fine, give it now and they were delivered...they were disgusting...and were full of whey not milk...I could barely get half a one down.

But I was in agony, I was itchy, I was tired...I was going crazy, I told them if I wasn't discharged NOW, I was walking withoout permission, so they left....and were gone forever...they brought me back 2 gifts from the gift shop, a flying pig ornament made of glass, I love pigs and it felt like pigs would fly before I was released. And a Boyd Bear. It was sweet. But I was seriously on the edge of insanity. This experience was so horrible for me...my fear of hospitals has grown... and then finally... I was released and my Mom and Sam and I drove HOME....