Surgery Day!

So, technically, right now I’m 2 days post op but there was so much going on, on surgery day that I honestly just didn’t have time to write anything. However, I thought I’d still talk about the day.

My surgery was scheduled at 2pm. I arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes before 12 for registration and to pre-op. Unfortunately, my doctor was in another surgery that was running over so I didn’t actually go into surgery until closer to 5 I think.

Something I haven’t mentioned up until this point: my surgery was not just the sleeve, I was also going in for hiatal hernia repair and an EGD. Ultimately, I had a hernia that was caused by reflux over the years and he needed to repair that and make sure that everything was good in my esophagus. This is important to know because it explains why my hospital stay was inpatient versus outpatient.

My surgery went perfect. I learned this via my mom who heard it directly from my surgeon. Lost less than an ounce of blood. It couldn’t have gone better. When I came to after anesthesia, the post op nurses made me get up almost immediately to go to the bathroom, but I didn’t have to go. I just wanted to continue to lay there. They practically carried me to the toilet lol. I remember getting back in the bed and then taking me up to my room but I don’t really remember much about that until I started to wake up more in my hospital room. I checked my phone for any texts, tried to text folks back and then I went back out.

The thing about this surgery, those nurses try to get you up almost immediately. They do not want you to rest lol. So, by 11pm my nurses was like “you have to walk the unit.” I’m still pretty out of it at this point but a little more awake. I made it maybe 30 yards down the hallway before I felt like I was going to pass out. I went pale and everything. They sat me down immediately and took my blood pressure and made me go lay down again.

Throughout the night, they kept scanning my bladder because I wasn’t peeing. They were pumping me FULL of fluids but I was emptying. So they were concerned. Finally the nurse said she’d have to put a catheter in me and my body must have been like “oh hell nah” because immediately I was peeing normal. Lol.

Around 5am, I woke up on my own and felt fully awake. I walked out to the nurses station and told her I would take a lap (which I did) and it took a lot out of me. I had to walk really slow and I think because of the hiatal hernia repair, it made it a little difficult to breathe (especially with a mask on). Came back and they were transitioning me from the bed to chair. I told you, they want to get you UP.

At 6am, my nurse brought me a bunch of tiny cups, and a can of Gatorade (in retrospect, I don’t know if this made the most sense but I’ll get to that in a second) and a sheet that helps me mark off my fluid intake. The tiny cups are legit only 1oz and you’re supposed to sip it slow. That Gatorade was like a thanksgiving meal, y’all. I was so grateful to have it. My lips up until that point were white and literally crusted.

So, from 6am on, I was only drinking Gatorade by the ounce, peeing perfectly and just chillin until my doctor came in. Checked my incisions and said they looked great. But they took my vitals and my blood sugar was sky high. It had hit 253 at one point and they could not get it to go down. They gave me three shots of insulin (not all at the same time of course) and some more fluids. My CO2 levels were also pretty low. So they were hoping that would fix it too. My blood sugar was high because I was drinking Gatorade only. At this point they had not given me any water. But they finally brought me some and I decided on my own to start to sip that instead.

My blood sugar went down immediately. They gave me the last shot of insulin and discharged me. It was 6pm. I was tired and I wanted to be in my own bed.

In terms of pain, I’m not in much pain. It is more of a pressure right now. I think they gave me a local anesthetic because my stomach has been numb to the touch (though I still feel pain inside). That will hopefully go away in the next couple of days. Which is good because I have to inject a shot in my stomach everyday and that makes it easy for me to do lol. However, the pain is pretty minimal other than the severe gas you will have. I feel it all the way in my shoulder. It’s so bad but getting up to walk really does help with that.

Speaking of medicine, I’m only taking about 4 pills a day and if my brain could retain those names, I would list them here. But I’m currently writing this from bed at 4:33am because my pain meds wore off and I woke up out of my sleep lol.

I will leave my thoughts on my hospital stay to an Instagram story rant because I really don’t have the energy to type all of that out. So if you don’t follow me there, make sure you do!

-F