Well here I am........5 days post op..........

It's October 28th, 2am and I am trying to get myself turned around for the graveyard shift coming this Thursday through Sunday nights. I just hope I can make it.



I had my band put in on Thursday October 23rd at Dekalb Medical at 2pm. I loved the staff there and I really like my doctor too. I had to go on a clear liquid diet 2 days prior to the surgery, so nothing but chicken broth, popcicles, water, kool-aide and apple juice from Tuesday at midnight till Thursday at midnight. I felt weak and starved the whole time and thought I would die. I even lost a couple pounds in the process!!!



I had to be at the surgical center at 11:30am, and went into surgery by 2pm. I was awake from what I can gather by 3:30pm. My mouth was like cotton and I was dying for ice....anything wet. My good friend Penny who I met in the waiting room on Monday at the pre-op blood appt. was across the way from me and she yelled to me "Hey Keely!!....wake up!!".......I could barely focus on her. She was a couple hours prior to me with the same doctor and was getting the band too. Mary from Dr. Steinberg's Yahoo group came by to see Penny and I on Friday. BLESS YOU MARY!!!! You really are an Angel!!!! Thanks for caring for all of us "newbies"!!!!





My dear sister Karen really was a trooper through this all. She stayed with me through the operation and finally left to go back to my house at 8pm. I am grateful she took the time from her family to come to my aide for those 5 days. I could never have had the surgery if she wasn't there for me.



I apparently was retaining water like a sponge in the hospital because I went through THREE bags of saline IV and 3 or 4 pitchers full of ice, as well as two bowls of chicken broth and some Jello. All I could give in pee was so yellow and strong it burned me bad. It hurt. They threatened to cath me saying I wasn't giving enough. It's didn't dawn on me that I likely needed a water pill or something. I also had been given something for insane itching from the Morphiene IV.....the nurse told me it was real common to have this reaction. I was nauseated a couple times too and got something in my IV for that too. It seemed the poor nurse, a sweet little gal from India was in there with me all night long. The alarms from the IV stand were going off all the time, and the alarms from the leg squeezers (to prevent bloodclots) were going off all the time too, so I got little to no sleep Thursday night.



I got home Friday October 24th about noon and for shits and giggles got on the scale........boy was I in shock!! I was UP 12 pounds!!! Yes!!! UP 12 pounds from my pre-op weight. It was after that, that I started peeing like a racehorse..........and it was clear!!! I plan to tell the doctor about all this this friday when I see him for the first post op appt. It has to be NOT the first time this crap has happened.



All day on Friday and part of Saturday I was sooooooo sore. Apparently not getting up and walking more in the hospital is the culprit because the gas (Co2) they pump into you for the surgery settled in my arms and legs. I have never hurt so bad in all my life, my WHOLE body ached......I felt like someone had hit me with a Mack Truck!! So Saturday I decided that since Karen was going back to Utah on Sunday that I needed to take her to CNN and show her around. Thank God I did, because not only did she get to see the place and get some nice t-shirts for the kids, my pain disappeared and I was able to fart some and get some of that #$%^& gas out of my system!! A few folks from work couldn't believe I was 2 days post op and there at work!! But other than being tired and really fatiqued I really felt ok..........



I took these pics of Karen in front of the Domestic weather wall and with the Humvee in the lobby area...........