Greetings fellow lap-banders. Ugg. Surgery and hospital part of this thing simply sucked for me. I woke up thinking, what the hell did I do with my body and WHY? Surgery was at 3:00 on Friday and I finally came home last night (Sat) around 9 pm. It is good to be home, that is for sure. I do not understand how some people do this as an outpatient. The pain at this point isn’t too bad other than in the port site where it feels really tight and sore. They sent me home with liquid vicodin and even at half dose it makes me want to sleep. So, I am trying to stay off it as long as I can.
I just spoke to my sister who is the queen of elective surgery (literally) and she said that every time she did a new procedure she felt the same way. Then once she started to recover she felt better about her decision.
My goal today is to drink liquids to keep hydrated and to try to get 20 grams of protein in the form of protein shakes, Greek yogurt or HMR soup. Wish me luck! Any advise you guys have for me this first week is really appreciated….so please write and add your 2 cents!! Thanks
You are officially a Bandster! Welcome :)
ReplyDeleteI know you are super sore, and trying not to take the liquid vicodin. But my biggest piece of advice is...TAKE IT! Let yourself sleep and rest and heal. Your port area is going to be sore for quite a while and as you heal it can get more tender, so don't freak when its sore after you are even back at work. I hope you are home for at least a week if not two. It took me two full weeks of resting and sleeping to feel 100% again. Try Slim Fast shakes for something fast and cold. Be careful with the yogurt at first because it can be a little thick.
Happy resting. HUGS!
Congrats! One thing I can say about my recovery is that walking helps a lot. My surgery was an outpatient one and my surgeon required that I walk 40 minutes a day - starting the day of surgery! Even though many days I didn't feel like walking it always made me feel better afterward.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for you! It will get better. Hey, it's ok to sleep if you need to take the meds. Your body needs time to recover. In 5about a week you will feel better than new again.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on coming out the other side! I'll be following in your progress as I will be following in your footsteps soon.
ReplyDeleteI will say that although the painkillers make you sleepy, try to take them, at least these first few days...if you don't let the pain get bad, you'll heal faster and feel better.
Congrats and welcome to band land! You're one of us now and after the first few days of questions, it will all make sense and you'll be sooo happy to be banded. Everyone is different, do what feels right for you. Sleep if you're tired, walk if you want to, just get ready to be a LOSER! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I felt the same way when I woke up and I know many other people felt the same way too. Also being sleeping the first few days isn't a bad thing. It will keep you from doing the things you shouldn't :) I tried to get off my pain meds too early and really regretted it. However, once you do there is a liquid tylenol you can take to help with the less intense pain.
ReplyDeleteProtein is great for healing so I would make sure that you get as much as you can. I couldn't eat much the first week so I added an unflavored protein powder to most things. If you get a really good one you won't be able to taste it but even half a scoop in pudding adds up.
If you don't have that use non fat powdered milk. I added it to stuff like low sugar hot chocolate and other milk based items. It adds more calories than the protein powder, but it is easy to get.
Welcome to the other side!
ReplyDeleteTake the time to rest...and walk, walk, walk! even in short little trips around the house.
The third day after was the worst for me (pain wise) but it was never that bad looking back. It was just hard to get comfortable.
Take care!
Have faith and confidence that this will be very short-lived and you'll feel better soon. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteYea - take it easy and get your rest. It took me awhile to recover - I felt like I was run over by a truck for the first few days. I was not one of those people who went back to work a couple of days later. You'll feel better in a few days.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad surgery went well.
Glad to hear that the Surgery is done & over with. Now you just need to recover. Like everyone else said, don't be afraid to take the pain meds, the more your body can rest the easier it will be to recover. By allowing your body to not be too tense, will help.
ReplyDeleteDon't try to do too much too soon!!!! I did & I may have flipped my port. I won't know until Dec 28th when I go in for my first fill if it is flipped or not. So please, take your Doctor's orders & do not overdo it!!!
I was lucky in that I never experienced the gas pains or itching at the Incision sites during the healing phase like everyone else. Which is probably why I got a bit cocky & felt I was recovered. Can't wait to see the weight come off!
Happy Holidays
Yeah! Linda is a bandster now! I am so happy for you! Okay...so...this first week you just rest, walk around, stay on pain meds. Repeat. Simple as that. I slept so much the first couple of days home.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo!!! Congrats, so glad you made it to the dark side ;)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear how it goes for you!!
Congradulations! and Welcome to band Land!!!! Woo hoo! So glad you've arrived and now is the point where you slowly figure stuff out. My advice is drink lots of water, walk around, rest, and only take the vicodin if you seriously think you need it b/c it does make you feel sleepy and out of it! Good luck!!!
ReplyDelete