3 Days post-op

Well I made it. It is Saturday April 18, 2015 as I type this. Surgery was on Wednesday the 15th!

I still can't believe it is finally done.I'm elated that the procedure went very well and I am doing great.

To recap what I went through several days:

Monday (13th):  This was my last day at work. I got things semi-cleaned up there so I could be away for a couple of weeks. We went out to dinner at Tahoe Joe's for my "last meal". I had a rib eye, and it was great.

Tuesday (14th): My liquid diet started. This was not fun. I also had my pre-op appointments with the surgeon as well as my blood work. Once that was done I came home for a little bit and then headed back out. On the agenda was my blessing with Father Adrian. That was interesting as I had not had an anointing of the sick before.  I was happy and at peace knowing I had god watching me through this process. Next came picking up the kids and heading home until soccer practice started.

Wednesday(15th): Since I could not have anything to eat starting at midnight and my surgery was not until the late afternoon, I decided to try and sleep for most of the day. I figured this would be less stressful and it turned out it was. Heather and I left for the hospital at about 2. We had to be at the hospital by 3pm and had a few errands to run.

Once at the hospital I checked in and waited. After a bit I was taken back to a room to get prepped. The nurses were very nice and joked with me. After they got me prepped they brought Heather back to see me until it was time for surgery. We waited for about another hour before it was my turn in the OR.  Again all of the staff and nurses were very nice and introduced themselves as they were reading the OR for my surgery. The last thing I remember is that the anesthesiologist telling me he gave me something to relax, then asked me what I did for a living. Next thing I knew I woke up in recovery. I don't remember much about being in recovery or how long I was there for. The next thing I knew I was being wheeled into my room and saw my beautiful wife and our friends Jacqui and Luis.

By this time, it was around 7:30 and the nurses were coming in  getting vitals, giving me ice chips and getting me settled.  My nurse Leizle was great. Very nice and explained everything. The night was rather uneventful and not restful. I was up at 11:45 for my first walk, then roughly every hour had someone coming in checking my vitals. The nice thing is that I felt great! I had one bout of nausea when I was given my BP meds, but was immediately given something for the nausea and was fine after that.

Thursday (16th): The next morning I had a very brief visit from the Dr. and then a short time later was told that I was ready to be discharged. We just had to wait and talk with the dietician. We ended up leaving the hospital around 12. Came home and slept.  Later in the evening Heather and I went to open house at the school. It was nice to get out and walk as well as see friends. However, I was exhausted after coming home and crashed pretty much after walking in the door.


Friday (17th):  Friday was pretty uneventful as well. I slept, drank my gatorade, water, broth.We also went to the VIP day at the boys' school. Again it was nice to get some fresh air and see friends. Once we got home from there took another nap and just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.


All in all I am so happy I had this procedure done. I'm glad for the support of my wife, my boys and my friends. So far this process has not been hard. Yes it is difficult to have nothing but clear fluids right now, but I know that farther down the road I will be able to have more foods. Right now the important thing is for my stomach to heal.

I guess I should give some stats. I will update these periodically as well as post some before and after pics.

Stats:

Heaviest Weight; 396
Pre-Op weight (Dr's office):393
Pre-op weight (Hosital):382


I have my 1 week post-op appointment on Tuesday the 21st so we'll see how I am at that point.