ā I recently found out that someone I know is having gastric bypass surgery soon and that made me think back to all the things I wish I had known going in. So that is what this blog is about. Since these are based on my surgery, if you think of something that I miss, please feel free to let me know so I can include it. Drinking after surgery. A ānormalā person just drinks, they donāt have to think about it. After surgery however, not only do you take sips at a time, I learned you have to exhale, and then drink at the same time that you inhale. This helped me avoid my digestive tract being mad at me as if I drank too much at one time. Sleeping lying down is a no go for a few weeks. I wanted so bad to sleep in my bed, but I kept waiting up in horrible pain, or I wouldnāt be able to sleep at all. I learned that you have to sleep propped up for a few weeks, which leads to insomnia (see #3). I do not have a recliner, but thankfully I have a wedge pillow from when I had pneumonia a few months prior so I took every pillow in my house into my living room and with trial and error, I learned how to stack the pillows under and over the wedge pillow so I could get some rest. Insomnia sucks!!!!! but it will pass. On about my 5th day home from the hospital, I finally called my doctor because I was only sleeping a few hours at a time and I seriously felt like I was going crazy. My nurse practitioner told me it was completely normal, which was oddly refreshing, but didnāt help me get any sleep. She told me to try taking a sleep aid, which I did, but it didnāt help. I still was only getting about two hours at a time. I learned to just embrace my lack of sleep. Going from ālaying down (even while propped up) to sitting up, or getting off the couch was a learning process. I didnāt know how to get up without causing a ton of pain. I learned that I needed to sort of roll off the couch on my left side to get up, doing so, I was able to get up with little pain and without my main incision feeling like it was going to rip open at any moment. There is no need to take clothes and tennis shoes to the hospital with you. My pre op instructions said to bring walking clothes and shoes. I never once used any of that stuff. The hospital had non-slip socks I had to wear any time I was out of bed and I just stayed in my hospital gown until it was time to leave. I just put my clothes I wore to the hospital back on. The day of surgery is a pain like no other. When I was being wheeled from post-op to my room all I wanted to do was scream because every stop, go, turn, bump, anything made me hurt so bad, but I was so drugged up I couldnāt say anything. Once I got to my room and was allowed to sleep for a bit. I was woken up by someone wanted to check my vitals, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I tried to sit up, but was instantly nauseous, and my stomach felt like it was lurching, for lack of a better word. This was the only time I regretted my surgery. I wish someone would have told me to expect this. The nurses gave me one of the throw up things, but of course, I hadnāt eaten anything in more than a day, so there was nothing to throw up. This reaction happened for about the first 12 hours after surgery, if that. I use 12 hours, because I donāt really remember, but I donāt want to lead anyone to think this only happened one or two times. After this first day though, I was feeling much, much better. If your surgeon gives you an On Q pump, which most are doing now, and if you have the pouch bag like I did, the easiest way to wear it is like a cross body bag. I had a nurse assistant try to put it around my neck while I was up for a walk, but that caused a lot of pain. I was pretty stressed about taking my On Q pump out, but it was actually super easy and I didnāt even feel it. My surgeon had about a foot of the pain pump lines in my belly, so that was weird to see the never ending lines coming out, but other than that I didnāt notice any increased pain once it was removed. I left it in my belly for 5 days and only removed it because it started leaking where it entered my belly incision. The vitamins and meds crushed taste awful!!!! I tried everything I could think of to make taking the drugs easier, including putting them in my protein drinks, thereās no easy way to get them down. I did find when I was able to drink vitamin water zero (lemonade flavor) something about the consistency of the drink made the pills cut in half and in quarters easier to swallow. When riding in the car once I initially came home from the hospital, I had to sit with a pillow between my back and the seat for about 3-4 weeks when driving or riding to go somewhere that was more than a few minutes. I still use a pillow when sitting in my office chair at work, because I have noticed that my office chair isnāt very comfortable anymore. Have the person taking you home from the hospital bring a full size pillow with them to hug while driving. I wasnāt terribly uncomfortable while riding, but it definitely was good to have when we hit a random pot hole.
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