Surgery Day...

...was finally here.

This is probably gonna be a long one, just so you know.  I will try and make it not to graphic.

Monday February 13, 2012, our day started at 4:00 a.m., I had already gone 48 hours on the liquid diet and was feeling a little runned down.

We got to the hospital at 5:30 and waited in the waiting room for them to come get me and get this fun started.

Once they took me back they weighed me (surgery day weight 381lbs) and took me to a prep area.  The nurse tried to get an I/V going in me, but me being related to my mom and grandma I am a bit of a tricky stick and she eventually had to bring in somone from the "I/V team" they finally got an I/V st up in the top of my hand.

They gave me some Fragmen (an anti coagulation drug) and a patch behind my ear to help with nausea.

They went over my medical history probably 5 times, seemed every one i spoke to (surgeon, Assistant, anestiologist, nurses) needed to cover it one last time.  They also called back my wife and parents  to see me before taking me to surgery and to see if they had any questions and to let them know what to expect from here on.

They then took me to the operating room introduced me to everyone in the room and moved me to the table and put me on oxygen.........
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(Most people say that from that point they don't remember much of the rest of the day, I was not that lucky.)
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........my first memory was of them rolling me out of the operating room and into the recovery room,  it was an absolutely terifying few minutes.  I remember very clearly knowing exactly what was going on and why. I was in SEVERE pain My abdomen felt like it was on fire, my neck was throbbing with pain, both on the right side whre they had put in the central line in my jugular but also on the left side for some reason.  I also felt when I first woke up like I was gonna hyperventilate, I couldn;t get enough air because of the pain but my body was screammin gfor more.  I also felt like I was trapped on the bed.

I ended up spending about an hour longer in recovery than most because it took longer to get the pain under control. but then they finally rolled me up to my room where my family was waiting for me.

Most of the rest of Monday was spent with my wife and parents setting in the room with me talking while I faded in out of sleep. This being interupted every few hours by having to get up and go for a short walk (yes, I had to get up and walk that first day) and then spending a half hour or so sitting up in a chair before going back to bed.

One of the worst parts of the day was that I had cotton mouth really bad from being intubated during the surgery and really wanted a big drink of water but until they were sure I had no leaks all I could "eat" was one ounce of ice chips per hour, this sucked.

I had been sleeping off and on all day but it hadn't been real restful so I had been looking forward to putting on my cpap mask on and getting a decent night's sleep.  No luck, they don't want you wearing the cpap mask that first night, and my night was not exactly restful.  I am not a "back sleeper", yet that is the only position I could lay in and all the time sitting at an incline to keep my abdomen from hurting had left me with a throbbing tailbone.

Tuesday I felt somewhat better. The day started with having to go and have an upper GI study to make sure I didn't have any leaks.  I had to drink some nasty contrast stuff and make sure it all went thru the pouch alright.  Everything went perfectly, no leaks.

I ended up going for six walks down to the end of the hall and back and felt progressively better with each walk.

April had planned to work this day because she was saving time up for when Evren comes but she ended up calling in because of what ended up being hip bursitis and spent the entire day at the hospital.  My parents had stayed in a nearby hotel overnight and came up to stay with me longer,  my in-laws came up to see me as well. My friend Marie who had her surgery a few weeks earlier came to see me as well. I had a good day visiting with everyone when I wasn't napping or walking or taking one ounce shots of liquid

Tuesday night they had to do a sleep study but that was ok with me because I got to wear my cpap mask.  I slept far better that second night.

Wednesday was mostly just a waiting game. I had to get clearance form several departments then had to get approval to go home.  I finally got to go home about 2:30 in the afternoon.

So my Surgery day weight was 381, I took one of my comparison pictures the day before, I an also using it as my 40 pounds lost shot since that point is just another 6 pounds down at 375 (i slightly revised my starting weight up 3 pounds to 415 just to simplify things) I took several other pictures in the preceeding days of me and how I fit into my life, I will take some more later just for comparison.We took several pictures while in the hospital as well, They are posted on their own picture page here (look for "Hospital stay pictures"), take a look and enjoy.

Sorry it took a few days to get this posted, I am sure you can understand but I haven't been much in a writing mood the last few days.  I will try and have a post up for the first few days after getting home int the next few days.

As always, of course, thanks for reading and thanks for your prayers and support.