Thursday, July 22, 2010

A Slew of Updates

HAY EVERYBODY! 

This is actually my first post since before I had surgery.  I know that a couple of days after surgery hubby posted that I was doing ok.  Since then I've had a couple issues.

I was in the hospital a few extra days than is usual with this type of surgery.  I was on a pain drip of course in my IV, well the meds they were giving me was shutting my body down.  My kidney's stopped acting as much and my blood pressure went down to 80/30.  They had to give me something in the IV to raise it back up.  There are about two whole days that I don't remember.  Chris left on Friday afternoon because he had to work on Saturday and he also needed to pick up the dog.  I remember that, but that's all I remember till Monday. 

After I got off the pain drip things got a lot better.  On Monday I got up and started walking and doing the initial bit of therapy they wanted me to do in the hospital.  Getting back to walking, at that time I was using the assistance of a walker.  Then I went to a cane.  Now, a couple weeks after surgery I'm not using either.  Which is a good thing.  The doc actually took all walking aides away from me yesterday when he did my post op.  I went into the hospital for surgery on the 8th and left on the 13th, so I was in the hospital for 5 days. Like I said, little longer than normal, but we had the issues with the pain drip.

They didn't let me eat or drink anything for four freakin' days!  lol  Which I know would have been much more of an issue before being banded.  After, not so much.  I actually wasn't that hungry so it wasn't that big of a deal to me.  I was really thirsty, but not hungry at all.  They wanted me to pass gas before I could eat.  Which is pretty standard for most surgeries.  I told the doc that since I've had my band done my body doesn't work that way.  There's nothing coming out if nothing's going in.  As we all know.  Still didn't matter to them.  They were just following the rules though, can't be mad at them for that.

I did get to eat one meal before I left.  Which wasn't too bad.  Hubby said the food was really good.  The menu was actually pretty upscale.  The one mean I had was shrimp skewers with rice pilaf.  I was rather impressed.  However, it was a little spicy.

After I was released from the hospital I went to my mom and dad's for a few days till they left for vacation.  I was enjoying life at mom and dad's.  No one takes better care of you when you're sick than your parents.  lol  No matter how old you are.  At almost 30 years old, I know there's no one like mom.  :D  And mom has cable.  Which I don't.  So I got to indulge in a little cable tv while I was there.  It's the simple things in life I guess.

After I came home is when the band issues started.  I was home for a couple of days when I started getting really bad acid reflux.  I was waking up in the middle of the night as well as still getting sick during the day.  After about 5 days of that I called the bariatic center where I got the band placed and they said they needed to see me immediately.  Which is a three hour drive from my house.  I actually called the bariatric center here first, and since they're full of morons, they wouldn't treat me.  I told them about the issues that I was having.  They asked me if I had my band placed there, I told them no, they seriously told me that I was out of luck and had to go where I had it placed.  When I informed them that it was 3 hours from my house they basically told me that was my problem.  Assholes.

So I called up mom and asked her if she wanted to take a small roadtrip with me.  This was the day she got home from vacation.  I felt kinda bad for her.  She had been up since 4 that morning and had got off the plane to find me sick and had to take another mini roadtrip. 

I went to the ER in the hospital where I had the band placed.  They took about 2cc's of fluid out.  They kept me in the hospital over night.  After they took the 2cc's out I was able to eat some mashed potatoes and a little bit of soup.  In the morning they gave me a barium swallow to make sure the band didn't slip.  Which it hasn't.  I tell you what, my doc must have welded that thing in there.  lol  I was positive it was gonna be bad news.  But the band is fine.  It actually could have been anything.  However, more likely cuz I wasn't taking my acid reflux medication like I should have.  I have since started taking it again.  I night in the hospital, Lord knows what it's going to cost us for heartburn.  Nice.  I did eat lunch at the hospital and it stayed down fine.  As has everything since so they said it was all good.  I have another fill scheduled for August 5th, they're going to evaluate my situation then and fill me back up accordingly.

Yesterday, the surgeon for my back took the staples out.  It was an anterior and posterior spinal fusion, which means they went in through the front and the back.  When he took all the staples out and took xrays, he said that all the hardware looks great and to just keep doing what I'm doing.  The hardware looks totally freaky.  It's weird.  I look like the bionic woman.  If I had a pic of the xray, I'd post it, but I don't. 

Right now I have a lot of restrictions.  I can't lift anything, bend, stoop, push or pull anything.  I also can't carry anything.  Right now I'm doing a lot of catching up on blogs and reading.  I've been doing a lot of walking.  Usually I'll take a couple extra laps around the grocery store when we go.  Which totally counts and it's air conditioned.  :D  July in Missouri is miserable to be walking outside.  No way.  I get to start physical therapy next week.  Which is water and land therapy.  Super cool.  That means I have to buy/acquire a swimsuit.  May the force be with me.

Well, that's about all I've got.  Just a heads up to let you all know that surgery went well and I'm doing better.  I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH!  Now I need to get more caught up on all your blogs. 

Happy posting everyone.  Talk to you all soon.

12 comments:

VS said...

sorry you had such a rough go of it, but glad you are feeling a little better and back home. :) keep us posted.

Marie said...

Wow sorry you had such a hard time. You have such a great attitude!

Amanda Kiska said...

That sounds really horrible! I'm glad to hear that you're getting better at least. Get lots of rest and keep us posted.

Darlin1 said...

Erika ---So sorry to hear you had such a hard time---but sounds like you are on the up now.

Take good care of yourself!!!

Dinnerland said...

Sorry it has been rough! Hope you are feeling much better soon...

Bonnie said...

So glad you are back. You've really been through some crap. So for the important question - did you at least lose weight? :-)

Dirttrackdiva said...

bonnie~LOL nice! i love it! i did lose some, was down to an all time low of 175. however, since they took some fluid out i'm able to eat more than i would like so i'm back up to 180. however, i was on IV fluids for a couple days. i'm blaming that. sounds good right? thanx for all the well wishes everyone. i'll keep you posted on my hopefully speedy recovery.

CC said...

glad to hear from you! :-)

-Grace- said...

I am glad you are doing better! Sounds scary and stressful.

DB said...

So glad you're doing better! We missed you :0

Lap Band Groupie said...

Missed you!!! Wow what a ride you've had...glad the story ended well and you're on to the healing and getting that back better! Bathing suit up GF and into the water to keep cool! Feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

I love you and very proud of the way you have handled yourself. I am also very glad that you are doing so well, cuz as you know I was very worried about the whole thing. Keep up the good work, i think I found a swim suit for you. I hope you like it!
Love,
mom

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