Happy Halloween!
Well I am banded! October 29th will mark my bandiversary date. Everything went well. I can not say enough about the staff at the Barix Clinic. They provided excellent care, and made this whole experience as smooth as possible. My surgeon, Dr. Boe, did an excellent job and visited me several times during my stay to talk about how things went.
So here's a brief (ok after rereading what I wrote not so brief) recap:
Arrived at Barix's at 6:15 am
The receptionist had me sign some additional paperwork, and put the patient ID bands on my wrist.
I was brought back to the preop room, provided with my lovely gown and footie socks.
They got the IV goingand gave me a cup of something to neutralize the acids in my stomach.
Dr. Boe came to visit me to discuss any last minute questions and to have me sign the informed consent.
Then Dr. Zilinsky came over to discuss the anesthesia and answer any questions and sign the informed consent.
Next thing I know, Dr. Zilinsky injected the Versed which is also known as midazolam. It is generally used before operations or procedures to relax you, make you sleepy and to decrease your memory of the event.
Well the juice worked, because all I remember is the Versed going into my IV and being rolled into the OR.
Next thing I remember is my name being called to wake up. I was already in my room.
Amazingly, I had no pain (well not amazingly they had me loaded with pain meds, Dilaudid for one).
Dilaudid my friends is a close relative to morphine, so it places you in the NO PAIN ZONE.
So as my eyes opened the nurses were buzzing around me.I was thirsty, and they gave me some pink spongy thing to suck on.. Not exactly a cold brewsky, but it felt good to have fluid on my lips.
I was awake and then I wasn't, so they must have given me another shot of Dilaudid.
I woke up around noon, and all I could think of was how thirsty I was, and now they brought me ice chips.. I was in heaven. But now rest for the weary or banded; cause they got me up out of bed to walk the floor. So around I went. This would become a staple during my stay. Every 4 hours I would be reminded to go for my walk to get the gas moving through my system.
Dr. Boe popped in for a visit to ask me how I was feeling. I have some experience in the medical device field so we started to talk shop a bit, and then somehow we started to talk about halloween and costumes (and if I recall correctly he was going to a party Friday nite.. I dont know maybe it was the drugs).
My parents came for a visit later in the afternoon (it was good to see familiar faces) and the nurses brought us popsicles. Later the internist came in for a check up, as well as the respiratory technician to get me to do my breathing (breathe DEEPLY get those lungs filled with O2).
I had phone calls and visits from my DH and daughters. All was good.
During the night I had my nurse visits and walks. I moved away from the Dilaudid to liquid vicodin. That still put me in La La land, but did take the edge off of any pain I was having.
In the morning Dr. Boe came in to visit and see how things were going, followed by the internist. I finally came to realize I was not going to get any rest till I got home. My DH came to pick me up at noon and arrived home within 30 minutes. (another nice plus to going to Barix, but not my primary reason for selecting them).
Well Friday was my sleep day... and that is what I did, except for a few short walks around the house and sips of water.. I basically slept till 9:00 this morning.
I guess at this point my biggest concern is that I am not really taking in any of my protein. I just have NO DESIRE to eat, drink, sip, or slurp. So I am forcing myself to sip on a protein drink right now, but it is an effort. This in itself is very weird. I have to force myself to sip something.
So at this point I am doing a week of full liquids, and then the second week will be puree (and I get to use my NINJA Blender).
So my friends, that is it for now.. as I have new discoveries I will post, but until then, I am happy as can be that I have my lucky lap band.
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