I have a teeny little sleeve

Hey, y'all! It's a new day and a new me! I was sleeved on Wednesday and aside from some bumps along the road, it's gone really well so far!

Here's what I remember. My surgery was scheduled for 2 p.m. and we were told to be there by 10 a.m. We arrived at 9:40 p.m. (traffic was light, for a change!) We didn't have to wait too long until we were brought back to the room. I got changed out of all of my clothes (except I was given permission to wear some of those oh-so-stylin' fancy granny panties because my TOM had of course decided to make an appearance. *eyeroll* They had given me a typical hospital gown, along with littleAnswered about a billion questions. Got my IV line in (and was very pleased that they used lidocaine to numb the area so it didn't hurt at all. The surgeon popped in at about 11 to say he was ahead of schedule and we would probably get into surgery earlier than scheduled. Yay! I had had NOTHING AT ALL by mouth after I had a drink of water at 11 p.m. Tuesday night, so this was great news.

So, we waited. I kept applying chapstick becase my lips were so dry. And we waited some more. Finally, at about 3 p.m., the nurse came in to start my IV antibiotics and said it would be about an hour until they were ready for me! Argh! My husband and I made the decision that he would leave immediately and go pick up our daughter at school, and hopefully get back not long after I went into surgery. I have to tell you, it sucked to have my support person leave, but we had no choice. My daugher had to be picked up, and no one else could do it on such short notice. So, I spent the last hour waiting by myself, driven to distraction by thirst.

Finally, they came to get me. I was wheeled into the operating room and asked to scoot over onto the actual operating table. And...the next thing I remember is waking up to a nurse's voice.

"Mrs. B., wake up; your surgery is over and it went well." I cracked open my eyes and looked around. And that's when the nausea started.

I'm not talking about "hmm, I wonder if I should take some Tums" kind of nausea. I'm talking about the "oh, God, I'm going to puke and I can't puke because I'll pull out my staples, but I can't stop it, so I'm going to puke!" kind of nausea. At that point, I could barely speak. The nurse kept asking if I was in pain, which I was, but the most pressing need at the moment was to NOT PUKE. I guess I finally was able to articulate that I needed something for nausea. They injected something into my IV line, and I felt a SLIGHT relief that lasted about 15 seconds, after which I started begging for something else.

Meanwhile, they had had to turn off my pacemaker/defibrillator during the surgery, and I could hear the heart monitor alarming almost constantly. I could hear them talking quietly to each other about needing to get someone down here to get my pacemaker/defib started up again. They gave me something else for the nausea, which worked about as well as the first one. By this time, I was dry-heaving almost constantly, and OMG it did hurt. "We're going to give you something for the nausea," someone said, and the next thing I remember, I was waking up in recovery AGAIN. There was much less nausea at this point, though it didn't completely stop until Friday night.

Finally, they started to take me to my room. Hubby was there waiting for me. I found out that it was after 9:30 p.m. -- I had been in Recovery for THREE HOURS. Hubby had to leave almost immediately to get home before the kids' bedtime. I was given sweet, blessed pain killers and more anti-nausea medication.

I slept about three hours and then insisted the floor nurses get me up and let me walk. Yow, the gas pains were awful! One would think there might be a way to expand the abdoment without needing to blow us up like a balloon and wait for the gas to dissipate by now! And I asked for something to drink. A lot. "Nothing by mouth for the first 18 hours" is my surgeon's policy. I asked to be able to brush my teeth. Nope. I asked if I could just gargle and spit. No. Ice chips? Nope. I just had to tough it out.

Thursday at mid-day, I finally got to drink some watered-down Crystal Light and apple juice...and it kinda hurt. I had my leak/swallow test. Aside from another bout with nausea, it was okay. Everything looked great!

Back to the room, and back to trying to drink something. The nurse brought me some sort of tomato cream soup, which irritated my throat and burned in my stomach. Vanilla milk went down a bit easier.

Friday was the day I was supposed to go home, but I still wasn't able to get down four ounces every hour, so they kept me another day. Frankly, I'm glad they did. I had the opportunity to walk more, practice sipping and  be sure I could tolerate enough liquids to keep from becoming dehydrated.

Okay, getting tired now, so to make a long story a little bit shorter, I got to come home today. Yay!

I hope y'all are all well! :)

Insurance approved my surgery!

Yes, yes, yes!!! I just had a call from my bariatric center, and insurance has approved my surgery! *snoopydances* Hopefully next week I should get a date!

Have a great weekend, everyone! <3

More waiting...

I met my surgeon today. Yay!

He wants me to have a stress test before surgery. Boo!

My file was sent to my insurance company. Yay!

But I didn't get a date for the surgery yet. Boo!

The surgeon thinks VSG surgery will be the best choice for me. Yay!

I also have to have some sort of swallowing test -- just when I thought I had finally finished all of that. Boo!

I was only up one pound -- either something magical happened or the surgeon's scales are EXTREMELY kind. Yay!

Dr. Surgeon said I just barely qualify for surgery based on my weight. Um. Boo? Yay? (Which leads me to ask: why did they have me lose five percent? What if I'd lost too much? Sheesh!)

So, now I wait to hear from the insurance company. Boo! Dr. Surgeon said it could be as soon as two days. His insurance staff said no way; it'll be at least a week. Double Boo!

My knee and back feel almost completely better! No new body parts are currently falling apart! Yay!

So, I guess that's it from this end. Oh, one more thing -- do any of you hang out on obesityhelp.com? I asked a couple of questions there and...wow, some people there are not terribly supportive/welcoming, are they? Are they just rude to newbies, or is everyone fair game? Also? I was really angry to see some comments blaming the girl who died after her DS revision for her own death. "We told her so!" Hmm...self-righteous much?

It's VSG for me!

(Is anyone else having issues with Blogger not wanting to post pictures? I can upload them just fine, but then they don't show up inserted in the post. Hrm...)

I have to admit, I was beginning to get annoyed with my bariatric practice. I called them Friday and asked to talk to someone about the VSG -- explaining that I was done with everything I needed to do leading up to surgery, with the exception of losing two more pounds. I explained that since I was not scheduled to see the MD again, I needed to talk to someone about whether VSG would be appropriate for me. I mentioned that my insurance has just begun paying for VSG, and I was interested in pursuing it.

Nobody returned my call on Friday, which I sort of expected. But then nobody called me Monday morning, either, which is when I started to become annoyed. I called the practice back, and this time was allowed to actually leave a voicemail. I was told, though, that the person would be in and out all day, and therefore might not be able to return the call right away.

ANYWAY, to cut a long, boring story somewhat shorter, late this afternoon I finally got a call back. 'Yes,' the program coordinator told me, 'your insurance is now paying for VSG. I've looked over your chart, and I think that would be absolutely perfect for you.' Not only that, but she went ahead and noted in my chart that I'm having VSG surgery! Just like that! I even know who the surgeon will be!

To say that I'm excited would be a HUGE, MAMMOTH understatement! My intestines don't have to be cut! I get to keep my pylorus! Less nutritional deficiencies! Y'all, I AM PUMPED!

So! I can weigh in Wednesday after the support group, and assuming I'm still at 219 then (and there's no reason I shouldn't be), my file goes to insurance for approval, and I get an appointment to see the surgeon! *twirls*

Gastric Sleeve surgery?

So, I had pretty much decided on the gastric bypass. Read all about it, researched, talked to my doctor -- it was all good. But now, apparently, my insurance is also starting to pay for gastric sleeve surgery, and I'm right back in Indecisionville.

On the one hand, it would seem to be a good thing to not have to cut into my intestines. On the other hand, from the little I've read about the gastric sleeve, it apparently results in less weight loss than the bypass, and weight loss is the name of the game, right?

So now, I don't know! I'm not scheduled to see the regular medical doctor anymore -- after I lose three more pounds (*eyeroll*) I get scheduled to see the surgeon. What do I do?

Have any of you had the gastric sleeve? Or can you suggest bloggers who had that surgery so I can read first hand accounts?