By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 23:23:13 +0000

hanks for your reply Wendy. I’m glad to find out
so much from those who have went through it already.
I look forward to getting it over with. These days
are dragging for me. I already have a problem with
gas and bowels now. And my period should be coming 4
days after the surgery. So I guess I will be hit with
it all. I have been doing some walking, trying to
get my body ready for exercise. But I still can
hardly wait til May 11th. Wish you much success and
thanks again. Really nice to hear from you!

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 02:00:04 +0000

i Bridgett, my name is Wendy and I wanted to
welcome you to the group, a lot of great people
here!
I had my open RNY on 4-14 with my gall bladder out
as well. I had the very same fear of pain you
mentioned and thought I had really set myself up for the
pain being the worst part of the process.
I’ve
never had any surgery other than my tonsils out at age
8 and I don’t remember that. I’ve had 3 children
but wasn’t bothered by pain with that either.
I
found out that after the first couple of hours post-op
the pain is really not that bad. I had a worse fear
of pulling out my stitches after the surgery from
all the straining getting in and out of the bed and
the morphine pump was my very best friend for the
first 24 hours!…LOL….I learned to only use it when

I was ready to get up and move around after the
first day and asked for the IV to be removed all
together on the 3rd day and took pain pills aftewards. The
morphine gave me a reaction of itching all over head to
toe and I couldn’t take it much more, plus I got a
huge blood clot in my arm from the irratation from the
morphine. Ouchy…..
I don’t mean to give you something
else to worry about here, but my fear of the pain
became my secondary worry when I read some posts on
another site about taking care of your personal hygiene
matters….ie. how to wipe after going to the bathroom…not an
easy task I’ll tell you right away! My stomach was so
swollen and hard that there is just about no way you can
get to what you want to reach. I’m 9 days post op now
and have very little problem with this since I can
stretch a little better, but this "problem" became my
number one worry prior to surgery. And if you’ve heard
that most women start their monthly cycles after
surgery, that’s true also, at least for me. I started 12
days early but thankfully it started the day I got
home from the hospital so I could deal with that more
privately!
I also have a saint of a husband that was not the
slightest bit afraid to help me clean up. I know the
nursing staff at the hosptial would not of hesitated one
second to help me but I was determined to be independant
and show my doctor I was able to take care of myself
and I ended up impressing him so much he let me go
home earlier than expected!
One thing I want to
stress to you….please walk as much as possible after
the surgery. I thought I had walked a great
deal…3-4 times every day, dragging that stupid IV rack
around the ward with me. But apparently it wasn’t enough
to get the gas moving properly. I mean I know it was
moving in my tummy but I was not getting any of it to
come out! (embarrassing….*grin*)I was released on
Saturday and by Sunday I’d wished I had died on the day
before because I was in SO MUCH discomfort from the
bloat. I finally got relief on Monday and felt as if
that was the first day of my recovery!
9 days out
now and the pain has pretty much gone away with the
exception of first thing in the morning when I’m trying to
get out of my recliner!
I get pretty stiff from
lying in it too long. (I can’t sleep in my regular bed
right now but I’m working my way towards that) My
doctor is a firm believer in pain managed recovery so he
says I should keep taking my pain meds but I don’t
want to get addicted to them so I’m very selective
about when I take them and haven’t suffered too much
without them, thank God!
I hope I haven’t scared you
or any other pre ops here with my ramblings. I do
not regret anything about this surgery. I am so
looking forward to the new me one day soon.
All my
best to you on your journey and God
bless.
Wendy….Clearfield, UT
open RNY w/gall bladder removal
4-14-99
Tri Care Prime, approved in 1 weel
Dr. Gerald
Goodman, Salt Lake City

By: Neva Marjory

Neva Marjory — Fri, 28 Feb 2003 15:18:30 +0000

eart-warming. It sounds like you now realize that there is
going to be wonderful days ahead after your surgery.
Don’t worry about your family….I never told mine. I
am also the youngest of four children and have
always been known as the overweight one. Now I am the
light-weight in the family and it feels great. Keep your chin
up and don’t worry about the pain, it isn’t all that
bad and in the end any discomfort is outweighed by
the weight loss. Good Luck…Helen

Surgery:
8-14-1997

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By: Neva Marjory

By: Neva Marjory

By: Neva Marjory