DAY 7 - Post Op

First off, thanks to my hubby for putting a few pictures on for me while I've been out. Secondly, DANG!!! It's day 7 after getting my Gastric Bypass, and today, I'm doing very well. But 5 or 6 days ago, this was not the case. Day 1 and 2 after surgery were HELL. And I mean HELL!!! For starters, my surgery was scheduled for 11 AM on May 17th. My husband and I got there a little before 10 AM, but I didn't go into surgery until almost 2 PM. The waiting... Sucked! Then another kink in the chain happened. The surgery was scheduled for 1 hour 15 minutes, but I was under for almost twice that. My surgeon found a nice, little fist-sized tumor on my liver, so it had to be biopsied and the results returned before they could proceed with the bypass. It was benign, so no worries there, but it made recovery twice as hard.

With the exception of feeling like I was going throw up every time I blinked, the pain wasn't too bad that first day thanks to my heavenly morphine pump. Once they took the pump away though, I've never experienced such horrifying pain. Walking was tough, but I stuck to it until I was lapping people around the hospital floor. When it came time to leave the next day; however, I couldn't go. I didn't have my pain under control and I couldn't keep my oxygen above 90 without the machine. So, I got to spend two nights at the hospital.

Some good things about my hospital stay was my visitors - sister, mom, in-laws, and my sweet little 18 month old daughter. The whole hospital scene was too much for her, and she was too scared to come to me, but just seeing her reminded me why I was doing this whole thing. My husband was also awesome. No. Beyond awesome. He stayed with me both nights with his 6'6'' frame curled up on that miserable little chair. He has been amazing. Truly amazing! And last but not least, did I mention how great the morphine pump was? =)

Some not so good things so far has been the dry-heaving. This has only happened twice luckily, and both times was when I took my medication, so I'm trying some other things to make my stomach and medicine compatible. The incision where my drain was has also been pretty tender. I can't sleep on my left side which for some reason is a huge annoyance to me right now! The absolute worst so far; however, has been the diarrhea. We were told to not expect a bowl movement for up to a few weeks, but I am having violent diarrhea up to 8 times a day! I finally got a hold of my doctor's nurse (don't get me started) and they're putting me on something to help - hopefully, because this sucks!

So, overall, this has been miserable. It really has. I'm not going to lie. I'm down almost 15 pounds this week, but it's a 15 pounds I've lost 5 times already so it doesn't have me too excited. I can't really say at this point if I'm glad I've had the surgery or not. I hate saying that, but it's true. I am being 100% faithful to the diet and the cause though, so I'm still hopeful this surgery is going to be the best thing I've ever done. Sorry, this post is so long. I should have divided it up, but I just really needed to vent. Here's to hoping!!!

Pre-Surgery Photos and Sizes

Photos taken of me the night before surgery:

Pre-Surgery Measurements:

Weight: 300 LBS

BMI: 44

Pant Size: 26

Shirt Size: 3X

Ring Size: 11

Shoe Size: 11-12

May 17, 2011 - Surgery Day!!!

It is 5-17-2011 and Kina is getting ready to go in to surgery for her gastric bypass