*WLS* successful surgery

I am home from the hospital now and finally awake and coherent. I thought I would write a bit about my experience for those that want to know. I am also going to start putting *WLS* in the subject line for those that don’t want to read about it.

After I finally managed to go to sleep, that darn alarm was going off after only about an hour and a half. If it wouldn’t have been the start of a whole new me, I probably would have thrown it across the room. We got up, threw our clothes on and grabbed our bags. Pensacola is an hour/hour and fifteen from our house and I had a show time of 5:30am for a 7:30am surgery (July 25th, Friday). The trip was uneventful, unless you count me driving Bryan crazy, still going back and forth about making the right decision.

Once we got to the hospital, they got me all checked in; started an IV, heparin shot, some stomach acid med, those utterly sexy TED stockings and air compression leggings. I actually didn’t have to stay in pre-op very long, less than a hour if I remember correctly. Then they came to get me and take me to the operating room holding point of sorts. At this point I had to say goodbye to Bryan and he headed to the waiting room. I sat there bored, for what seemed like forever. While I was originally scheduled to be the first surgery for Dr. Nye, for some reason he had to go into surgery before me and was running behind. Don’t get me wrong, I want the surgeon to take as MUCH time as necessary to do a good job, but all that silence by myself started me to thinking again. I actually shed a few tears, thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong and Bryan and Jacey having to make it without me. Did I say good enough goodbyes? Luckily that didn’t last long and the anesthesiologist came by to talk to me, tell me what was going to happen and see if I had any questions. Then Dr. Nye came in to see me and they wheeled me into the OR at about 10am.

Bright, white and blinding. They got me moved over to the OR table, asked me what my tattoo meant and then where I wanted to go for vacation. All I remember is saying Paris and then waking up in recovery, groggy and with a sore throat from the tube. I got my first dose of pain meds and then they called down to the waiting room to tell Bryan where to head. They wheeled me to my room, where Bryan was waiting on me. All of this by 12pm-ish.

The rest of my stay was uneventful. I needed pain meds about every 5-6 hours, battled a bit of nausea and tried to walk when I could. Two nightmare heparin shots, one blood draw and two nasty jello/broth trays, Dr. Nye came in to see me and told me I could go home…YAY! I was out of there a little before 12pm on Saturday (July 26th, Saturday).

Since I’ve been home, I have slept a lot, discovered that I am allergic to lortab and could stand to never see jello again. The good thing I, I had my last dose of pain meds last night and am feeling pretty good. I have my follow up Wednesday, so we’ll see then how well I have been doing.

Some people ask, with all the pain, discomfort, etc would I do it again? Absolutely, I know this is my chance at a healthier, longer life. Who wouldn’t want that?!