Category: vsg

Day 2 sucked. I was quite sore (although the PCA machine was fantastic) and I couldn’t drink anything. They kept bringing me clear soup, applejuice, ea and water but any more than a sip was painful. I ‘vomited’ a few times but I’m not entirely sure that thats the correct word. You go through all the motions, have all the sensations but nothing comes up. Its also quite painful to do so you tend to hit the PCA machine a few more times. It has a 5 minute delay so only 1 press per 5 mins is actually regitered.

Libby and her parents came to visit but I was still high on pethadine and ended up sleeping through most of their visit. Later Libby and the kids came up and I was more awake then although the pain had startd to come back.

Night time sucks becuse they still wake you up every 2 hours for obs and the beds are not comfortable. The drip is also annoying as you are always not wanting to roll over and pull something out. The pain had mostly gone but occasionally It would come back in short waves. You would have no pain, then 10 seconds later it would hurt lots, then 10 seconds later it would go back to nothing. This lasted until about 8am when I got up for more walks with the phisio and had a shower.

The day of the operation was interesting. We left home at about 6am to make sure we got here on time. On arrival and a brief discussion about payment (which I had already made) we were put into the first waiting room. Its a very well appointed hospital and all the rooms and people are fantastic. I call it the ‘first’ room because, although I didn’t know it yet, there were lots more to come.

I had to answer about 100 questions about history etc, get wrist and ankle bands, get changed into the backless gown and then wait some more. Eventially they allocated me a bed and we were moved to another room (Libby was with me the whole time)

We spent about 2 hours in there before I was told I was being called in so Libby left and I wen’t to the next waiting room. This one was the room actually outside the theatres. Theres 12 Theatres here so it was a little busy. Each one had a waiting bay and I was infor number 7. I had a canula inserted here.

On being wheeled into the theatre, I moved onto the table and had 2 large pillows put under my back which was very uncomfortable. I was about to say something and thats the last thing I remember.

On waking up, I was in quite a bit of pain and not really ‘with it’ yet. I had a tube pulled out of my nose (by the anethesist, although I couln’t tell at the time) and was repeadly told to push my buttin (the PCA machine with pethadine). I pushed what I could but Its like everyone is speaking another language and youre totally unable to understand whats going on.

I don’t remember getting to the ward but Libby was there when I woke up properly. I say properly but it really wasn’t until the next morning when I was really awake.

I was out of surgery at about 3pm.

I’ve just been allocated the second slot in the morning which means it’s an 8am admission, not the 6am I really didn’t want. This means we can leave home at 6:30 (after I normally leave for work anyway) and have plenty of time.

On one of the online forums, one patient that had the procedure last friday has just posted her story and it doesn’t sound that exciting. Lots of pain, worry and frustration. I’m guessing everyone goes through the ‘what have I done’ phase but everyone I have spoken to after this still says its worth it.

I guess we will see next week.

Heres whats going with me

• Robe
• T-shirt(s)
• Underpants
• Slippers, crocs
• Books (3 Richard Dawkins books)
• Toothpaste & brush, deoderant
• Earplugs (incase its noisy at night)
• Laptop + two wireless internet connections + powersupply
• Ipod + charger
• Credit card, medicare card, license, small amount of cash
• Phone + charger
• Ventolin (asthma releiver)

One of my customers has given me a task (about 20hrs work) that needs to be completed by the 31^st and I haven’t had time to start it yet. Hopefully I will get a chance with the internet connections to get some work done but I guess we will see.

I may even get to update this blog from the hospital bed. Now that would help cement my nerd status.

So many people have asked me how much weight I have lost during this pre-op phase. So far its 7.6kg. They then go on to say, “Hey, maybe you should just keep doing that and don’t need the operation”.

The operation does 2 things. Firstly it reduces the stomach size to that of a banana (100–150ml). Secondly, it changes the hormones associated with eating, being hungry and being satiated. This 2 weeks (ok, 1 week and 3 days so far) really sucks and if there were no end in sight I can’t imagine I would be able to continue. I’m really not that strong and have very little will power.

That said, there are some apparent downsides to the operation. Heres what I can think of.

• With a stomach size of 100–150ml and a can of coke being 375ml compressed it will never be able to work again.
• You cannot drink within 30 mins of eating or all the liquid will back up behind the food and fill you up even faster.
• Lunch will consist of 1/2 a sandwich, not the usual 2 that I may be eating now.
• Business lunches (which I have quite a few of) will consist of a small part of an entree and thats it. For the Americans reading this, entree in Australia has the original meaning of small starting meal, not what you seem to call it.

Now, this sounds bad I admit however

• What I ate before is obviously too much (even though it didn’t seem like it)
• After discussing this with a number of people post-op, they tell me that it too freaked them out but they consider that normal now and are always happy after eating.
• Not a single person (repeat, NOT ONE) of the people I’ve discussed this procedure with who have had it done, even people who have had quite severe complications, regret getting it done. 95% seem to say its the best thing they have ever done and 5% said it didn’t solve the problem but its helped.

The only downside I really am concerned about at this stage is with eating so little, its very important to be able to get enough protein to sustain yourself. This can be achieved with some of the protein drinks that are out there or just being careful enough to make sure you have meat, soy etc at least once per day. I don’t this is really too much to deal with for being able to live longer.

If I just stay on this pre-op diet (as suggested) I could probably live for a very long time its just that doing this would make you want to die.

This reminds me of the old statistic that says that married men typically live 3 years longer than single men. The reason its funny is that married men are normally more willing to die. :-)