There's no place like home.

I was really, really ready to go home.
The worst part of the surgery was waiting for it to start. I don’t remember anything after kissing DH goodbye and waking for a bit in the recovery room at least that is where I think I was someone was everything was over and that I would be going to my room soon. Next thing I knew, I was being wheeled into a hallway where DH, the kids, Mom and my sister were. Somehow I was moved into a bed that I was to be in for the next three days.
My hospital visit was four days. My blood pressure went way too low and my oxygen saturation wasn’t high enough.
The rest of that first day I slept and mostly finished clearing those drugs from surgery out of my system.
The second day I felt much better than I expected too. I was almost pain free. I remarked how surprised I was about the ease recovery seemed to be and the nurse replied “well you do have two liters of morphine on board” oh yeah I also had a pain ball installed for internal pain management. It would release small amounts of painkillers on a continuous basis.
The room temperature was comfortable for me but Mom was freezing. I found out later that morphine makes your system run hot.
I had a Foley catheter installed which was a God send, I didn’t have to get up and constantly use the bathroom.
The second day they worked on bringing my blood pressure in line and I walked from the bed to almost the next room. The next time it was hallway down the hall and the next the whole hallway. I did the other direction next time. My Foley had been removed by then so the next time I walked I had to turn around and head back to the room to go potty. Being up and active had stimulated my bladder.
The third day Dr. Pilcher came in at 6 am for his regular visit. My O2 saturation was still low so he wanted me to stay an extra day. Since he was going to be out of town on Friday he was going to have an associate look at me and determine release. That was okay, I mean what could I do? We waited and waited the next morning to see the doctor. Well she didn’t see her patients at 6 am it was 4pm before she came in to see me. She told me that if I could keep my O2 level up for two hours she would release me. I worked on that by keeping an eye on the monitor and deep breathing every time it dropped levels. Finally the nurse said I was clear to go and we wasted no time packing up our stuff and getting out of there.
We forgot to bring a pillow to hold against me but I didn’t need it. DH is a good driver. Once we got on the expressways there was not problem. I was on my way

go!

I’m really, really ready. If I don’t have it now I ain’t going get it. I probably won’t need it anyway. I’m all packed, got my ducks in a row. Mom is due soon to stay with me at the hospital. Tomorrow morning I will bathe with the special soap, pack up my CPAP and take my meds with minimal water. Need to be at Methodist Specialty and Transplant at 8:00 o’clock. Jon is going to spend the night at Amanda’s so they won’t be taking so many cars to the hospital in the am.
I told Jerome last night that it seems strange to be going into the hospital feeling fine knowing that I’ll be coming out feeling beat-up. I don’t think I need to tell him anything about my last wishes. Anything he decides will be fine with me. He knows I don’t want to be on life support and all that stuff. There are quality of life issues that are more important I’m sure he knows. Quality of life is the main reason I am doing the WLS surgery anyway. It may seem like a drastic step but I have tried all the other options. That is most likely why it took me so long to reach this conclusion and why I am comfortable with my decision
Oh! Mom’s here the next part of my life begins.

Get set

The visit to the Dr.’s office seemed long. Only because I was anxious about if I had gained or not. After I filled out and signed more paperwork and paid the co-pay for the surgery Isaac called me out to be weighed. Well I was 287 neither a gain nor a loss since the last time. That was only since last week though.

I then went back out to wait with DH for the DR. I was relieved but I didn’t know what to expect.

When Dr. Pilcher finally called us in to his office there really wasn’t anything to it . He talked about the my stats.He said I had done well on the diet portion. He had to schedule another surgery at my time so my surgery would be at 11:30. I think that’s what he said J. knows for sure as he has to get me to the hospital. Dr Pilcher said that J’s job would be to shoo visitors out so I could rest.

I mentioned that my creatine levels were wonky during the drug study and I had to have more testing done. He re-checked, but he looked of the blood work they had done at the hospital pre-op visit and said that the creatine level was right on target now. Everything was good, but the iron levels were lower than he would like so I should take a supplement. He said that he wanted to let me know that he was asked to speak out of town on Friday but that one of his associates would cover. I would most likely be released on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

I then asked him all the questions I had for him.

Can I stop the Niaspan ER ? Since I could not take the baby aspirin it was giving me the itchiness and rashes. I can stop taking the Niaspan now. He said he would face the wrath of Dr. Shimotsu.

DD wants me to take her Nestle Healthcare productAdvanced Recovery. This is a protien supplement that is to aid healing. Funny thing their dietitian is named the same as our DD, the dietitian. Dr. Pilcher said that would be fine to take the product before surgery; to replace my protein drinks with one of these but since it was not a clear liquid not to use it until I was on the stage two: Soft Protein Foods and to only take 2 oz. It is high in calories

Which medications/vitamins do I take the morning of the surgery? He told me to take my regular morning med on the day of surgery and bring the Copaxone just in case. i don't need to bring any drugs as they have a last of my medications and will supply all that I need.

Was my MS going to make recovery or surgery any more difficult? Dr. Pilcher has had four other patients who have had MS and there were not any problems I fact the decreased body mass probably contributed to an alleviation of some symptoms. I told him that one of my goals was to have less body mass to move around and hopefully not have to use the wheelchair so much.

I expected my period to start on Tuesday. Dr. Pilcher said that that would not be a problem for him or the nursing staff they were used to that kind of thing. The surgery may cause me to start postpone or even stop my periods completely since I had already be heading that way.

That was it. Dr Pilcher then took me to the front office where I had make my next four appointments and I bought some iron and chewable calcium.

That night J and J and I went out to the Mexican Restaurant for dinner. My “last meal” so to speak.
It is all set now and I’m all set for the surgery too.