Thursday, November 19th, 2009 - 9:41am
23 comments - Leave a comment
In case you haven’t been following me on Twitter, I had gastric bypass surgery yesterday morning. It’s something I have been planning for months, and researching for several years.
Right now I’m sore and achy, and my pain pump is my new best friend. It isn’t touching the gas pain though, which is rather sucktacular, because it freakin’ HURTS! (The gas pain is from where my surgeon filled my abdominal cavity with air, since the procedure was done laparoscopically)
Anyway, I’m still in the hospital, and will be discharged tomorrow or Saturday. I’m going to go nap for a bit. I’ll try to blog again tonight.
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Congratulations Jenn!
I only know of two people personally who have had the gastric bypass surgery done and several who have had the lap-band. I wish you nothing but success. Cannot wait to see your progress as the months pass by.
I’m glad everything went well! Here’s hoping for a smooth recovery, and that your pain lets up.
Glad to hear your okay! Take it easy now and get better in peace.
Jenn! I’m so glad everything went well! I hope that recovery goes at least semi-smooth and that the pain subsides. I can’t wait to see you on this new journey! :D
Congrats Jenn, I hoe you get back to normal asap and not in so much pain *hugs*
You honestly don’t look big enough to have qualified but if that’s what you decided on then I hope it works out for you. I’m sure you have researched but please follow all of the rules. Every single one of them. As someone who had this done almost 7 years ago I cannot stress that enough. Don’t put anything in your pouch that you aren’t supposed to. They aren’t kidding when they tell you not to drink alcohol (not even cold medicines like Nyquil), or ibuprofen products. The consequences can be scary. And please take every supplement they tell you to and then some. Again, I’m sure you have researched all of this but still. 7 years later I am so anemic that I’ve had to have blood transfusions and iron by IV. I’m only 29 so I can’t imagine what the future holds health wise. But hey, I lost over 100 lbs. Whether or not it’ll be worth it in the end … lol
wow i am so glad everything has went well for you! your even up posting already
but then i’ve already said it lo;
I think that is awesome that you did this
I think you are through the worst part! I’m so happy for you to finally get what you wanted!
So when I had my ovarian lap this summer I thought I would freaking die from all that gas pain. Ask them to walk you as much as possible. It’s the only way to get it out. And boy is it a relief!
Glad everything went well! Hope you have a speedy recovery! :D
Good that everything went well!
Hope you’re doing better soon 
Yeah
Hope your feeling better!
wow Jenn that is awesome!! You are really brave for opting to go through that!!I hope it all goes well for you!!
Get well soon!!
Some things you should know post-surgery: spaghetti is good blended (once you can have somewhat solid food), protein drinks are crap, people who have the surgery inevitably have problems with certain foods (chicken is something most people have a bit of trouble with at first and this can get better)
I hope everything goes well for you now that you’re post-op.
so glad you are well and out of surgery. only reason i havent had mone is because of insurance. can i borrow yours? hehe j/k
i sent my prays your way and will continue to do so. you have been such a upport and friend to me and i hope if you ever want to talk you know you have me. you are awesome and can’t wait to see your results. so rest up and enjoy your new life you are about to start. *hug*
i am making this comment private. but wanted to ask privately in case you didn’t want it public. since you know i have been dealing with the same issue i was wondering if you would share your heaviest/current/goal weight ? i have always been curious about weight journeys since that is what my life rotates around. gosh that sounds awful. haha. i’m so glad you are out of surgery and doing well. talk to you soon. *hug*
Wow That’s something big you got going there (no pun intended). How did you came to a decision to still do it after weighing all the pros and cons. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. It pops in and out of my head from time to time. But I get scared at all the ‘rules’ I have to follow. I’ve been working out and eating right for quite a while now, but I’m not loosing as much as I should (I’m quite heavy myself, just a bit more then you I believe).
Just found your blog via Last.fm. Looking forward to reading more soon. But I wanted to say congrats on the surgery. It’s something I want to do in the future, so I’m always looking for success stories and research.
Jenn, don’t let anyone scare you. I read what Janet said and honestly can’t even imagine why you would be blending any kind of food. Start off slow, eat very simple things that don’t usually upset your stomach. You’ll realize what this is from what you are given in the hospital. I know they tried to make me eat oatmeal and eggs before I left, a very small portion of course.
When I came home I had a lot of juices to just give myself a boost. Took a flinstone vitamin, and I was eating cheese and crackers because it did not upset my stomach. Soup was great, mashed or any type of potatoes. Who does this and starts off trying to eat something like a burrito? I also tried lunch meat first because it was more non meaty. My biggest problem was stringy things like pork roast.
In my opinion, the biggest no no, and I know someone who just had this done two months ago and he concurs, drinking anything while eating will hurt your ass so bad. It expands your food and it’s just something you have to get used to. I would have rather drank than eat and I did that. I had that issue, I had constipation issues. Other than that, I was golden.
You are so lucky to have had the lap. version. I hear these horror stories of how I’m so sick now and I’ve never recovered, I hear this from a distant relative who had this surgery two years ago and she’s just been sick ever since. Guess what? She’s always been sick, in her head mostly, and it’s all not backed by a doctor.
SO PLEASE DON’T LET THEM SCARE YOU!!!! You are going to feel better and look better in no time. I can’t believe you were big enough to have this done, I was thinking you looked pretty damn good recently and barely needed to lose anymore!
@Erica:
I have had gastric bypass 4 years ago December 27th, and I can honestly tell you that if I had it to do over again, I would stay fat. I was 375, now I am 150. However, my surgery did not go so well.
When I woke up, I felt..”weird.” And over the next few days, I felt worse and was swelling like crazy. 2 weeks later (my nurses were bitches. kept saying I was lazy, et cetera, even though I explained I was in horrible pain and couldn’t breathe), my doctor did a scan and found a gastric line leak. This is all I remember until Valentine’s Day.
Found out, the gastric line leak caused bleeding ulcers and I was rushed back into surgery. I was on the vent then a hole cut in my throat with a tube to help me breathe, and I was in a medical induced coma for 1.5 months. I had to learn to walk, talk, et cetera, all over again. Here is a list of my surgeries so far:
December 27th, 2005 — gastric bypass surgery
January 12th, 2006 — gastric line leak repair
January 14th, 2006 — bleeding ulcer and stomach removal
December 22nd, 2006 — hernia repair
August 27th, 2007 — no-cancerous tumor removal from each side of my back
September 15th, 2008 — ach. heal lengthening to relieve some of the nerve damage and footdrop in my right foot
Now, I currently have to have the tumors removed from my back again, a hip replacement of some sort (all of the nerve damage caused tightness and dislocated hip), skin/tissue removal from my stomach.
All of these surgeries on my stomach caused my son to be born two months premature because my stomach is destroyed. I am still 150 lbs, have to take a vitamin b shot once a month, and on disability because my legs and back hurt so bad that I have periods where I cannot walk or move too well.
Of course, anything can happen during any surgery. But my point is, JENN, if you FEEL like something is NOT RIGHT, DEMAND to be checked. Save yourself, please. I live in Pennsylvania as well (an hour outside of Pittsburgh) and my surgery was in done Morgantown, West Virginia (as I live 15 mins from the WV/PA state line). Take care of yourself. And if you have any questions regarding the surgery or recovery, feel free to e-mail me and I can try to help you as best as I possibly can.
Congrats! My mom’s boss and my mom both had the surgery (about 4 and 7 years ago), they’ve had different results, but it all came down to following the rules. I’ve been thinking of getting it forever, just haven’t made the appointment to talk to my doctor yet. But enough about me. Congrats again and I can’t wait to hear updates on your progress.
Didn’t even know you where getting this done. Glad you made it out of surgery safely. I hope you have a smooth and painless recovery!
Hope you have a speedy recovery.
If the doctors say it will take 6 weeks to recover back your old energize self,then it will take that long. I had emergency gallbladder surgery back in April I was told I would be fine in 6 weeks, I pushed it and started doing stuff at 4 and a half weeks just cause I was feeling fine but that put me back another three weeks.
Never had the gas bubble pain after surgery and I was expecting it toooo because of other family members having the same type of surgery. They all felt like they were gonna die from the pain.
God bless ya Jenn! Hope you have a speedy recovery. I have an Aunt that had gastric bypass years ago and she has still kept the weight off to this day. There’s a laundry list of things she still cannot have but she is no longer depressed and feels great. Can’t wait to see your progress pics.