Before and after surgury updates I have had a very successful surgery up to this point. I had VG (Vertical Gastrectomy) surgery on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 0900.  I had to check myself in on Monday for heart precautions.  I admitted myself at 0800 and had a right heart catheter put in at 1030 by my cardiologist took 30 minutes. That went extremely well considering the last one I had it took them 2 hours and 4 doctors. Then I went to CCU for the rest of the day. I had bowel prep starting at 1640 and boy oh boy by 1830 I was sitting all night. I consider myself lucky because they thought they were going to putting a balloon pump in and that would have meant I lay there for bowel prep would not have been good.

I then went into surgery at 0715 on Tuesday and Dr. John Rabkin performed surgery at 0900 (so I was told) and out of surgery at 0959.  All early detections were that it was a success. In my wife’s mind when I got up to ICU and said something to her she was happy. Quit frankly, I do not remember a damn thing from surgery until the next day. Due to my heart condition I did not get out of bed that night. I remember seeing some key people on Tuesday. My WIFE, Dr. John Rabkin, and Barbara Metcalf. I was told I held conversations with these people, sorry but do not recall talking.  Let’s be honest here about the pain.  I was not in much pain on Tuesday, mainly because I do not remember much of it.  Now Wednesday, started off okay.  Then I played macho man and did not use my PCA (morphine drip) nearly enough. The pain at one point was pretty severe. They asked me on a scale of 1-10 how much?  My wife looked at the chart that CPMC provided, that showed pain levels, and she said well it is obvious he is a 10 he is crying.  So they doped me up and provided extra pain medication. That did the trick, my pain was tolerable, and of course the side effect is that I slept most of the day, but that was okay with me. Now come Wednesday night, actually I think it was Thursday early morning. I told my nurse I wanted my follie out. So we took care of that and with in an hour I also got up and went to the bathroom. They were thrilled about that.  Thursday was a catch up day for me on what happened the two days before. I also had my first meal, well if you call a popsicle a meal then yes my first meal.

I was released Friday and finally made it home. Pain wise, I have some don’t get me wrong, however it is not bad at all. I think the biopsy they did on my liver hurts more than my wounds. Speaking of wounds, I have 4 lap holes and one 2 inch incision on my belly button. Eating is so different, my mind is going crazy. My 9 month old daughter eats more than me. As a matter of fact I am using her baby spoon to eat with. So it feels like I am eating more instead of 2 bites from a teaspoon. I get approx 5-6 baby spoon bites. Fluids, well fluids have been interesting. I take my sips, sips, sips (like you said Barb). After 1 to 2 sips I have to stop and wait. Then within a minute or two I have this throw up sensation, but all it is, is a little air bubble.

Take what I write here as just another example of the way people take surgeries. Remember also I had extra precautionary measures being taken due to my heart condition. I look forward to keeping everyone updated as the days and weeks go by.

Take care
JB