So as mentioned before, I got to my room on the 5th floor (room 521) around 2. I was still a little out of it (valerie says I looked like shit). I remember meeting the nurse, and I know valerie was there pretty much right from the start, but I don't have much memory of this period until later in the evening.
By far the worst thing I learned about at this point is that I had a "foley catheter". Heard the name before, didn't know what it was. Now I do. Its a catheter that passes through the urethra into the bladder, where it is secured with a small baloon, and is used to drain the urine when someone can't take care of it themselves. This is the technical description, what I experienced was that I had a freaking tube hanging out my peepee, going to a bag full of pee. I was mortally afraid that someone would accidently jerk it out. And unlike the IV, which is similar in concept (just flowing the other way) and which has about 9 lbs of super sticky tape holding everything in place, there was zero security to this foley cath. Just a tube from my johnson straight to a bag of pee. And the tube was heavy (need to research, at times it seemed like a siphon affect?) since it was full of pee and probably at least 3/8 inch (vs the tiny IV tubing which is light). And I had no idea how or when this thing got put in, nor was I warned about ti (though what would I have done??). I guess they did it before surgery while I was already out. Anyway, had significant fear / issues with the Foley...it was probably the worst part of the whole hospital stay.
By evening time I was becoming a little more lucid. Pain wasn't too bad. They had me on a PCA (button thing that I could push to pump morphine into my IV every 10 minutes). To be honest I was pretty disappointed with the morphine. I'm sure it was better than nothing but I don't remember a major affect.
Valerie reported to me what Dr G told her after the surgery. He said it was the "best DS ever performed in the US" in other words it was text book, no complications, no surprises, patient preparation was perfect etc. He did have an issue with the gall bladder. Gall bladder removal (as well as appendix removal) are typically done as part of DS, as leaving it in can result in increased risk of gallstones and the need to comeback in and take it out. It turns out my gall bladder was large and inflamed and already had several large stones. Dr G couldn't believe I hadn't been experiencing some sort of pain or symptoms. It turns out I had -- some lower right side and back pain that i first thought might be kidney related, but after talking to PCP and getting some tests, she decided it was just musculo-skeletal (ie sore back). Although this isn't a direct link, as I recover I haven't noticed that "back pain" any more, so putting 2 and 2 together I'm pretty sure that's what was causing my back pain. Relative to the surgery -- the inflammation and several large stones caused some trouble removing the gall bladder through the laproscopic tools. But he got it! Post op I have some (new, different) front lower right side pain that I attribute to localized trauma from the removal of the gall bladder -- this is my biggest on going pain issue post op.
So anyway, back to the evening of the surgery in room 521. About 6pm they asked me to try to get up and walk around. Moving from a lying down (with the bed propped up some) position to a sitting position was (and still is) a challenge, since all the stomach muscles are super sore. Once I was sitting up in bed with my legs on the floor, standing was quite easy. I stood up and (after gathering my IV pole and pee bag) took a few steps toward the door. Yes there was some incremental pain from walking, but it wasnt that different than lying still. So I proceeded out the door and walked down the to the end of the hall (about 80 feet). On the way back, I asked the nurse who was escorting my what the "best" walking performance had been. She said all the way around the floor (I would estimate that to be about 350 feet). By the time I was back in my room I had done 80x2 = 160 ft, and was pretty tired. However I went out again around 730 pm and did the whole floor - 350 ft. Continued to do it again the next day.
In between walks, I had valerie text dana and work to let them know i survived, and later in the evening around 8pm we called and talked to the kids. I remember feeling quite lucid and functional for this. We watched some tv and then drifted off around 10 pm. I was in and out of sleep most of the night, dont remember sleeping more than 30-40 min at a time (but did this 5 or 6 or 7 diff times) plus I had slept a lot during the afternoon.
Day 2 began with another walk around the floor, then at 8 they sent me for my "Dye check", where I swallow the dye and they watch it go down on an xray or whatever to look for leaks. Valerie waited in the room during this test. I was placed in a wheel chair and had to drag my IV pole by resting my feet on it, while a dude took me to radiology on the 1st floor. This pole thing was heavy as it had the IV machine, the PCA (morphine machine) and a nice big sack o' urine from my Foley. This dye check was less than pleasant, took about 45 minutes, then they sent me back to the room. It was kind of funny because there were about 5-6 other WLS patients getting the dye check at the same time as I was. About 11 we found out I passed the test, so could now have clear liquids. By the way, I hadn't been able to have anything orally until this point, but I was allowed to wash my mouth with water and spit it out.
The other good thing about Day 2 was we met Staci, she was my RN during day shift that day. Turns out she had a DS about 2 years ago (I think exactly 2 years to the day before me) and was full of useful info. Even without that, she was just an awesome friendly person and very competent nurse and valerie and I really liked her. Though this would apply to pretty much all the staff as they were all awesome.
After the dye test, but while waiting for results, we attended a bariatric discharge class where the MHMC bariatrics program director talked about general post op care issues and described their support groups.
Got the dye results...everything was fine. This caused 3 things to happen: 1) I got to have clear liquids, 2) i got my PCA pump removed (no more morphine), and 3) the Foley came could out.
First the pump was removed and placed back in lockdown somewhere (they seem to take extra good care of the morphine). Then I got a "clear liquid lunch" which was some broth and idk what else. Then they were ready to remove the foley. Of course I was very awake and aware this time, and extremely nervous about this. Staci did it, and before starting she explained that she would first deflate the baloon that was holding it in the bladder, then pull it out, and that while it might have slight discomfort it wouldn't be painful. I was skeptical but I wanted it out so gave her the go ahead. Deflating the balloon was a non issue, but when she pulled that thing out I got the most horrendous burn on the inside of my wiener. OUUUUCCHHHH. But oh what a relief it was to have that thing out. But damn it hurt.
Mostly just hung out the rest of the day. Dr G came for a visit, he said everything looked good on the dye test and if things continued I should be discharged on Thur. Talked to Dana on the phone some. Valerie left in the mid afteroon to go home (her plan was to sleep at home, work in the AM, then be back at the hospital at around 1 pm thur.
Of course, I thought the foley saga was over but it wasn't. At some point Staci explained to me that after having a foley even for a few hrs (i had mine for about 28 hrs) the brain and bladder some how get disconnectted and the "i need to go pee" sensation is lost. Long story short, if you wait till you feel need to go pee, your bladder can be so full that you can't go and they could have to re-Foley you. YIKES! (no general anaethesia this time i'm sure). She said i had 8 hrs (till about 8 pm) to pee (i later found out they wanted 250 ml).
There's an open question about the state the bladder is left in when the foley is removed....anecdotally it seems to me it must be quite empty. But it would seem this initial condition is an important variable in anticipating when the bladder might get full. Remember, there's a fixed 125 ml/hr of IV fluid going in, so they know at what rate its filling up. So i got serious about trying to pee. But nothing would come out. Finally at idk 5 or 6 ish i got like 2 drops to come out. First, it burned like freaking HELLL. Second, it was only 2 drops. By now there was a different (younger) RN on shift, and she was even more worked up about me peeing than I was. By now i had produced about 75 ml, and she was very worried. She went and borrowed a "bladder measuring device" which through some mechanism (ultrasound i'm guessing) she was able to estimate I had 160-200 ml urine in my bladder, so not very full. She phoned Dr G and I got a reprieve until mignight to produce my 250. Somewhere around 11 I produced about 150, so my total was on the high side of 225 and she decided that was good enough. During the night and in the morning I produced another 200-300 so things were fine.
For the rest of the day, when I wasn't standing over an empty pot praying for pee, or breaking into cold sweat at the thought of another Foley, I listened to Kindle some, watched tv, and went to sleep. Slept a little better this time.
Day 3
Day 3 came around and the pee was flowing. I took a mini shower in the sink area of the bathroom. And I had my first (albeit fully liquid ) BM. I was upgraded to "bariatric post op day 2" food, which is "full liquid, which consisted of tomato soup and some carnation instant breakfast. Soup was really good. Staci was RN again for day shift. She disconnected and shut off the IV machine, but left the needle in. This meant I could walk around without my pole for the first time. This was nice, but also a little tougher as the pole was nice to lean on.
I just hung out during the day waiting for valerie to arrive and Dr G to see me. Turns out he got there about 30 min before her. He said he was discharging me, and he'd see me monday for followup. This triggered the paperwork and process of the nurses actually discharging me. Valerie arrived shortly thereafter, my IV was removed, I changed to regular clothes, and Staci came by with all the paperwork. Valerie left to pull the car around, a volunteer drove me to the front door of the hospital in a wheel chair, and I hopped in the car at about 3pm. Total stay in the hospital was about 57 hours.
