The Countdown Begins - 22 hours and counting

Ksh1055

Surgery is tomorrow morning and the nerves are starting up a little bit. Not so worried about the actual surgery (as I will be out), more worried about how much pain you may be in after and how you actually feel the first few weeks post-surgery. I have been told the recovery time is minimal with only a few restrictions as far as lifting, how much and what I can eat in stages, and driving, but everyone is different.

I am a nanny for a 3-year old and a 5-year old (Kindergartener) and the plan is I will return to work on Monday, February 10th. Both boys have been told that Miss Karen will be a little sore and will need some help doing things to help them understand. The 3-year old is very calm, easy going, funny and affectionate and shouldn't be too much trouble. His parents have even turned his crib into a youth bed due to my surgery so I don't have to lift.

I have some things I've left for the last minute to keep me occupied to brighten my day, including going to the library and the grocery store. Don't like shopping at all and never thought I'd look forward to grocery shopping, but I am. In the first 2-weeks post surgery I can only have yogurt, 1% milk, juice, water, sugar-free popsicles or jello, but those sound very good after my last 10-day diet of only water and New Direction products.

sue100194

Good luck to you! and nice planning ahead for your job. My surgery is next Wed so will be looking forward to more posts from you on how your are doing.

csmccord

Good luck! I had my Bypass done Sept of 2012. If you are having the Sleeve done, yours will be much the same as mine. The pain the day off wasn't that bad, the day after, well it was bad. However, they tried to get me to go without a on-demand pain pump with morphine. Once I got on the morphine I did okay.

They will ask you to get up and walk the day after. It hurts, but it's worth it in the end. It helps out with the strength later on. I won't lie, there are good days, then there are bad days, but you will fee yourself getting stronger everyday.

What confounds me though is that you plan on going back to work on Monday! I was required to take two weeks off for my bypass, I truly needed 1.5 weeks of that. It was a week before I could stretch out all the way and lay down in bed. Don't forget that you will have much more internal stapling that I did, so yours might be worse. You will feel it pulling inside of you when you move around.

Overall, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just follow their instructions, and make sure you don't start lifting those kids too soon!

randiwoods1

I'm envious! I'm still 3 months out from my sleeve date - dumb insurance requirements. However, I've have 3 in my family who've had it done. All have said the same thing, use whatever pain killers your doctor prescribes for the first few days. One said sitting straight up was more painful, the other said that laying flat was. Both of them said that a recliner was the best solution.

I'm also surprised that you plan to be back to work on Monday. My doctor requires 2 weeks minimum off and more if your job is very physical. The other practice in town that does BRS requires 4 weeks off.

I think that there's a good chance that Miss Karen could be VERY sore. Make sure that you don't overdo it - this is a long path that you're starting on and you don't want to cause any damage. There are a lot of staples that need to heal correctly and a lot of damage that you can do if you overdo it.

Good luck and we'll be rooting for you!

Ksh1055

I made it through today okay. I'm a Nanny so I just took the 5-year old to school and the 3-year old is so well-behaved there was no problem. Plus, the parents had explained that Miss Karen had a lot of owies for a while and they would need to help me and be careful around ne for a few days. I showed them some of my many bruises and that convinced them they had to take it easy.

Took 1/2 of a Vicodin around lunch and took a nap when the 3-year old did.