What to expect while in the Hospital

Hey there, I am back. Now lets talk about what to expect while in the hospital. After you wake up from surgery and you are moved to your room, you will be on oxygen for the first 24 hours and have ivy hydration and pain meds. Then pain meds will make you feel like your doing great. Your going to be sore and you wont be able to get comfortable in the bricks they call hospital beds. Once the bandages come off the incision sites you will start to see bruising already appearing.

The Bruising only gets worse. plus they will be sticking you with heparin once to twice a day depending on how thick your blood is. I would recommend reading material and if you can the TV. Other wise you are going to be bored out of your mind...I know I was. Though I did get very lucky on the Thursday night to have a very nice Ukrainian woman placed into my room. She is my mom's age and it was just really interesting to talk to her and hear about her life. It also helps to pass the time having someone that is friendly and will talk to you. My first room-mate didn't really talk but that I think was cause she had been in to have her tonsil's removed.

But I digress back to what to expect. I was lucky for the most part I didn't have any trouble with the foods they gave me the first day out of surgery. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all were chicken broth, jello, and tea. Surprisingly the chicken broth and tea would fill me up. The Friday I was released from the hospital so they tried to give me breakfast but really a rice cake for someone that isn't allowed solid foods, and juice for someone that according to the menu's the dietitian gave me prior was a no no as well.

I don't think the hospital kitchen really pays attention to who is in what room except if they have food allergies which I have so many that it really left them scrambling...lol

Your really in the hospital for about 48 to 62 hours unless you have complications. I was blessed to not have any of the complications, well besides the one that was during the actually surgery. If you are one of the unlucky you could have whats call leaking from the new pouch and so they would have to go back in and find the leak and repair it and then they would most likely keep you in for 2 weeks at that point to ensure that your not going to do more damage.

After the surgery while your in the hospital you will be visited by your surgeon everyday, your internist each day your there and the dietitian will come once to make sure you don't have any questions and that you know what your suppose to be doing once you get home. They all just want to make sure that your healing proper and that your going to do as your told.

Once you leave the hospital you will be on 3 weeks of total rest, no lifting, moving to sudden, no working out, no work period. You are given a strict diet to maintain while healing the first 2 weeks are full fluids meaning soup broth, strained cream soups, water, milk, oatmeal...nothing that has any solid matter in it. then you will be put on 2 weeks of pureed foods, meaning tuna, mashed potatoes, canned veggies, canned fruit, anything soft that can be blended up like a drink almost, and then finally 2 weeks of solid foods, but still no bread, no pasta, no red meat, no raw veggies, nothing that is to taxing on your stomach pouch. You then will have your follow up appointments with the surgeon and the dietitian to see how much weight your losing, if your healing properly.

The next post will most likely combine all the weeks after the surgery till the dietitian appointment which for me is this coming friday the 15th of january 2010.