5 Days Out- I made it

Well I'm extremely swollen, have horrible bruises all over my stomach. On top of that I haven't lost any weight yet. I also was expecting them to put in a drain like I had with my last surgery but they didn't. Other than that I'm doing ok. I do have some pain but I know that's to be expected. I had a couple of breakdowns with crying because I was mad and frustrated and the patient care at Dallas Medical Center was Horrendous. I didn't even get ice chips for almost 48 hours due to the the swallow test not being done in a timely manner. Got to come home Wednesday late afternoon. I was allergic to Dilaudid and the adhesive. So when the heart monitors, catheter and the central line adhesive was peeled off so was some of my skin. I'm just really tired right now. I never had staples before so a little scared they might hurt to be removed. Has anyone else had this major swelling (I look like I'm about to deliver twins any day now). When did ya'lls staples come out and how painful? I'm not having a good night quite uncomfortable now. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks.

Staples make me think you had open, not lap. I had staples with several orthopedic surgeries and I prefer them to stitches most of the time. Removal was easy, IMO and yiu hear the 'snip' but i ne er felt anything. A family member who had 2 cesarean births, one with staples and one with stitches said it was not a big deal when she had her stitches out. So hopefully you will have a similar experience to the two of us and staples won't be a big deal. 

I was never as swollen as what you are describing so I cannot comment on that, but when is your post op with your surgeon? I would imagine they divide give you some dates fir swelling reduction and staples out during that visit. 

Sorry your post op care was not what you expected! Here us to things only getting better from here!!

Thanks so much for the info. No, I had it lap and not open. This is my 4th procedure if you include my band removal. All my priors had the surgical glue only, one had a stich where the drain was during one of my my surgeries. I just wasn't expecting staples on such small areas. 4 staples are the most I have on any if of them. Because of scar tissue build up my tummy now has like 14 incisions. Kinda looks like a road map. Lol, I have some serious bleaching to do once healed.

I was in your shoes last week ago I also had the same thing happen to me and I did have a crying moment but I straighten that nurse out quick and had no future problem. My surgery was that Friday morning my swallow test was Saturday morning early I pass with flying colors  I had the  x-tray doctor to write  the result down and call it in . I explain to him I was extremely thirsty and wouldn't be able to drink unless he notify the nurse .  This crazy nurse still refuse me ice chips or any thing to drink. I instructed my grown son to get me ice chip and a little sip of water immediately in front of her face. I then told her I was going to report her to Dr.A and she needs to say nothing to me again ,she got her s**t together quick she starting bring crystal light coffee ,etc. I have staples and glue over the wounds as well my staples are due to come out Tuesday. Most of the  swelling has gone down and the pain is much better ,very itchy on wound site now. Will let you know Tuesday if the staples will be painful but I doubt it. How many small wounds do you have on your stomach ? I have 6 

Oh my I hate you had that experience too but glad they got you going relatively quickly. I have 6 too. Thanks for sharing your experience with me. I definitely want to try to keep in touch. I will be nice to bounce things off one another. Thanks for reaching out to me.

It sounds like your experience wasn't the greatest, but at least you're over the big initial hump. I'm glad you came through the surgery with what sounds like just some discomfort. The weight loss will come, hang in there and I'm sure you will start to see results soon.

Thank you so much. I sure hope you're right because right now I stay pretty uncomfortable. Crushing all my meds is disheartening and trying not to toss them back up is even harder. Pray pray pray. :-D

taking the staples out doesn't hurt.  They use a device that cuts them in half, in the middle, and then each side just slides right out.  When my sister had a C-section, she was scared of having the staples removed and she closed her eyes and the nurse took them all out, really quick and easy.  With her eyes still closed, my sister said, "When are you going to start taking them out?"  She hadn't felt it at all.  I once had to have staples in my arm and I took them out at home myself (I'm not suggesting you do that), it was that easy and didn't hurt at all.

Thanks that explained the staple removal process doesn't scare me anymore. Thanks

I am so sorry you had a horrible nursing staff post surgery, that just sucks!!!  I had swelling but dose not sound like as much as you have, it did take mine about 4 weeks to go down, walking really helped me feel better even though I was really sore!!  The pain post surgery (laparoscopic) was more than I anticipated but I also had a Haital hernia repair. At my 2 weeks post op a lot, I had only lost 2 lbs and was discouraged but at my 4 weeks post op appt, I had lost 18 lbs and now at 5.5 weeks out I have lost 5 more lbs, so the total lost since surgery (nov.7th) is 25lbs. 

The weight will come off, don't panic (like I did :-) ). It may be slow for a while, but it will happen.  Prayers going up for you!!