• American Bariatrics is a free online Bariatric Support Group. Register for your free account and get access to all of our great features!

4 days Post-op Sleeve Gastrectomy

M

Motivated

Member
Hi Everyone! I'm 4 days Post-Op from having a Sleeve Gastrectomy. I'm so happy the surgery is over and now the hard work has begun. I'm in the process of trying to manage the pain and soreness by walking around the house and taking pain medication as needed. Getting in and out of the bed is extremely painful and difficult. Turning over in the bed is painful. I have purchased an Abdominal Binder. I hope it will lessen the pain. The liquid diet is going well. My doctor's office has called to check on me as well as my nurse who has called me twice. I'm open to any suggestions.
 
Congratulations! I'm glad everything went well. It won't be too much longer before the pain subsides. You may still feel soreness for a while but that initial, more intense pain should diminish. Turning in bed was the worst for me. I'm not a back sleeper but I had no choice in the matter. My only advice is to try not to rush things. Stick to your eating schedule and don't don't do any physical stuff for a while as it takes time to heal on the inside. Welcome to the losers' bench!
 
I had I had a pretty easy recovery considering the fact that I had an open procedure with a 7-inch vertical incision that ran from my navel up to the bottom of my sternum. All your abdominal muscles cross right there and it is really painful. But I got better quickly and I took a lot of pain pills because I just didn't want to be awake for the suffering. But there were times when I had to get out of bed and I couldn't because I had elevated my bed about 12 additional inches from the floor for reasons I can't recall right now. So there was one time when I literally had to phone my roommate from my bedroom to ask him to come in and help me get out of bed. In retrospect it's a hilarious memory. But at the time it was incredibly painful. Here's the good news: you get over it fast.

I know your doctor recommended Miralax but I don't believe you should be taking any more chemicals now while you are recovering or ever for that matter. Chemical laxatives are absolutely unnecessary when we have fiber laxative in the world. I would just start taking a fiber laxative every single day with your water and keep taking it every day. Just make it part of your routine. If you don't get the necessary fiber to create stool that absorbs the water from your intestines into your waste, you will live to regret it, and that is straight from my heart because it happened to me. It was worse than anything else about having an open surgery.
 
dianeseattle said:
I had I had a pretty easy recovery considering the fact that I had an open procedure with a 7-inch vertical incision that ran from my navel up to the bottom of my sternum. All your abdominal muscles cross right there and it is really painful. But I got better quickly and I took a lot of pain pills because I just didn't want to be awake for the suffering. But there were times when I had to get out of bed and I couldn't because I had elevated my bed about 12 additional inches from the floor for reasons I can't recall right now. So there was one time when I literally had to phone my roommate from my bedroom to ask him to come in and help me get out of bed. In retrospect it's a hilarious memory. But at the time it was incredibly painful. Here's the good news: you get over it fast.

I know your doctor recommended Miralax but I don't believe you should be taking any more chemicals now while you are recovering or ever for that matter. Chemical laxatives are absolutely unnecessary when we have fiber laxative in the world. I would just start taking a fiber laxative every single day with your water and keep taking it every day. Just make it part of your routine. If you don't get the necessary fiber to create stool that absorbs the water from your intestines into your waste, you will live to regret it, and that is straight from my heart because it happened to me. It was worse than anything else about having an open surgery.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice.
 
JudyNY said:
Congratulations! I'm glad everything went well. It won't be too much longer before the pain subsides. You may still feel soreness for a while but that initial, more intense pain should diminish. Turning in bed was the worst for me. I'm not a back sleeper but I had no choice in the matter. My only advice is to try not to rush things. Stick to your eating schedule and don't don't do any physical stuff for a while as it takes time to heal on the inside. Welcome to the losers' bench!
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
dianeseattle said:
I had I had a pretty easy recovery considering the fact that I had an open procedure with a 7-inch vertical incision that ran from my navel up to the bottom of my sternum. All your abdominal muscles cross right there and it is really painful.
Click to expand...

I too had an open procedure with a 6 inch incision which was my 3rd surgery. First was laparoscopic for VSG, then they opened up one of the bigger incisions because they had to clean it out due to infection and then the 3rd was open surgery as I was bleeding internally and they had to find out the source, all within 2 weeks of each other. I blame it on the curse of 2020. ;)
 
JudyNY said:
I too had an open procedure with a 6 inch incision which was my 3rd surgery. First was laparoscopic for VSG, then they opened up one of the bigger incisions because they had to clean it out due to infection and then the 3rd was open surgery as I was bleeding internally and they had to find out the source, all within 2 weeks of each other. I blame it on the curse of 2020. ;)
Click to expand...
I'm so sorry you had to go through that ordeal. I pray that your on the road to a full recovery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top