4 more days- About the Surgery and fears in General

4 more days until a new leaf turns over in my life.  I am as ready as I will ever be.  I am not necessarily nervous about the surgery in general, my thoughts are on the post op recovery.

Here is a bit of a story for background about why I have what fear I do of post op:
 For those of you who may or may not be aware (it was before this blog), in March 2011 I was hospitalized after having been told for 3-4 weeks that I had plantar fascilitis, then tendonitis and just needed to 'suck it up' with my foot hurting..then calf, then knee and leg....  Well I was hospitalized after going to the ER when I noticed that my leg was swollen and slightly red and pain was all the way up my leg completely.  A simple ultrasound (which was ordered in Urgent care 9 days previous, however my PCP needed to authorize it and he stated it was not necessary in treatment of tendonitis) showed that my full right leg was blocked with blood clots.  The way the ultrasound tech described it was that "the freeway, off ramps, side streets, and dirt paths were all blocked with no passage at ALL"...  The clotting went past the area that the ultrasound could see... After a chest scan was done, it was found that the clotting had broken off and gone into my lungs.  I was at the hospital from Thursday Morning til Thursday night the next week.
On the Sunday a vascular surgeon came in and recommended IVC Filter insertion.  Sunday I had Venography done (where they go in, thread something through the vein in leg as far as they can sending a dye in to xray to see extent of damage) and the filter implanted... Monday venography and tuesday venography to determine the progress of the bloodthinners and medication on breaking up the blood clots.  I was on Heparin, Coumaden, Lovanox (all blood thinners), as well as the pain medication Dilaudid (which from my research afterwards come to find that it is '6-8 times stronger than morphine' for pain relief as the clots in my lungs were breaking apart with the assistance of the blood thinners.  I couldn't breath, complete pain...  That is the one thing that scares the crud out of me... having to relive that.  I just remember on Friday night into Saturday morning spending the night crying in so much pain, not able to move, just crying.  They gave me another dose of the pain meds a bit sooner and a bit more than what I had been receiving and then had to have a nurse stay in the room because of how low my blood pressure had dropped and because I became very sluggish with difficulty breathing, if you could imagine...  I can vividly remember much of this time and wouldn't wish this upon ANYONE...  and this is what I fear.


That is the one thing that the surgery has scared me with... the risk for blood clots post-op.   I had to meet with my vascular surgeon to see if a IVC filter (which would help prevent any clotting from reaching my lungs again) would be necessary prior to the surgery ( I had a temporary one inserted previously that was only allowed in for 30 days, so that was removed in april of 2011) which he said no.  The bariatric surgeon has already stated that I will be given Lovenox (blood thinner) previous to the surgery and will have compression stockings on my legs to ensure that blood is being moved throughout my legs during the surgery and whenever I am NOT walking (it will be compressing and decompressing on my calves at different intervals).  This is all to be preventative to blood clots. Still, that is what I worry about.


Now, I have been thinking about this, and I realize that while I have used the general terms there are some people on here who might not know exactly what the 'sleeve' surgery is.  It is one of the newest ones in that there isn't the long term data like the other bariatric surgeries, however the 5 year studies have shown that it likens to the RNY (regular, well known bariatric surgery known as the 'gastric bypass surgery'.) in results.  The lapband has an average of 50% EWL (expected Weight loss), the Sleeve 60-70%, the the RNY 70-80%.  These are not diffinitive.  There are people, pending on their changes in habits, that are at 20% of their weight lost, while others (my motivation) are 100% or more where they even surpass their goal. 

The sleeve, in most basic discussion, is a removal of about 85% of the stomach.  The surgeon will go in and cut about 85% of my stomach away from the other portion.  He will then staple seal the stomach remaining closed (a 3-4 oz pouch, shaped like a banana so to speak) and remove the larger portion.  in the 85% of the stomach includes the portion of the stomach that sends the hunger cues to your mind telling you to eat.  Also, the shape of your stomach currently has a larger opening at the top, so to get that 'full' feeling you almost end up over eating to fill that void.  With that portion removed, the 'full' feeling happens almost immediately, as there isn't a large opening at the top of the stomach.    If anyone ever has ANY questions, please leave them or message me and I will be more than happy to answer anything that I can.