Surgery scheduled for Tuesday, can I ask a few questions?

Like it says, I'm set for surgery Tuesday at 8 AM.  I am scared to death having never had surgery before in my life and I'm 59.  I also have alot of risk factors, mostly my weight which is 415.

What exactly do they do at the hospital when you arrive?  Can you tell me what to expect?  I assume they have you change clothes, run an IV, give medication, perhaps draw some blood and after that I have no clue?  Do I just sit there shaking in my boots (or should I say booties)? 

Also, this is not a nice question but I must ask.  Do they run a catheter for urine.  How do they do that when you have huge legs that barely spread.  Will they do it while I am awake? and what about the other, do they give you an enema or something to clean you out? 

When do they intubate?  Is that done after you are out?  I sure hope so. 

Thanks in advance for your help.  I am hoping I'll feel a little better if I know what to expect.

Alyssa

Hi Alyssa, 

They didn't draw blood the morning of surgery but about everything else you imagined sounds about right.  

At my hospital, there are a parade of professionals who are helping your move thru the process.  People organizing the changing of your clothes and personal items.  Others will make sure they have the right person scheduled for the right procedure.  They are going to double check everything (allergies, meds, etc) Someone else will come to get the IV going.  You will be hooked up to a blood pressure monitor that is going to automatically check your blood pressure every few minutes.  All the doctors involved will come visit and double check their own lists. Before my VSG, the operating room nurses stopped in to say hello as well.  (They were probably doing something beside saying hello but I don't really remember.)   In my experience, this pre-surgery bustle keeps you occupied.  There was a bit of a delay for my VSG and then they stopped by to say "we are ready! we are just waiting for the room." 

Yes, they will put in a catheter but this will be after you are out.  I have wondered about the logistics of that with a large body, too, but I try not to think about it!  No enema but they will likely have you stop eating at some point the day before surgery. (You won't "do" anything on the table.)  I think they do intubate but I remember nothing about it.

Remember, they all know that you are nervous (that is normal) and part of their routine is to try make you as comfortable as they can. In particular, I liked the warm blankets.  

Best wishes to you!  It will be such a relief to have it completed so you can move on. 

Thanks so much for your response.  It does make me feel a little better somehow just having a better idea if I had imagined correctly.  I'll be posting about how it goes.  Tomorrow's going to be a crazy day as it's the day before.  I'm so excited but frightened all at the same time.

Good luck! You've got this!

They will give you something to help you relax. The rest is not so bad as you are out for the majority of it. They will give you the anesthesia and tell you to start counting and before you know it, you are waking up in recovery. This has been my experience with my surgeries.

Tink

I haven't had the surgery yet but I've had surgeries in the past. Basically the only thing you'll be awake for is the IV. If they do intubate you just expect your throat to be really sore when you wake up. 

When you arrive tell them you're really nervous and ask that they give you something for it.

Hi Alyssa,

Congratulations on your decision to have the surgery.  I also waited until late in life and until I was morbidly obese to have surgery.  I was 63 and 385 pounds when I started my weight loss journey.  The good news is I am now 2.5 years post surgery, and weigh 162 pounds with a normal BMI.  The surgery really works, and I look forward to your success story.

I was so afraid of the surgery, and it was such a non-event.  It went well,  I had surprisingly little pain from either the surgery or gas, and I had no nausea thanks to the strong anti-nausea meds I requested. I felt like I had the flu for about three days - achy and headache and groggy.  But that was the worst of it.  I was sent home from the hospital a day early because I was doing so well.

The process of getting used to my new tummy was not fun, but not terrible.  It probably took me 6 months to feel any sense of "normal" again in my eating.  But I did get there, and I am so happy with my new tummy and my new health and energy.

So keep your eye on the prize and try not to worry about the surgery ahead of time, because chances are that it will be uneventful.  If there are complications you'll deal with them as they happen. 

Best wishes.  I look forward to watching your progress.  Please keep posting.

Carol

Hi,

I had no blood test at the hospital, and I also had no catheter or enema. I had nothing to eat or drink as of midnight before the surgery. They do intubate you during surgery, but it is generally removed before you wake, unless they feel you still need it. 

I got to the hospital and checked in. Then they took me to the surgery unit, where I was put in a room. My husband was in the waiting room at this time. They had me put on a hospital gown and get onto a bed, where they put in the IV, took my vitals and asked a bunch of questions. They gave me something in my IV they said would relax me, and then they let my husband come up. He was only there a short time before they came and wheeled me into surgery. Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I was in there for awhile as they were waiting for an available room. But after that, I was taken to the room, and that was that.

Like cappy, I was 63 when I had the surgery early this year. Here's what I remember:

1. Paperwork at admittance office.
2. Wait.
3. Change out of clothes into hospital gown and those stylish hospital pressure socks.
4. Nurse will settle you onto a gurney in a sitting position.
5. Wait.
6. IV needle will be inserted and fluids started. An oxygen monitor clip will be clipped onto a finger. An atutomatic BP cuff will be wrapped around your arm. All of these instruments will be attached to a machine that measures your BP, oxygen levels, and heart rate. It beeps a lot. Don't be alarmed. That machine just loves to beep.
7. Wait.
8. More forms to be signed (liability releases -- just what you want to think about right before surgery!)
9. Wait.
10. Edited to add: your anesthesiologist will visit you for a few minutes to tell you what he'll be using to keep you comfortable before, during, and after surgery.
11. When your surgeon is ready for you, they'll move you fast.
12. Your gurney will be wheeled into the OR. It's cold in there. Ask for blankets if you're cold.
13. There will be lots of hustle and bustle around you as the team preps.
14. A little something relaxing will be injected into your IV. It's very soothing.
15. Your surgeon will come in masked and gowned. He'll make sure you're you and say a few encouraging words.
16. Your anesthesia is injected into the IV and you're out.
17. While under anesthesia, they'll intubate you. Don't know about a catheter. I don't remember asking about that. If one was inserted, it was removed before I woke up. Don't worry about how they'll insert it. They've done it hundreds of times before.
18. You wake up in the recovery room. You'll be very woozy. Your first thought will be "I'm alive!" Then, "I did it! I'm sleeved!" These are very reassuring thoughts!
19. At some point while still you're still woozy, the nurses will remove the intubation tube. It'll feel a little weird but it won't hurt. Your throat will be sore. It will take a few days until the soreness goes away.
20. You will probably have a drainage tube dangling from one of the small incisions in your abdomen. It shouldn't hurt, but it's kinda gross looking.
21. Nurses will keep coming to you and asking in unnecessarily loud voices how you feel. Tell them if you feel nauseated or are in pain (you probably won't be; you'll still be flying high from the anesthesia!)
22. When you're recovered enough to know what's going on around you and can be raised to a sitting position, they'll wheel you to your hospital room, where you'll rest for a little while. You'll still be hooked up to that beeping machine. It lives to beep. You just have to endure it till the nurse comes in and fixes whatever is making it beep -- empty IV bags, gremlins, whatever. There will be a call button attached to your bed to call the nurses if you need them. Rest for a while and contemplate the future. You probably won't feel like reading, watching TV, or playing with your laptop. You'll still be a bit too woozy do much of anything.
23. Within the next few hours, your alertness will increase. The nurses will help you to your feet and guide you to the bathroom for your first walk and a very welcome bathroom break.
24. When back in bed, you'll probably sleep for a while.
25. You may have one of those push-button pain killer med dispensers. Use as necessary.
26. Nurses will keep coming in to inject blood thinners and pain killers and check the IV, replacing empty bags with full ones, and do other sundry chores.
27. Once you're fully awake, you can start to take charge of your own recovery. This is where the "walk, walk, walk" advice kicks in. Get up and walk around slowly and carefully every hour. Your sleep that night will be broken up by nurses taking your vital signs. Use those breaks to take short walks. 
28. The next morning, you'll be given 2 ounces of water to drink. It will take you a long, long time to get it down. Fortunately, your ability to drink liquids will increase fairly quickly over the next day or two as your stomach swelling starts to diminish. This is where the "sip, sip, sip" advice kicks in.
29. If you're to be discharged that day, the nurses will remove the drainage tube (sometimes it has to stay in for a while after you go home). If they remove it there, it will feel very strange but shouldn't hurt. They'll start unhooking you from the machine and the IV will be removed. 
30. You'll get dressed in your own comfortable clothes and wait for the nurses to give you more forms to sign.
31. Wait.
32. The nurses will put you in a wheelchair (don't bother telling them you can walk out; the hospital's liability insurance demands that you be wheeled out). They'll wheel you out to the entrance where your designated driver will pick you up and take you home. Have a pillow in the car to hold against your stomach to cushion it from bumpy driving.
33. When you get home, do a little victory dance in your head, go to bed, get a nice nap. Then get busy recovering.
34. Ta da!

psychoticparrot

My goodness, what a great response.  You told me exactly what I needed to know and more.  I feel much better now.  I'll be letting everyone know how it goes as soon as I can.  Thanks for caring.

The ONLY thing I will add to psychocticparrots post is, eat ice chips if they give them to you.  I ate them by the cupful after my surgery.  Oh, and don't use a straw in the hospital, even if they give you one, as they did for me.