6 days post op...what did I do?

Wow, this has not gone as expected and boy I could use some advise! Quick recap; had vertical sleeve on Monday stayed 4 night due to possible pneumonia, low oxygen and heart rate, I'm at home and all I want to do is sleep. I can barely ge****er down never mind protein and I have severe shoulder pain and what I think is pain in my arm due to the IV? My stomach is sore and heavy feeling and I feel some shortness of breath. I've watched a few YouTube videos and people say they are ready to go back to work and walking a mile? Could this be possible? Talk about kicking a girl while she's down! I'm trying to not take my pain meds because I have young kids at home but I may have to live off them forever if this continues. I felt so educated going into the surgery and worked out hard to be as strong as I could be for recovery and now I'm like a little baby crying and whining all day. Help? suggestions?

Completely normal in my book. If you're in pain, take the meds. That's what they are there for. Your body is better able to heal when it's not in distress.

The pain in your shoulder is most likely the gas that we all have from surgery that actually rises up in your body and tries to escape out your shoulders and back. It is painful, but walking and having someone basically beat on my back really helped me. 

If the shortness of breath becomes concerning to you I would call your surgeons office and let them know. I can tell you that for me, two days after I was released I went to a nursery to look at flowers and my whole body hurt at every joint and I was out of breath just slowly walking. The surgery is a major shock and we're all wired differently so while some people bounce right back, it takes others awhile.

I can tell you that this isn't forever, only a season, and it will get better. Get yourself a timer if you're having a hard time with fluids, and set it to take a sip every 10-15 minutes :) 

Congrats on your new life!

Thank you so much! Hearing from people that have been through this so unbelievably helpful and I greatly appreciate your response! Took the pain meds and I feel like a different person! 

You had major surgery (with some complications) less than a week ago!  Give yourself a break - of course you're tired and sore and out of sorts!  

1. Focus on getting in your liquids, don't worry about the protein yet.  (Although protein shakes do count as liquids.)  Sip all day.  Set a timer for 15 minutes to remind yourself.  

2. Walk as much as you can, that will help with the shoulder pain which is most likely from the gas used in the laparoscopy.  Even if you start out at 5 minutes, do 5 minutes.  Increase every day by 5 minutes (or whatever you can handle).  This will help with your energy levels too. 

3. TAKE PAIN MEDICATION.  Pain prevents your body from healing and you should not be living in pain.  Find someone to help out with the kids if necessary, but this time needs to be about you and your healing.  

You are absolutely right! Love this forum and being part of it and I thank you for taking the time to respond! Took the pain meds and arranged child care for the next few days and already feel leaps and bounds better!

Wonderful!  It can be so hard to be kind to ourselves, can't it?  Especially if we're the type of people that are used to making sure everyone else is taken care of!

The surgery kicked my azz. I didn't start feeling like I had more energy until I upped my carbs to 30-40g a day and was eating solids at 6 weeks. At 6 months post op, I still have days when I have low energy. It does get better the farther out you get, but I was not one of those back at work in a week, exercising and bounce back quickly people. On the plus side, I've had very steady weight loss with few stalls and few complications. Yesterday I actually had my first complication..gas pain from hell. SO painful and I have no idea what I did differently that would have caused it. I ended up using a heating pad, back to clear fluids and the face down, butt up position and it eventually left LOL

Hang in there! Everyone is different and you are not alone in wondering when you will feel more energy. Rest, hydrate and let your body heal from major surgery.

Colleen 

Hi Ocean girl! I am an RN, although this is not official advice. I'm just a few weeks post op myself...so I am a novice at what to expect, and everything has gone smoothly for me. But I do think your shortness of breath is concerning. Especially since you had the low oxygen sats in the hospital. Anxiety, Pain, can cause this feeling as well, but resting quietly you should feel comfortable with your breathing. If you are not drinking much that won't help and a concern for dehydration. Lastly the arm pain...I know shoulder pain is normal post op WLS, but pain radiating down your arm is not. But if the pain is specifically at your old IV site...that just bares watching. Sometimes a little IV fluid just leaks from the vein into the local tissue area causing tenderness. Any redness or drainage from that area should be reported to your medical team. Again, not medical advice, but as a fellow VSG friend, I think it wouldn't hurt calling the on-call Doc today and running your symptoms by a professional who can do a much better assessment and make sure what you are experience is normal post VSG. I'm sorry you've had to deal with all this post op....but good days are ahead! 

THANK YOU!!!! I'm happy to report as soon I took the pain meds everything seemed on the up and up! My breathing became steady and when using the breathing incentive thing, sorry I don't know the official name :), I seemed much easier getting close to the 1500 ml mark?! I also went on a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood. I'm going to start wearing my fitbit and track steps tomorrow. I've also was able to up my liquid in take and I'm close to 60 oz and should be there by bedtime. The arm pain is driven from the iv spot which was in my hand for 4 days however the pain is less in the area of the needle point and more in my wrist and forearm. Regardless your response is so appreciated and I'm going to call the office in the morning. I'm really hoping the breathing was driven from the pain!!! So thankful for this forum and my new WLS friends!!

Oh OceanGirl, I feel such a kinship to you right now. I am pretty much in the same boat. I avoided the pneumonia, but I had 3 surgeries in 1. I had my band removed, sleeve done, and huge diaphragmatic hernia repair all at once and lets not forget the scar tissue. The pain this week was excruitiating. The shoulder pain felt like I was shot in that area. They use gas for surgery and it relocates itself irritating the diaphragm and making nerves really mad. Keep walking and rotating your arm. Even if its a few min...it helps. I was also using a heating pad. 

I couldn't get sufficient fluids until saturday. It was almost a reawakening for me. I went from total zombie to semi normal. I weened myself off the pain meds. I have small kids running around too. I am sore, but no where near the agony of earlier this week.

Definitely communicate with the dr office. This too shall pass. Hang in there. We can lean on each other. I haven't advanced to protein shakes or full liquids yet. I see my dr tuesday. Good luck!!!!