Jenn's Weight Loss Journal

Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 4:15am to 6:00am

Well, today's Jenn's Surgery Day. I had dropped our kids off at Jenn's aunt's house yesterday, so it was just her and I this morning. She was already in the shower when I got up. She's been ready for this day for almost a year. I've been trying to prepare myself for the changes, too, in between college studies and being a househusband and father to my two daughters. But I really haven't had time to let this all sink in. And now the day is finally here and I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. I've never had surgery and have not had any major health problems that required any type of lengthy hospital stay.

Jenn, on the other hand, has had surgery before to remove her gallbladder and has been through childbirth twice. So, she's somewhat of an old hat at this.

I made some coffee for myself. I took a pre-op photo of Jenn before we left.

In the car, I was trying to get settled and I accidentally spilled coffee on my pants in, of all places, my crotch area! D-oh! Luckily I was wearing black pants, so it didn't show much and it had pretty much dried by the time we got to the hospital.

6:00am to 7:40am

In the surgical waiting room, as Jenn was being prepped for surgery, I spoke with a nice lady whose husband was in for an unknown surgical procedure. He'd had a stroke recently. Later, when they called me in to see Jenn before her surgery, he was laying on a mobile hospital bed. They were using some type of buffing machine (for lack of a better term) on his forehead. The "buffer" had some sort of smelly stuff on it that was kind of like a cross between varnish and rubbing alcohol — overpowering to say the least!

The anesthesiologist came over and talked about what he was going to do — a very pleasant fellow. Then the nurse assigned to Jenn went over some other things. I can't really remember what was said, as I was mainly focused on these last few minutes just to be with Jenn.

Dr. Randall, Jenn's surgeon, came over finally and briefly went over what was going to happen. I hadn't met him yet, except to see him from a distance at one of the group meetings, talking about his method for performing the gastric bypass procedure. Jenn had said that he kind of resembles Harvey Leonard, one of the local TV meteorologists in the Boston area. We've joked that "Harvey" does gastric bypass surgery in his spare time, when he's not forecasting the weather. :)

7:40am to 10:00am

Well, I've just said "Bye" to my beautiful wife Jenn. I told her I loved her. She said, "See you on 'the other side.' " I watched her as the two nurses wheeled her down the long hallway to the operating room. I'm so nervous. I walked out of the prep area and went to get something to eat at the cafeteria.

I had brought some books with me to read while in the waiting room. I'm a fan of the "Back to the Future" trilogy, so I brought the novels, based on the movies, with me figuring that they would be the best things to keep my mind off of my nervousness. I am also attempting to write some fan fiction that continues the adventures of Doc Brown and Marty McFly. I have written about ten pages thus far which I proofread while I waited, to take my mind off my nervousness.

But, as I sit here in the waiting room for the doctor to come out, my heart is racing. Why do I worry so much? Jenn's in good hands. I've read all the stuff about GPS and the success stories on ObesityHelp.com.

Still, this is major surgery no matter how you cut it — no pun intended. This is real, not "ER." I have a right to be concerned about my wife. I'm still nervous, but I know she'll be all right. This is a life-changing decision for Jenn — for the whole family — and I'm welcoming it with open arms.

Those open arms will be waiting to hold my wife when she's safely out of surgery.

10:04am

"Lightning strikes the Clock Tower, sending Marty McFly back to the future."

Actually, that part of the story happened at 10:04pm. However, isn't it ironic that Dr. Randall should come out at that precise time to tell me that Jenn's surgery went fine? :) Whew! He said she's awake and alert with a little pain in the area of her stomach (of course). He said she is being prepped and will be moved out of recovery to a room. I will be able to see her in about an hour and a half. I am going to call everyone on Jenn's call list now.

11:05am to 1:45pm

Jenn was wheeled out of recovery to her room on the second floor. The mobile hospital bed was jolted once when the aides turned a corner. Jenn felt that one all right. She loudly yelled "OW," but was heavily drugged with morphine and fell back to sleep. I guess the "awake and alert" terms apply only if you compare them to Rip vanWinkle. In other words, she was quite out of it when I saw her.

In her room, she would groggily ask questions like "How long was I in surgery?" or "What did the doctor tell you?" She would sound like she was wide-awake, but when I would start to answer her, she would fall back to sleep. :)

I've decided to only answer her if she seems more alert. :)

I read one of my books while she slept. I tried to take a catnap, but the chair was not made to be slept in. Oh, well. :)

A nurse came in and asked Jenn what her pain level was. She said about a 3, which is bordering on "discomforting" according to the chart hanging on the wall of her room. She's been given a special medication for spasms in her abdomin. I guess the spasms are normal for this procedure, although some will experience it, while some won't.

1:45pm to 3:15pm

I got some lunch while Jenn slept — the spasm medication kicked in enough to allow her some uninterrupted sleep for a while. When I came back, a new TV had been installed in her room and all of the rooms, replacing ones that looked like they had been installed back in the mid '80s. Of course, Jenn had to try it out even though she was fading in and out of sleep. She said she didn't want to miss "Dr. Phil" (she did anyway). :) Of all things, it was about people dealing with obesity! (I'll fill her in on the show later.) She also mentioned that she wanted to watch "The Bachelor" and "Extreme Makeovers" tonight.

I don't think she's going to be able to. :)

3:15pm to 4:00pm

Jenn's been uncomfortable. So, she's been moved around in her bed a couple of times now to make her more comfortable. She said her pain was an 8 ("horrible" on the chart). The nurse gave her a breathing tube to allow her to take in more oxygen than the nose tubes allow, in order to make her breathing stronger and raise her level. It was 94 earlier. After using the breathing tube it went up to 97, which is considered normal. Jenn is now sleeping more and waking up from the pain less often.

4:00pm to 7:30pm

Jenn's had about 42.3mg of morphine through the IV since she came into the room at 11:00am. This is the patient-controlled morphine, although it only allows so much morphine, at certain intervals. So, if she presses the button to get more, and the machine senses that she's had enough for now, it won't dispense it.

There's not much else to say. She's sleeping pretty well now.

I may leave by 8:00pm in order to be home in time to tape "The Bachelor" and the season finale of "Extreme Makeovers" for Jenn.

7:30pm to 8:00pm

Jenn's morphine intake is up to 50.7mg. She continues to do things — like trying to operate the TV control or swab her mouth with a flavored swab dipped in water — only to doze off in the middle of her attempts.

I guess it's time to go. Hopefully, she'll be well rested and be up and around tomorrow. I plan on coming back to the hospital tomorrow around 8 or 9am.

It was a long day, but I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 9:30am to 10:30am

I was a little late this morning. I overslept. It was a much-needed sleep, though, after being up from 4:15 am to 10:00pm. I taped Jenn's shows. She'll be so happy! :)

Jenn was sitting in a chair this morning, getting washed up and brushing her teeth after, earlier, walking up and down the halls for the first time since surgery. She was still pretty drugged up, so, like with the swabs yesterday; she fell asleep with the toothbrush in her mouth. :) I had to wake her and she continued her brushing.

I left to get some breakfast at the cafeteria. When I came back, Jenn was asleep in the chair, sans toothbrush. I buzzed the aide to help her get back in bed. There are so many tubes and wires to be moved. Catheter tube, compression tubes connected to wraps around her legs to prevent blood clots, IV tubes, electrical wires for the IV and morphine dispensers, TV control, nurse button cord, oxygen tube, light switch, etc.

Man, someone could make a fortune if they could just invent a way to keep all those tubes and wires confined to one small area. But, I digress. :)

Jenn's asleep after all that effort to get back in bed. Her cousin will drop our kids off here at the hospital in a couple of hours. I guess I'll just read until then.

10:30am to 2:30pm

After reading for a while, I went down to the cafeteria to get lunch before the kids arrived. The meals at the café are hit and miss, tending to look more appetizing than they actually were. Jenn's not missing a thing here. ;)

Jenn's legs were itchy from the compression pads, so she asked me to scratch them. I'm sure all of you post-op people will probably be able to relate to this issue of not being able to bend and reach to scratch. I'm glad I was there to help her out in that department.

The kids arrived with their cousin around 1:30pm. Jenn was somewhat awake now, but still having trouble staying alert. My oldest daughter brought her some flowers and a painting with a picture of "Mom" on it. They were both very happy to see her.

Before her surgery, Jenn had bought a couple of smooth-rock animals for the kids and some stickers to give to them at this visit. They loved their gifts. My youngest put the tiny stickers of dogs all over her arm. :)

After that, Jenn's cousin, the kids, and me went out to her car so we could move the kids' things from one car to the other. Jenn's cousin left and the kids and I went back inside.

However, we didn't stay much longer, Jenn was exhausted and was sleeping after another walk in the hallway at around 1:00pm. So, we said our good-byes and left for the day.

4:20pm

Jenn called me from her room. I asked her if the nurse had dialed the phone for her, but she said "no," that she called collect. :) I'm not sure how because she was fading in and out during our brief conversation. LOL

I'll be visiting her tomorrow after I pick up the kids from school at 2:30pm.

Friday, May 23, 2003 - 3:20pm to 4:20pm

I took the girls to see Jenn after they got out of school today. She was awake and sitting up and she was no longer hooked up to the catheter tube or the morphine drip. She can get a shot of pain killer, though, if she needs it. She said the pain had been pretty bad earlier, so she got a pill, and then later a shot, of Oxycontin. Took the pain right away. She said, "No wonder people are trying to steal it!" :) She also got the bandage taken off of her incision area. Except for some bruising and minor discoloration, it looks great! They did inside sewing instead of stitches, so the scarring would be minimal. I didn't see any outside stitches, which, I believe, is common when the inside stitching is done.

About five minutes later, Jenn's brother, John, came in to visit. He has lost a lot of weight on the Atkins Diet. He looks great!

Jenn is now able to get in and out of bed on her own. Amazing what twenty-four hours can do. She was ready to take another walk down the hall to get some exercise. So, John, the kids, and I took the walk with her.

Shortly after the walk, Jenn seemed very tired, so we all decided to leave.

Jenn has the option of leaving the hospital tomorrow, or if she's not feeling up to it, she can stay another day, until Sunday. Of course we all want to see her come home tomorrow. But, if she needs the extra day, she should take it.

8:45pm

I talked to Jenn on the phone. She's completely off of the IV drip, No more tubes and wires — she's free!

Saturday, May 24, 2003

I called Jenn at the hospital. She was given the OK to come home today. The hospital hadn't called to let us know, but they called while I was on the phone with Jenn.

We got home around 12:45pm after stopping at the pharmacy to fill her prescriptions. The pharmacist went to lunch at 12:30pm, just as we arrived, so I took jenn home and went back to the pharmacy later.

Jenn was OK for a while. Luckily, though, I got back just in time with her pain meds, because the pills she got before leaving the hospital were beginning to wear off.

Jenn got to watch "The Bachelor" and "Extreme Makeovers," the shows that I had taped for her.

Paul's Journal

05/23/2003