[nume]

I am having the lap by-pass on Feb 9. Hoping someone would not mind sharing. How much pain did you have? Were you able to get up right away? Did you have trouble sleeping? How soon before the pain was gone. I meet with the surgeon again next week for the pre-op testing. And I'm sure he will be able to answer some of these questions. But it would be great to hear from someone who has been through this.

[DocSanae]

There are plenty of threads and posts on this, actually.
One way to look up the posts is to do a search, but another way.
Check the dates of surgery of a person in the profile column of their posts, and pick someone who's had surgery fairly recently--within a month or two, or even someone who's just had it, there are a few, umm...Nena, Nurse2B, some more. Click on their names and a drop down menu will appear. The menu includes " Find more posts by..." so, click on that, and the list of posts, with the first several words from the post will appear, so pick whatever post you think applies.
Hope this helps.

[Janice Carol]

Hello and welcome. Immediately after the surgery (the first day in the hospital) I had a pain pump so the pain not noticeable because I keep pushing the button.LOL It was a little uncomfortable when I would get up to walk the halls but not that bad. I did have trouble sleeping the 2nd night at the hospital but that was due to the nursing coming in to check my vitals. After the surgeon removed my drains on the morning of the 3rd day he released me to go home. The pain was very minimual. They will send you home with pain meds. I took them when I needed to and everything was fine. That was just my experience. Everyone is different though. Good Luck and let us know how everything goes.

[michelle09]

I went with only tylenol on day 2 ubtil I went home I seemed to need alittle more. It was not too bad getting up the first time and each additional time got easier. Dont worry about pain, now a days they got it covered. I was not able to sleep in my bed when I went home though. I needed recliner for about a week. Laying flat and on my sides was the tender spots. But ahhhh my bed feels good now LOL. Keeping focused on the the goal is key. Do what they tell you in hospitaland at home , you'll do fine.

[Imlosinit]

I had my surgery 6 weeks ago. I never had pain from the surgery site itself. Never Ever!!!! What I did have was pain in my shoulders that was pretty bad from the gas they pump you with. This will go away in a day or two as your body absorbs it and releases it. But I needed pain meds for that, not my surgery. I also had nausea after surgery for 2 days. I went in on a Thurs. and left on a Saturday. Thursday and Friday I was pretty out of it with pain and anti nausea meds, but by the time I woke up on Saturday, I was back to my old self. Walking the halls and chatting with other patients I'd met from my support group.

Walking right after surgery was ok. I felt weak but I could walk.

As for sleeping.. I'd have slept round the clock if I didn't have the nurses coming in or have to pee. LOL So, everytime I got up to pee, I'd walk around the floor several times. Our floor has a circuit the goes around the nurses station and lab rooms and the wall said 27 miles around was a mile... YOU CAN DO IT!!! LOL So I tried. I was able to sleep on both sides.. never have had a problem with sleeping on my sides or laying flat. I know some said they came home and slept in the recliner but I never had a problem sleeping in my bed. I think I had an extremely easy recovery. Haven't had any complications, no pain and felt back to normal within a week. I did and still do have days that I feel more tired, but if I can nap.... I'm fine.

[wannabe skinny]

i had a pump with meds in it the first 24 hours and i used it but not excessively. because i have atrial defibulation my cardiologist had them put me really deeply under for my surgery and i was really out of it until around 8pm (and my surgery was at 9am) but then i got up and walked around the floor a couple of times. the next day i was up and moving quite a bit. you just hold your tummy for support. once i got home i probably spent most of the time in a recliner, because it wasn't very comfortable to lie down flat for a couple of days and then it was a couple of weeks before it was comfortable to sleep on my sides. i went home with a drain and it was in for around 10 days i think - i was VERY glad to get rid of that because it was uncomfortable. most people have some discomfort/pain on the side where they actually do the cutting of your stomach because they have to cut through some muscle in order to do the procedure - i know that i did, which lasted a few weeks. this might sound weird, but i cut the legs off of some control top pantyhose and wearing that "panty" part gave me the additional support that i needed in my stomach area while i was healing. i do remember experiencing some pain when getting up and down unless i held my stomach really well, that is why i came up with the control top pantyhose idea. some people will get a stomach binder from their surgeon - my surgery center doesn't give them out because they want the area to be open for fresh air and healing.

[Nurse2B]

I am 4 days post op.

My surgery was scheduled for 0730. I was taken back to PACU and placed facing the wall. It was really awful. Why they want to face your bed toward the wall where all you can see is the clock, I don't know. Anyway's it wasn't long before they were putting a drug in my new IV that they said would help me to relax. The next thing I know, I was waking up in PACU and it was 1pm. It was over and they had to do a sternal rub to wake me. My blood pressure crashed to 90 over something. They stopped giving me pain meds until my BP came back up. Then they started me on morphine through a PCA pump. It took what seemed like forever for the pain to be controlled again. My DH was waiting in my room when I came back, but I was so out of it that he left to run errands once he knew I was okay. I slept for a while. Then around 6pm the nurse got me up to a chair. It felt pretty good, but after an hour I was ready to go back to bed. I went ahead and asked if I could walk. So he walked with me and we went to the next room all in all about 20 feet. I got back to bed. I was a little naseaus and actually dry heaved some the first 2 times I walked, but then it got easier and easier. The next day I actually walked through my wing and then through another wing on my floor. The physical therapist came in and said she didn't need to see me again because I was doing fine.

I had my surgery on Tuesday, went home on Wednesday on lortab, and then on Thursday went back to school. My husband stayed with me for classes and we were there from 0730 to around 4pm. It exhausted me, and I don't recommend it. I am glad I did it though because it kept me from falling behind. I'm out now until Tuesday and it should be easier then.

I don't even want solid food. I've been good. I have wanted to take a bite of Chicago style pizza, but it wasn't an uncontrollable urge. I've started trying to get more protein today and also had pureed chicken noodle soup. It was really good. I haven't had any problems with naseau since the second time I got up in the hospital, but I still take my lortab every 4 hours religiously. I hope that it is easier soon, and I can start waiting longer between pain meds. I'm wearing my support hose to keep me from getting a clot and I'm up walking every couple of hours unless I'm asleep. The shower feels wonderful, and I'm sleeping in a recliner so that I don't lay flat. I'm not ready for that yet.

I've got friends and family helping me with the kids until Monday. Then after Tuesday I'm pretty much on my own. I have 4 kids. My older child can tuck my baby into her crib though and so I think I'll be okay with the 10# rule.

Good luck with your surgery. Feel free to PM me with any other questions.

[judijo]

I don't remember much after saying hi to everyone in the OR. (I do that...I like to talk to everyone in the operating room until the anesthesiologist shuts me up. LOL)

Then i was in my room and I was handed my special friend (the morphine pump button) and I gleefully pushed it every so often for my happy meds. See, I don't drink or do any recreational drugs, so this was a lovely "legal" high.

The whole hospital experience is pretty dull in my memory. I remember talking to people and walking around, but beyond that it is foggy.

At home, no real pain except when sitting up, standing up, or lying down. I had a golf club for a cane for a couple days. The doc sent me home with some elixir to help with pain so I could sleep OK. I do recall complaining that I couldn't sleep on my side for at least 2 weeks. Honestly, that was my biggest complaint. I walked a good half mile a day from day 3 on...slow but sure. Hub took me to the park and I walked around while he took the dog to the "bark park".

I was off the pain meds in 6 days. I was driving by day 7.

[Babs54]

After surgery I never took anything for pain,the only pain I had was in my left shoulder and when they took my drain out that went away.I started walking about an hour after I got back to my room and I got up and walked a few times around the circle every hour.I did not have trouble sleeping in my bedbut during the day I was in my reciner.

[Perfesser]

I still have a half bottle of Percs in the medicine cabinet that I never needed. The first thing to be mindful of in all our responses, though, is the old disclaimer in the car ads.

"Your mileage may vary."

The second thing to to be mindful of is - any pain you may experience will pass. The weight loss is forever. No matter the inconvenience for the first month post-op - it is gonna be sooooo worth it!! Don't look for problems in the short term - look for the joys to come in the long term!!

CT