Surgery
This surgery was to connect my stomach to a different part of the small intestine.
The current opening to the small intestine is too narrow for food to go down normally. Because of that, I'm more likely to vomit (or feel like vomiting).
To do this, the surgeons have to cut open my abdomen.
Luckily, I was put to sleep during this procedure.
The surgery was initially scheduled for 03/10/2025 but was delayed to the following day (03/11/2025) due to the multiple patients needing their own surgery.
Obviously, one of the most painful part of getting up after the surgery is dealing with the pain of the incision of the abdomen. Can't do a sit up.
But the most irritating part is the tube they put in the throat before the surgery and was to remain there after the surgery. The tube was to clear out the contents of the stomach. Having it in remain in my throat made it hard to talk and was just irritating. I was so happy when they FINALLY decided to take it out.
I was reliant on IV for my nutrients for most of the time at the hospital. They then decided to have me on a liquid diet. However, I got diarrhea attacks that came without warning and needed help to clean myself afterwards. So the doctors had me switch to a low-fiber diet to ease my digestive system's post-surgery transition.
I also had to rely on a walker to walk around, and had physical therapists come by to check on how well I could move around.
When I was finally discharged from the hospital (03/18/2025), I still needed my walker to move around. This lasted for the following 2 weeks.
Post-surgery recovery at parent's home
The mattress in my apartment was low on the ground and would've been difficult to get up from, especially I just had surgery in the abdominal area.
So I had to stay in my parent's home (which had a spare bed with a bed frame under it) for the following 2 weeks.
It was nice to get home-cooked meals from them. It was also time to re-introduce ourselves to each other being that it's been decades since I've lived with them.
That being said, once a new bed-frame was installed my mattress in my apartment and now that my ability to walk around unassisted has increased, I was happy to move back to my apartment again.
Reduced vomiting and reduced appetite
Good news is that so far, I onlyv vomited twice since the surgery. Compare to multiple times nearly daily the last few months.
The bad news is that I have still have a reduced appetite. I can hardly finish everything on my plate. My parents want me to eat more, but my stomach could only take in so much. The days of big eating are over.
Swelling and blood clots
While I was still in my parent's home for recovery, I noticed swelling in my right arm and right foot. I went to the urgent care doctors who suggested getting an ultra-sound for possible blood clots. Blood clots were found and now I have to take blood thinning medication. The bad news is that medication I'm currently taking requires injections and I'm not a big fan of getting poked by needles. Depending on future blood tests showing improvement, I could eventually be transitioned to taking blood thinning pills instead.
