Couple of Questions: Pain Meds and Labs

[Spiky Bugger]

@Sheanie , yes my surgery is 10:30 tomorrow morning!! Thankfully the big snowstorm stayed mostly north of us so our 2 hr drive won't be too bad in the morning. I'll be sure to post when I'm able

Break a leg!

 

[newanatomy]

@Sheanie , yes my surgery is 10:30 tomorrow morning!! Thankfully the big snowstorm stayed mostly north of us so our 2 hr drive won't be too bad in the morning. I'll be sure to post when I'm able

Holy cow!! Hope you have safe travels, a smooth surgery and a quick, complete recovery!

 

[TakeIII]

@chevtow - Just seeing this now. I hope everything went well and you are on the road to recovery!

 

[TakeIII]

You got more pain meds than I did, Dr. Simper sent me home with 10 of the lowest available dose Percocet. In other words, two days of pain medicine. It is ridiculous. I fought hard for those ten little pills. He likes to send you home with nothing! Recommends Tylenol. What a deal!

That is how it is now. Too many people who are addicted to pain meds have ruined it for those of us who are not. I think he is out of line in regards to his dispensing of medicines. He is only a good cutter, everything else is horrible!

If you need more pain medicine, go to the emergency room or to your PCP.

As far as labs go, I had my PCP order them for me. I follow the vitalady plan for supplements. I will never contact Dr. Simper's office again unless my stomach or intestines burst out of my body.

Hi Newanatomy,

I believe I read that you traveled to have Dr. Simper do your surgery. Did you go back and see him for a follow up appt. at a few weeks out? They've kinda left it up to me.

Ironically, it was Dr. McKinely (probably misspelled) that wrote the script for 20 percocets. Dr. Simper left for vacation so he was following up with me in the hospital. I can't believe he only gave you 10!! That's insane!! I'm going to see the general surgeon today to re-evaluate my open incision. I'm hoping he will be a little more reasonable.

I plan on ordering the vitalady plan this week. I feel like I need a little hand holding at this stage and I like the fact she has them pre-packaged.

Tina

 

[TakeIII]

Get yourself to the ER and complain loud and long about pain from your gaping incision. Scream when they touch it. Otherwise, act like a normal person. Others have ruined it for the rest with pain meds. My dentist husband used to get phone calls every weekend complaining of "toothaches". Dentists are the biggest source of pain meds, it seems. We stopped calling them in for patients we haven't seen in a year. DH will go in the office and do an extraction at any time, any day. But no pain pills without being seen.

You are NOT a baby. You NEED pain meds. Find someone who will give them to you.

And, your surgeon is a grade A Ass.

LOL!! I won't have to fake that.....It is really tender!

I had no idea it had gotten so bad. It's been at least two years since I've needed any kind of pain meds. Times have changed!!

 

[Sheanie]

@TakeIII , I would get the prepackaged if I were you, as well. You have time later on to buy the bottles and sort them yourself. When you get to that point, I bought my pill sorters on Amazon.

 

[marissamast]

Well that just scares the hell out of me. My surgery is with Simper on Friday and I am a big baby about pain. I have been to 3 group meetings at his office and have not spent more than 10 minutes one on one with him. I DO have an amazing Pcp and it looks like I will be counting on him a lot.

Hi All,

I had my revision from lap-band to DS (lap) on the 29th of October. I traveled from Denver to Salt Lake for the surgery. My staples and drains were removed on the third day (only because I begged them not to take them out on the 2nd day) and replaced with steri strips. I was in the hospital for 4 days. I was discharged with 4 days of pain meds (percocet/20 pills, once every 4 hours as needed). I traveled home(by plane) the following day. I have one incision that is approx. 3 inches long. I believe this is where my band was removed.

The day after I got home I split this incision wide open and it bled significantly. I called the surgeons office and they told me to replace the steri strips, go to my pcp, or an emergency room. I went to my pcp and she wouldn't touch it.....she referred me to a general surgeon. By placing a significant amount of pressure on my abdomen and inserting his finger inside my incision approximately another 1/4 cup of old blood (or as he referred to it "grape jelly") from the incision. He assures me this is not new bleeding and I do trust what he is saying. At this point the incision is still open and he could not stitch/staple/etc. this far out. It is still oozing old blood, but at slow rate. There is no foul smell, redness, etc. It does appear to be healing.

Here's my question (sorry it took me so long to get there but I thought some back story would be helpful).....When I called my DS surgeon I also asked if he would prescribe me more pain meds. I was told that he would not do this. Now I do know that there are some laws that prevent doing so over the phone (or so I've been told), however I requested that he speak with my pcp and recommend to her that prescribing more would be acceptable. It's not going to happen. Am I being a baby? Should I have been able to wean myself off this early out? I have some left over pills from a prior procedure that I have been using, but those are nearly gone. I'm still in significant pain and not sure how I will be functional on Tylenol alone.

Secondly, my DS surgeon said that they will do labs in a year. I've read repeatedly that I should monitor at 3 months, worst case 6 months. I know I have awhile to go before I need to be concerned about this, but how do I go about getting these if the surgeon doesn't order them?

Thank you!

 

[TakeIII]

Well that just scares the hell out of me. My surgery is with Simper on Friday and I am a big baby about pain. I have been to 3 group meetings at his office and have not spent more than 10 minutes one on one with him. I DO have an amazing Pcp and it looks like I will be counting on him a lot.

Marissamast,

I don't think you should let my experience scare you. I liked Dr. Simper. I only wish I was given more pain medication. There were a couple of individuals in his office that I don't have any high praise for, however in the big picture they, this was of little importance. If you have a good Pcp, you will be fine.

 

[newanatomy]

Hi Newanatomy,

I believe I read that you traveled to have Dr. Simper do your surgery. Did you go back and see him for a follow up appt. at a few weeks out? They've kinda left it up to me.

Yes, I did travel to Utah but only from 3 hours away by car. I did not go back for a follow up. I was not impressed with the office or with Dr. Simper (other than his abilities as a surgeon). Luckily, I have had very few and minor ailments since my surgery almost 10 months ago. I called Dr. Simper once after my surgery about some stomach cramps I was having he told me he didn't know what it was and to go to the ER. I said thanks, meaning thanks for nothing, and hung up. I got on the computer and found out it might be from acid. I called my PCP, got in the next morning and got a script for Prevacid and have done pretty well since. I still get those cramps sometimes but, they are much milder now.

Ironically, it was Dr. McKinely (probably misspelled) that wrote the script for 20 percocets. Dr. Simper left for vacation so he was following up with me in the hospital. I can't believe he only gave you 10!! That's insane!! I'm going to see the general surgeon today to re-evaluate my open incision. I'm hoping he will be a little more reasonable. I hope so, I would not count on it.

I plan on ordering the vitalady plan this week. I feel like I need a little hand holding at this stage and I like the fact she has them pre-packaged.

If I were you, I would not order the packets. It may be a while before you are able to take more than a multi-vitamin. You will be adding to your vitamins one pill at a time until you are taking everything you need. Then, you will be adjusting according to your labs. You might not be taking all your vitamins for a month or more. Just make sure you have a multi-vitamin, a generic version of Centrum is great and calcium citrate to start. You can get and add others as you are ready for them. That way, you are not breaking into packets trying to keep things straight. Don't buy chewables, you will not need them unless you have trouble swallowing now. Do not buy and ADEK combo type pills and do not buy anything Dr Simper's office is selling.

Tina

I hope your incision and your insides heal quickly! Rest and sip as much as you can.

 

[newanatomy]

@TakeIII , I would get the prepackaged if I were you, as well. You have time later on to buy the bottles and sort them yourself. When you get to that point, I bought my pill sorters on Amazon.

I saw this after I posted my reply. I just remember a gal from PB who complained about the wasted pills from tearing open packs. I just followed the vitalady recommendations as to dosage and timing when I was able but, I had my own bottles. Definitely do what you are comfortable with!

 

[newanatomy]

Well that just scares the hell out of me. My surgery is with Simper on Friday and I am a big baby about pain. I have been to 3 group meetings at his office and have not spent more than 10 minutes one on one with him. I DO have an amazing Pcp and it looks like I will be counting on him a lot.

I would not count on good pain management upon leaving the hospital. When I told him I was concerned about leaving the hospital without any pain medicine he told me he would keep me another night if I wanted. I wanted to go home. He finally agreed to the prescription. I never knew it was for only 10 baby aspirin, I mean Percocet, until my husband had it filled at the pharmacy. To top it off the pharmacy only had 8 pills in stock, so that is all I got. I had to have it filled in Utah and I didn't want to have to go to another pharmacy. It was such a pooch screw. I just wanted to go home. Other than the cramping though, I did fine with Tylenol.

If you need more pain medicine, go to the ER. I am sure they are used to seeing his patients due to lack of pain management.

 

[brooklyngirl]

I saw this after I posted my reply. I just remember a gal from PB who complained about the wasted pills from tearing open packs. I just followed the vitalady recommendations as to dosage and timing when I was able but, I had my own bottles. Definitely do what you are comfortable with!

I was one of those people! It wound up being more confusing when trying to introduce things slowly, and opening the packs to remove one or two at a time, then going back to half a month of incomplete packs. Took me forever to take them all out, sort them by the physical description of each pill from the insert and then resort them for each day. Sorting from the bottles takes me less than 5 mins