Hey everybody! I underwent VSG on 08/08/18. Even though I am still in the thick of recovery, I have no regrets. Just wondering if anyone has had some of the same experiences that are still keeping me up at night, like:

1) Inability to sleep lying down! I am a very finicky sleeper and I cannot sleep well sitting up! But every time I lie down on my back or my side (lying down on my belly is out of the question right now, I'll get to that for #2), I start for feel a lot of chest congestion, and start coughing up a lot of phlegm, and eventually end up coughing quite violently! I haven't had a good night sleep since my procedure. Do I just need to get used to sleeping at an incline? My doctor said this is likely due to acid reflux and prescribed me some medication which I take in the morning, but I am still having issues. Worried that I might have pneumonia with all the coughing - but no fever, no chest pain (but yes heart burn) and no significant shortness of breath. Emailing my medical team tomorrow to ask if a cough suppressant might be appropriate.

2) Port site pain! Actually, only one port site is very tender and painful. It is the largest one and the doctor said that this was the port that my stomach was resected through. It is also slightly indented at this site too. The pain is exacerbated by coughing, which I do a lot (see #1), bending, changing positions, etc. Sleeping on my stomach is absolutely out of the question at this point. Wondering how long this will last.

3) Feeling weak/tired. My medical team have told me to hit the ground walking after this procedure, I was up and walking around the unit a few hours after surgery and walking every few hours during my 2 day hospital stay. But I do feel pretty run down and lethargic. Yesterday, day 3 postop, I went to the mall and walked around a little (Chicago summers are brutal; needed the A/C) and also went to the lake to walk around for a short while after it cooled down in the evening. My pedometer showed a little over 6300 steps for the day. Is that enough? Should I be walking more? I want to recover as fast as possible. My medical team said, "There is no such thing as too much walking."

I'd love to hear about other people's postop symptoms, especially how long they lasted until they subsided, or what steps were taken to make postop symptoms manageable. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time!