Wow, those are a lot of questions, lol! I will try and answer some of them for you about how my experience went (and how my life is 10 months later). Basically, your surgeon will schedule you once they know how they're going to get paid. So either through insurance approval coming through or you figuring out how to pay a lump sum. Then, at some point before surgery you will go on the pre-op liquid diet. I was really worried about this but it was actually amazingly easy. I really enjoyed the way my body felt on the liquid diet. Very light and bouncy! When you go to the hospital on surgery day you will be taken to pre-op and scrubbed and gowned and at some point they will give you an injection to help you relax. At this point you're not going to care whats going on around you! Then they wheel you into surgery and put a drug into your IV and before you can count to 3 you're out like a light and then waking up in post-op. Post-op anesthesia recovery is different for everyone but I get really cold, get the shakes, and a bit queasy. I've had surgery before and have had that reaction so I let them know before hand and they had lots of warm blanquets and medicine for me. I'm not going to lie, you had surgery so you will have some sort of discomfort but I personally didn't find it to be that bad. Plus I was hooked up to a pain pump for 2 days and found that it managed my discomfort easily. As for worrying about your husband and his meals, I would recommend just cooking a bunch of stuff for him and putting it in the freezer so he can just reheat it. I know that after I was back on solid food I really just kind of stuck to eggs, cheese and tuna fish for awhile because I wasn't interested in food. My stomach was also VERY picky about what it would tolerate and it was definitely a trial figuring it out. I still can't eat some foods that my doctor recommended (yogurt) and that I used to love. It's strange but my taste buds have definitely changed!
It is hard to get used to drinking because at first you really have to sip constantly throughout the day, even if you dont want to. I swear my water bottle was glued to my hand for the first few months. Now, 10 months later I can drink bigger amounts so it makes it easier. I still can't gulp water like I used to, but I can actually drink like a regular person.
My weight loss was very, very fast for the first six months and then it slowed down which, for me, was good both mentally and physically. I had, and have, a bit of loose skin that will show up when I drop weight quickly in a small amount of time (Ex: 10 lbs in one week during a nasty case of pneumonia) but it has tightened back up every time for me. I haven't had buyers remorse at all, nor have a grieved for what I've given up. Yeah, it was a huge change and sometimes it was hard to deal with mentally but I've always kept in mind that I've gained much more than I've lost (no pun intended). I now run, yoga, kickbox, climb, zipline, ride fair rides, date and do a variety of other 'normal' activities...which means more to me than being able to eat a cheeseburger and fries. I've also kept one pair of my old size 24 jeans and whenever I get down during a stall I just slip those bad boys on and laugh that I now can fit both legs into ONE of the jean legs. You just have to look on the bright side! Plus, and to be honest...once the surgery is done, it's done and there is really no going back. Regretting something that you can't change is a recipe for having a miserable life. I just made sure that all my mental ducks were in a row before I went under the knife and that I had a good support system in place for when I did get stressed out.
Everyone is different but I wouldn't trade the life that I live now for anything, and would go through it all again if I had to. Hopefully this helped some, and good luck with your journey!
