atcant

How badly do you want it? That is what I ask myself. There are literally 2 choices at that minute. I can have the____ or I can have my goal. For me it is a lot of self talk, simple choices (it has gotta stay simple for me) because I can be an idiot sometimes and I can rationalize just about anything. When I am focused on my goal and keep the choices simple I get what I want. Now that I have a the gastric sleeve my new excuse is that I have worked HARD to get to the point of having the procedure done. I can not sabotage all my hard work. I ask myself while looking at each hand, (my 2 choices) what do I want and how badly do I want it.

From the perspective a nurse caring for the post-op sleeves and bands it has been eye opening to see how a patient copes post op. For the most part a patient comes in and is understanding of what is expected post op. Walking every 4 hours, using the pain med delivery system when having pain. Nothing by mouth until after the swallow study 24 hours out. Sound familiar? Have had patient's say they were never told they had to walk, could not have anything to drink until after the study or was genuinely surprised that they were staying overnight. Was sleeved six weeks ago so no patient can ever tell me that they were not informed of the expectations. The pre-op prep was extensive and thorough in my opinion. You can tell the patient's that will be successful with the procedure just by how compliant they are to plan of care. It is obvious that they have not studied the materials. chicken broth does not include noodles or chicken and mint tea does not include cream or sugar. As a bariatrics nurse we do a great deal of teaching and reminding. I would love to conduct a study on pre-op teaching, perception of what is taught, and compliance in the hospital and and after. After going through my own WLS and being cared for by my co-workers I think I will be more perceptive to my patient's needs. By the way, I loved being a patient on the unit where I work. We nurses rock!!!