Vsho

First, congratulations! Just had surgery on April 18th. I was most nervous that something bad would happen during surgery. But as I laid in the hospital bed right before surgery, I realized that the staff was just at work and calm, and this was an every day occurrence for them. I had to trust that they were competent and if they got me through the surgery I could do everything else. When I woke up from surgery, I barely remember anything until after I was in my room. I was in a lot of pain [all over my abdomen] and very grouchy [light and sound annoyed me], more than I expected. Sleep will happen in spurts while you're in the hospital since the staff should be checking in on you every hour or so. Lots of pin pricks [blood sugar checks], blood draws, blood pressure checks, pain checks, medication, etc... Don't be afraid to ask for pain or nausea medicine! My Dr. gave me a pain blocking shot [lasted 3 days] during surgery which helped tremendously, but I still needed oral pain meds. So what hurt most was coughing and sneezing... pain was worst for about 4 days and got a LOT better afterwards. Walking [with a walker, because I was very dizzy] helped believe it or not, and the next day I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed. There is also a lot of urinating because they're pumping you full of IV fluids [but probably no number 2 for a while, since you're not eating and a lot of the meds cause constipation]! The pain was very tolerable even though I was grouchy. Best of luck! Sounds horrible but it wasn't really.

Yes my mouth was dry and always thirsty during the diet and for a week or 2 after surgery [since it's hard to drink as much as you did before]. Maybe drink broth if you are allowed, something savory and some salt in your diet may help. Bone broths are usually fat and carb free and have protein.

Think about the potential complications of not adhering to the diet. That helped me a lot. And remember that after surgery you won't be hungry! You'll wonder why it was even hard to do the pre OP diet.