Diane-L

Hi everyone. I’m 4 days post op, home from hospital and venturing into this new world with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
If anyone is wondering why I’ve chosen to join in the chat with people so far from home I honestly don’t have any one particular reason I lurked around a few sites and felt drawn to here primarily because it has a nice feeling; one of mutual respect, and a big dollop of honesty.
I feel like I’m in a bit of a surreal world right now as I mourn the loss of my best friend, food, and Celebrate the demise of my mortal enemy, food. Maybe demise isn’t the best terminology to use as I still face its ever present place in my life. For now I’m taking each day as it comes, and as it’s very early days I’m prepared not to take my emotional thoughts too seriously, assuming my judgement is fairly impaired at this time. If truth be told I hover between being “fine” and being pretty tearful. So far no regrets however, so I see that as a positive.
I was wondering how quickly I could start to take on some light to moderate exercise. I’d quite like to go for a gentle swim but not sure when would be appropriate. I don’t want to expose myself to infection, or find myself totally exhausted by the walk to my local swimming pool (about half a mile).
My second question is on people’s experiences of how long they needed to take off work. I’m automatically signed off for two weeks, but wondering if the realty is different.
Anyway hello again from me. Apologies in advance if any of my questions appear on the naive side 😊

Hi everyone. I’m 4 days post op, home from hospital and venturing into this new world with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
If anyone is wondering why I’ve chosen to join in the chat with people so far from home I honestly don’t have any one particular reason I lurked around a few sites and felt drawn to here primarily because it has a nice feeling; one of mutual respect, and a big dollop of honesty.
I feel like I’m in a bit of a surreal world right now as I mourn the loss of my best friend, food, and Celebrate the demise of my mortal enemy, food. Maybe demise isn’t the best terminology to use as I still face its ever present place in my life. For now I’m taking each day as it comes, and as it’s very early days I’m prepared not to take my emotional thoughts too seriously, assuming my judgement is fairly impaired at this time. If truth be told I hover between being “fine” and being pretty tearful. So far no regrets however, so I see that as a positive.
I was wondering how quickly I could start to take on some light to moderate exercise. I’d quite like to go for a gentle swim but not sure when would be appropriate. I don’t want to expose myself to infection, or find myself totally exhausted by the walk to my local swimming pool (about half a mile).
My second question is on people’s experiences of how long they needed to take off work. I’m automatically signed off for two weeks, but wondering if the realty is different.
Anyway hello again from me. Apologies in advance if any of my questions appear on the naive side 😊

Hi everyone. I’m 4 days post op, home from hospital and venturing into this new world with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
If anyone is wondering why I’ve chosen to join in the chat with people so far from home I honestly don’t have any one particular reason I lurked around a few sites and felt drawn to here primarily because it has a nice feeling; one of mutual respect, and a big dollop of honesty.
I feel like I’m in a bit of a surreal world right now as I mourn the loss of my best friend, food, and Celebrate the demise of my mortal enemy, food. Maybe demise isn’t the best terminology to use as I still face its ever present place in my life. For now I’m taking each day as it comes, and as it’s very early days I’m prepared not to take my emotional thoughts too seriously, assuming my judgement is fairly impaired at this time. If truth be told I hover between being “fine” and being pretty tearful. So far no regrets however, so I see that as a positive.
I was wondering how quickly I could start to take on some light to moderate exercise. I’d quite like to go for a gentle swim but not sure when would be appropriate. I don’t want to expose myself to infection, or find myself totally exhausted by the walk to my local swimming pool (about half a mile).
My second question is on people’s experiences of how long they needed to take off work. I’m automatically signed off for two weeks, but wondering if the realty is different.
Anyway hello again from me. Apologies in advance if any of my questions appear on the naive side 😊

Hi everyone. I’m 4 days post op, home from hospital and venturing into this new world with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
If anyone is wondering why I’ve chosen to join in the chat with people so far from home I honestly don’t have any one particular reason I lurked around a few sites and felt drawn to here primarily because it has a nice feeling; one of mutual respect, and a big dollop of honesty.
I feel like I’m in a bit of a surreal world right now as I mourn the loss of my best friend, food, and Celebrate the demise of my mortal enemy, food. Maybe demise isn’t the best terminology to use as I still face its ever present place in my life. For now I’m taking each day as it comes, and as it’s very early days I’m prepared not to take my emotional thoughts too seriously, assuming my judgement is fairly impaired at this time. If truth be told I hover between being “fine” and being pretty tearful. So far no regrets however, so I see that as a positive.
I was wondering how quickly I could start to take on some light to moderate exercise. I’d quite like to go for a gentle swim but not sure when would be appropriate. I don’t want to expose myself to infection, or find myself totally exhausted by the walk to my local swimming pool (about half a mile).
My second question is on people’s experiences of how long they needed to take off work. I’m automatically signed off for two weeks, but wondering if the realty is different.
Anyway hello again from me. Apologies in advance if any of my questions appear on the naive side 😊

Welcome! I've found this site to be very friendly and supportive! Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Welcome to the forum, and the losers bench!

Takes two full months for the Healing but you can get up and walk and move now - I would highly recemend moving and walking as much as you can - I was told not to swim for a month due to infection at cut points.
Enjoy the journey and get you head on straight
Famous first week line ------ Walk, Water, walk water sip water walk sip walk water sip walk water sip walk
The move you move the better the start you get -
F@#ck food - it damm near killed you! As for questions i would ask any - That is what this place is for, There are some guro's here and you will quickly see the level of knowledge is amazing.

Hi everyone. I’m 4 days post op, home from hospital and venturing into this new world with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.
If anyone is wondering why I’ve chosen to join in the chat with people so far from home I honestly don’t have any one particular reason I lurked around a few sites and felt drawn to here primarily because it has a nice feeling; one of mutual respect, and a big dollop of honesty.
I feel like I’m in a bit of a surreal world right now as I mourn the loss of my best friend, food, and Celebrate the demise of my mortal enemy, food. Maybe demise isn’t the best terminology to use as I still face its ever present place in my life. For now I’m taking each day as it comes, and as it’s very early days I’m prepared not to take my emotional thoughts too seriously, assuming my judgement is fairly impaired at this time. If truth be told I hover between being “fine” and being pretty tearful. So far no regrets however, so I see that as a positive.
I was wondering how quickly I could start to take on some light to moderate exercise. I’d quite like to go for a gentle swim but not sure when would be appropriate. I don’t want to expose myself to infection, or find myself totally exhausted by the walk to my local swimming pool (about half a mile).
My second question is on people’s experiences of how long they needed to take off work. I’m automatically signed off for two weeks, but wondering if the realty is different.
Anyway hello again from me. Apologies in advance if any of my questions appear on the naive side 😊

I’m sorry that you’re hurting
I’m sorry that you’re struggling
I am going to call you out though for lashing out very rudely.
Whether you like the advice or not, someone took time out to give a response.
Yes, maybe the wording was a bit harsh, but please take the message and go back to all of the months of physical and psychological prep that went into this.
There are many of us here from decades-long veterans to those surgeried just in the last few weeks that can help.

The first 2 weeks are the absolute worst. Your body is tired, your mind is tired and everything is dramatically different. However, I haven’t heard of a single weight loss patient who didn’t know this going in, so refer to your action plan and work the plan.

Drink
Protein Shakes (if possible)
Vitamins
Rest
Work with your NUT and bariatric clinic. They don’t disappear after surgery, they are there and want you to succeed.

For the first 8 days post-op, I “consumed” a total of 800 calories. For 8 days.
Didn’t hit a single Protein goal ANY of those days. Emailed my NUT panicked 3 times that week bc I couldn’t hold in anything thicker than Water.
Her advice was to relax and not stress too much about the protein as long as the water happened. She was right and within 2 more weeks I finally hit my first protein goal. It took me 3 weeks after surgery to do that, so you’re still good.

It won’t always be easy, but life changing measures seldom come easily.

As @GreenTealael said, the only way through it is through it. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Right now THE most important thing is liquid. Get your Water in. Get up early if you need to in order to accomplish this. It's vital to your health and can quickly land you in the ER if you don't. Plus the bonus is, the more hydrated you keep your new tool, the easier time you will have in your Protein Drinks.
Tips for getting your Protein and water in:
Vary the temperature and find the one your pouch prefers the most. That's the temp of both protein and water (both count towards Fluid totals for the day) where things go down easiest with the least pain. Vary the thickness of your protein and water to find the thickness that is the easiest to go through your tool. The thinnest would be water, the thickest would be like a Premier Protein RTD drink or cream Soup. I had the best results by cutting PP RTD drinks with things like Decaf coffee, decaff tea, water, unsweetened cashew or almond milk, fat free Fairlife or other Protein Milk, etc. Vary the strength of your protein to find a sweetness level that you tolerate. I did best with a 50/50 mix of PP RTD and Isopure Drinks also Premier Protein Clear mixed with fluids that cut the sweetness such as fat free Fairlife Milk or Mootopia (adds protein from the milk), decaff coffee, decaff tea, water. Add unflavored whey protein to Soups, both broths and strained creamed soups. This gives a savory protein option. Also BP Store here has lots of lovely individually packaged protein soups. Use fat free Fairlife or Protein Milk to thin soups too, for even more protein. Make yogurt soup using Premier Protein RTD drinks mixed with Greek yogurt or Kefir (both fat free). For the first week or so don't worry too much about your protein. Focus on getting a minimum of 64oz of liquid made up from water, decaff coffee, decaff tea, protein drinks, warm cocoa (sf protein style), popsicles (sf), ice chips, whatever you need to function.
The last tip I have for you is that we all have an individual level of emotional maturity. Temper tantrums and rants are sometimes necessary to vent emotions but left unchecked can be detrimental. Not only to you but to your immediate peers in a support group. I found that when I took my power back and seized action by reframing the situation, my mood and outlook improved. The energy drain was stopped. And the future looked brighter and more hopeful. I would really encourage you to take your control back and plan your actions for success. It truly helps.
Hope you feel better soon.
Oh and don't forget to walk! Walk it off. Walk walk walk. It helps with the hunger, helps with mood, helps with strength.