Groovymommy

It scares me to think I had that hernia for some unknown quantity of time and never knew it. I used to get shooting pains in the area but chalked it up to "being too fat." Listen to your body! I watched a movie today, and took a long nap on the couch, ate more broth, texted hubs to ask for sugar free popsicles, and sipped on a little apple juice in addition to water. I don't think I'm strictly supposed to have apple juice, but I'm drinking such a tiny amount I don't think it hurts, and it's a nice break from broth and water. Need to check my paperwork to see when I can eat some jello!

Oh lord yes it hurts soooo bad lol. However, I'm releasing gas as much and as often as I can, which is helping. I have Tylenol with codeine and I'm allowed to take ONE every six hours, and not gonna lie, I look forward to it like a fiend. But I can tell I'm better already. Today I got up off the toilet all by myself. Small wins! I have a weird feeling in my abdomen...is it hunger? Is it just discomfort? I can't really tell. Drinking a glass of water with some Nectar now, and burping away. Also weird - I woke up and my face is all puffy and swollen. Not sure what that's about. Maybe just allergies. At least I already got the worst part of the day out of the way - injecting myself with the blood thinner. 1 down, 13 days to go!

Whoooo I'm home, drinking bone broth and taking lots of naps. I'm gonna say I was surprised by the amount of pain. It's bad. However, nothing I can't deal with. I think my situation is worse because they found a pretty bad ventral hernia, which they repaired, as well as doing my bypass. So I have additional pain in additional areas to contend with! However, I feel good (no nausea so far), been peeing like a champ, walking around a bit, and very happy to be home. I feel like 100x better today than I did yesterday, so I'm hoping that means tomorrow will be even more like back to normal. Thanks for the positive thoughts, @MaybeMeow! I look forward to eating that egg!

Oh @MaybeMeow glad to hear you're doing better. Hang in there and get plenty of rest. Next Tuesday my husband is just going to drop me off, because my hospital's policy is no visitors allowed in pre-op, recovery, or even in the patient rooms (unless you're giving birth I guess). So I'll be by myself but I'm not too stressed about it. They did tell me a nurse will take charge of my belongings and lock them up while I'm in surgery, and encouraged me not to bring anything except essentials.

@MaybeMeow so sorry to hear about your difficulty with the nausea! Is this the first time you've been under general? Have you had problems with anesthesia before? Anyway, get plenty of rest and THANK YOU for the update. Also for reminding me to go find my body pillow from when I was pregnant, so glad I kept that thing!

OMG! I'm so excited for you!! Good luck. 😍

That sounds good but I believe that's post-op...wasn't OP asking about pre-op? Here's a summary of what I was told for pre-op: DO's: Non-starchy vegetables, lean meat, clear and full liquids. At least 90 grams of protein per day, less, than 50 grams of carbs, and less than 1000 calories. 64 oz of fluid minimum. DON'T's: No added sugar, no high-carb foods (pasta, rice, bread, cereal, potatoes, corn), no sweets of any kind, avoid fruit, and NO caffeine. I'm honestly not having a hard time with it now, I'll be at 1 week tomorrow. I do miss bread sometimes and wish I could eat fruit (I do add frozen berries to my protein shakes as flavoring, and throw a few into my Greek yogurt, but that's it). They told me the whole goal was to shrink the liver (it sits right above the stomach) by using a low-carb diet. Plus side, I've already lost more than 5 pounds. I also think this is shrinking my stomach and getting my body accustomed to eating less. I still think that my first two weeks post-op are going to be a challenge. I'm supposed to have only liquids, starting with clear but adding in full as soon as I tolerate them. I hope that what I've heard about not feeling very hungry at all after surgery is true, else I'll really be miserable!

No, no stomach upset. I was skeptical, but after I started taking the EP, I never had a cyst again.

Wow, we really are twins. I had my last period when I was 46, but I started having hot flashes etc. almost 10 years before that. 10 miserable years of perimenopause and confusion, hot flashes, skin problems, etc. And my doctors didn't believe me! "You're too young," they said. Ugh. Menopause definitely makes it harder to keep weight down, your metabolism slows a bit and you don't have that wonderful estrogen anymore. Plus part of the reason I went on Effexor was due to menopause so...yeah, it all adds up. Evening primrose oil helps a bit, I mostly take it because I have had cystic breasts in the past, and my OB/GYN said to take a big capsule every day. Once I started doing that, I no longer had cysts show up on my mammogram. Win! I was surprised how much the black cohosh helps. I mean, if I miss it even once I really feel the difference.

@MaybeMeow sorry to hear you had the headache, and drank pickle juice but it didn't help! Ugh! I've noticed that my headache only comes on now if I've waited too long to eat. For example, yesterday I took a nap and slept through the usual time I eat dinner, and when I got up my head definitely hurt. But shortly after eating, the headache went away. My conclusion is it's a blood sugar thing. Snacking regularly on small things might help? I've stopped taking my supplements, and already I really miss my evening primrose oil and black cohosh. Getting more hot flashes and night sweats are much more severe! Surgeon said I had to discontinue stuff like that before surgery. I guess by the time I'm on solid foods I can start taking them again - looking forward to it! I'm still on track for June 16, but yesterday my surgeon's office called and said they had an opening, and would I be interested in having the surgery on Monday?! Of course I wanted to but my husband has to work Monday and it's too late for him to ask for the day off. So I had to decline. Oh well. Stay strong, everyone. 💪

I hear ya on the protein drinks! All the premade ones taste totally gross to me. I can only survive by making my own with unflavored protein powder and almond milk, and adding a few berries or something for taste. My head feels better today, so...fingers crossed?

Day 2 of the pre-op diet...it's not terrible. I'm not quite as hungry today as I was yesterday. However, I have a headache that WILL NOT go away. Tylenol has not helped. Drinking lots of water has not helped. A nap didn't help. I had my pre-op appointment today and my surgeon mentioned that I might experience headaches. Did anyone else go through this when you switched to the pre-op diet? I suspect I might be having sugar withdrawal.

Meow! My daughter is 13, will be 14 at the end of the month. She definitely knows what's up. Good tip on the swab, I have seasonal allergies and of course my left nostril always feels inflamed and swollen. I'll ask them to test the other side.

Hey all! My surgery (RNY) is scheduled for June 16. I just started my pre-op diet today! I haven't told anyone about my surgery except my very supportive husband (and I think my daughter has figured it out). I'm so nervous right now. I'm 52 yo, 5'8", currently somewhere around 275. 1. Before surgery: I have an early morning appointment with the nutritionist tomorrow, then my pre-op appt with my surgeon. And then just for funsies I'm having my mammogram tomorrow afternoon. 😫 Next week I have to go to a "mental preparedness class." The Saturday before surgery, I have to have a Covid-19 test done - the one where they probe your brain with a q-tip up your nose? Yeah. 😷 2. Pre-op diet: I had scrambled eggs with a little cheese and onion this morning, it was very satisfying. I've switched to decaf (which was tough and took months) and I use Nut Pods instead of creamer now. Just now I'm drinking a glass of water with some of the Nectar powder in it. And my stomach feels weird! I don't know if it's not used to the protein or if I'm just nervous. I will say I like the Nectar fruit powder very much. It's not a strong flavor and it doesn't have that gross "artificial sweetener" taste to it. It kind of reminds me of Hint water or flavored seltzer, with the bonus that it contains protein. I'm using Lose It to track my macros and let me tell you, none of the fitness/calorie trackers like it when you try to follow a <1000 calorie diet! 3. Speaking of Protein! Ugh, I hated every protein drink I tried. I can't stand artificial sweetener and the aftertaste of the drinks and powders I tried were just horrible. So I'm making my own protein drinks. I bought a NutriBullet (damn that thing is awesome, highly recommended). I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, unflavored protein powder, and about 1/2 cup of frozen fruit (blueberries, strawberries, etc.). That keeps it in the range that they recommend (about 5g carbs and at least 20 g protein) but it doesn't taste like chemicals. I think between doing those and using the Nectar powders, I might just survive this! Good luck, everybody!

My surgery has finally been rescheduled for June 16 - so, a two-month delay almost to the day (original date was April 14). Yay!

Oh, I'm so glad to hear that! When was your surgery originally scheduled? Hope they call me soon. They said they would reschedule people in order. Good luck to you!

Here in NC I haven't heard anything more, since my surgery (originally scheduled for April 14) was cancelled on March 25. As far as I know, the health system is still not doing elective surgeries. But I really hope my surgery gets rescheduled soon, maybe for this fall.

Oh I'm glad to hear this. I'm in NC also, and they called me at the end of March to tell me my April 14 surgery was postponed. If I can get it done in June or July I'll be SO happy.

My surgery was scheduled for April 14. They called me around March 25 to let me know that my surgery was cancelled, and I didn't have to start my pre-op diet on March 31. Like everyone else, they said surgeries would be rescheduled in the same order once they're allowed to schedule elective procedures again. I think the hospitals here are not in bad shape, but just as a matter of policy, they've cancelled everything elective. I don't blame them. I'm disappointed, of course, since I was really excited to finally have my surgery. In the meantime I'm continuing to try to eat healthier, exercise, and wean myself off sugar etc.