I know my surgeon is a very cautious. He had me stop all NSAIDs a week before and a month after the surgery. He also prescribed 5ml heparin shots every 8 hours for 14 days after the surgery. I had to administer one just before the operation. Totally freaked me out since my heart rate spiked when he told me to do it. I have gotten completely comfortable giving myself the shots. Quick in with no pain and only a little burn after I withdraw the needle.

Is my surgeon the only one to require these heparin shots?

I had Heparin shots while I was in the hospital, for 3 days, but none after that. Did you have preexisting heart, blood, or cholestrol problems? If so, that may explain why, or just ask him. Some doctors just want to take extra precautions for blood clots.

I just had surgery on Friday and they did give me heparin shots in the hospital but now that I am at home, I am giving myself lovenox shots twice a day for 10 days. Pretty easy to do.

I had to give myself Heparin shots for 14 days following surgery - 3 times a day. When I learned it was to prevent blood clots, I did what I was told. I had a young friend (age 45) recently pass away from a blood clot that traveled to her lungs ... she was very fit and just complained of a pain in her ankle.

I only had 1 heparin shot and that was right before I went into surgery. Now I had a massage thing on my legs when I came out but as soon as I started to walk they stopped that too.

twice a day for 7 days.

Once a day for 14 days after surgery. This was a new regime that the my doctor's office started upon realizing the issues of blood clots. After seeing the story from another poster who developed a clot, I did my shots daily. It still took me about 5 minutes do to as I hated them but I suffered through it and gave myself some nice bruises some days.

I had the shots while I was in the hospital only - and I only stayed in the hospital one night. I did not get any before-hand and I did not have to do them once I went home. However, other than being overweight and deficient in vitamin D (who isn't?) I did not have any other health issues at all. So maybe that's why. But I was diligent about getting up and walking as soon as I could after the surgery as my brother wound up with a blood clot in his lung after he had gall bladder surgery - thank goodness he's ok, but it was really scary once you start reading about blood clots and especially when they hit your lung!! He was super lucky!! So, I would do whatever you surgeon recommends, as you don't want to take a chance on that. Good luck!

I hope I don't have to take the lovenox for more than a week after my surgery. It can get brutal after a while.

I had to go on bedrest when I was pregnant and in bed 2 weeks straight before I had my daughter and I got the worst pain ever (wayyy more than the c-section) in my right shoulder blade. I could not get comfortable no matter what. I could not even lie down at night to sleep. I was just in tears and went to the dr the next day and she thought it might be my gallbladder or something else, but it turned out to be a blood clot. They found it in my right lung with a ct scan.Fortunately it was near the bottom of my lung and the dr said it really had no where to go. I had to be re-admitted for a few days and then had to take Lovenox injections twice a day for 6 months. I didn't have a spot on my tummy or thighs that was not black and blue. You really aren't supposed to do it in your legs, you might hit muscle and it is to go into fat only. But I ran out of places as you could imagine.

Having said ALL that It DID save my life. It dissolved that blood clot right away. Scary stuff. So WALK, WALK, WALK!!!

I had to do mine for 2 weeks..... hubby did it for me as I couldn't bring myself to self inject. I was also black and blue, but a work colleague died years ago of a blood clot.... so theres no way I wanted to risk that.

I have something called clexane for the clots. Doc said 1 shot once a day. Thank god my husband gives it to me but mine has to go into muscle they said. And only for ten days. Lucky me

I only had the shots in the hospital, but this is a posting from Inspector62 on Obesityhelp.com who had his surgery in Mexico:

Post Date: 2/12/11 8:01 pm

I haven't posted for a long while because I did have a major complication, I just didn't have much interest after that.

My complication was blood clots (DVT's) in my legs, really bad blood clots that basically destroyed the veins in my legs.

I have a tendency to clot, have had them in the past, but honestly, this round came very close to killing me. I gained 25 lbs in 3 days, all in my legs, my kidneys shut down and I didn't pee in like 3 days.

I did tell Dr. Alvarez in advance in emails and phone calls prior to my surgery, and I also told him in person when I was there. He chose to do nothing, I didn't protest enough (my fault I guess) and this was the result.

I'm not kidding when I said it almost killed me, it was close.

I say this for a couple of reasons, first of which is to point out that all surgeries have risks. Second is to advise everyone to push your Dr. when you need to. I took his lack of concern as a sign that I was over reacting.

It's a long story, I got addicted to oxycontin, They had to stop my heart, it was a real mess.

I only had the shots in the hospital, but this is a posting from Inspector62 on Obesityhelp.com who had his surgery in Mexico:

Post Date: 2/12/11 8:01 pm

I haven't posted for a long while because I did have a major complication, I just didn't have much interest after that.

My complication was blood clots (DVT's) in my legs, really bad blood clots that basically destroyed the veins in my legs.

I have a tendency to clot, have had them in the past, but honestly, this round came very close to killing me. I gained 25 lbs in 3 days, all in my legs, my kidneys shut down and I didn't pee in like 3 days.

I did tell Dr. Alvarez in advance in emails and phone calls prior to my surgery, and I also told him in person when I was there. He chose to do nothing, I didn't protest enough (my fault I guess) and this was the result.

I'm not kidding when I said it almost killed me, it was close.

I say this for a couple of reasons, first of which is to point out that all surgeries have risks. Second is to advise everyone to push your Dr. when you need to. I took his lack of concern as a sign that I was over reacting.

It's a long story, I got addicted to oxycontin, They had to stop my heart, it was a real mess.

yikes!