Hello to everyone, thank you for taking the time to read over this and offer any advice. Both me and my wife will be having the sleeve at the end of September and beginning of October respectively. I am not as worried about my wife's recovery since she can have how ever much time she needs off from work. I am a little worried about my situation with my job. I am a machinist for an oilfield supply company. I work nights so its not nearly as hot as it its during the day. My shop is seperated by a wall, and on the other side of the wall is a 1700 degree furnace. The heat radiates to our area. I have talked to only a couple of people and got mixed opinions. I was told that after the procedure it is normal to get dehydrated easily. Have any of you had this problem? I will have the procedure on a Thursday and I will return to work on the following Wednesday. I will be working in our lab for the remainder of that week and then the following week will return to the shop. To those of you who have had the procedure, what was your recovery time like?

Hi Firefighter-

Yay for you and your wife going on this adventure together! As for your questions, I was only off work for 6 days but I work in an office. I won't lie those first few days were really rough. I was VERY tired and weak. I actually took a half day on my third day back just to rest.

I had very little swelling and was able to eat and drink much easier than others so I never had to worry about dehydration.

No one really knows how they will handle surgery but assuming you do well, my suggestion would be bringing lots of Water to work and constant sipping. I am assuming you cannot take more time off as that would be my first suggestion in such a taxing profession.

I was feeling much better when I started soft foods in the second week. Best of luck to you and your wife!

Amanda

Be prepared to sleep whenever you can the first month. Rest is part of the healing. Drink pleny of water and take your vitamins faithfully. Even if you feel good, don't Ignore the lifting restriction. Ask for help- say it's the back or a pulled stomach muscle. I don't know if you are planning on telling co-workers. You are going to love the new you after healing!

I found it very difficult to get in more than 34-36 ounces of water or any fluids for the first few months. I am a stay home mom of three and I had a 18month old when i had surgery. Other than lifting her or my 3 year old son I went back to doing everything including cleaning tubs and showers at about 1 week out. I was cooking for my family at about 5 days out. Keep us posted on how your doing! Good luck to you and your wife.

my doc told me to get a little med cup from the pharmacy. take a gallon of water with you wherever you go. fill the little med cup up and sip on that. finish one of them every ten minutes, and then fill it again. if you sip on one of those every ten minutes for 12 hours you will have drank one gallon of water in that time and you wont get dehydrated. he made sure to tell me not to take it like a shot but sip from the med cup.

my surgery was on the 16th and i could go back to work tomarrow if i wanted to. but we all handle recovery differently. it also depends on how many incisions, if you have a drain or not and so on and so forth. most people have been taking one week off from work though and been fine with that. good luck on your surgery and keep us posted on how it goes. congrats on starting your new lives together. i think you guys will have an advantage over others because you both will be there for eachother and both know what your going through together. its hard to explain what you are going through to people that havent gone through it.

Have you talked to your surgeon? Be sure to let him know your specific situation and the need to stay hydrated. Good luck to both of you!

I work in an office but I was back to work in a week. I walk a lot in the evenings though and dehyfration was an issue the first couple times I did it as I walk 3 miles. I learned though that if I drink more water during the day and then have a G2 gatorade when I get home, the sweats and dizziness aren't so bad. I would advise buying one of those big plastice mugs that have the ice cude tube down the middle and keep sipping all day. Pay attention to how you are feeling and if you start to get lightheaded or sweating more than normal, keep some G2 around and switch to that for one bottle then go back to the water. If that doesn't help make sure you call your doc and he may send you in for some IV fluids to help boost you back to where you should be.

Know that most of the replies you just got were from Women. They seem to have a little more of an issue drinking large amouts of fluids after the surgery in general. I as a male found it to be really easy to get down all 64 oz. of Fluid every day and I went back to work in 6 days...

Good luck and try to post you questions in the Man Room section for a more male perspective if needed.....

Hello to everyone, thank you for taking the time to read over this and offer any advice. Both me and my wife will be having the sleeve at the end of September and beginning of October respectively. I am not as worried about my wife's recovery since she can have how ever much time she needs off from work. I am a little worried about my situation with my job. I am a machinist for an oilfield supply company. I work nights so its not nearly as hot as it its during the day. My shop is seperated by a wall, and on the other side of the wall is a 1700 degree furnace. The heat radiates to our area. I have talked to only a couple of people and got mixed opinions. I was told that after the procedure it is normal to get dehydrated easily. Have any of you had this problem? I will have the procedure on a Thursday and I will return to work on the following Wednesday. I will be working in our lab for the remainder of that week and then the following week will return to the shop. To those of you who have had the procedure, what was your recovery time like?

I felt bad the first week. No energy and dehydrated. Second week wasn't as bad, but still didn't feel like I could have returned to the temperature extremes you are describing. All I can tell you is drink, drink, and drink some more. Good Luck to you and your wife. I am now 8 weeks out and have been back to work for 3 weeks. I feel great now and have already lost 40 lbs. It is all worth it!!!

Thanks to everyone who has responded. The information has been helpful.

With what you do, I would suggest getting yourself a Camelback and sipping from it constantly. It sounds like you do a LOT of sweating at work thanks to that furnace on the other side of the wall.

My Nutritionist suggested getting a camelback pack, like bikers, etc. use. So I ordered this.

Give that a try, it's on your back and you don't have to go looking for Water since it's right there with a drinking tube!

Thank you so much for sharing. I haven't had my surgery yet but I did wonder how I would get in my liquids and your medicine cup is a great idea. I have several Nyquil cups and I think they will work perfectly.

Thank you!

Niki

I had my surgery one week ago today. Like you, I feared I would become dehydrated. But every day it gets a little easier to drink liquids. I keep something within reach all the time. I make up my shakes for the day and then sip on them through out the day. Takes me 5 individual servings to get the 3 shakes down. In between, I always make sure I have a water bottle with crystal light mixed in. I'm not a water drinker so this works good for me and I get down 32 to 40 oz of water inbetween the shakes. Although I find I like both drinks as cold as i can get them. I saw my doctor yesterday, said I was doing great and no signs of dehydration. I had been concerned as I kept very little down 3 days out from surgery but the 4th day out, boy did my body improve. I got the drain out yesterday and had my first good night of sleep. I was able to take 3 weeks off from work and am going to pamper myself. But I know of others who went back in a week later, on a reduces work load. Please take the time to heal yourself, if you need it. Good luck, don't force the liquids, but keep at them. owl

cool, im glad this will help you!

Thank you so much for sharing. I haven't had my surgery yet but I did wonder how I would get in my liquids and your medicine cup is a great idea. I have several Nyquil cups and I think they will work perfectly.

Thank you!

Niki