So how do they know if your liver has shrunk? Do they do an ultrasound after you complete the 14 day diet or can they tell just by feeling ? My surgery is oct 17 and no one mentioned an ultrasound to me.

So how do they know if your liver has shrunk? Do they do an ultrasound after you complete the 14 day diet or can they tell just by feeling ? My surgery is oct 17 and no one mentioned an ultrasound to me.

They will see it when they do the surgery. Go to youtube and watch the videos of a VGS being performed. You will see the liver and that they have to pull it up out of the way because it rests on the stomach.

It isn't an essential part of the process, but more of a preference on the part of your surgeon. The extensive pre-op diets that some docs impose doesn't really shrink the liver, but is said to help reduce the fatty/slimy coating that is often present on us fatty liver/obese patients. My doc doesn't do the major pre-op diet program, just the day before clear liquids bit, but then he also does liver transplants aside from his bariatric practice, so I guess he is used to dealing with livers in crappy condition. He said my liver was in good shape when he was in there (and I gained a little in the weeks leading up to surgery, for what that's worth!)