Well, I had my surgery yesterday morning, and it went really well. I'm not in near as much pain as I expected to be, though I am pretty drugged up still. I mean, dont get me wrong, there is pain, but its not like I'm bed riddden. Anyway, here are some things I am dealing with that I did not expect:

1. They shave your stomach after you are under, then you have to wear a body wrap for 6 weeks after surgery. That is great, except that the tiny left over hairs ITCH like all get out! I have started putting the body wrap over my tshirt, but it still itches. And you're scared to scratch, because if you were to scratch an incision.....well let just say that would be bad.

2. I instantly realized that my view of hunger was so messed up that I couldnt tell if my stomach was in great pain, or if I was hungry. How messed up is that? I associat(ed) a hurting stomach with food (because I used to eat so much at one time), that I couldnt understand what my body was telling me.

3. Looking to be honest here, but not advocating it: I was terrible on my liquid diet (I had the two weeker, and would eat the shakes during the day, and a regular meal in the evening, but was supposed to be all liquid only). I didnt eat for 24 hours before the surgery because I didnt want to need to go to the bathroom after surgery, which was a good call. Nevertheless, the surgeon said my liver looked good, and wasnt an issue. So, I'm not saying this to encourage people to not follow the liquid diet, but instead to let people who trip up on it know that all is not lost.

I'm really loving the sleeve at this point, and think that if I can stick with the Meal Replacement shakes for a good while, this will go great. And, staying away from food at this point is COMPLETELY different than pre-surgery. I have NO desire to eat right now, and honestly havent eaten anything in nearly three days.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone, as I received so much peace of mind from this site as I was going through the process.

Congrats as well to all of my sleeved brothers and sisters!

EDIT: I am a male, if that matters.

Congrats!! Welcome to the Loser's Bench!! Take it easy, sip, sip, sip and walk!!! It gets better each day!!

Congrats, fellow Sooner! Can't wait to be on the losers bench with you!

Congrats!! Im going in tomorrow and after reading this makes me feel alot less nervous!!

Thats something that was never mentioned earlier. A body wrap. My wifes going to preshave me before hand. I am doing alot of the prepwork before hand. I have my own wound wash and hibiclense and steristrips. My wifes an RN and I am a MPIC offshore so as you can imagine I am in a better situation than most

Nice to see some first hand info right before I go have mine done. Just pay good attention to yourself after day 4

Post up a log for future researchers

(null)

Congrats! Right after surgery I was so hungry but couldn't have anything orally. I was really thirsty, wanting water. I remember thinking: "WTH, I'm not suppost to be hungry." I then pushed the morphine pump. Needed to just sleep. Got home 3rd day and couldn't sleep at all. Welcome to the LOSER's CLUB! Rock that sleeve!

Congrats on your surgery! I appreciated your observations post-surgery since mine is in 5 days. I hope mine goes as well as yours seems to have gone!

I know mileage will certainly vary from person to person, but I couldnt be happier with how things have gone for me thus far. Today is the second day after surgery, and my Doc said its usually the worst for people because thier bodies finally start to realize what happened, but I still feel pretty good.

I am taking my Multivitamins, and pain meds, and am trying to stay on my feet. Laying down seems to make things worse, so I am trying to stay moving.

for those wondering, you can buy hibiclens at Walgreens and even at Target.

Thanks for posting and best of luck to you!

Congrats! Right after surgery I was so hungry but couldn't have anything orally. I was really thirsty, wanting Water. I remember thinking: "WTH, I'm not suppost to be hungry." I then pushed the morphine pump. Needed to just sleep. Got home 3rd day and couldn't sleep at all. Welcome to the LOSER's CLUB! Rock that sleeve!

LOL Just had to laugh - "I then pushed the morphine pump" Yeah that's the ticket - make it go away so I can forget about it for awhile! lol

That's what I will be doing I am sure. Thinking to myself oh this hurts so .... BAM ! I'm out

Seriously though I am a little freaked out about this aspect of it - I have been clean and sober since Jun 2001 and I have always refused any pain meds since then. I pushed through the pain of 6 breast reconstructions with no paid meds. I even had all of my teeth pulled a few years ago and got dentures all in the same day with no pain meds. I seem to have a high tolerance for pain anyway so hopefully this won't be too bad. I hope anyway

UWish, of course everyone is different, but I barely used the morphine pump in the hospital. Youre so groggy from the anesthesia, that all you want to do is sleep. The nurse kept telling me to use it if I was in pain, but all I wanted was for them to leave me alone and let me sleep. I think I used it twice, only because they wouldnt leave me alone. When I got home, I only took the liquid pain meds twice too. The pain is bad, but its not unbearable IMO. If youre worried about your reaction to the pain meds, unless there ate other issues with your surgery, you could probably get through without it. In my case, the meds made me feel sick so it wasnt a hardship to not take it. Good luck!

UWish, of course everyone is different, but I barely used the morphine pump in the hospital. Youre so groggy from the anesthesia, that all you want to do is sleep. The nurse kept telling me to use it if I was in pain, but all I wanted was for them to leave me alone and let me sleep. I think I used it twice, only because they wouldnt leave me alone. When I got home, I only took the liquid pain meds twice too. The pain is bad, but its not unbearable IMO. If youre worried about your reaction to the pain meds, unless there ate other issues with your surgery, you could probably get through without it. In my case, the meds made me feel sick so it wasnt a hardship to not take it. Good luck!

Thanks - and yeah I know it's going to be up to me - I still remember a snotty preop nurse years ago shortly after I had gotten clean that came up to me and handed me a presurgery valium and I said no thank you and I told her that I had only been out of rehab for 6 months - she got all snippy and rolled her eyes and said "Whatever". I came straight up off the gurney and said pardon ME???? Yeah WHATEVER to you too, now get out of my room - you are no longer a part of my surgical team. When my surgeon came in I told him what had gone on and he got red in the face and stormed out of the room to go find the nurse and gave her a good reaming. lol

Thats something that was never mentioned earlier. A body wrap. My wifes going to preshave me before hand. I am doing alot of the prepwork before hand. I have my own wound wash and hibiclense and steristrips. My wifes an RN and I am a MPIC offshore so as you can imagine I am in a better situation than most

Nice to see some first hand info right before I go have mine done. Just pay good attention to yourself after day 4

Post up a log for future researchers

(null)

Good job getting a head start. I'm an OR nurse and I'm only here to help you by telling you not to shave your abdomen. In the OR, we use clippers, not razors. The reason is that clippers don't cause trauma to the skin like razors. When you shave with a razor, it causes nicks, some you can see and some you can't. The nicks can cause entry points for bacteria thereby causing infection. Also, the clipper blades used in surgery are single use blades, so everything is surgically clean. If you want to get clipped at home, make sure your clipper blade is clean and free of any hair, and douse it with alcohol before use. Using the hibiclens to shower the night before, and the morning of surgery is ideal. Good Luck!!!!

I was following the liquid diet, but then I read on here that a lot of folks didn't even have a pre-op diet. I did follow it, but not all the way. I had really good blood work so I wasn't too worried about my liver.

I was following the liquid diet, but then I read on here that a lot of folks didn't even have a pre-op diet. I did follow it, but not all the way. I had really good blood work so I wasn't too worried about my liver.

No disrespect here but why would anyone base their own diet and body on what others do here? I only have to be on 3 days preop liquid and others have practically ripped my head off because they have to be on it for 2 weeks - well they are also over 300 pounds and I am 170 so there is a big difference. I am not taking any advice other than my doctors