We had a serious house fire on Sunday and will be displaced for 6-9 months. We are in a hotel for now but hopefully will be getting into a rental late next week. My request for advice is this...I am scheduled for surgery on Feb 13 and I'm very afraid that I'll still be dealing with house issues and getting contents cleared out (I have no idea how long that will take) so I'm wondering if I should push the surgery out a few weeks. HELP! What do you think?

first of all, I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope everyone is okay. But only you can answer that - are there other people that can help you take care of these issues? If you don't feel comfortable, push the surgery back. Peace of mind will be worth the time.

It really is up to you, and if you feel you can manage both things on the emotional and physical level. A support network was very important for me, and I imagine also for most people on here. Will your network be able to be there for you despite the housing issues?

The last thing you want is to have the surgery and not be able to cater to your own needs (again, both emotional and physical), because of other distractions.

A few weeks is not a big difference for your peace of mind, just as Circa said!

I would have to suggest you to put it off for awhile. It is hard advise to give, knowing how close you are, and how I felt when I was where you are.

I lost my Mom on my 1 week post-op date, and can attest that you are not going to want to have to deal with anything extra if you do not have to at all!

I am so sorry for your situation. My family experienced a fire when I was 10, and I have had many friends experience loss this way. It will take years to feel completely over it. It is a very stressful event. Deal with it for what it is, then get back to your WLS.

God bless!

I agree with the others. You need to be able to concentrate 100% on you following the surgery. I am sorry you are going through this!

Forgive me if I am stepping out of line for I have not been sleevedl. I will be sleeved on Feb 4th.

Maybe take into consideration that you do have a little over 3 weeks to prepare.

How hard was it for you to get a date? Do you have to travel and did you already make arrangements? For me it would be much harder to change all of that, financially and rearranging.

I am not in your position, nor do I even know what that trauma would be like but not being sleeved and putting it off (for me) would be worse than trying to recouparate with my children and husband in the same room. I also do not know what it feels like , after being sleeved, but I have had operations, serious ones and measure it by those experiences.

My heart goes out to you and I am so sorry you are suffering such a loss and dealing with this at a this time in your sleeve journey! I pray it all works out.

I'm so sorry. Regarding the surgery, most surgeons insist that the patient does not lift more than 10 lbs for a few weeks. If you have to be involved in moving things, I would take that into consideration. However, the choice has to ultimately be yours.

I can tell you that even though I had a great surgery and the easiest recovery, 6 days after surgery the complete exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. I was tired for a week like that and I know for some it lasted longer. If you will need to do anything regarding the house you will be too tired after surgery most likely. Although I would hate to put it off, it might be better for your recovery if you do. Maybe just a few weeks would help.

Stress does horrible things to your body. It can greatly effect how well you heal. This whole situation will take your attention away from your after care schedule. As much as I know I would not want to delay the surgery another minute.... I would want quality healing for a lifetime of health. You may need to consider that.

Gosh, so much good adice. In my situation, I would have had a difficult time rescheduling my surgery due to the long list of people waiting for the surgery. I had to schedule 6 to 8 weeks in advance. What I would do would be to sit down and talk to my spouse and other family members and ask them what they think. You did say you would be moving into a new home really soon. Is there anyone that could help you after the surgery because you most likely would not be able to carry anything over 10 lbs for approximately 8 weeks. If they agree that this is something you should do as scheduled, then take it 1 day at a time afterwards. Life goes on. But, please discuss this with family and take very good care of yourself.

im sorry for your loss,and i agree with everyone,that you may need to postpone this,but personally i have put off getting healthy for along time,so if i was to put it off again i might never do it,i hope thats not the case with you.i would think about what your goals are,if you can juggle everything than i would do it. hope everthing works out.

Brat, I heard the sirens Sunday and read the story online. I'm guessing you're the 4 adults and 2 dogs?

I'm sorry this happened so close to your surgery. As pointed out, stress can add another complication to recovery, so weigh your options carefully.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to assist online or locally.

Thank you everyone for the advice. We are moving into the rental home on Thursday and our contractor said we'd have the house emptied in less than two weeks so I think what I'm going to do is call Monday and set up an appt with the WL office and talk face to face with them and see what they think too. I'm kind of thinking of just going forward with it as scheduled. I have waited so long and really don't want to wait any longer, however, I will do what ever the surgeon's office says. I only think it's fair to let them know what's happening. You guys are all awesome, thank you!

PDXMan - Yes that was us on Sunday. We have 5 fire trucks, the fire command truck and an EMT truck in our culdesac. It was quite a site. We'll be moving to the Bethany area over on Wismer Drive next week.

Well I have to say that my opinion may not be popular. I think you should go ahead with it. Putting it off could add to more depression after going through something like this. If you don't do it now and something happens where you can't get it at all or for many many months, you may really regret not getting it done. Also, you have a rental you can move into and so you won't necessarily be in a hotel. I think this will help you make a fresh start overall with everything. So I think you will be able to handle it. However, this is just my opinion. Ultimately, it is your life and your body so your choice must be your own. Good luck and I'm so sorry you have to deal with this.

That's just a couple blocks from me.

I run on Wismer occasionally. So, if you see a guy who looks like he used to weigh 300 lbs, stop me and say Hi!

I'm soooo sorry to hear about the fire at your home! Thank God everyone is OK! I would say push your date back IF it's easy to reschedule your date.