What do you wish someone had told you, or made more clear to you, before surgery?

Thanks!

i wish i knew that the little blue colored juice cups they give you to test for leaks in your drain will give me an allergic reaction that made my face totally red and then pell off the entire top layer of skin, this wasn't painfull but it was really anoying, i still have a lil of peelling skin but it is much better.

and also that the contrast clear liquit that you have to take to get an x-ray leak test is like acid mixed with windex, totally nasty it just make me so sick i wanted to cry my tummy hated even more than me!

this was the worse for me, so i feel lucky because i was nauseos the 1st and 2nd day and they gave me meds and treaded me so well that i never vomited and for that i'm forever thanfull because that was and is my biggest fear.

Hey, I got one! I don't know if we;ve already touched on it, but I didn't see myself changing shoe sizes! I've lost 66 lbs and gone from a 7.5/8 to a 7.

Does everyone have to inject blood thinners into themselves after surgery? I can't even remove a splinter from my toe without it being a show.

My surgeon will be injecting them while I'm still knocked out during surgery! Seems crazy to make the patient do that themselves!

So glad to have all this info. Thank you all for sharing.

My surgeon will be injecting them while I'm still knocked out during surgery! Seems crazy to make the patient do that themselves!

I had to truly LOL. I've been injecting myself with Lovenox (blood thinner) 2 x a day for 4 years now. I will have to do so for another few months until I can switch to oral meds (haven't tolerated them in the past). Many people inject themselves with meds everyday including insulin. When I've been in the hospital, I won't even let the nurses give me my shots, I know where the good spots are on my tummy!

???!!!!!! WHAT' date=' I have never heard this, I will wake up with a tube in my throat??!! Is that standard for every doctor???[/quote']

Yeah I'm concerned too! Is it an ng tube?

Ohhhhh... the good ol' ng tube. My poor grandma had one near the end' date=' and she was miserable. <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />[/quote']

I've put in plenty of them but don't know if I could take being at the opposite end of one!

I wish someone had told me that I would go through puberty again - at 55 and having had a hysterectomy over 20 years ago. It was a couple of months of alternating being weepy and then wanting to kill someone I would be so angry.

.

Whaaat! My poor husband. If he had to go thru this again with me. I'm 53 and when I remember those murderous thoughts I used to have I cringe and feel so shamed! Lol

It's amazing how different everbody's experience is.

For me:

• Did have to do a 14 day pre-surgery liquid diet. (Lost 12 lbs)
  
• No NG tube.
  
• No drain tube.
  
• No leak test. At least not after the surgery.
  
• No blood thinner injections.
  
• Did have a catheter, which I didn't expect. Took it out immediately, though.
  
• Pain contolled by Morphine drip, which I pressed about 7 times in 2 days.
  
• Walking about 2 hours after waking from surgery.
  
• Difficult and painful to get in and out of hospital bed, but did it unassisted after the first time.
  
• HUGE bottle of liquid Acetominophin/Hydrocodone taken when needed at home controlled any discomfort.
  
• Rolling off the couch was the only time I really experienced any "pain".
  
• Sneezing hurt quite a bit.
  
• Went back to work wearing a 20 lb gun belt at 11 days with zero pain. (Would not recommend this to anyone and would not do it again! I was exhausted!)
  

Anyway, it is obvious that everyone is going to have a different experience based on their body type and surgical procedures used. This blog topic is great and I wish I had been reading this forum prior to surgery in order to ask my surgeon a billion-and-one questions. I went in knowing next to nothing and was apparently lucky not to have experienced what so many say they have. I would NOT have been happy if I woke up with tubes coming out of every part of my body and not have been told beforehand! Good luck to everyone!

It's amazing how different everbody's experience is.

For me:

• Did have to do a 14 day pre-surgery liquid diet. (Lost 12 lbs)
  
• No NG tube.
  
• No drain tube.
  
• No leak test. At least not after the surgery.
  
• No blood thinner injections.
  
• Did have a catheter, which I didn't expect. Took it out immediately, though.
  
• Pain contolled by Morphine drip, which I pressed about 7 times in 2 days.
  
• Walking about 2 hours after waking from surgery.
  
• Difficult and painful to get in and out of hospital bed, but did it unassisted after the first time.
  
• HUGE bottle of liquid Acetominophin/Hydrocodone taken when needed at home controlled any discomfort.
  
• Rolling off the couch was the only time I really experienced any "pain".
  
• Sneezing hurt quite a bit.
  
• Went back to work wearing a 20 lb gun belt at 11 days with zero pain. (Would not recommend this to anyone and would not do it again! I was exhausted!)
  

Anyway, it is obvious that everyone is going to have a different experience based on their body type and surgical procedures used. This blog topic is great and I wish I had been reading this forum prior to surgery in order to ask my surgeon a billion-and-one questions. I went in knowing next to nothing and was apparently lucky not to have experienced what so many say they have. I would NOT have been happy if I woke up with tubes coming out of every part of my body and not have been told beforehand! Good luck to everyone!

My experience is about the same as yours. Here is my list:

It's amazing how different everbody's experience is.

For me:

• Did have to do a 14 day pre-surgery liquid diet. (Lost 12 lbs)
  
• No NG tube.
  
• No drain tube.
  
• No leak test. At least not after the surgery.
  
• No blood thinner injections.
  
• Did have a catheter, which I didn't expect. Took it out immediately, though.
  
• Pain contolled by Morphine drip, which I pressed about 7 times in 2 days.
  
• Walking about 2 hours after waking from surgery.
  
• Difficult and painful to get in and out of hospital bed, but did it unassisted after the first time.
  
• HUGE bottle of liquid Acetominophin/Hydrocodone taken when needed at home controlled any discomfort.
  
• Rolling off the couch was the only time I really experienced any "pain".
  
• Sneezing hurt quite a bit.
  
• Went back to work wearing a 20 lb gun belt at 11 days with zero pain. (Would not recommend this to anyone and would not do it again! I was exhausted!)
  

Anyway, it is obvious that everyone is going to have a different experience based on their body type and surgical procedures used. This blog topic is great and I wish I had been reading this forum prior to surgery in order to ask my surgeon a billion-and-one questions. I went in knowing next to nothing and was apparently lucky not to have experienced what so many say they have. I would NOT have been happy if I woke up with tubes coming out of every part of my body and not have been told beforehand! Good luck to everyone!

For me:

• Did have to do a 14 day pre-surgery liquid diet.
  
• No NG tube.
  
• No drain tube.
  
• No leak test. At least not after the surgery.
  
• Did have blood thinner injections in the hospital
  
• Did have a catheter. Took it out the day after surgery.
  
• Pain contolled by Morphine drip while in the hospital.
  
• Did start walking a day or two after surgery.
  
• Difficult and painful to get in and out of hospital bed the first couple days.
  
• Getting in and out of bed gives me a small amount of pain.
  
• No pain medicine after day 4.
  
• Sneezing hurts
  

.

Does anyone have anything to add?

Uhhh. I wish someone had told me to read this thread a week before surgery, or a month before surgery and not 24 hours before surgery.

Uhhh. I wish someone had told me to read this thread a week before surgery, or a month before surgery and not 24 hours before surgery.

As someone who went through all of this stuff, I can assure you that now 90+lbs lighter every little thing I went through with surgery, has been worth it to see myself like this.

^^^amen to that!

Things I wish I had known before surgery:

I would be cold all the time

I would be praying not to sneeze or cough for the first 2 weeks after surgery

Watching a really funny movie 2 days after surgery hurts like hell

That all hunger is not gone and head hunger is worse than true hunger

That I would have so much gas

That I would have loud embarrassing noises coming from my stomach

And wth is this slime!!!

@100% sleeved----why did they have you wake up with the tube in your mouth? What was the explanation they gave you? I'm just wondering, thanks.