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

Thanks!

???!!!!!! WHAT, I have never heard this, I will wake up with a tube in my throat??!! Is that standard for every doctor???

Omg!! This can't even be true!...? Can it? Omg now I'm freaked out..please someone tell me this isn't so....please?

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!!!

Ok ...can i ask about the slime??! ...and do the embarrassing noises ever stop?

Omg!! This can't even be true!...? Can it? Omg now I'm freaked out..please someone tell me this isn't so....please?

This happened to be also. Fortunately for me though it was while I was still under the influence. I could feel it there somewhat but not enough to where it freaked me out. I vaguely remember when they were taking it out (still under the influence) I THINK I heard someone say blow or breathe or something (needless to say I did nothing) and I felt the tube glide right on out. As I became more lucid I noticed that my right nostril was numb and without feeling. Apparently they numbed it prior to inserting the tube. It was a piece of cake. Nothing to be scared of. You will do great!!!

This happened to be also. Fortunately for me though it was while I was still under the influence. I could feel it there somewhat but not enough to where it freaked me out. I vaguely remember when they were taking it out (still under the influence) I THINK I heard someone say blow or breathe or something (needless to say I did nothing) and I felt the tube glide right on out. As I became more lucid I noticed that my right nostril was numb and without feeling. Apparently they numbed it prior to inserting the tube. It was a piece of cake. Nothing to be scared of. You will do great!!!

that's freaks me out still..but thanks for trying LOL

Very happy I found this website and forums before and after I had surgery. Almost all of my questions and concerns were addressed via this website as well as a couple calls to my surgeon's office. But to answer the original question, during my first month, I was not expecting:

• to feel so fatigued during the first month.
  
• to have the 3-week stall which lasted almost two weeks.
  
• to have the nausea during the first week and am grateful I finally got some anti-nausea medicine.
  
• the constipation.
  
• to feel hungry.
  
• to panic over how I would eat out or even eat when I returned to work.
  

Now that I am 10-weeks into this process, I was not expecting:

• to have such amazing self confidence.
  
• to look at online shopping catalogs saying, "oh, that's too baggy (big, unfitted, etc.)"
  
• to enjoy participating in family gatherings and work events.
  
• to have such a good handle on what I can eat and what my sleeve can tolerate.
  
• to walk 3 plus miles a day comfortably, while talking and smiling.
  
• to allow the "slowness" of my post-surgery weightloss to be a good thing.
  
• to enjoy the levels of flavors that 3 oz of food can offer.
  

Again, I just want to reinforce that scanning through the forum topics truly helps to open your eyes to the multitude of experiences everyone has on this journey.

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

I knew that during surgery I would have the breathing tube, but when I woke up it wasn't there.

Ok ...can i ask about the slime??! ...and do the embarrassing noises ever stop?

Not everyone gets all this stuff. I did not have a tube, I have never once "slimed" and my stomach does not make any noises that anyone else can hear. Everyone has a different assortment of all the things you hear about. None of it is 100% sure of having them. No worries!!

Not everyone gets all this stuff. I did not have a tube' date=' I have never once "slimed" and my stomach does not make any noises that anyone else can hear. Everyone has a different assortment of all the things you hear about. None of it is 100% sure of having them. No worries!![/quote']

You did have a tube. Chances are the Nurse extubated (removed your tube) you before u were fully awake. Everyone has a tube, it's what supplies you with anesthesia and oxygen during your surgery.

You did have a tube. Chances are the Nurse extubated (removed your tube) you before u were fully awake. Everyone has a tube, it's what supplies you with anesthesia and oxygen during your surgery.

Oh, ya, I know they USED the tube. I'm just saying most of us don't wake UP with the nasty thing.

Sorry, when I read "I did not have a tube" I just assumed you thought you actually didn't have one. Guess I read that wrong...

Sorry, when I read "I did not have a tube" I just assumed you thought you actually didn't have one. Guess I read that wrong...

LOL no, I should have stated that more clearly

Invisble woul be nice right now. Both to others and to my stupid critical eye. I don't like this. I lost the 1.8 and now at 50.8# at 11 weeks out. Everybody out there who saw me before: thanks for noticing, now shut up and let me deal with it.

Gah. Where's my atavan???

Ok I'm quoting myself but just to give a reference point. Want to say in f/up 1. I survived. 2. I'm not grabing atavan for survival any more. 3. I'm going for my 6 mo check and am @ 80# down.

Its a little easier now because I still have to lose over 100# more and I can stil see the old fat lady. I'm so fat that I really didn't need to worry @ losing the 50.

And I'm adding this because someone liked my original post so if you're still reaading, I guess to say it does get a wee bit easier...the 30 more since feb is not that big a deal.

Not sure if I'm expressing this right....

Not everyone gets all this stuff. I did not have a tube, I have never once "slimed" and my stomach does not make any noises that anyone else can hear. Everyone has a different assortment of all the things you hear about. None of it is 100% sure of having them. No worries!!

Thanks! I know I'll have a tube ..as long a it's out before I wake up!....what's this slime??? I never heard of this?

Slime is when u eat something ur stomach is not ready for so the esophagus and stomach go into overdrive making excess mucous to help move it along. Sometimes u throw it up from the nausea u also feel.

I wish I had known my moods would be so unstable. Some days I'm so happy and others, I feel down or negative about myself. I'm doing better than I was but still...