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

Thanks!

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???

What the heck? If I wake up with a tube down my throat I will freak out and I know I'd yank it out

Oh yes I threatened to do that too.

for me it was the fatigue at first. I had no strength for anything. Going from 3,000 cals a day to posicles and crystal light is an extreme shock to the system. After that it would be the mental struggle. I have always had a passion for food and to watch other people enjoy the salty, greasy foods I used to covet was an uphill battle. Fortunatley things get easier and now when I see people eating McDonalds or other fatty foods Im actually glad im not a slave to those desires anymore.

i wish someone would have told me HOW MUCH PAIN is really involved... on this board i just kept reading ppl saying they felt minimal pain, so i wasnt prepared for the amount of pain i was actually in after surgery... im 5 days post op and still in pain, but i refuse to take my pain meds because they make me loopy and soo sleepy.. the pain is more manageable now... but there is definitly still pain. I hope im well enough to go back to work (im a waitress) by Feb 19th.

I think a big thing that people don't seem to realize is the stall. You're going to stall. Weightloss isn't going to be steady and even every single day, every single week, every single month Your body needs time to adjust to changes. First the surgery, then the substantial weight loss and diet change, then your body will go through different phases of adjustment - and it compensates with the "stalls".

i wish someone would have told me HOW MUCH PAIN is really involved... on this board i just kept reading ppl saying they felt minimal pain, so i wasnt prepared for the amount of pain i was actually in after surgery... im 5 days post op and still in pain, but i refuse to take my pain meds because they make me loopy and soo sleepy.. the pain is more manageable now... but there is definitly still pain. I hope im well enough to go back to work (im a waitress) by Feb 19th.

You NEED to risk the loopy/sleepy thing. You must be a good girl and take your pain meds. When someone cuts you in many places and sews you back up, it's a given that it's going to hurt. That's why they prescribe the meds. I think if you just try it, you will find you are much happier about everything when the pain is decreased. Even if you're in a fog. Just do it. Like someone said on here before: you don't get extra points for leftover pain meds!

i wish someone would have told me HOW MUCH PAIN is really involved... on this board i just kept reading ppl saying they felt minimal pain, so i wasnt prepared for the amount of pain i was actually in after surgery... im 5 days post op and still in pain, but i refuse to take my pain meds because they make me loopy and soo sleepy.. the pain is more manageable now... but there is definitly still pain. I hope im well enough to go back to work (im a waitress) by Feb 19th.

absolutely take the meds - there's no trophy for being in pain. I was one of the fortunate people that didn't have hardly any pain. Just because you have pain, doesn't make you a wuss - everyone's body reacts differently - I have an extremely high threshold for pain - which in itself can be dangerous - I can hurt myself pretty bad and not realize it. NOT a good thing. Listen to your body - its telling you something!

My leak had been there for a while, which is what caused the abscess. The leak only showed on the test when they had me lay down, they didn't do that the first time. Most likely the leak opened when the swelling of the sleeve went down.

Libbe, I feel so bad for what you had to go through! I didn't know that you could get an abscess two months out and a leak three months out! Did your dr. tell you why/how that happen? You've been through so much!

OMG a TUBE in your throat!!! holy cow!!! That will for sure be a question for my surgeon when i meet him for my consultation!!!! If i was in your shoes i would have acted like a two year old as well... LOL

You might have hit the nail in the head.

I read "a million" old and new threads on this website for 5 months before surgery and to this day (week 11) there is nothing I wish someone had told me. That can change any minute of course. (knocking on wood)

hey longer-life, i wish i had talked to you 5 months ago when you started learning all this good info. Then you could have taught me what you knew,

kathy

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

This is def not normal practice! There was no reason for that tube to still be in from the surgery by the time you woke up. Just and FYI...

LOL. I was surprised by the tube too! I've never had ANY type of surgery before and I remember waking up with that tube and I started panicking! They must of saw me struggling so the tube was taken out pretty quickly after waking up. But sheesh!

I wish someone had told me I was going to wake up with a tube down my throat. I was totally not prepared for that one and as a matter of fact my 1st words when I woke up was why are yall trying to choke and kill me? They started laughing but I did not see anything funny. They finally explained this is what they do for the sleeve. Up until this point I had done an extensive research on the lapband and had decided on the sleeve at the last minute. So if someone would have mentioned that then I would have been mentally prepared.

hey longer-life, i wish i had talked to you 5 months ago when you started learning all this good info. Then you could have taught me what you knew,

kathy

Nah, there is a LOT I don't know. I just made sure I read the complication threads & tons of other threads. I even emailed and talked to someone on the phone that was having a real hard time. I really made an effort to not block out the tough stuff. That's all.

I wish I would have known that....

The cotton mouth would be horrendous in the hospital. I wasn't allowed to drink after until I had a leak test which was a total of 33 hours!

I was going to be sent home with a pharmacy. I was sent home with liquid Loratab (yuck!!), an acid reducer,2 types of nausea tablets, nausea/vomitting suppositories, and perscription vit. D. ( I am extremely deficient) ( all the nausea meds are "just in case")

AND.... that I had to crush all pills until 6 weeks. The nurses told me the crushed pills were better in applsauce. I disagree, They are better in yogurt, it hides the taste better,

Just remember, however difficult your hospital stay/first week may seem, You will survive and do well.

I am 7 weeks out and do not regret my decision at all!

I wish I would've known about the pain. I also read alot of 'minimal pain' posts.

I'm not a wuss or have a low threshold for pain, but it hurt alot more than I was expecting.

Other than that, I feel like I was pretty well informed by reading this message board as opposed to the one at obesity help.

No one ever had an answer or people would say "You should've had the Duodenal Switch." Good grief.