Hello Everyone!

I’ve gotten a surgery date of March 7^th. I’m pretty pleased that the whole process. From initial call for information to surgery date was less than 6 weeks. Now the nervousness is beginning to set in. I have several questions about the procedure and who better to get answers from than all of you. My doctor has answered some of these questions, but I’d rather hear it from the experts.

• I’ve never had any kind of surgery before, so this will be a first. How am I going to feel immediately following the surgery and for the first few days?
  

• The surgery is on a Wednesday. I tentatively scheduled vacation thru Tuesday, but I’d like to go back to work on Monday and Tuesday, then take Wednesday off for my 1 week follow-up. I have a desk job that isn’t physically demanding, so I’m thinking I should be OK. Is returning to work that soon a pipe dream?
  

• What is the first few months going to be like? What is the energy level going to be like? The body will be taking in A LOT fewer calories and I suspect I’ll have no energy.
  

• I will have a 3 ½ hour drive back home following the surgery. Will there be much nausea on the drive ride home?
  

• Is nausea something many of us deal with for the rest of our lives following the sleeve?
  

• Nobody other than my immediate family knows I’m having the surgery. My health insurance won’t cover the procedure, so therefore I don’t intend on telling them anything. This extends to my employer as well. My gut feeling is that if I were to suffer a broken leg and needed medical attention, they would try to link the bariatric surgery and broken leg, and then deny coverage. This is why they will be kept in the dark. Yes, if you guessed it, I am bitter about my lack of real world health insurance. Anyone see a problem with this?
  

• Is it difficult to get enough fluids in when active in hot weather?
  

• What does everyone miss the most after having surgery? Holiday’s with my family are very important. I believe not having a normal dinner with my loved one will be the hardest for me. I will be there, but it will never be the same again.
  

Congrats on your decision. You are making the right choice to live healthy.

I'm in the 6 week post-op and will try to answer your q's from my perspective.

1. The sleeve was my first surgery so I had nothing to compare it to. And my surgery was in India so the process is quite a bit different. For example, it took me one and a half days for the anesthesia to wear down. And then I was on paid meds till mid of day three so I had no pain at all. Again, this is just my perspective. You may feel a bit diff based on how you react to anesthetics.

2. I took a one month vacation. I felt so much better after the second week, but I still had to take small naps in the afternoons for atleast two hrs. So I used the whole month's vacation for recovery. I too have a desk job and its not physically demanding

3. As I said before, I'm just 6 weeks post op. But from my experience, I can say that if at all you feel any discomfort, it will get better by the day. Sticking to your diet plan may feel very hard at the beginning but PLEASE stick to it. Concentrate on getting in the required Proteins and fluids and any other meds that your doctor prescribes. This is very important. If you get in the required amounts of proteins and fluids, there should be no problems. The whole point of the low calories is that your fat will get burned and converted to calories so that your body remains energetic. If you feel very tired, you can try having a small nap in the afternoon, atleast thats what I did. If it gets too uncomfortable, consult your doctor -- they may revise your diet chart to fit you better.

4 & 5 -- can't help with these, sorry -- coz I did not have any nausea.

6 -- can't help with this either, sorry -- I'm not very familiar with the insurance system in US as I'm from India and I was a self-pay.

7. Hmm not exactly difficult - but you'll have to get used to not gulping it at one go. The first week I struggled to finish of 50ml Water in 30 minutes. But now, I can drink more than 125 ml in less than 5 minutes. It all depends on how well your sleeve reacts to the kinds of fluids you take in.

8. I thought I'll miss food the most, but surprisingly not so much. The thing that I miss the most is sleeping on my sides. I have had asthma from 15 and have never gotten used to sleeping on my back, so when I came back from the surgery and was forced to sleep on my back, I just couldnt have a peaceful sleep for more than a week. My back hurt a lot at that time. Then I got used to it, but I still miss sleeping on my sides. I posted on this forum and got a great suggestion today -- pillows under the belly when sleeping on the sides. I'm going to try it tonight :-)

•I’ve never had any kind of surgery before, so this will be a first. How am I going to feel immediately following the surgery and for the first few days?

It depends on how you do under the anesthesia, and how well you can control yourself when you wake in a fog. You may remember nothing. A lot of people do not remember much. My anesthesia experiences have been varied and only the last two went well as far as anesthesia was concerned. Now they have drugs that will allow you to forget the discomfort as you are experiencing it. You will be thirsty, and you will probably hurt. It varies. No one brought out of anesthesia on pain meds, although many think they did – the anesthesia I spoke of. You will be thirsty and depending on doctors – this varies A LOT – you will begin ice chips or such or they will want to wait to do a barium swallow. Get some “fake spit” – it’s called Biotin. You find it in the oral hygiene isle. It will keep your mouth moist.

For pain I recommend you talk to your surgeon, and ask does he prescribe the pain meds, or does he hand you off to another doctor to be visited in the hospital, and he prescribe your meds. I have an ongoing issue with my doctor because I thought he would be the one to follow up and write my meds. We had had a long talk about what I did and did not want to take, and what did and did not work for me. So he had all the info, but another doc saw me. I sat in bed in pain for a whole 24 hours. They would give me shots of something that starts with a "D" in my IV, which knocked me out, until I woke up or was awakened by staff. About 45 minutes at best, and I would already be back in pain – with hours left before the next shot. Finally a nurse just in on her shift said “I’ll fix this”. She went and found my doc and made him issue hydrocodone instead, liquid. Point is I suggest the hydrocodone liquid. You have to sip it anyway, so I never needed the whole dose, lol. Sipping it helped me regulate it to just what I needed. I was alert, generally comfy – able to communicate.

•The surgery is on a Wednesday. I tentatively scheduled vacation thru Tuesday, but I’d like to go back to work on Monday and Tuesday, then take Wednesday off for my 1 week follow-up. I have a desk job that isn’t physically demanding, so I’m thinking I should be OK. Is returning to work that soon a pipe dream?

If you have a job that they really need to know how long you will be, or else the office will suffer for not making arrangements in your absence, I would really suggest you give them a 2 week minimum as a guess. I took a month and would never have guessed I would need that. The fatigue is the issue. It is a deeper tired than you are probably used to. It isn’t just a “so tired I don’t want to do this”. It is an “I cannot physically do this”. It makes you slow to respond, slow to react. Difficult to fix mistakes if you catch them, DANGEROUS to drive home after a day like that. I know of a situation that a girl fell into this daze and almost passed a school bus. She just missed a child.

•What is the first few months going to be like? What is the energy level going to be like? The body will be taking in A LOT fewer calories and I suspect I’ll have no energy.

You will feel on top of the world one moment, and then your body will remind you that you are recovering. I hope you have took the counseling seriously. You will deal with elation, depression, happiness, possibly guilt or grief. You will have head hunger – many report issues with ongoing relationships or members of the family. It is a really good idea to have an understanding of who is committed to helping you or at least not hindering you. I frown when I hear people go “I will stop bringing fast food around after the surgery”. The time for them is to stop pre-op, while you are going through your pre-op diet.

Have your head hunger under check, or be working on it.

•I will have a 3 ½ hour drive back home following the surgery. Will there be much nausea on the drive ride home?

You may not be able to drive. You should probably arrange to not drive for the first few days, and of course you can’t be on pain meds while you drive.

Are you going to Mexico? One of the very, very, very, dear god very things you do not want to do is be in a car accident in Mexico and they find you are on narcotics.

Would it be possible to take a bus or fly? Flying is really inexpensive compared to the price of gas anymore.

•Is nausea something many of us deal with for the rest of our lives following the sleeve?

I have not had a real bout of nausea.

•Nobody other than my immediate family knows I’m having the surgery. My health insurance won’t cover the procedure, so therefore I don’t intend on telling them anything. This extends to my employer as well. My gut feeling is that if I were to suffer a broken leg and needed medical attention, they would try to link the bariatric surgery and broken leg, and then deny coverage. This is why they will be kept in the dark. Yes, if you guessed it, I am bitter about my lack of real world health insurance. Anyone see a problem with this?

You do not have to disclose anything to anyone except HR and then only if you are applying for FMLA. You do not have to turn over your FMLA to your boss under any circumstances. Check the FMLA guidelines for your company – most hire third party to cover their butts on the privacy rules. However, once you disclose your surgery to a coworker, etc. you fall on a very fine line. All your work has to know is that you had a surgery based on medical need.

•Is it difficult to get enough fluids in when active in hot weather?

I was sleeved on 1//4/12 so I have not had that to worry about, mostly. Get your fluids in ahead of time, and you generally need about 8 oz. for every half hour – or that is what I would do. I am going to get a smaller camel so I can hydrate as often as possible while I am biking and walking and hiking.

•What does everyone miss the most after having surgery? Holiday’s with my family are very important. I believe not having a normal dinner with my loved one will be the hardest for me. I will be there, but it will never be the same again.

I think you are making a bit much of that scenario. But we all have things we can’t do just the same anymore. Let’s take a look at it. No, you will never wake up on a holiday day again, fit into an outfit bought in a plus size shop or section. You will never sit down to eating too much that you knew you didn’t need, putting excessive fuel in an oversized body. You will wake up – exercise maybe? Get dressed feeling good about you will still be with your family, you will still eat food, no one is going to suffer if you do not gain three pounds that day. You will be free to talk in between bites, and you will be surprised at how much more enjoyable a dinner can be when young aren’t constantly shoveling the food in. When people are sluggish and setting around you go for a walk. Don’t sound too bad.

I too typically react poorly to anesthesia and felt crappy for a few days. I felt just a tad off for about 2 months, just a general malaise and tired. Combination of healing, low cal intake and starting ketosis - the burning of stored fat.

I was off work for 3 days and went back to my desk job, while I truly didn't want to be there I managed OK.

I do NOT feel nausea any more and can eat a good healthy portion. I can eat ANYTHING that I want, but not much. I seldom feel deprived and enjoy eating as an experience more so than pre-sleeve just shoveling it in as fast as I could and feeling miserable afterward. I exercise regularly now, whereas before I NEVER did. I am stronger, healthier and more active than at ANY point in my adult life. I also look better.

It's your decision, keep looking for answers and make up your own mind. YOU have to want it and also want to get rid of the OLD lifestyle and obesity related problems. It's won't do you much good if YOU don't convince yourself it's the right way to go.

I wish you well!

Hi,

I was sleeved 2+ weeks ago. I had a lot of the same questions and honestly it is all differently for each of us. So that being said, try to look at it in a broader sense. What I did is set myself up for a no fail envirorment.

I did not tell anyone either, except for my husband. When it comes to work, arrange for the MOST time off as possible, just incase.

Before surgery keep your sodium intake down that will help with swelling after surgery, which inturn will help you to be able to drink more fluids and pain is less.

Your energy level is going to change. Maybe not drasitcally but there will be days you just have to sleep. I would think more of a reason you can come up with that excuses these things so your employer does not question them, ex: I have a personal issue at home, my iron level is low, feeling ememic, I haven't been able to sleep well at nite lately. When someone asks what it is say I would rather not talk about it.

I would definetly not take the chance and drive myself 3 1/2 hours after surgery. You do not even need to take the chance with that one. I would do whatever it took to not do that. I thought I recovered very well, and EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT but I just started driving a day or so ago b/c when I tried I felt it stressing my lower abdomen. That scared me and I got out of the car. I wasn't ready.

My point, set yourself up for the worst scenerios. So if any of your concern surface you are covered. If they don't you have the freedom to change it.

A really good thing about getting surgery this time of year is that you will be completely healed by the most of the holiday season. You might have to miss out on one, Easter but you still will be able to enjoy it. July 4th, you will be eating BBQ ..lol. Be positive. You are going to do great. I wll be praying for you.

Also, keep in touch. Stay on and let us know how you do.

On the nausea part I had it right out of surgery and my nurses told me of a trick they said they used with cancer patients that have nausea ... They gave me alcohol wipes so anytime I would start to feel the nausea I put one at the end of my nose and breathed it making the nausea go away I was amazed on how it worked for me.

Thanks for all the information.

My wife and youngest son will be going with me to Kansas City and will do the driving back home.

Maybe I should schedule a 2nd week vacation just in case I need it. I could always return early if I feel good.

Again I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. This is what makes a forum such a wonderful resource. I hope to be able to offer some help to others in the future.

.

I took off 2 weeks...I was only taking one, but then realized when I went back to work that I couldn't do it. I really needed 3. I would take off 3 and see how you are after the first week. Maybe you could go back earlier. I am still tired eight months out...Not sure what is going on there. Blood work seems to be ok. Iron Ok. I just attribute it to not eating a lot. My incisions hurt for 5 weeks really bad and then just faded away. I still have a little weird light pain in the big one from time to time, but it really isn't bothersome. I sometimes miss being able to shove a whole hamburger in my mouth at once, but really I love the fact that I can only eat a little amount. I don't have eater's remorse anymore...Even when I splurge on movie popcorn with LOADS of butter I still don't have remorse. I can't finish the bag and that is really all I will eat for the night so it is not like I am going to throw down some chinese food later. I didn't have any nausea or gas, but it did not me like 5 days to go #2. I really never thought about this, but I used to be in the bathroom A LOT before surgery, but now...Just once a day and it is like a little bloop and it is over. That is pretty cool! If you are not telling your family I can only imagine what they would think when you put like one piece of turkey and a little plop of mashed potatoes. You should load your plate and then eat what you can and then when they ask why aren't you eating you could say...THIS IS MY 2ND PLATE I CAN'T EAT ANYMORE I have lost almost 100 pounds in 8 months. I guess if I hadn't of told anyone I could have said I went on a diet, but no one would have believed me. I also would have felt bad...I literally had surgery and lost the weight. I personally think it was an easy path, but it was also the smart path. Keeping the weight off is like a job. Your tummy wants to eat eat eat eat eat...I am certain if a cocaine addict could remove something in them that makes them want to do drugs they would remove it. We remove some of our tummy. No more constant need to eat and eat and eat and eat. We can't over eat anymore or it feels awful. Eight months out, and I can drink faster...Which is great. I just don't overdrink. I don't over anything anymore.

NO OVEREAT

NO OVERDRINK

NO OVERWEIGHT