This is one of the biggest things I wonder about... After having the surgery, I know I will worry obsessively about hurting myself... like, moving wrong and tearing my incisions open, or twisting and causing my newly stapled sleeve to rip open.. I will be scared to exercise.. I know it...

So, tell me.. is it that easy to hurt yourself after surgery? Or, is it silly to obsess over that?

:-)

It is a concern. Four days after my surgery I was coaching football. My oldest told on me and I got in trouble. lol I would just follow the guidelines that your surgeon gives you and you will be fine.

You have to remember that when you have this done it is major surgery. With any surgery you have to allow your body to heal. Listen to your body it will tell you how tired you are or sore you are and follow your surgeons advice. Better to be safe then sorry.

I am waiting for my surgery as well and have been told by my team that for six weeks after I have this proceedure I have to be very careful not to hurt myself by doing too much. I think I will be bored senseless! Then again what is six weeks compared to a whole new life..........

It will be easy to hurt yourself if you pick that week to move all of your furniture to a new location by yourself. Seriously though, plan to take it easy for the first couple of weeks. Regular activity that does not require lifting over 10 lbs or a lot of twisting will not cause you to rip open your incisions. Your doctor will give you orders, make sure you follow them. You will not be out running a marathon or weight training, but you can walk. Your body will let you know how much you can do. You will meet with your surgeon a couple of times in the first days and weeks post surgery and he/she will let you know when you are healed enough to lift over 10 pounds and do all forms of exercise. When I was released from the hospital, I was told to rest when needed, take it easy, don't lift over 10 lbs for the first month and free to walk as much as I could handle. At 10 days, I was cleared for all normal activities except lifting. (and I felt like I had not even had surgery at that point) At six weeks I was cleared for all and could do any form of exercise I chose.

Thanks for posting this! I have been wondering the same thing myself. I'm scheduled for 10/8, and really didn't want to deal with FMLA paperwork for work, so I am using a vacation week, so I will be back to a pretty strenuous job 9 days after surgery. I also horseback ride a lot...3 - 4 times per week. I figured I would take 3 weeks off from that. But I'm more worried that if I'm feeling good at work, I might just go to do something without thinking and injure myself. I'm always on the move, so it's going to take a lot to slow done and ask other people to do stuff for me for a while.

If you follow the guidelines for your recovery, it will not be easy at all.

"Moving wrong" - there really isn't such a thing. No movement is really wrong, but some movements will be more painful than others. For example, bending didn't hurt me that much but twisting did. If it hurts, don't do it. That's pretty much all there is to it. Movements with force (e.g. not "bending" but "bending with a 50 lb load" are a slightly different story, but you will be given information on these restrictions.)

Movements aren't going to pull your staple line open any more than they could have ripped your virgin stomach open pre-op. You will be fine. Just be smart about your limits. If a staple line leaks, it's usually because it wasn't sealed right to begin with. Don't over expand it (I think this would be very hard to do unless you put a lot of concentrated effort into it, and were quite good at ignoring pain).

When I was fairly new out of surgery, and definitely on my lifting restrictions (I think my limit was something like 5 lbs), DH was using the restroom and forgot to put away a step stool he had been using to put up some new lights in DD's bathroom. DD managed to climb the step stool and get on top of her bathroom counter. I freaked and lifted her down. I did it as carefully as I could (held her tightly against me, as close to my natural center of gravity as I could) and more slid her down my body than lifted her down. It hurt. It tweaked for a few days. But no harm done. I'm not saying "lift 40 lbs and you'll still be fine" but I'm saying that things aren't nearly as delicate as you may think they are.

This is one of the biggest things I wonder about... After having the surgery, I know I will worry obsessively about hurting myself... like, moving wrong and tearing my incisions open, or twisting and causing my newly stapled sleeve to rip open.. I will be scared to exercise.. I know it...

So, tell me.. is it that easy to hurt yourself after surgery? Or, is it silly to obsess over that?

:-)

For the first few days i kept trying to move myself using my ab muscles because of it being natural, just have to watch that. About the 5th day after my surgery it was like a switch was flipped and my mid section didn't hurt, unless my dog tried to bury his head in my gut.

That's really ambitious. Even if your pain level isn't that bad, most people find that right around the start of week 2 they're hit with some pretty intense fatigue. Fatigue that leaves them wondering if they will ever feel normal again. I was, and this wasn't my first WLS but it was the first time I had this strike. I couldn't even take a shower without feeling like I needed to sit down and rest. I was off 4 weeks, and returned to work on a Tuesday. It wasn't until the Thursday before that I actually started to feel OK with a full day's worth of (limited) activity. It was miserable.

FMLA paperwork IME isn't _that_ bad -- you might want to go ahead and do it, then not use it if you don't need it. Esp. if you have STD benefits. Like a condom - better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. Just some unsolicited advice.

Thanks for posting this! I have been wondering the same thing myself. I'm scheduled for 10/8, and really didn't want to deal with FMLA paperwork for work, so I am using a vacation week, so I will be back to a pretty strenuous job 9 days after surgery. I also horseback ride a lot...3 - 4 times per week. I figured I would take 3 weeks off from that. But I'm more worried that if I'm feeling good at work, I might just go to do something without thinking and injure myself. I'm always on the move, so it's going to take a lot to slow done and ask other people to do stuff for me for a while.

I am living on my own with my 6year old daughter and 9 month old boxer puppy. I intentionally stopped taking the pain meds to give myself reason to slow down. If it hurt when I did something, I stopped doing it. If I had been up to the eyeballs with pain meds, I know I would have done a lot more than was safe at the time, but wouldn't have been aware as it wouldn't cause any pain. Am I making sense? I'm don't enjoy pain, or anything like that, I just like to be in touch with my body and be able to hear its objections. It's a good way to force yourself to rest and not do too much.

You will know when you're moving a wrong way. I had to make sure I was moving myself with my arms instead of my abdomen a lot during the first week. I couldn't bend down very well. Turning in bed hurt. I could see something happening on accident, like if you fell and caught yourself, but aside from that your pain will keep you being very aware of your movements for a while. 5 weeks out now and my side only hurts when I push myself a little too much walking quickly the previous day. Follow your lifting guidelines and you'll be fine.

You’re told not to lift more than 2lbs for 2 weeks anyway, your not cleared to work out other than walking for a few weeks and I was told if I go out if I am knocked by someone too hard on my side/front I could damage my stomach.

I wasn’t allowed to go swimming till after 4 weeks out on the condition that I was careful and if I was knocked to make sure I was checked out.

Having said that I slept on my front after 10 days with a pillow for support but I did heed the lifting and working out no no’s till I was told it was ok.

I didn’t take medication much for pain when I got home what they give me was disgusting so they switched me to kids calpol which is like liquid pain meds/fever/cold medicine and its super sweet and thick so I just give up the pain meds and dealt with it.

I was wondering the same thing! I watch a 9 month old little girl and she weighs 16 lbs. how am I going to deal with picking her up?

I was wondering the same thing! I watch a 9 month old little girl and she weighs 16 lbs. how am I going to deal with picking her up?

I agree omg I have a 9 month old little girl how will I manage??!!! Good question cause I will go crazy if I can't hold her