Hi everyone. I am a 27 year old mother of three and weigh (223) at 5foor 2inches tall and just found out a week ago that I qualify to have the surgery and my first appointment is August 7th. Now that I have talked with my husband I have decided to do the vertical sleeve surgery instead of the bypass that my doctor suggested to me. I have tons of questions but I guess my number one concern is about complications. I have never had any type of surgery and the thought of actually being knocked out and under the knive scares me to death. What complications should I worry about and what could I do to prevent certain complications from happening? Also if there is any advise that you might recommend for preparring for the surgery please let me know. Thank you all in advance.

I think the most important thing you can do to avoid complications is make sure you have the right surgeon. Is their practice a bariatric center of excellence? Has the surgeon done at least a couple hundred sleeve surgeries? What is his/her complication rate (leaks, blood clots, stricture, etc.)?

also: follow your surgeon's instructions with respect to pre-op and post-op diet precisely. If you have questions about the diet or any symptom you might be having, call and ask for help, don't be embarrassed and decide to wait to see if it resolves on its own. That is what you are paying them for.

Blood clots are a risk after this (any) surgery: get up and walk as soon as you can after, and if you are provided with something like compression booties in the hospital, use them as directed, even if it's a PITA.

If you are given restrictions on how much you can lift after surgery, follow them: no cheating and lifting up a toddler/young child if not permitted, no deciding to carry the heavy groceries in yourself because it's too much of a pain to get your husband/children to bring them in, and so on.

If you are a smoker, you will definitely need to quit well in advance of surgery.

These are all the things that our RD and NP stressed to those of us in my WLS Boot Camp that we all had to go to before surgery. Except the picking the right surgeon, of course! That I picked up here on the boards

Good luck to you!

I don't smoke so I'm good there. I have been excercising for months now and am glad that I have tightened and toned some of my trouble spots. As far as the surgeon goes I have not yet got to meet the guy nor do I know the name of who my doctor sent my referral too. I have military (TriCare) insurance so they just send in the referral and then someone calls me to make my appointments. I just got a call this past friday saying my first appointment is on Aug. 7th. so I'm hoping that I will know more then. I did try to google who the military might be sending me to but was worried when I looked up this guys credintals bc. he does have 20+ years in bariatric surgery but he has only done 9 sleeves and only 4 of those were larascopic so I am worried if thats the doctor they want me to use. However, even with the few he has done his reviews were amazing. It still worries me though and I guess I'll just have to wait until the 7th before I know for sure and before I start freaking out for no reason.

I agree with the other poster. Check out your center and surgeon carefully. Talk to others who have used that center and surgeon, if possible. And no matter who you choose, follow the directions precisely. There are rules for a reason.

And best of luck to you!