I'm quite a bit concerned about being able to drink enough Water post op during times of heavy outdoor workouts and a lot of sweating.

When it's hot outside and I'm doing some rigorous activity (digging, mowing, lawn, working in hot shed, moving heavy stuff and generally bustin my ass.......I sweat like crazy in a short amount of time. When I go in the house I'm completely soaked, flushed red and mouth feels dry as a desert.

I will then sit in front of a fan blowing and wipe the sweat with a towel as I drink three or four glasses of water in a few minutes, trying to get re hydrated.

So, what's the deal after surgery? Sipping just ain't gonna cut it. What do you do? Believe you me, I would love to just chill out relaxing and have someone else do all the work.......but it ain't happening. I don't want to be visiting the ER every other day by gurney to get hydrated by IV.

This will be important to the wife too, seeing as I might just have to have her do all the work......

The sipping thing only lasts the first month or two, until the swelling in your stomach goes down enough to permit normal drinking. Somewhere around two months out I noticed that I was drinking fairly normally between laps in the pool - maybe not chugging, but enough to keep up with demand. Also, you won't be (or shouldn't be!) doing that much heavy work those first couple of months, either, as you let things heal up and get your strength back. Another offsetting factor is that you will probably find that you won't be sweating nearly as much as the weight comes off as you do now. There are several here who have gotten into doing marathons, so hydrating ability is pretty much normal once things get settled. My thing is playing with racecars, and I was able to do several practice sessions in a day (in September,) after about four months - think in terms of doing three or four 5k runs in a day - and hydration then was no more of an issue than ever.

And, yes, it can be a good excuse to get your wife to do some of the work for a while as you recover!

I only sipped for around 5 days. Than I was up to 8oz an hour and I can easily take 16oz an hour if I want to now. Everyone is different but I truly believe persistence pays off. I was bound and determined I was not getting dehydrated and I had to be released back to school by day 10 so I worked my butt off to get there. I carried my hospital cup at all times and a back up if necessary. I would say by 9am I will drink 4 oz and by 11 I will be here etc...

Oh and I'm 4 weeks post op, by 7 days post op I was getting 65oz a day by 10 days 110oz a day. Once I added food it slowed down a bit and week 2 I averaged 65oz and I'm around 80-90 now. 125oz was my avg pre op.