I've never written in a forum before so please be nice

I'm 24 in Duluth, Minnesota and having my gastric sleeve on March 20th. I start the two week liquid diet on March 6th. I'm nervous about everything! I'm the kind of person that needs to know all the details and I feel unprepared. Tell me everything that happens and what you wish you knew going in. My surgeon says I'll be out same day I won't spend the night in the hospital is that true? How fast will I lose weight? Do you lose a lot in the liquid diet? What do I bring with to the hospital? Is it possible the surgery won't work? And anything else you can think of I'm a nervous wreck. Thank you

Mine is Monday. A lot depends on how much you have to lose. My surgeon keeps us in one night but every doctor is different. Read the boards and talk to your doctor. Writ down your questions. Where are you having yours done?

Duluth, Minnesota St Lukes Hospital

Do you have a two week liquid diet too?

Edited February 28, 201511 yr by JaimeReid

Yes. It's, killing me lol

I'm in Louisville ky

I've lost 30 lbs on the 3 mo diet.

Not sure what I've lost on the 2 week one

First of all, just a general disclaimer: everyone is different, so while this is my experience, yours may be different.

Good luck on your 2 week liquid diet. The first 2-3 days will be your hardest. By day 4, I wasn't hungry or anything anymore. It'll suck, but you'll get through it and have lost some weight. I, personally, lost 12 pounds during my 1 week liquid diet pre-op.

I didn't pack anything for the hospital since I planned on going home, and we live close enough for my husband to pick up anything I may need if I had to stay over night. My husband brought his laptop since he stayed with me the whole time. I reported to the hospital at 5 in the morning and was in the OR by 7. I was in the prep room for about an hour. I woke up at about noon feeling no pain only nausea. Nausea and gas were the only "pains" I ever had from surgery, and the nausea was actually from the anesthesia and the pain meds that I was given afterwards.

I lost pretty steadily for the first 3 weeks, though the loss didn't start until about day 2. I attributed that to the gas they pumped into my stomach. The pain that I felt in the recovery week was gas pains. I expected the pain in my chest, but what I didn't expect was the gas pain in my shoulder. Gas-X helped for the chest pain since it made me burp, but nothing I could take helped with the shoulder pain. What I ended up doing was putting a heat pack on my shoulder to help a bit. Another thing I didn't know until the class before my surgery was that my surgeon required an additional 3 weeks of liquids after surgery. I just about went crazy by the end of the 2nd week since I had already had 1 week of pre-op liquids under my belt.

I was extra careful when showering because my staples were super annoying. Once my incisions started to heal, they itched like crazy! My surgeon's office told me to put some benadryl anti itch cream on it. Well, it worked...until I had an allergic reaction. But, it worked! I hated how itchy the incisions were.

So what I wish people told me before surgery:

* Wait until anesthesia wears off before taking pain meds because apparently, I don't do well with pain meds and just get nauseous.

* Prepare for a month of liquids. Protein shakes, Soups in between, sugar free Jello, etc. FOR A MONTH

* It's possible to get gas pains in the shoulder, and it's annoying. It's like a dull ache that you can't massage out.

* Healing skin itches A LOT. I actually couldn't sleep some nights because it itched so much!

Well I can't tell you EVERYTHING but I can tell you a few things about MY experience (not to be confused with what yours will be) I stayed in the hospital for two days. I have read about people being released the same day. It's not unusual. No one can tell you how fast you will lose weight or how much even on a liquid diet. That's impossible. I lost 12 lbs in the two weeks my pre-op diet was 3 protein shakes a day, Broth, sf jello and pudding. That's it. I don't know anyone who didn't initially lose weight. I'm pretty sure everyone does in the beginning. Now, wether you will lose a bunch little ect..Will really depend on your body and how much work you put into it. I know I'm not a ton of help but honestly I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. I'm 4 months post op and almost 60 lbs down. I don't Have any hunger sensor so I'm never hungry (not everyone has this happen) I'm not someone who can tell you about the exercising because I haven't really done any. I'm waiting for decent weather. I feel better now than I ever have. It's been a true blessing. I hope you have much success! Try not to stress.

There is a lot of information around this site already. Take a look at the Pre-Op forum for great advice.

You are the doctor's customer, so, do not hesitate to be your own advocate! If you need more information call the surgeon's office and get it. Insist on a consult appointment if necessary. You have plenty of time to get up to speed on this.

Good luck!

I have my surgery on the day. Liquid starts tomorrow. Good luck to us! I'm nervous too!

I'm pre-op too, and can tell you to do your research! This forum is a great place to start! I've used Google, and YouTube for Gastric Sleeve and found a lot of good info there! Plus, I downloaded "The Big Book of Gastric Sleeve" offered on this forum - it has a wealth of information! Good luck to all of you having surgery this month!

I'm hoping to be on the Losers Bench in June!

I was in the hospital for two nights. My insurance would have covered five.

I did not get staples. My incicions were glued, with steri-strips as extra closure.

Make a list of questions to ask you bariatric team. On my final pre-op appointment I had 17 questions.

The most important question for me was about the shoulder gas. Apparently CO2 is introduced in the abdominal cavity to expand the doctor's view of his instruments. The gas soon rises up into your shoukder area.

I asked him how does he managed the pain of the shoulder gas. His response was that he extracts as much of the co2 as possible befoe closing up. Judging from this forum, a lot of surgeons do not bother with that consideration. I had no shouder gas issues at all.

Go to youtube and watch some vidios on sleeve gastrctomy. That will give you a health respect for the process.

Yes, the bariatric books are helpful, especially that Big Book Of The Gastric Sleeve.

I was on a liquid diet for ten days pre-op. The second day was the hardest. Post-op I went right to full liquids for one week. Second week I started purees, third week was soft foods, at at the end of the first month (4 1/2 weeks)I started regular food as tolerated. Raw foods and leafy greens had to wait until three months.

Even though we have similar experiences with our surgeries, our doctors' timing and our recoveries are very individual.

Welcome neighbor! I live in Northwest Wisconsin, about an hour away from you. It is nice to meet someone close by. Good luck and see you on the losers bench soon.