Big Decision to Make

[attagirl 2]

Hello!

I'm facing a bit of an emotional roller coaster in scheduling my surgery vs. waiting. My surgery is not scheduled yet, I'm anticipating mid to end of March. My dilemma? Mid May, my wonderful husband of 16 years and I are going on a 7 day Caribbean cruise. Its been scheduled for quite some time now and will be our first trip alone-we didn't honeymoon- and this is my first cruise. In estimating the timing, I would possibly be cruising 7-9 weeks post-op if I proceed with scheduling.

The thought of sitting at a romantic dinner in the main dining hall, feeling confident in a cute black dress (cuz I've lost 20-30lbs maybe)...then I puke in my plate because I couldn't handle the food!! We're not "partyers", but a glass of champagne with my love on a moonlight stroll would be wonderful...and a mimosa with Breakfast. Both would be out post-op.

I'm also very concerned about dehydration. I've read everyone is different in how they handle Water, but I over-heat easily, I have had a mild heat stroke in the past, and the fear of dehydrating while on a shore excursion and winding up in the ER in a foreign country does not sound like fun .

I've struggled all my life with my weight and am so tired of feeling imprisoned in this body! Weighing the pros and cons back and forth is beginning to stress me out.

How were you with real food 8-9 weeks? Should I wait and schedule when we get back or do it? Any thoughts, advice, and opinions are greatly appreciated!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Based on my experience, food-wise, by 7-9 weeks I was out of the liquid/soft phases and cleared to try most (if not all) foods.

Personally, Intake the no alcohol rule vey seriously. Even if you are someone who doesn't, 7-9 weeks post-op would be way to early. You are still healing.

As long as you are able to get in all of your Protein and fluids then you should be fine. The challenge will be not getting behind, especially with your fluids.

But, you are going to have to do that whether you are on a cruise or not.

As long as you don't have any complications, or have any other issues, I would think you would be fine. By that time your incisions should be healed so you will be able to swim, etc.

Just to be safe, be sure to let your surgeon know of your plans.

Also, take his contact info so that if you did wind up in a hospital, you can loop him in on what is going on.

Whenever you decide to go, I hope you have a wonderful time!

[JamieLogical 8,727]

I was cleared for all foods except crunchy foods and nuts at 40 days post-op. You should definitely try to get a hold of your surgeon's food phase guidelines to see where you might be at 7-9 weeks post-op. I doubt you'll be throwing up at the dinner table at that point unless you have some sort of serious complication. I never threw up once post-op. I did have two bouts of dry heaving the day after surgery, but that was it.

As for Water intake, I only had issues with that in the first two weeks post-op while I had a lot of internal swelling. As soon as the swelling went down, I was able to drink Water pretty normally, though I did find that I was more sensitive to the temperature than pre-op. I could do hot beverages like tea and broth. Or ICE cold water. If there wasn't literally ice floating in it, then it would sit very heavy in my stomach for what seemed like forever.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

If you like seafood, you should be able to eat a decent amount of fish/crab/shrimp at that point.

I'm not sure I would roll the dice on how well I will feel post op for such an important trip. Can you have surgery after the trip?

[attagirl 2]

Thanks for the input!, At this moment I'm leaning towards waiting until we get back. Hubby hasn't had a vacation in a year, and if I can't drink he won't want to have drinks in front of me...he's that sweet. And unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of seafood.

[Momwith3minions 52]

I am in the same boat.

Cruise is scheduled end of May. I should get my approval for surgery for beginning/mid April. I do not want to push surgery back. However, I also don't want to be still healing from major surgery. I am leaning towards waiting. The thought of being a smaller size on embarkation is tempting though.

[Momwith3minions 52]

@@attagirl I'm curious what you decided to do about your vacation. I was sleeved 4/7. We are sailing on a 7 day cruise in 6 weeks. I spoke with my bariatric surgeon before committing to the surgery before the cruise. He seems to think I will be fine to go in 6 weeks. Looking forward to getting past this healing stage. I'm cruising in 43 days.

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[Dawnie Doo 184]

I'm waiting for approval, then scheduling. I'm going to Jamaica in May. I will not schedule my surgery before then! If I were you, I would wait. I got very sea sick on my last cruise due to the excessive bumpy ride. I would not combine that with surgery, sips of Water, and an empty stomach. Just my thoughts!

Edited April 9, 2016 by trinity33

[ToGodBeTheGlory 1]

My husband had book a trip to Mexico for mother's day, but my surgeon told me that's not a goood idea. I would be 4weeks and a few days post-op. He said i should wait at least 3mnths after before i travel, he also said in that time i will be more familiar with what foods work with my new stomach. So we put it off until November which is both our birth month. I think i would wait if it was me. We went on a cruise in December and it was amazing.

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[NTXGal 1]

I have actually decided not to do the surgery. In my opinion, I feel like God closed the door. I was self pay, cash, so that wasn't the issue. I went through the sleep study, nutrition class, stress test, EKG...all of

Those cleared and food...and then my coordinator quit replying to my emails and returning my calls. Left voice mails for two weeks asking what was the next step...and two emails. She finally called me back to say they needed a form from heart dr, which was faxed two weeks earlier. Called heart dr, they said they faxed it three times. Called her back, she says "let me call them and I'll get back to you this afternoon." That was mid February. No call, follow up, email, nothing. I decided a I wasn't going to continue beating on a door that I felt like God was closing. Of all the thousands of reviews I have read for this office were all wonderful; with the exception of two or three that said they felt like they had to "push" the process and constantly follow up to keep the process moving. Makes me wonder what happened to my file? Should have been on her desk, or someone's desk. Anyway, I placed it in God's hands and they never called so I moved on.

I've been working with a personal trainer 4 days a week, do 40 minutes on my treadmill 4-5 days and week and eating healthier. I've lost 21lbs since mid Feb. It's a slower journey, but with the money I saved from the surgery I can afford the personal trainer for a year and a half! I wish you all the best and I'm still looking forward to me cruise! Two sizes smaller

[Montana Gal 448]

@@NTXGal, I am glad you came to a decision using your "gut feelings", I have learned lately that following our intuition when it comes to life's decisions is so important! My gut told me to keep pushing, I felt I had to do all the leg work for my bariatric clinic and constantly call and push for things to get done. All the pushing was worth it in the long run. The good thing about the decision you made is you can change your mind at anytime if you begin to feel this current path is not working well for you(I hope it does;-)!!!Good luck to you and keep coming back for support.

[Wayward Traveler 135]

I have actually decided not to do the surgery. In my opinion, I feel like God closed the door. I was self pay, cash, so that wasn't the issue. I went through the sleep study, nutrition class, stress test, EKG...all of

Those cleared and food...and then my coordinator quit replying to my emails and returning my calls. Left voice mails for two weeks asking what was the next step...and two emails. She finally called me back to say they needed a form from heart dr, which was faxed two weeks earlier. Called heart dr, they said they faxed it three times. Called her back, she says "let me call them and I'll get back to you this afternoon." That was mid February. No call, follow up, email, nothing. I decided a I wasn't going to continue beating on a door that I felt like God was closing. Of all the thousands of reviews I have read for this office were all wonderful; with the exception of two or three that said they felt like they had to "push" the process and constantly follow up to keep the process moving. Makes me wonder what happened to my file? Should have been on her desk, or someone's desk. Anyway, I placed it in God's hands and they never called so I moved on.

I've been working with a personal trainer 4 days a week, do 40 minutes on my treadmill 4-5 days and week and eating healthier. I've lost 21lbs since mid Feb. It's a slower journey, but with the money I saved from the surgery I can afford the personal trainer for a year and a half! I wish you all the best and I'm still looking forward to me cruise! Two sizes smaller

Wow - that's fantastic - good for you! Keep up the great work!! If you can do it on your own, that's definitely the way to go. I was always too chicken for surgery so I did it on my own too. But, long story short, I hit some snags along the way and no longer could do it myself. Down 65 with another 50- 70 to go, I decided to get a gastric balloon. It was not as scary to me as surgery since it does not permanently alter your anatomy, so I thought maybe that was the happy medium that I needed to lose the rest. So far so good, 2.5 weeks in. Everyone's journey is their own ... glad you're doing what's best for you. Best of luck with your continued success!!

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