Hi Everyone,

I am scheduled for my GSV surgery on Aug 29th. I would like to ask all the post op folks a question.

"What is the one (or more) thing(s) you didn't know preop that looking back you wish you had of known?"

Thanks,

Amanda

That it would be difficult to get down much Fluid for the first few days and to not panic. Your tummy is healing and you must constantly sip a little to get as much as you can in.

To get my behind in the gym sooner for better results.

Something I knew but just want to pass along...take your measurements for the times the scale isn't moving and take pics. You will see changes even when the scale doesn't budge!

somehow I had the idea I would be sipping forever - which is not the case. Only sipping until the swelling in my stomach went down. It's much easier to be patient with the process when you have a good understanding of what is going on.

Gas pain in the chest and shouler area from the air/gas they use during the surgery. I wish I had known about this, I expected pain in the surgical area but not in the chest. I was scared I was having a heart attack when I woke up in recovery. But I wasn't, and all was well. Walk, move around as soon as you can after surgery...this will help a lot. Good luck to you on this amazing journey! You will do great!

Heads up shoulder gas......... That was one thing I asked my surgeon about. What do you do for pain management, and is there anything you can do to prevent this shoulder gas I am hearing about?

He said that the shoulder gas is caused by the CO2 that is used to plump up the sbdominal cavity during surgery so that he can more easily manipulate his tools and see what he is doing. He said that he would extract as much as possible.

Consequently, I had NO shoulder gas issue. Make sure you ask your surgeon about it - pre-op.

honestly I was super prepared going in. I had nothing that looking back I wish I knew ahead of time

It was my first surgery ever. So, it would have been nice to know that the worst part was not knowing what to expect. The surgery was the easiest part. The post-op recovery wasn't bad at all.

This form really had me prepared for my surgery.... Can't say anything was a surprise to me. Keep reading and learn as much as possible from the vets on here. Good luck !

I knew constipation was common after surgery but I didn't expect it to be as bad and painful as it is. I'm following the rules. Increased my water, exercising 5 days a week, etc. Not everyone has this problem but it was far worse than I ever expected it to be.

I wish someone would've told me to use Colace stool softener sooner. Who knew constipation could be so miserable! Good luck!

I wish I would've known how bad the cravings were going to be the first couple of days. Despite the fact that I wasn't really hungry I had INTENSE cravings for all of the junk I was eating pre-op as well as diet coke (I had a major addiction to diet coke).

That everyone loses at a different pace and not to get discouraged if at first you don't show huge lb drops on the scale. To echo another member, the tape measure is a great tool to judge your success. Stick to your program and everything will be fine.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App