Did anyone have to have their surgery rescheduled due to their liver being too fatty? Or did you have to have the open surgery? I'm so paranoid about this. I am doing the pre-op diet my surgeon prescribes but I keep thinking "What if it's not enough? I should have started earlier" (although I started 2 weeks prior as they told me to). I guess I'm just panicking a bit. Everyone talks like this is a really big deal but has it ever really happened to anyone? Thanks.

My surgeon has cancelled surgery due to people not following preop diet.

If you follow the diet you will be fine. Those people who don't follow are the ones who have issues. As long as you are compliant you will do just great.

My doctor didn't say I could reschedule, he just said if he goes in there and my liver is too big--they will do it open. And my liver was right over the edge of being too big when they first looked at it.

That scared the wits out of me, so I did my pre-op diet 2 weeks earlier than I was suppose to.. just to 'make sure'.

And anytime I wanted to 'cheat', I thought about the scar I could get, and the healing time.. and work I would miss..customers I'd lose...

Now, the scars I have I don't even think anything of them, and mine didn't heal the beautifull-iest (I guess it could still change), 2 of them looked like they ripped open and poof out, and they're all dark and noticable. But I really don't care!

Laura-What do you mean when they first looked at it? Did they do an ultrasound on your liver beforehand? Thanks.

Yes, they did an ultra-sound at my first consult (which at the time was 1.5 months pre-op.. but I didn't know that till later). I think it was 9cm, and 9cm was the cut-off for my doctor..

So he said no salt, no sugar, no fried foods to shrink it down. I started that day, a week later found out when my surgery was and got an official pre-op diet (which was only 1 week long for my doctor). But the day they said my liver was on the cut-off line, I adhered strictly. I counted SODIUM (which honestly is hard.. I never noticed how much sodium was in stuff).

Good luck

By surgery, my liver was in great shape lol.

And to add, I didn't cut out sugar & salt 100%. I DID cut out fried foods 100%. But sugar and salt, I just made sure they were very low for the day.. never ate a lot of sugar or salt in one meal, and made sure by the end of the day I did not have a whole lot. (Maybe 5g of sugar total for the day, and less than 300g of sodium).. and of course, never added salt to food.

My official pre-op diet was SSS for 4 days, then 3 days of liquid.

Soup, Salad, Sandwhich.. he said nothing complicated, but the sandwhich part confused me, I can put anything on bread and call it a sandwhich.. so I stuck to low-sodium soup and salads. Low-sodium broths and sugar-free jello on the liquids part...I was lucky, those 3 days flew by for me because I was so anxious to just get the surgery done.

I have a hard time believing that if our livers are too fatty and huge , that they can be shrinked down in 2 weeks time. It just seems it would take longer. I am a nurse and although this isnt my speciality, i have never heard of such before. I just wonder if it is just a scare tactic to get people started on the diet , so it will be easier for us to stick to it afterwards. Any knowledgeable medical people out there , please let us know if this is so . Thanks :help:

I found this on a British Obesity Surgery website in a fast google-

Some surgeons mandate a very restricted diet - one that is low in fat, sugar and carbohydrates - for one week prior to surgery and even if your surgeon doesn't ask you to follow this diet, doing so will increase your chances of your operation being completed laparoscopically because it will shrink your liver down in size. By following a strict diet, your body reduces its glycogen stores (glycogen is a form of sugar stored in the liver and muscles for energy). With each ounce of glycogen, the body stores 3–4 ounces of water, so when you follow a very strict diet, especially one that is low in starch and sugar, your body loses its glycogen stores and some water. The liver shrinks as it has less glycogen and water in it. This diet is only recommended for one week before surgery and is not to be followed post–operatively. It is quite possible you lose a lot of weight that week, but it will be mainly be water loss.

Well, an update on mine. My surgeon told my mom and DH after my surgery that my liver was still pretty enlarged. He said if I had not stuck to my pre-op diet and lost the 12 pounds I lost, he would not have been able to do the surgery. And, my surgeon is very skilled and experienced so if it was difficult for him, it probably would be for anyone.

SO STICK TO THOSE PRE-OP DIETS....EVEN IF THEY JUST HELP A LITTLE!!!

I've read a couple of people mention that their doc opened them up, saw their liver size and closed them up again. Told them to go on a diet and come back when they finished the diet. A lot of it depends on how strict the surgeon is.