Alright we talk about clear food and mushy food after surgery, and I think I have the hang of it now.:hungry: But my question is this:

What will it be like when I get home?

You see I was picturing myself all tucked up in bed with my blender, TV, and books just chillin' like a villian for about a week after my surgery. (You see I did not want to do anything that would cause further discomfort, pull stitches, or mess with the band.:crutch:) I even planned on renting on the DVDS I haven't watched all year! Man it was going to be a sweet deal! sleeping, watching, drinking, and reading...yeah.

But I have been reading some of the posts you folks have been posting and my dreams of chilling have been crashing. What's this I hear about gas pain?:omg:

Seriously, how soon after the surgery should I be up moving my butt around? When did you start walking after the surgery? How did you walk for? Currently, I can walk for about 3 hours straight with no problem, but I am betting that that is not such a hot idea after the operation, huh? I just need some feed back about your experience after the surgery and what helped the most.

Hey and if anyone says that they went to Hawaii I will be TOTALLY down with that!

I am now 11 days post op, and I can tell you that they encourage you to get up and move as much as you can. This helps with gas pains, and to make sure you do not encounter problems with blood clots. For me, the gas was so uncomfortable in my chest and back that I could not sit still for long. I had to get up and move around and when I did I felt better.

I went into surgery around 2p & I was up & walking the halls of the clinic by 7p. The next day after I was released my DH took me shopping for a couple hours, so that I wouldn't just lay in the bed. The gas pain will be so bad that you aren't going to be comfortable laying down & I found that even sitting was uncomfortable at times.

On the way home from the hospital, we stopped at Walmart and according to the pedometer, I walked about 1.5 miles. I found that walking helped with the gas pains and made me tired so I could sleep at night. As far as the bed, I also found the recliner was better for the first 4 days. It was easier than climbing out of bed. Take it a little easy since you wont have a lot of energy while on the liquid diet. ...Dave

Hello

Well from my experiance I was up and about the same day , walking to the kitchen, bathroom, gas pains were not bad at all for me but everyone is different with their post-op. The 2nd day I was up and walking out side, 3rd day went to the 99 cent store, 4th day went shopping for about 3 hrs. The first couple of nights I slept kinda sitting up ( didn't want to hurt anything ) now I'm sleeping more on my back but still not on my side like I usually do.

I didn't get gas pains until about day four or five. For me, it was a pain right in the middle of my chest...nothing in the shoulder or back. I laid around a lot and did a lot of sleeping myself. However, I opted for the chair or sofa because it was easier than the bed. I went for little walks, down the street and back to my house. Everyone is different, but if you want lots of rest, you will get it. I do encourage many small walks during the day to keep those blood clots away. Good luck.

I actually chilled about 24 hours. But that being said, I was up and walking around, fending for myself, getting to the kitchen to provide my own sustenance and marching around the house within a few hours of getting home (first a nap). My gas actually hit me surgery day while I was still in recovery, but didn't settle in to be a real "pain in the shoulder" until the first night. It lasted about 2 weeks. I found that by day three I was getting a little bored with sitting around because frankly other than the gas (manageable with the pain meds and walking) I basically had no discomfort.

I am 5 days post-op, and I have almost no pain. Gas pain in the shoulder lasted three days, and at times it really sucked. Pain immediately post-op was minimal, and I would say it never got above a 4 in a 1-10 scale. I sleep on my side or stomach now, the incisions look ok, and I'm barely hungry. The only time the urge to eat REALLY hits is when I see other people eating food I used to love. However, that is slowly abating as well. The only thing I truly want right now is a change in taste and texture of food, as the liquid diet is pretty limiting. All the medicines and drinks I have seem to either be cherry or berry in flavor, and it's not the good flavored items either. I haev always hated fake sugar items, and it's going to take a while to get used to teh nasty taste and after-taste they have. Splenda may be my long-term friend, but I dislike it in the short-term.

Alright so nobody mentioned Hawaii as part of the recovery; I can deal with that. I totally understand that this will not be "Queen Amy"-with-a-bell situation that I am dealing with here.:eek: (Speaking of queens...I am a real drama queen!)

I am going to take all your good advice to heart and if there is pain I am going to walk, and take good care of MYSELF.

(Alas, don't tell my husband...I have him believeing that I must be pampered during my recovery! So, shhhh....:zip: