Excited /nervous about to have it done

[Christinam1287 5]

I'm scheduled to have surgery April 19! I'm so excited yet so extremely nervous about the after! The doctor made it sound like I'd be ok ( I've had 2 c sections) but the dietitian made it sound like I'd be in hell ( excuse the language) !! I'm active now and have a pretty high pain tolerance. But I'm just super nervous about the following week to month after surgery . I joined a few FB support groups but they have done nothing but scare me even more! Any advise or comments about after surgery?

[James Marusek 5,238]

Since you are at the beginning of this process, I would recommend three things.

1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.
2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.
3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

[nettajlong 12]

Me,too. April 19th.

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[Sweet as peaches 759]

James, those are great ideas.

[heatherba 2]

I had the gastric sleeve surgery back in December. The only pain I suffered was gas pain. You get that for atleast 2 weeks after surgery. But relax and listen to what james said and you will do good! good luck!

[Christinam1287 5]

I did stop all caffeine Wednesday! Finally headache free!![emoji1316]. The picture thing is a good idea!! I will most definitely be doing that!! And I try to walk every day. I coach a softball team and have 2 active kids so I stay pretty active I think! But I know I'm going to have to step it up after surgery so I got a treadmill to help with walking after as well.
Is it mostly just gas pain? Does the gas X work well?

[VSG4Mag 106]

I agree with James completely and was given the same advice prior to my surgery. I was a Starbucks junkie and gave it up, along with sugar and carbs leading into the pre-op diet.

EVERYONE is different. Just like childbirth, you hear the horror stories from some and the ones who gave birth and were cooking Christmas dinner later that day. It's exactly the same.

I went in the a "can-do" attitude bc the few personal people I knew were up and about so quick and easy. The one guy said he had NO pain and did 20 laps around the hospital floor right after surgery (and I spoke to him one week post-op). So I thought it would be the same for me....not so much. I got up ready to go 2 hours post op and fizzled out 1/2 way down the hall. Lol.

That being said, each time I got up I went further and faster and was out the next day at home.

I barely used the pain meds, but was definilty sore (but nothing horrible, I was just mostly weak and groggy) and my gas pains were GONE by day 3. I walked every day on my eliptical about 5 times a day for 5-25 minutes each to keep circulating and get the gas out.

I think it's good to know the extremes going into it, and hope for the best case scenario. That way you are prepared. But don't focus on the bad stuff...I'm not sure why people want to freak people out when they went through the same thing.

I remember the excitement leading up to it though, it was like getting married or having a baby-lol. But I was VERY scared. I never had a surgery before and I was second guessing myself thinking something bad would happen and it was just because I couldn't lose weight on my own. But I kept my eye on the prize and know that the risk was with the reward. And my kids would have a better mom and my husband would have a better wife (not just my body, but my lifestyle and health).

Im just over 2 weeks out and I feel better already (of course I was prepping for a month or so prior to surgery so it's been about 6 weeks of better habits).

Good luck to you!

[Christinam1287 5]

Thank you so much for the info!! I'm glad to finally hear good outcomes ! I feel like I need to stop following the FB groups bc it's nothing but complaining and horror stories!

[VSG4Mag 106]

6 minutes ago, Christinam1287 said:

Thank you so much for the info!! I'm glad to finally hear good outcomes ! I feel like I need to stop following the FB groups bc it's nothing but complaining and horror stories!

Just to add to the goodness...

I was back at work feeling good 7 days post op and just survived (and thrived) in Disney World for 5 days (ending today) I had my Premier Protein delivered to the hotel from costco and the garden grocer delivered some other post op friendly foods that I packed each day for the parks. I felt totally fine, went on most of the rides and walked a TON

i barely lost any weight, but I got my period today, so that's not bad considering I usually put on 3-5 pounds Water weight PMS. Hoping for a big loss in the next week.

[Sajijoma 1,324]

Congratulations on the start of your journey. The surgery itself without complications is a walk in the park compared to a csection, BUT the NUT is right in that there is another form of hell you have to go through. The surgery changes the size of your stomach, but not your brain and those first few days a i so badly wanted to lick food just for the taste. It was so hard and I had no real support at home so it was very hard. If it wasn't for all the cautionary tales my NUT had given me, I wouldn't know just how "normal" all this was and got through it knowing it was just temporary.

[yeloroz 0]

I'm scheduled to have a DS in a couple months and I'm scared to death. I got on the forum to see if I could get some encouragement, but now I'm more discouraged than ever and I think I'm going to back out of the surgery. My life revolves around food and I do NO exercise at all. After hearing all the stories, I can't even imagine how miserable I'll be after surgery. Sounds like I will have a terrible time to recover and I have a very stressful job. I may just go back on low carb and hope I can keep the weight off this time. :-(

[Strivingforbetter 245]

I've had four c-sections and they were a lot more painful than the DS surgery. I'm one month post-op and feel great. I hardly used any pain medication in the hospital and was completely off it by day three. I was out running errands by day 6. The most painful surgery I've ever had was a total knee replacement. The DS isn't bad at all. The recovery is easy once you get off the liquid diet.