I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. I would recommend three things to do if you haven't already done them.

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.

Thank you so much, James. I've seen your posts elsewhere here and appreciate you taking the time to offer me advice!

I will definitely be taking a before picture! I don't have a good picture of me at my highest weight, but I can see a major difference when I look at old pictures. I do wish I had a good, full body before, just so I could see how far I've really come.

I hadn't cut out coffee yet, but you are right. I need to do that ASAP! How long do you have to wait post op for coffee?

You can have decaf coffee soon after surgery. But you will probably want to wait a year before you get back on caffeine again. Caffeine may intellectually challenged your weight loss.

13 hours ago, makemyownluck said:

I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

I'm having Gastric Bypass on Tuesday and I'm a nervous wreck. I'm having it done in Mexico, so the stress of traveling is adding to it. I gave up caffeine 2 weeks before my liquid diet because I was a total Mt. Dew junkie and it was HARD! Glad I did it early! My only problem is that after about 5 days into my pre-op diet I started getting really fatigued just walking to the other end of the house, and also a little light headed when I stand up. I was active before the diet so it's making me a little crazy! I haven't taken a picture yet, I've been hiding from the camera so long it's kinda weird, lol!

I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

I'm on the 13th also! Good luck

Hi guys! My surgery actually got bumped up to Monday 9/11 because of a scheduling issue with my surgeron. So I'm 3 days PO now, and feeling ok! How's everyone else doing?

On 9/6/2017 at 8:25 AM, makemyownluck said:

I'm having my surgery on September 13th, one week to go! Who else is having surgery that day? How are you doing? What's on your mind as you prepare for the big day?

Just yesterday.....wow! How are you doing?

I start my liquid diet this coming Monday & my By~Pass is on the 25th, the following Monday. It was just changed from the Sleeve to the By~Pass. I'm so excited!!!!!! We are lucky that we live in this day & age when there is such surgeries to save our lifes.................. Thinking of you!

So glad to hear all is going well, is everything going the way you expected? I am one week away today for my RNY and feeling all kinds of emotions. Would love to hear how things are going g when you feel up to it. [emoji847]

On 9/14/2017 at 10:30 AM, Deeme said:

Just yesterday.....wow! How are you doing?

I start my liquid diet this coming Monday & my By~Pass is on the 25th, the following Monday. It was just changed from the Sleeve to the By~Pass. I'm so excited!!!!!! We are lucky that we live in this day & age when there is such surgeries to save our lifes.................. Thinking of you!

17 hours ago, dreamingahead said:

So glad to hear all is going well, is everything going the way you expected? I am one week away today for my RNY and feeling all kinds of emotions. Would love to hear how things are going g when you feel up to it.

Hi ladies! I'm feeling pretty good. I did come home with a surgical drain, which my surgeon said is because it was a revision. They also ended up needing to repair a hiatal hernia we didn't know about prior to surgery, and I had a myotomy, so because of the multiple surgeries, the drain was necessary. When I had my sleeve, I didn't need one.

In the hospital, I was pretty out of it the following day. It was a combo of needing to rest and heal and the strong pain meds they were giving me. My surgery wasn't until 1pm and took about 3 hours, so I didn't do much that evening after surgery but get settled in to sleep. Slept most of the next day, but in the evening I was up and walking and trying to get fluids in. I did end up staying two nights just because I didn't get close to my fluid intake goals the day after surgery because I slept so much.

So, here I am, 4 days PO. I am wearing an abdominal binder, partially to keep the drain from swinging around, but also it helps not pull on the incisions when I move. I only have one real painful incision, on my left side. They said it was the biggest, the one the camera went in, and it's the only one that has a stitch in it, which pulls a bit when I stand up or sit down. It's not terrible pain, but I have zero pain from the other incisions, so it's noticeable.

I'm having to remind myself to drink my protein drinks because I'm not hungry at all, as expected. But when I do remind myself to get it in, I'm not having any issues with digesting it, or nausea, etc. I didn't experience that after my sleeve, either, so I might just be lucky with that, I know it can be bad for some people. (I also never had morning sickness, apparently my stomach can handle anything, lol) I'm moving around well, I really just have trouble bending over. I can crouch to pick something up quickly, but I can't bend for a long time to like, wipe up the floor, or something like that.

I have been fortunate enough to have help with my 2 year old so I can rest during the day. Normally I'm a stay at home mom, so it's been weird to be without my son all day, but I know I couldn't keep up with him all day alone. He is very much a mamas boy who wants to crawl on me and snuggle and I am just paranoid he's going to unintentionally hurt me.

I haven't had any nausea or vomiting or lightheadedness. It's really been a smooth recovery so far, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the scale move down. I've decided to weigh myself no more than once a week, I weighed myself before I went home and was up 5lbs from swelling and water retention from the IV fluids. I knew the scale would go up, but I was curious how much it had.

I'm happy to share anything else if you have specific questions, but just know, the worst of it is the day of and day after surgery, but you will be medicated to handle it. Don't hesitate to ask for help from nurses for anything and focus on being rested just as much as you focus on fluids and walking around. You have to have a balance and you will only recover when you rest! It gets better every day, and it's all worth it in the end. I had my sleeve and lost 150lbs in a little over a year. (I was high starting weight, so even with that loss, I still have about 100lbs to go) I'm really curious to see how much more I can lose and if it will come off as quickly since it's a revision.

Just yesterday.....wow! How are you doing?
I start my liquid diet this coming Monday & my By~Pass is on the 25th, the following Monday. It was just changed from the Sleeve to the By~Pass. I'm so excited!!!!!! We are lucky that we live in this day & age when there is such surgeries to save our lifes.................. Thinking of you!

I'm the same date as you! Start my liquids tomorrow after my EDG that is first thing tomorrow morning....