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Items to bring to hospital?



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I'm having the gastric sleeve on 3/12. I want to know what everyone brought to the hospital and what they wished they brought.

HW: 443

CW: 390

GW: 180

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What I took:

sleep bra, comfy sweats/workout clothes for walking the hall and wearing home, my robe, my pillow - hold against your stomach for the ride home and I sleep better with my own pillow, chapstick and biotene mouth swabs - your mouth is going to feel dry as dust from anesthetic, phone and charger, slippers (or wear hospital slipper socks), toiletries - lotion, deodorant, etc.

Ask the anesthesiologist for scopolamine patch for nausea - works great.

Walk as soon as you can, sip, and walk and blow in that 'respiratory thing', and sip and walk and then nap.

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Biotene mouth spray/swabs/etc. Worst dry mouth of my life....sandpaper tongue. Horrible.

Chap stick!

Lounge pants/PJ bottoms to put on under your hospital gown. Don't bother with too many things with sleeves....you'll have an IV. Once it's out or capped, you can wear normal clothes. (Typically right before you go home)

Phone charger.

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Things I brought and used: My CPAP, a nightshirt, a book, my phone.

Things I brought and did not use: Several changes of clothing, my toothbrush.

I wouldn’t bring too much in the way of entertainment, I found I didn’t really have the energy to read or do much besides catnap and watch television.

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Thank you all!

HW: 443
CW: 390
GW: 180

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The things I brought and actually used:

Lip Balm

Toothbrush/toothpaste

Mouthwash

Long phone charger

Sweats for discharge day

Slip on cozy slippers

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Things I brought and actually used:

Lip balm

Tooth brush and paste

Long, long phone charger

Extra pillow from home

A portable fan (I thought I was going through menopause at 28) My husband brought me one that clipped onto the side of the bed.

Larger wasted pants. Anything resting on my stomach was uncomfortable. Leggings did not cut it.

Shower things. We traveled for my surgery so my husband brought his from the hotel, but I never thought I'd shower while I was there. Day 3, I was showering. I was also there for 5 days.

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17 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

Biotene mouth spray/swabs/etc. Worst dry mouth of my life....sandpaper tongue. Horrible.

Chap stick!

Lounge pants/PJ bottoms to put on under your hospital gown. Don't bother with too many things with sleeves....you'll have an IV. Once it's out or capped, you can wear normal clothes. (Typically right before you go home)

Phone charger.

Biotene for sure! That was a great thirst quencher.

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Took and USED:

- Chapstick, #1 by far

- Light, stretchy capri-length sweatpants (workout pants actually, sweatpant material)

- sugar-free Ricola drops....was SOOOOOO DRY from the oxygen they kept me on through day 1 and night!

- Phone

- Listerine and GasX Strips

- Deodorant, Toothbrush/Paste

Took and did NOT use:

- My own slippers and robe

- Book (read during pre-op, couldn't stay awake long enough to read much after surgery)

- Makeup (Seriously?!? :D )

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Check with your hospital because I wasn’t allowed to take anything that could be considered medical without orders from the doctor and that included gasX, biotene and even throat lozenges. They got me an order for lozenges and they then provided them for me.

I loved having my own pillow there (use a different color than white for the case so it doesn’t get mixed up).

Also used my phone and iPad and charger.

They gave me a kit that included toiletries and chapstick, ear plugs and even a notepad and pen!


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I used their toothpaste and tooth brush even though I brought my own cause I was so drugged and lazy. Used my phone all night since I couldn’t sleep. Used my iPad the next day because I had to sit with a tray and eat a certain amount of liquids before discharge. Lip balm is the ultimate

Went home in the clothes I arrived in. Wasn’t allowed to put on clothes until I was checking out. For walks I wore a second robe around my shoulders plus I didn’t give two shits. No slippers. Used their grippie socks. Brought a book and laptop plus a change of clothes and pull over bra. Used none of it.

Also brought my own pillow that I didn’t use till I sat in the chair the following day. My savior was a fluffy throw I brought and held against my stomach during the night.

Also, eye mask and small fan to block out all the hospital noises.


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Thank you all for your help!

HW: 443
CW: 390
GW: 180

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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