Advice you wish knew before surgery

[RoxyFox87 16]

Hi everyone,

If everything goes well with my insurance, I will have surgery on 6/18/18! Now that I have a date, I feel like the pre-op process is drraaaaaggiiiiiiinnnngg. For those of you who are post-op, what do you wish you knew before surgery that would've made life easier? I feel like now in days people are more informed thanks to these kind of forums and support groups but you can never be too informed.

[Creekimp13 5,841]

Things I wish I'd know:

1. Surgery is not the hard part. It's one day of crazy and you hardly remember it. The hard part is the Pre-Surgical diet and the post surgical diet. Two weeks before and two weeks after when you pretty literally starve. It's hard. It challenges you. You get really tired of Jello. And chicken broth starts to taste like chicken armpit. Compared to the diet two weeks before and after....surgery is a blink.

2. That drinking 64 ounces of water....one ounce at a time, in twelve sips every 15 minutes....takes up your whole freaking day. It's a pain in the ass to have to think about it constantly for days....but you have to, or you'll end up in the emergency room with dehydration.

3. How good I'd feel. I was bracing myself for weeks of fatigue and misery...and I know some people do experience this. But doing my program to the letter and eating all the calories/protein/fluids I was supposed to......I felt terrific.

4. How alarmingly dry my mouth would be after surgery. We're talking sandpaper tongue. OMG, so dry! Weird!

5. That weight loss happens in fits and spurts....that you stall for weeks and suddenly lose seven pounds. That your body works against you to prevent itself from having too much rapid weight loss and has a ton of built in evolutionary defense mechanisms to fight famines and survive. (that are insanely maddening when you WANT to lose weight rapidly)

6. That sizes now are much bigger than they were when I was in regular sized clothes years ago. Today's size 16 is shockingly big compared to 20 years ago.

[FluffyChix 17,418]

^^^^This.^^^^

Wow. Just wow!!!

I only have 1 more to add:

7. Don't start worrying about piling on the food down your piehole until you are 300% sure you've TOTALLY and I DO mean TOTALLY cleaned out your poop chute from pre-surgery and anesthesia holocost survivors. I swear truth to the nth about this!

[TakingABreak 2,733]

Basically everything @Creekimp13 said.

The stalls are daunting! I lost 27 lbs in the pre op diet, then lost another 12lbs in the first week, and stalled for almost 2 full weeks. I was only 2 weeks post op at this point. I was terrified. I thought I'd gone through all of this for 39 lbs. But then, after having patience with my body, I started increasing my calories and working out. I've broken the first of many stalls!

I didn't have a hard time with drinking after about week one, meaning I could gulp by this point. I just had a hard time reminding myself to drink. Prior to surgery, it didn't matter. No one really thinks about how much liquid they are taking in throughout the day until they have bariatric surgery. Go figure. LOL

The fatigue is relentless. I mean, relentless. I remember going to the grocery store 2 weeks out and having to stop in the middle of the store and LEAVE MY CART. I just gave up. I couldn't go any further.

The biggest thing for me that I wish I knew was how much pain I was going to be in after surgery. I really struggled for the first 3 days. I was in the hospital for 5 days due to my bowls taking that long to wake up and pass gas. Now, this is probably why I had extended stay and pain. Also, I had a drain left in for 3 days as well, which was painful.

Edited March 7, 2018 by AshAsh1
typo

[TakingABreak 2,733]

Oh and I forgot to mention that you body goes under an IMMENSE amount of stress. I got shingles in the hospital from this stress. Take it easy and focus only on your recovery!

[RoxyFox87 16]

22 minutes ago, Creekimp13 said:

Things I wish I'd know:

1. Surgery is not the hard part. It's one day of crazy and you hardly remember it. The hard part is the Pre-Surgical diet and the post surgical diet. Two weeks before and two weeks after when you pretty literally starve. It's hard. It challenges you. You get really tired of Jello. And chicken broth starts to taste like chicken armpit. Compared to the diet two weeks before and after....surgery is a blink.

2. That drinking 64 ounces of water....one ounce at a time, in twelve sips every 15 minutes....takes up your whole freaking day. It's a pain in the ass to have to think about it constantly for days....but you have to, or you'll end up in the emergency room with dehydration.

3. How good I'd feel. I was bracing myself for weeks of fatigue and misery...and I know some people do experience this. But doing my program to the letter and eating all the calories/protein/fluids I was supposed to......I felt terrific.

4. How alarmingly dry my mouth would be after surgery. We're talking sandpaper tongue. OMG, so dry! Weird!

5. That weight loss happens in fits and spurts....that you stall for weeks and suddenly lose seven pounds. That your body works against you to prevent itself from having too much rapid weight loss and has a ton of built in evolutionary defense mechanisms to fight famines and survive. (that are insanely maddening when you WANT to lose weight rapidly)

6. That sizes now are much bigger than they were when I was in regular sized clothes years ago. Today's size 16 is shockingly big compared to 20 years ago.

Oh geez. I'm not looking forward to the pre-op liquid diet. I get awfully hangry when i dont eat and get horrible Migraines, luckily we dont have to completely starve. And I'm also glad my surgeon only requires a 2 day liquid diet. The Water part is extremely hard! I've been practicing sipping and not drinking with meals as recommended by my nutritionist. Thank you for your response

[RoxyFox87 16]

26 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

^^^^This.^^^^

Wow. Just wow!!!

I only have 1 more to add:

7. Don't start worrying about piling on the food down your piehole until you are 300% sure you've TOTALLY and I DO mean TOTALLY cleaned out your poop chute from pre-surgery and anesthesia holocost survivors. I swear truth to the nth about this!

Hahaha your response made me LOL!

Edited March 7, 2018 by RoxyFox87

[RoxyFox87 16]

19 minutes ago, AshAsh1 said:

Oh and I forgot to mention that you body goes under an IMMENSE amount of stress. I got shingles in the hospital from this stress. Take it easy and focus only on your recovery!

Oh wow! I'm sorry you had a rough recovery. After the initial 3 days did your bowls pass gas on their own or were you prescribed something? How long was it before you began feeling energized?

[FluffyChix 17,418]

4 minutes ago, RoxyFox87 said:

Hahaha your response made me LOL!

LOL, fail on this one and I swear, you will NOT be smiling when you're diggin this out! LOL!

[TakingABreak 2,733]

13 minutes ago, RoxyFox87 said:

Oh wow! I'm sorry you had a rough recovery. After the initial 3 days did your bowls pass gas on their own or were you prescribed something? How long was it before you began feeling energized?

They ended up giving me Milk of Magnesia to help the progression. It took a day and a half to kick in. I'm not sure why it took so long or why they waited so long to start me on something. Nonetheless, it didn't matter how much I walked I wasn't passing anything that first few days. I remember when the gas came though, lets just say, I'm glad all my visitors had gone out for dinner. It was loud and constant for about 15 minutes. Pack some type of febreeze or air freshener, while mine didn't stink necessarily, I felt better knowing that the room smelled fresh.

My energy returned about a month in. I'd say I was close to 100% coming back to work this week which was just past 6 weeks post op. I honestly don't know how people go back to work sooner. I knew I wanted to be fully past all my food progression stages before I was out in public for 8+ hours per day. You need time to experiment with foods. I still don't eat anything new unless I'm at home.

Edited March 7, 2018 by AshAsh1
typo

[RoxyFox87 16]

7 minutes ago, AshAsh1 said:

They ended up giving me Milk of Magnesia to help the progression. It took a day and a half to kick in. I'm not sure why it took so long or why they waited so long to start me on something. Nonetheless, it didn't matter how much I walked I wasn't passing anything that first few days. I remember when the gas came though, lets just say, I'm glad all my visitors had gone out for dinner. It was loud and constant for about 15 minutes. Pack some type of febreeze or air freshener, while mine didn't stink necessarily, I felt better knowing that the room smelled fresh.

My energy returned about a month in. I'd say I was close to 100% coming back to work this week which was just past 6 weeks post op. I honestly don't know how people go back to work sooner. I knew I wanted to be fully past all my food progression stages before I was out in public for 8+ hours per day. You need time to experiment with foods. I still don't eat anything new unless I'm at home.

That's an awesome idea! I will definitely pack some air freshener! I have a super low pain tolerance and i'm afraid of the pain. I dont know how people go back to work sooner than 2 weeks! That was actually my next question/topic i was going to post haha.

[TakingABreak 2,733]

Just now, RoxyFox87 said:

That's an awesome idea! I will definitely pack some air freshener! I have a super low pain tolerance and i'm afraid of the pain. I dont know how people go back to work sooner than 2 weeks! That was actually my next question/topic i was going to post haha.

My surgeon recommends 4 weeks minimum. If you feel great after 2 weeks, go back sooner. But I'd plan on 4-6 weeks.

As far as the pain, everyone's experience is different. 90% of my pain was in the hospital. Coming home, it was just soreness. Nothing that I couldn't handle with some Tylenol.