I hear all the great stories after surgery and weight loss. I need to know everything! Has anyone had any complaints/complications? Please be honest.

Is there a particular surgery you are considering?

Sleeve

Well for me the biggest complaints were the hoops you have to jump through before the surgery, which of course vary by insurance company. After 7 months of tests and classes the procedure itself was pretty minor. That said unfortunately how you react to the procedure and your tolerance for some level of pain/discomfort afterwards seems to make all the difference. For me I was off of the pain meds by day 4 and feeling at 95% (back to work) by day 5. Other folks find that themselves with lingering pain which for them leads to a tiredness and weak feeling that can slow down their recovery (after pain takes a lot of energy out of you).

On top of that things like the preop liquid diet are a chore and not generally a pleasant experience and after surgery the folks that are afflicted with "Head Hunger" tend to have a more difficult time with food limitations immediately post op.

Yes, the hoops games is horrible. I’m like you can take my whole uterus out in a matter of a week. Scheduled and surgery. But me to lose weight I need everything under the sun.

I guess I’m scared of the big “D” word.

Honestly, I never even thought about the "D" word (which I'm assuming is Death and not Diet). These procedures are so routine now that that isn't even a real risk. I think for VSG it's like 1 in 2500, and like 1 in 400 for any kind of serious complication. That said my general rule post surgery is get your ass out of the Hospital as soon as you can, you will feel much better and you eliminate the risk of hospital infection (which is a much bigger risk IMO)

So where are you in the process so far?

I guess I’m scared of the big “D” word.

I like you LOL! I’m a no nonsense type of person. I want to go home as quickly as I can. I have 2 C sections and was up walking the next day in pain of course but I had a baby to take care of. I’m pretty good with pain tolerance. I want to get on with my life. I have a 3 year old and 12 year old. I need to get back to my family. I wish I could do a 3 month dietitian thing. I’m just starting I only had one nutrition class. I kept putting it off because I was scared. At this point I’m over it I need to lose this damn weight. So my back can stop hurting.

Honestly the recovery is a lot easier than a C-section (or so I have been led to believe) so based on what you've said I don't think you really have to worry much on that end.

C Section is rough no doubt. I just kept pushing. Is the cardiologist part hard?

It depends on what you have to do. My cardiologist visit was basically just an EKG a quick high and the suggestion that if my cholesterol doesn't decrease after surgery I might want to come back to consider medication in... no joke... 10 years. Some folks have to do a stress test, but that's not so bad from what I understand. The biggest pain would be if you snore and they make you do a sleep study I would think. Honestly most of the testing was a little bit fun for me, since I had never done them before. I had to see the pulmonologist and they put me into this box to test my breathing and I was like "can I do that again, I think I can get a high score."

I see a cardiologist for my palpitations and I’ve had a stress test and nuclear stress.

I don’t snore.

For the most part these tests are all going to be to make sure your risks from anesthesia and surgery are mitigated and/or to document co-morbidities to make sure your insurance approves.

My cardiology consult-loved the doctor-plan to make her my permanent one. That said mine was much more intensive. I am an only child, mother died of congestive heart failure, father of a postrior wall infarct, in lay terms massive heart attack, back wall of his heart already weakened by prior heart attack, the last heart attack the back wall of his heart exploded, he bled to death in a minute or so. My older son, my middle child, died at 31 of an asending aortic aneurysm and dissection, when it ruptured also dead within a minute of so, when autopsy was performed his chest cavity was full of blood. See why,i had more intensive than average. I had already nuclear stress test, cardiac catheterization which isn't as bad as one might think. Super nice, super gentle, super skilled cardiologist. Add along with EKGs , abdominal and thoracic scans. Happy to say I passed very well, only abnormality I have is a slightly dialated aortic root. High normal range but still fit for surgery. Would not be surprised if there is a cardiologist present anyway in operating theatre. Okay this may be boring but,let me finish, Marfan's syndrome which my son had indications of has dominate inheritance. One parent has it in their grnes, even if the other does not you get it. Although I was diagnosed with very mild EhlersDanlos characteristics neither my late husband or I had Marfan's. I can explain by likening it to a jury trial, you can have a conviction, a decree of innocence, or a hung jury where there isn't enough evidence to render convction. Every attribute of Marfan either my husband or I showed. Yes neither had them all, so official thought there maybe a subgroup called marfanoid, recessive genes from both parents made up this child. OK one of the facets, an enlarged aortic root which is the bottom section of that artery coming out of heart. So obviously son's. was passed down from me. I could go down the list but hindsight being 20-20 we (my doctors and I) can put it all together. Now you've all had a mini course on Bariatric Pal. I am extremely lucky all facets of my own health at 72 are still good enough for surgery and I'm going forth H*** or HIGH Water towards my goal, and if there is truly a Heaven as I was always taught ,my Angel Son will be watching, giving me a thumbs up and smiling so much. He loved me as much as I loved him and after 10 years i so miss him still!?