Has anyone done this alone? I’m getting a gastric bypass and winging this alone. I have a friend to drive me to the hospital and pick me up. My family lives in another state. How did you handle this?

My mother did (With the sleeve) but I have to say my mother is the strongest lady I know (Of course, I'm biased). She was in her 60's when she had it done, and had almost no help. I wanted to help, but I live on the other side of the country. My mother has an extreme tolerance for pain - she slipped on ice, fell, tore her entire abdomen, then became septic. She went through a lot and personally, being ~2 weeks post-op, I would say it is almost impossible, but my mother showed me where there is a will, there is a way.

So I suppose if you were going to do it, I would suggest several things based on what I'm dealing with now, and what my mom went through:

Get yourself a lot of stretchy clothes. I would say at least 2 weeks worth, because it is painful to bend over to do laundry. Same thing with groceries, keep them all high on the counter. Get yourself a grabber tool from harbor freight as well as a cane. I would buy a bunch of disposable cups and put a day's worth of meds in each one before hand, so you don't have to stand up in the kitchen portioning them out. Make sure you have a lot of bed linens ready, or even put several layers on your bed so that instead of doing the laundry, you could peel off a layer. I'd make sure you have a lot of pillows easy to get to by your bed, and in your favorite chair in the living room. I'd recommend to clear off nightstands and end tables so that you can use them as soon as you get home without cleaning. Of course, get yourself some books, a kindle, laptop, movies (etc) for entertainment. Have your telephone or cell phone charger near your bed/chair so you can easily switch between the 2 locations.

My doctor wants me measuring urine, so make sure you can easily do so in your bathroom. Consider putting a chair in shower and if you don't have a tall toilet seat, then get a "booster" with handles.

These are all things that a second caregiver would handle for you, so I'd prep as much as you can to get you to the 2-week mark. I'm at the point where I could probably handle everything by myself if I needed to.

I hope this helps!

I did gastric bypass alone. I went to Tijuana, Mexico by myself and then traveled home 6 days later where I cared for myself for another 2 weeks. I did fine. The only things I did ahead of time were to clean the house thoroughly, do all the laundry, stock up on fluids & food per plan and other household essentials (tp, soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, etc), refill all prescriptions, fill up the gas tank in my car, and pay bills. Then all I needed to do during recovery was relax, walk, get in all my fluids, watch tv, read, and sleep. It turned out to be very uneventful.

The only concern is I’ll have the surgery in the am and be discharged later the following day. How did you feel the next day after. I’m pretty resilient.

On 7/21/2018 at 8:21 PM, CyclicalLoser said:

My mother did (With the sleeve) but I have to say my mother is the strongest lady I know (Of course, I'm biased). She was in her 60's when she had it done, and had almost no help. I wanted to help, but I live on the other side of the country. My mother has an extreme tolerance for pain - she slipped on ice, fell, tore her entire abdomen, then became septic. She went through a lot and personally, being ~2 weeks post-op, I would say it is almost impossible, but my mother showed me where there is a will, there is a way.

So I suppose if you were going to do it, I would suggest several things based on what I'm dealing with now, and what my mom went through:

Get yourself a lot of stretchy clothes. I would say at least 2 weeks worth, because it is painful to bend over to do laundry. Same thing with groceries, keep them all high on the counter. Get yourself a grabber tool from harbor freight as well as a cane. I would buy a bunch of disposable cups and put a day's worth of meds in each one before hand, so you don't have to stand up in the kitchen portioning them out. Make sure you have a lot of bed linens ready, or even put several layers on your bed so that instead of doing the laundry, you could peel off a layer. I'd make sure you have a lot of pillows easy to get to by your bed, and in your favorite chair in the living room. I'd recommend to clear off nightstands and end tables so that you can use them as soon as you get home without cleaning. Of course, get yourself some books, a kindle, laptop, movies (etc) for entertainment. Have your telephone or cell phone charger near your bed/chair so you can easily switch between the 2 locations.

My doctor wants me measuring urine, so make sure you can easily do so in your bathroom. Consider putting a chair in shower and if you don't have a tall toilet seat, then get a "booster" with handles.

These are all things that a second caregiver would handle for you, so I'd prep as much as you can to get you to the 2-week mark. I'm at the point where I could probably handle everything by myself if I needed to.

I hope this helps!

This is such a thoughtful, thorough response. Thank you for sharing.

I agree with @ValJean. What a thorough response, @CyclicalLoser. So many great tips! @kingcake, are you able to stay any longer in the hospital? I stayed for 3 nights by choice mostly because of fear of coming home too early and not having help, plus I adored the nurse team and loved all the pampering in the hospital. I did not have any help when I got home and pretty much did exactly what @MarinaGirl did to prep. I got bills paid for a couple months, deep cleaned my house, filled up my car up with gas and washed it, purchased all my post-op liquids for about 2 weeks, set up my bed so I could easily slide in when I returned, organized my vitamins, borrowed a toilet riser (a shower chair would have been nice at the beginning). I felt overly prepared and that's what helped me come home as I got to focus on just me. It was fun. I binged on Netflix and watched weight loss surgery YouTube channels and aside from daily walks in my neighborhood, I moved from bed to couch for the first 10 days. Lots of napping took place. This is your time for you and you don't need anyone. Just be prepared and get a couple bottles of liquid Tylenol. This way, when you ease off RX pain meds, you can begin taking Tylenol and start driving again. Congrats on your surgery! You're going to do great!