Hello all!

I am very excited to say that I am just over a week away from my surgery date of January 16th. I am very excited and feel like I have everything planned out and bought for after my surgery. I was just wondering if anyone could provide any tips or wisdom they had learned the first few weeks after surgery that could be helpful for me. I also would love to hear anything about things you wish you would've known or things that you experienced that people don't talk much about.

Thanks in advance! I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Edited January 7, 20197 yr by Olive22

5 minutes ago, Naughty Glitter Goddess said:

I second the spreadsheet! These were my 2 best purchases:

This pillow doesn't escape out from under you like a stack of regular pillows. I had a HARD time getting in and out of bed due to the discomfort (also had hernia). This incline was a life saver. Also great turned on its side to sit up in bed. That really helped me when I needed to rest a bit but was too nauseated to lie down. Plus, my daughter slept on it for a few nights when she had a cold last month. Really helped her coughing!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009HHLBKK?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

Also useful for some adult cardio once you're healed up

12 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

Also useful for some adult cardio once you're healed up

My hubby has lost 75lbs this year and is sexy as hell. You bet your ass it's being put to good use!

Clean your house like you're ready to move out any day lol

When you return it will be such a sigh of relief, you won't have to do anything strenuous tedious and unnecessary.

Oh and read advice from Vets/ try to stay away from negativity

CONGRATS ?

5 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Clean your house like you're ready to move out any day lol

When you return it will be such a sigh of relief, you won't have to do anything strenuous tedious and unnecessary.

Oh and read advice from Vets/ try to stay away from negativity

CONGRATS ?

I'm in the process of doing this now! Pretty much cleaning the apt. top to bottom, making sure anything that requires a good set of eyes is especially taken care of. (Hubby is partially blind!)

Lots of great tips in this thread, thank you all! I definitely agree with staying on top of constipation. I'm dealing with that now with my pre-op diet, and I know it will be a thing after as well, so I'm trying to keep up with it and make sure everything works as 'smoothly' as possible.

17 hours ago, Olive22 said:

I'm definitely a spreadsheet person, so I think I may take your advice and start a spreadsheet to track everything. Thanks!

If you're a spreadsheet person, another one I created was for my weight. I log my weight once a week, then have it calculate my weekly loss, average weekly loss, total loss from my high weight, monthly loss (once a month), % from my high weight, loss from starting the pre-op liquid diet, loss from surgery, % EWL, and BMI.

I also have it chart my loss from my surgery date, with a trendline (so even if I lose less than I'd like one week, I can see that the trend is still good). I also created trendlines showing what it would look like to lose 60% EWL in 6 months and 12 months and 100% EWL in 12 months. I like seeing that my current trend is below all of those (although I know it could go above as I'm further out). It helps me keep it all in perspective.

17 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Thanks!

Here you go

Month 1	-17.8
Month 2	-16.2
Month 3	-14.2
Month 4	-8.4
Month 5	-12.6
Month 6	-9.4
Month 7	-12.2
Month 8	+2.8
Month 9	-10
Month 10	-6.4

That is amazing, congrats! I hope to see similar numbers

And just like I learned for myself, No protein shake is worth choking when you taste it or vomiting. There are other ways of getting protein in.

Here are some of my tips/observations from my surgery. I had GB on Nov 12, 2018.

1) Accept and treasure the pain medication. It's not a weakness to take the meds. If they end up making you a little nauseous don't give up, ask for some nausea meds to help balance it. The first 24-hours they will probably give you morphine and then after that a liquid hydrocodone. There is no reason for you to be in pain.

2) Walk as soon as you can (this is where the pain meds help). Walk the halls, walk around the room, move as much as you can.

3) For the first few weeks after your surgery, don't trust a fart, or rather trust that it will probably be accompanied by a little liquid. It's not a big deal and nothing drastic, just know that things happen.

4) The 3-4 days you are in the hospital after your surgery will fly by and you'll be home before you know it. I brought books, work, crosswords...didn't touch one of them the entire time I was in. I walked, slept, sat in a chair, played a game or two on my tablet, and gave a pool's worth of blood samples.

5) Last thing would be don't stress little pains. Pay attention to the things your doctor stresses like bloating in the belly, swelling in the legs, etc... But the minor pains and aches could just be part of the healing process and you won't really know what is what until you are a few weeks out and your body has healed some.

Dr Karlin

On 1/7/2019 at 7:28 PM, sillykitty said:

Also useful for some adult cardio once you're healed up

LMAO I already thought "Gee I can use my liberator for post-op recovery"

Had my surgery on Monday took seven hours to do my sleeve! Doing ok so far! It’s hard to get four oz in but I’m doing it takes a little longer though

I felt pretty good right after surgery but on day 2 post op was the worst. Once they removed my drain it was heaven.
I’m 3 months post op now. Losing steadily nothing huge but going down. I’m starting to like my scale again.

My doc prescribed all sorts of post op meds for pain etc, but I only needed Tylenol. But (or maybe butt), I had a horrible constipation problem with a golf ball sized chunk stuck. After 3 days of all sorts of laxatives and no relief and needing to clear problem immediately (husband was having brain surgery), I took gabapentine for nerve pain relief and my muscle relaxer. I was finally able to pass the plug. My advice - fill your Rx- you never know what you will need.

Had my sleeve on jan , 7 2019 felt pretty good but surgery took 7. 1/2 hours due to me having a acid reflux surgery in the past and I had developed another hernia and that was repaired! Was a little concerned about not going to the bathroom it seemed like I was full of food but I wasn’t getting rid of it but today things started moving and I feel better!

Still having a little trouble getting water and protein in