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So I am prepping for my robotic VSG on December 14th. Mentally I’m good so far. But I will be alone due to Covid, and will be spending the afternoon into the next afternoon at the hospital with out my rather large family. So I was wondering what you all brought with you. Things you brought to kill time, things to make recovery easier or things you had really wished you had brought with you but didn’t. I didn’t look to see if this had been posted before, but I am interested in knowing what you might suggest I bring and not forget to bring.

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Loose comfy clothes and head set

Key is to Walk Walk Walk the halls get moving

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I'm not sure you will need to bring much. You will sleep a lot after the surgery from anesthesia. I brought books and was too tired to read them.

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a phone charger and loose clothes.....walk walk walk to get rid of the post op gas and go home! piece of low carb cake!

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I brought my phone and laptop to kill time, but ended up sleeping pretty much my entire hospital stay! It was quite heavenly actually! I'd wake up, sip a little something, then fall right back to sleep!

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You won't get to change into pajamas because they'll have you hooked up to IVs and monitors, so just stay in the ugly hospital gown. Chapstick and lotion. Phone and charger. You'll be nauseous and not want to do anything but walk the first 24 hours.

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Shorts (so your arse isn't hanging out while walking) and something to entertain yourself (tablet/phone/book) and that's pretty much all you'll need. Wear something comfortable in the day of surgery and wear it back home.

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I brought a whole bunch of stuff that didn’t even make it out if the overnight bag.

The things I did use were:

  • Crocs (for walking the halls)
  • Biotene spray (for my sore, dry throat)
  • Lip balm
  • Small pillow (to hold against my stomach on the ride home: bumps on the road, ouch!)

If I wasn’t walking the halls, I was basically just sleeping.

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Pajama bottoms, iPad, phone, lip balm, and a charger with a long cord was all I used. I think I brought biotene spray, but ended up not needing it as I was immediately allowed ice chips. 😊

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I brought my iPad to occupy myself. I mainly played mindless games and surfed the web. Also watched TV. Most of your time and attention will be taken up by sipping fluids (way more difficult right after surgery than it sounds) and walking around, but I liked having something to do to take my mind off of stuff for a few minutes at a time.

Comfortable pants and underwear are a must for walking around since the hospital gown doesn’t have great coverage below the waist. I wore Crocs to the hospital with the intention of wearing them to walk around, but I was given grippy socks in the hospital and I just wore those. My hands get dry, so I brought some lotion. I also brought some Water Enhancer (Mio), which helped with drinking Water. Other than that, I didn’t really need much. I was only there one night and I wore home the clothes in which I arrived.

I brought Listerine breath strips and used a lot of them, but I don’t recommend this because I ended up with oral thrush, which is a fungal infection in the mouth that can be caused by excessive mouthwash (or breath strip) use that kills off the good bacteria.

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All this is good info. Thanks! I would hv bought my charger, phone, tablet to play my games. & walk! My knees gives me prblms but w the weight going w the surgery... I can't wait to walk more. EXCITED!!

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I slept most of the time, so some of the stuff I brought I never used. I did use my phone, though - and bring a charger. You can just wear whatever you wore to the hospital home - so make sure it's big, comfy stuff that you'll be able to get on easily.

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I packed a huge bag. The only things I used were my chapstick, toothbrush, hair tie, and phone cord. I did also shower at the hospital before they took my drain out so I used my mini shampoo/ soap/ conditioner.

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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.
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      1. LeighaTR

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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.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

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

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