I know I have been active on here for a while now, and probably made far too many posts for someone who hasn't even had surgery yet, but today I put down my deposit payment for my gastric bypass surgery with Spire Gatwick in the UK, for the 14/05/24.

It officially feels real! Until now, I had so many anxieties as to whether or not it would happen in case I couldn't find the money, or get approved for a loan etc, so it just feels like so much relief now that it is all finalised and I know it is gonna happen.

I have my 1st dietetic consultation & my pre-op assessment on 05/04/24, and then my 2nd lot of pre-op bloods on 13/05/24.

I am trying to log it all in my bariatric surgery journal which I am finding really useful!

I guess I just wanted to post to just express how happy I feel right now, to people who I know will understand ❤️

Edited March 20, 20242 yr by Bypass2Freedom

Congratulations!! ?

Just now, Summermoose said:

Congratulations!! ?

Thank you!!

In my opinion this is the exact time to ask alot of questions. I was sleeved three years ago and I don’t think I asked enough questions beforehand or I may have made a differnt choice for myself in terms of which surgery. I am so excited for you and your surgery date. Congratulations.

Hooray! Hopefully the time will move quickly for you. I remember how hard it was to be patient while I was waiting, and now all of a sudden a month has passed since surgery. It's funny how time works.

35 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

In my opinion this is the exact time to ask alot of questions. I was sleeved three years ago and I don’t think I asked enough questions beforehand or I may have made a differnt choice for myself in terms of which surgery. I am so excited for you and your surgery date. Congratulations.

I feel like I have asked so much, yet I still have things I want to know!

Like: what kind of equipment did people order beforehand e.g. scales, blender etc

Also, I have heard that women struggle in particular when it comes to the hormonal changes immediately post-surgery - how to prepare for that?

It is daunting to think about how to deal with food cravings when I am an emotional eater, and I will need to find a different outlet!

Thank you so much!

4 minutes ago, NickelChip said:

Hooray! Hopefully the time will move quickly for you. I remember how hard it was to be patient while I was waiting, and now all of a sudden a month has passed since surgery. It's funny how time works.

I am honestly probably one of the most impatient people ever haha - I had my first consultation with my surgeon in early Dec 2023 and decided to provisionally book it in then, with no money exchanged, and I have been obsessing with it ever since!

I really do hope the time goes quick as you say!

36 minutes ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

I feel like I have asked so much, yet I still have things I want to know!

Like: what kind of equipment did people order beforehand e.g. scales, blender etc

Also, I have heard that women struggle in particular when it comes to the hormonal changes immediately post-surgery - how to prepare for that?

It is daunting to think about how to deal with food cravings when I am an emotional eater, and I will need to find a different outlet!

Thank you so much!

I didn’t really deal with a ton of hormonal changes as far as I can recall but yes I have heard that many women do. I am an emotional eater too and not to scare you but I have gained my weight back and I’m contemplating a conversion. If you have access to a therapist to get to the bottom of the emotionally eating. I STRONGLY suggest it. There aren’t any in my area so I am working with my regular therapist but I don’t know how well it is working. One of my questions for the surgeon is if he can make some calls for me and find someone who will try to fit me into their schedule. As far as tool or equipment I had sleeve and didn’t need much. I bought those little cups that your dressing comes in at restaurants for the very beginning just to measure things out and store in fridge but you can use anything that is the right size. Some people do use a blender in the purée stage. Personally puréed food that isn’t normally purées kinda grossed me out so I didn’t use that. I did buy a few flavors of shakes and keep others ready in my online cart for my husband to pick up if I needed him to. I did buy a scale but honestly don’t recall using it much. One thing that someone told me that you didn’t ask about was what to pack for hospital. I found pajama pants, a sleep mask and a extra long phone charger to be helpful items that weren’t on the list. The pants come in handy when you get up to walk since the gowns are open on the back.

@ShoppGirl Thank you for your reply

I have therapy every week, but was going to start looking for more weight-related therapists in my area as I am extremely worried about coping with the emotional eating. I am sorry to hear about the struggles you have had, and I hope it all works out for you.

Pureed food sounds like the worst stage! I, like you, feel that pureeing 'normal' foods probably is gross haha!

Hospital bag is actually one of the things I do need to think about! I shall add those to my list, thank you

Hello @Bypass2Freedom I used the Spire group too. I had wonderful care and was totally happy with my team. I stayed in hospital 4 days because of a few minor issues I was having and then a 5th day because of a power cut in my town. They said I couldn't go home to a cold house. No extra charges were levied either. I had zero pain. The head nurse and the dietician gave me their personal phone numbers in case I had any problems or questions along the way.

My pre op was 3 weeks of milk and veg basically but your surgeon may want different. They asked me to take dressing gown, nightwear and slippers to the hospital. No need for a long telephone charger cable in our hospitals. Take some lip balm.

My surgeon was against protein shakes so after my op I had milky coffee, home made shakes and Bovril or broth to drink. Puree was not for me, I had either tinned or home made soups sieved or mashed any lumps.

When I came home I bought a bed wedge because I got reflux. I needed a thermos cup because my hot drinks were always going cold. It takes a long time to drink anything in the first few weeks. With Amazon having next day delivery, if you need something its so quick, its pointless stock piling stuff you may not need in advance.

The hormonal changes are something that I had. I was very tearful and had full on PMT. I was 60+ so it came as a shock to me. There have been a few people on here who have become pregnant very quick after the surgery. If that's a problem then a chat with your GP might help.

14 hours ago, summerseeker said:

Hello @Bypass2Freedom I used the Spire group too. I had wonderful care and was totally happy with my team. I stayed in hospital 4 days because of a few minor issues I was having and then a 5th day because of a power cut in my town. They said I couldn't go home to a cold house. No extra charges were levied either. I had zero pain. The head nurse and the dietician gave me their personal phone numbers in case I had any problems or questions along the way.

My pre op was 3 weeks of milk and veg basically but your surgeon may want different. They asked me to take dressing gown, nightwear and slippers to the hospital. No need for a long telephone charger cable in our hospitals. Take some lip balm.

My surgeon was against Protein Shakes so after my op I had milky coffee, home made shakes and Bovril or broth to drink. Puree was not for me, I had either tinned or home made Soups sieved or mashed any lumps.

When I came home I bought a bed wedge because I got reflux. I needed a thermos cup because my Hot Drinks were always going cold. It takes a long time to drink anything in the first few weeks. With Amazon having next day delivery, if you need something its so quick, its pointless stock piling stuff you may not need in advance.

The hormonal changes are something that I had. I was very tearful and had full on PMT. I was 60+ so it came as a shock to me. There have been a few people on here who have become pregnant very quick after the surgery. If that's a problem then a chat with your GP might help.

This is such a useful reply thank you so much!

Amazing that you have been with Spire and have had such a good experience, it is really nice to hear. So far my experience with them has been really good, so I am expecting greatness haha.

I am curious to see what they will recommend for my LRD - I am not looking forward to it ? Weird question here, but what are their hospital gowns like? I shall remember some lip balm!

Puree sounds awful I can't lie! I also feel weird about broth or bovril and how they will taste...I need to trial.

I have the coil and my surgeon said that is all good, so there will be no break (or risk) of pregnancy as I don't need that in my life right now! I have PCOS too so I am also intrigued to see how that may help it.

Thank you so much for all of your advice x

I must be in the minority - I didn't mind the puree stage at all - especially after a few weeks (before and after surgery) of just drinking fluids! It was great to eat real food - even if it was pureed. I remember eating a lot of Greek yogurt, hummus, refried beans - I also pureed spanakopita (which I made without the phyllo) a couple of times, as I recall (I must have added something to get it going in the blender - some milk, maybe? Can't remember).

I had surgery at age 55 (that was nine years ago) but fortunately, unlike summerseeker, I didn't deal with any hormone issues. I did have off and on "buyer's remorse" the first two or three weeks, though ("what in the hell did I just do?" "Why could have I tried dieting one last time?"). All that will pass and you'll be so glad you did it.

p.s. I used my blender a lot during the puree stage. I already had a standard-sized one, but I ordered one that had both a standard-sized pitcher and a small pitcher, since I figured I'd use the small one a lot more (and I did). I think it's a lot easier nowadays to find small blenders. But like someone else said, you can always order one afterward, too.

Edited March 21, 20242 yr by catwoman7

9 hours ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

Weird question here, but what are their hospital gowns like? I shall remember some lip balm!

I went to theatre in my own night wear and woke in my own. What happened in-between ? I can't guess.

1 hour ago, summerseeker said:

I went to theatre in my own night wear and woke in my own. What happened in-between ? I can't guess.

Magic! ?

6 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I must be in the minority - I didn't mind the puree stage at all - especially after a few weeks (before and after surgery) of just drinking fluids! It was great to eat real food - even if it was pureed. I remember eating a lot of Greek yogurt, hummus, refried Beans - I also pureed spanakopita (which I made without the phyllo) a couple of times, as I recall (I must have added something to get it going in the blender - some milk, maybe? Can't remember).

I had surgery at age 55 (that was nine years ago) but fortunately, unlike summerseeker, I didn't deal with any hormone issues. I did have off and on "buyer's remorse" the first two or three weeks, though ("what in the hell did I just do?" "Why could have I tried dieting one last time?"). All that will pass and you'll be so glad you did it.

p.s. I used my blender a lot during the puree stage. I already had a standard-sized one, but I ordered one that had both a standard-sized pitcher and a small pitcher, since I figured I'd use the small one a lot more (and I did). I think it's a lot easier nowadays to find small blenders. But like someone else said, you can always order one afterward, too.

I shall make sure to report back on my opinions of the pureed stage when I get there haha!

I am definitely hearing that a lot of people have buyer's remorse initially! It is a big thing to go through!

Thank you for sharing your experiences