January 2025 Surgery Buddies!

[The_katz_meow 2]

Hi all 👋🏻

I just had surgery on 1-20-2025 things went well. Now trying to navigate such a drastically different way to nourish myself.

[NoSnowHere 17]

9 minutes ago, The_katz_meow said:

Hi all 👋🏻

I just had surgery on 1-20-2025 things went well. Now trying to navigate such a drastically different way to nourish myself.

Thanks for posting! Glad your surgery went well and hope that your recovery goes well too. Yes, I would love to hear how others have managed the drastic changes of eating. Mr surgery is next Thursday and I've already been thinking about that transition.

[123skipafew 3]

Had my surgery on 1/18/25! 9 days out and feeling great!

[Naenae67 5]

Had mine on 22nd and doing good.

[NoSnowHere 17]

So glad for both of you! How was your post-op pain?

[123skipafew 3]

each day u will feel a lil better

[Naenae67 5]

Pain has been manageable! I’m not taking anything except Tylenol liquid every once in awhile.

[NoSnowHere 17]

I'm all for pain con but not too excited about having to take the opiods at first. Did you need them for more than the first day?

[Naenae67 5]

I took oxycodone for the first day after surgery and then just Tylenol

[PoppyVelvet 10]

On 1/26/2025 at 2:46 AM, NoSnowHere said:

PoppyVelvet, I've come back to your post several times as I've been on the pre-op diet preparing for my surgery. Thinking of you and wondering how you're doing ??

Hi, sorry I have been absent. I was sleeved a week ago today. I stayed in hospital two nights and didn't have any real problems. liquids went down pretty easily and I got 1litre in on the first day and the drip was taken off that afternoon. They left the cannula in and it started bleeding - it was in my elbow bend and I think I did something when I bent my arm too quickly - so they took that out too, which was great! I tidied up my room, put on clean clothes and took it easy. I even got let out for a couple of hours to visit my father-in-law in the public hospital next door. He is nearly 90 and the end is coming - they thought it was close on Tuesday although he has picked up a bit since then. Slept intermittently the first night and rang the bell for pain killers a few times. The second night I slept fine - but they woke me up for obs at 11:30pm and 5:30am! Ugh! Then I went back to sleep after the 5:30am ones and my surgeon woke me at 6:30am! I gave up after that My husband turned up 9ish so I got up and showered, dressed and packed and was sent on my way with Palexia (opioid painkiller) and a reflux medication. We went to visit FIL for an hour or so then got an Uber to our short stay apartment. I had to go to Sydney for surgery - I live in Canberra - and the doctor said I should stay in Sydney for four more days.

So that was Thursday, day 2 post op. I didn't do anything else that day. Friday was ok, I'm not having any trouble consuming liquids although plain Water is the hardest - it gives me a temporary lump in my chest and sometimes hiccups. One thing that really bothered me on Wednesday and Thursday was that when I lay down to sleep at night I felt like I had a tennis ball in my chest. I had to sit up for a while. The surgeon said it is common with the surgery and I also had a small hiatus hernia repaired and it can be part of that too. I found that not taking tablets and drinking water immediately before lying down was best but I haven't had it since.

Saturday I hit a wall mentally. I think it was a lot to do with being away from home - I always feel a bit "wrong" away from home but usually I'm travelling which means (a) fun (b) eating and drinking what I like and of course post surgery none of that was happening. I went for a short walk with my husband in Hyde Park Saturday evening and it helped a tiny bit. I felt really depressed and like I'd done the wrong thing and that I'd never lose weight etc etc. Because I'm autistic I had a couple of autistic meltdowns at my poor husband who copes with them quite well. So unfair, he was doing his best to look after me. Sunday I said I didn't want to do anything but after a while I said to him we should go for a walk. Unfortunately it was hot and humid in Sydney (Canberra has an inland elevated dry climate so I don't do humidity well), but we went out for two hours. I had to sit down a lot - no energy plus the humidity ugh - so it was slow and I only did about 5,000 steps but it was a good thing to do. We walked through Hyde Park, down to the Art Gallery, through the domain, up to Macquarie Street, round to Circular Quay. It was Australia Day so there were heaps of people out, which made me nervous about someone walking into me and hurting my incisions.

We had lunch at the Quay - fish and chips for him and a banana smoothie for me - I ate the tip of a chip with aioli but I chewed it to death first, and chewed some fish and spat it out (I know, gross). We caught the light rail back up to Town Hall and went "home". He went back to visit his Dad and I watched YouTube videos and even edited one of my own (I have YouTube channel on, don't laugh after what I said about being away from home, travel).

Monday we packed up and came home. The relief of being home! I still felt a bit funny bit it wasn't too bad and last night I gave the kitchen and butler's pantry a really good clean so I was obviously feeling a lot better. Our cats (6) sit all over the bench and leave hair and dirt so after a week of being away it was pretty grubby. Plus my husband cooked me some Soup and he is messy to say the least.

Today I'm back at my desk getting on top of things and having that shower in my own bathroom was unbelievably good. I'm shaky and weak this morning so sipping on an Optifast shake. I've been tracking food in My Fitness Pal. I was craving hummus for lunch yesterday - I saw it in the Qantas Lounge on the way to the plane haha - so when we went shopping for food I bought a tub and ate half of it for lunch. Then I tracked it and the calories are unbelievable! I thought it was mainly chick peas but the half a small tub was about 850 calories so I won't be doing that again. Michael is going to make me some and put only a tiny bit of oil in it so it should be a lot lower in calories hopefully.

I hope all this is of some use to others about to undergo this procedure! Or else I've just been rambling to no purpose

I think I can start puree today but tbh I've been eating thicker stuff like hummus and yogurt already.

Edited January 27 by PoppyVelvet

[NoSnowHere 17]

4 hours ago, Naenae67 said:

I took oxycodone for the first day after surgery and then just Tylenol

Thanks for that -- I'm hoping to do the same after my gastric bypass this Thursday! Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Keep us posted.

[NoSnowHere 17]

4 hours ago, PoppyVelvet said:

Hi, sorry I have been absent. I was sleeved a week ago today. I stayed in hospital two nights and didn't have any real problems. liquids went down pretty easily and I got 1litre in on the first day and the drip was taken off that afternoon. They left the cannula in and it started bleeding - it was in my elbow bend and I think I did something when I bent my arm too quickly - so they took that out too, which was great! I tidied up my room, put on clean clothes and took it easy. I even got let out for a couple of hours to visit my father-in-law in the public hospital next door. He is nearly 90 and the end is coming - they thought it was close on Tuesday although he has picked up a bit since then. Slept intermittently the first night and rang the bell for pain killers a few times. The second night I slept fine - but they woke me up for obs at 11:30pm and 5:30am! Ugh! Then I went back to sleep after the 5:30am ones and my surgeon woke me at 6:30am! I gave up after that My husband turned up 9ish so I got up and showered, dressed and packed and was sent on my way with Palexia (opioid painkiller) and a reflux medication. We went to visit FIL for an hour or so then got an Uber to our short stay apartment. I had to go to Sydney for surgery - I live in Canberra - and the doctor said I should stay in Sydney for four more days.

So that was Thursday, day 2 post op. I didn't do anything else that day. Friday was ok, I'm not having any trouble consuming liquids although plain Water is the hardest - it gives me a temporary lump in my chest and sometimes hiccups. One thing that really bothered me on Wednesday and Thursday was that when I lay down to sleep at night I felt like I had a tennis ball in my chest. I had to sit up for a while. The surgeon said it is common with the surgery and I also had a small hiatus hernia repaired and it can be part of that too. I found that not taking tablets and drinking Water immediately before lying down was best but I haven't had it since.

Saturday I hit a wall mentally. I think it was a lot to do with being away from home - I always feel a bit "wrong" away from home but usually I'm travelling which means (a) fun (b) eating and drinking what I like and of course post surgery none of that was happening. I went for a short walk with my husband in Hyde Park Saturday evening and it helped a tiny bit. I felt really depressed and like I'd done the wrong thing and that I'd never lose weight etc etc. Because I'm autistic I had a couple of autistic meltdowns at my poor husband who copes with them quite well. So unfair, he was doing his best to look after me. Sunday I said I didn't want to do anything but after a while I said to him we should go for a walk. Unfortunately it was hot and humid in Sydney (Canberra has an inland elevated dry climate so I don't do humidity well), but we went out for two hours. I had to sit down a lot - no energy plus the humidity ugh - so it was slow and I only did about 5,000 steps but it was a good thing to do. We walked through Hyde Park, down to the Art Gallery, through the domain, up to Macquarie Street, round to Circular Quay. It was Australia Day so there were heaps of people out, which made me nervous about someone walking into me and hurting my incisions.

We had lunch at the Quay - fish and chips for him and a banana smoothie for me - I ate the tip of a chip with aioli but I chewed it to death first, and chewed some fish and spat it out (I know, gross). We caught the light rail back up to Town Hall and went "home". He went back to visit his Dad and I watched YouTube videos and even edited one of my own (I have YouTube channel on, don't laugh after what I said about being away from home, travel).

Monday we packed up and came home. The relief of being home! I still felt a bit funny bit it wasn't too bad and last night I gave the kitchen and butler's pantry a really good clean so I was obviously feeling a lot better. Our cats (6) sit all over the bench and leave hair and dirt so after a week of being away it was pretty grubby. Plus my husband cooked me some Soup and he is messy to say the least.

Today I'm back at my desk getting on top of things and having that shower in my own bathroom was unbelievably good. I'm shaky and weak this morning so sipping on an Optifast shake. I've been tracking food in My Fitness Pal. I was craving hummus for lunch yesterday - I saw it in the Qantas Lounge on the way to the plane haha - so when we went shopping for food I bought a tub and ate half of it for lunch. Then I tracked it and the calories are unbelievable! I thought it was mainly chick peas but the half a small tub was about 850 calories so I won't be doing that again. Michael is going to make me some and put only a tiny bit of oil in it so it should be a lot lower in calories hopefully.

I hope all this is of some use to others about to undergo this procedure! Or else I've just been rambling to no purpose

I think I can start puree today but tbh I've been eating thicker stuff like hummus and yogurt already.

I really appreciate the details because it helps to know what others have done post-op. Glad you're back home and doing well. My surgery this Thursday is a gastric bypass but I think the lot of the post-op stuff is similar.Keep us posted on how you're doing. Sorry to hear that you're dealing with your father-in-law's situation too. Tough to have both at once -- one at a time would have been enough 😵‍💫

[PoppyVelvet 10]

1 hour ago, NoSnowHere said:

Tough to have both at once -- one at a time would have been enough 😵‍

That’s for sure! It’s really stressful for my husband, he’s the sensible one in the family but he’s not there with his dad and brothers to make sure everything is being done appropriately.

[RhondaLPN 9]

How is everyone doing?? I am 22 days post op VSG and feeling great at the moment. 25# and several inches, tolerating all my liquids and hitting my Protein goals. Currently on puree diet and excited to be moving to soft diet next week 😍

[RhondaLPN 9]

On 1/11/2025 at 8:52 PM, DaisyChainOz said:

Whoo hoo!! Well done 😁 Glad to hear it all went well!!

Mine is the 16th, this coming Thursday, Anxious but under control 😊

Keep healing well!!

How are you doing??