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MRS1TAS

Hello to all.

Two weeks ago I attended the Seminar for gastric bypass in Memphis. Wednesday of this week I got to meet with the surgeon that will be doing my surgery. I also got to meet with my surgery advocate. Any advice that you may have to help me better prepare myself for what is ahead please feel free to pass it on. Unlike many of the patients I have never had any type of surgery before. The only thing I have ever been in the hospital for was I gave birth twice. No medications either time. With one child I went home the next day the other we went home the same day. So when it comes to being in the hospital I have no real experience. Until about 1998 I had stayed fairly healthy. I was overweight but not morbidly obese. On average I have gained 10 pounds a year to the point I am now 332 pounds. I am only 5 feet tall. So I have the equivalent of two people crammed into this short frame.

No matter what I did i couldn't seem to shed the pounds. I didn't want to have surgery because I felt like it was such a drastic measure to lose weight. But now I have developed multiple health problems that i am in need of the surgery. Anything you can share with me would be greatly appreciated.

JenaOnTrack74

First, Congratulations on taking the first steps and asking for help. Will you be attending some preperation classes of some sort?

For me the first year I researched the surgery (mainly Sleeve) I just used the internet and read A LOT. I then went to my annual physical and asked for the referal to the health class, for Bariatric surgery. At that point I signed up for the 12 week classes they require and it was great! I got so much information and guidance.

This group is a great place to learn as well, just be sure you are really taking heed to what your health care professionals tell you to do.

Good Luck to you, stay involved with this process and the weight will come off, so you can spend many, many more years with your children!
:flowerforyou:

Losing_Sarah

Congrats on taking those steps to improve your health. I completely understand your hesitation and thoughts about surgery as drastic.

I, too, realized after I got over 300 pounds that I just couldn't do this on my own. Years of trying proved it and so do the statistics. (Something like 5% of people are able to both lose and maintain just through diet & exercise and I was not one of the lucky 5%)

Hospital stay was a breeze, and actually shorter than the hospital stay when I gave birth by a few hours In one day and home by the afternoon the next day. I slept most of the time anyway.

Welcome!

Tristaan

I was in the hospital for two days and released on the third. The day of surgery I was pretty drugged up on a morphine pump, so I don't remember too much. Pain was sharp when trying to reposition myself in bed, or get out of bed. I used that morphine pump alot! That first night, about 6 hours after I got to my room, they wanted me to walk (helps prevent blood clots). With the help of my husband and a nurse, I walked about 10 feet before feeling nauseous and lying back down. I had a drain port in my right side, and a catheter. Sleep was not consistent between not being able to lay in my normal position, and a nurse coming in every hour to check vitals, etc. The second morning I was still pretty drugged, but I was eventually wheeled to a lab and had to swallow some thick liquid (gross) and have images taken of my digestive system. They do this to check for leaking sutures, etc. All I wanted to do was sleep, but again that might have been the morphine. As the morphine wore off, they eventually took it away by the evening and switched me to roxicet which was dosed by the nurse. On the second day, I was able to get up myself and walk up and down the hallways. They stress moving around as much as possible. There was pain when bending or turning to get in or out of chairs (I sat more on that second day rather than lay in bed), it wasn't excruciating but I definitely was aware of it (then again you said you've had children so I can't imagine it being worse than that). I was able to eat a little chicken broth and jello that day. Not much at all. Also, you are sipping water constantly. Catheter came out early on the second day and nurses measured my urine output. By the third morning I was up a bit easier, walking hallways until my discharge around noon. Pain was still there, but tolerable. The worst was bending to get in and later lifting myself from the car (also going over bumps in the road). For me, there were a couple pain moments that definitely made me gasp, but nothing I couldn't handle. That's pretty much my hospital experience.

csmccord

Most patients seem to focus on the few weeks, or even few months after surgery. I won't lie, yes surgery sucks. Yes you'll feel hurt and weak for a few weeks. Yes, you'll eat stuff that doesn't agree with you. Yes you'll probably dump because you pushed the limit too far. I've had all these things happen to me. We all get "buyers remorse" and wonder why we did this to ourselves. Mine was on my first day after surgery, then again a few weeks later.

But honestly, don't even worry about that stuff. Don't worry about the liquid diets, or the puree stage. They are only temporary. If you want to see what surgery can do, keep your eye on the horizon, on the long term. Look at my picture to see what even 8 months can do.

The thing you have to realize is that this is a decision that you make for life (unless you are getting the band). You can't undo a VSG (sleeve) or RNY (bypass). You will need to take vitamins for the rest of your life. You will probably end up taking protein supplements for the rest of your life. But even with all that, was it the best thing I've ever done for myself? Absol-fricking-ultely! I no longer have hypertension, sleep apnea, and I'm not pre-diabetic anymore. I've lost 145 lbs and have a new outlook on life! The important thing to remember is this surgery is a tool. It's not a cure. 50% of surgery patients gain it all back within 5 years. Yes, you heard me 50%. This surgery will not allow you to continue the lifestyle that got you here in the first place. It will however, force you to change your habits, and form healthier ones in the process. If you had asked me two years ago if I would spend 5 hours a week in a gym, and run 3 miles in a session, I'd have think you'd gone crazy!

So, don't really sweat the short term stuff, as it's small potatoes when compared to the rest of your life. I'm not saying that the short-term stuff isn't important, but it's not really all that tough that people make it out to be. It's only a few months, try to look beyond it.

stroynaya

I understand your anxiousness about the surgical procedure. I also had almost no experience with hospitals and was pretty nervous about the surgery. Turned out I was worried about not much at all. I was in the hospital two days, released on the third. Had to stay the second day only because I couldn't drink enough liquid the first. However, I had no pain after surgery, barely used the morphine pump in the hospital and didn't even crack the bottle of good painkiller they gave me to take home. The worst parts were before surgery when they had to put in the IV and after surgery when I had to drink the nasty stuff for the imaging of the digestive system.