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4 Days to go!

M

MariaMayhem

Member
My surgery date in on Monday Nov 9th and I am in the final stretch of my liquid diet. I am starting to get a bit nervous but, I am also extremely excited. I have done nothing but want to start my new healthy life and it's finally almost here. I am so happy that I have found this community and reading everything just helps me along with the process. It's hard to talk to some people who don't or haven't gone through this process, but I am grateful that my sister had bariatric surgery and she is the biggest support I have.
 
MariaMayhem said:
My surgery date in on Monday Nov 9th and I am in the final stretch of my liquid diet. I am starting to get a bit nervous but, I am also extremely excited.
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Maria, just keep reading the posts here from people who have had the surgery and are still rocking and rolling along. It's been 13 years for me and everyday when I wake up I am still incredibly grateful. Your surgical experience won't be as difficult as mine was, because there wasn't an option to use laparoscopy in 2007. So I had to have major surgery with a huge incision and that added to my healing time. But the weird thing about weight loss surgery is that you have to eat and as soon as the drugs wear off, you want to eat. You may suffer from nausea and vomiting diarrhea or constipation, but your body will tell you to eat and you will just naturally gravitate to something like a really nice broth to make you feel soothed and satisfied. It's like this is one of the easiest surgeries anyone ever has to go through. And the payoff is incredible.

I do have one really really important piece of advice for you. Start now taking a fiber laxative at least once a day. If you can do it morning and evening, so much the better. You may be given constipation-causing opiates in order to deal with the pain. When this happened to me I didn't have any idea what it would be like but the constipation could only be described as legendary. And that's not a good thing. It took me 24 hours to accomplish my first bowel movements postoperatively. I was probably in the bathroom 50 times, pushing down hard, feeling just horrible but only because of the constipation. Can I get an amen, weight loss surgery veterans?

Save yourself from pain and pushing and straining and nothing coming out and feeling horrible as stool backs up in your large intestine. Take the freaking laxative, but don't use a chemical laxative. Benefiber or whatever Metamucil, even just the unflavored brand you can buy off the shelf at Trader Joe's, that's the ticket.

I'll be thinking of you on Monday!
 
I mix Benefiber into my first bottle of water every morning now. I was using Miralax in the evening as well, but I seem to be doing better and have stopped that, but I'll stick with the fiber permanently. I actually ended up with hemorrhoids about 3 weeks after surgery and the doctor said it it could have been in part due to constipation, so Diane is right, start prepping for it now and things will go much smoother for you. Best of luck!
 
Good luck on Monday. Two days from now, you'll be recovering in the hospital. It's a great feeling to know that the surgery is behind you and that you can begin concentrating on your journey to your new life!! I think that it's wonderful that you have your sister to talk to answer any questions that you might have. Let us know how you make out.
 
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