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Month and a half til surgery... Newbie

Sky

Sky

Member
Hi All,

I've never joined a forum before but I'm starting to get a bit nervous about this surgery. I had the lapband for five years before my new doctor discovered that it was located in the wrong place. Now I'm going through the procedure again to have the bypass and I'm a month to a month and a half away from getting it done. One more nutritional monitoring appointment, a pulminary exam, and some bloodwork and I'm good to go. I'm always cheerful around my family, co-workers, and friends so noone knows that I'm seriously nervous. I would love to have a better idea of what to expect that might not be talked about in polite conversations. Thanks and I can't wait to meet everyone.

Sky
 
Sky-Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your decision to have WLS. First, let me assure you it is normal to feel nervous, scared, aprehensive, etc. If you didn't have emotions regarding your upcoming surgery then there would be reason for concern. What you can expect after surgery is some discomfort and if you feel you need additional pain relief just ask for some. You will probably be given a pain pump for the first 24 hours which you operate yourself as needed. You will also be sent home with some liquid pain medicine. The surgery causes a lot of gas and this will improve over time. You can take Gas-Ex or a generic equivelant to help but it's not 100%. If you do not follow the meal plan after surgery you will get stomach pain or if you drink or eat too much the same thing will happen. You will not feel like drinking anything after surgery but you have to anyway or you will get dehydrated very quickly and end up back in the hospital. The trick is to always keep a beverage with you and to sip it every few minutes. this will keep you out of "trouble".

In the weeks to follow after surgery you will progressively increase the types and amounts of food you can have. Everything will be outlined in your meal plan. Some people progress at a slower rate than what the timeline shows and this is perfectly OK. You can always call your nutritionist for guidance.
 
Hi Sky, Welcome. That's somthing to have a lap band for 5 years and find out it was put in the wrong place, I hope there were no ill side effects. Pat pretty much hit on everything to expect after surgery. I is perfectly normal to feel anxiuos nervous and scared, I know I was all of that, make sure you have a good support circle around you like close family and friends and try to find some support groups in your area so you have some local folks you can talk to also. I don't want to scare you but after surgery you may have some remorse and question your descision and that too is ok, I remember thinking "What did I do? Is it going to work for me? what if it doesn't?" of course everything did work out fine and I did lose weight and it did help me establish healthy eating habits and be able to portion my food. Today my health is better and I can do things I haven't done in years. We are always here if you need to vent or ask more questions. :cool: Tom
 
HI Sky and welcome to the forum.
This is a great place to go when you need someone to talk to. I have used it for many issues.
You have had the lap band so this shouldn't be much different. I know with the lap band you have more foods available to you right off.
Well, surgery is a big step and as Pat and Tom have said it is normal to feel a bit nervous. Everyone is different so my experience may not be what you will experience. Right before surgery I was given a mouth rinse. It was a blessing because of the per-surgery fast. My mouth was so dry that I gladly took the rinse and didn't want to spit it out. (Yes, I did). I was put under (as I am sure everyone is) and when I awoke I was in my room. I guess I woke up several times which my husband tells me that I was in pain so the nurse gave me more of a pain killer. When I awoke and was conscious I was told about the pain pump and everything else which was attached to me. I wasn't thirsty or hungry. I used the pain pump as I was directed. One thing I remembered from a previous surgery was not to wait to use pain meds. If you wait too long it will be harder to get rid of the pain. So use the pump at the slightest discomfort. I was given chicken broth, crystal light, and water for my meals. Oh yes and tea. Herbal tea. That I really liked because the warmth seemed to make my pouch feel good. I was in the hospital for two nights. On the second day I was told it was time to get up and walk. I could not get up. The pain was so bad that the physical therapist called the nurse for a shot. A stronger pain med than what was in the pump. That was the hardest thing I had to do. GET OUT OF BED. And then I came home. I was weak. I could hardly walk up the stairs to my bedroom but I did slowly. Everything you do will be slowly. Please do not try to be a super woman. We need to heal. And it takes 3 to 6 months. I was impatient. One thing which happened to me was my sense of smell. OH BOY was it heightened and so were my taste buds. Everything was too sweet. Everything stunk! Especially my husband. He had to clean up his act! The next thing I encountered was emotional ups and downs. I won't get into that now. Just be ready to expect it. I am assured it is natural. The surgery depleats our serotonin. OK. This is what I am dealing with now.
I hope I haven't scared you but I wanted you to know what I experienced. Remember we are all different.
No matter what I have gone through and what I will go through, it is worth it.
Best wishes to you and please oh please stay in touch
Natalie
 
Tom-I almost forgot about the remorse. Mine went away after I started getting my strength back about 3 months after surgery. It was a bit worse in the beginning during the post-op liquid diet because my pouch was uncomfortable when I tried to drink anything. Looking back I'm sure a lot of the discomfort was from gas. The other thing I forgot to mention in my first post was the extreme tiredness after surgery. This is typical and it will pass. The first month was the worst, the second was more tolerable and during the third month I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. I think eating more protein really helped but it takes time to be able to do that. Since I have a hard time eating meat I had to find alternatives like the Morningstar Farms veggie burgers, cottage cheese and low carb protein drinks. It's all trial and error until you find the foods that work best for you.
 
Welcome to the forum Sky. this is a great place to talk about anything--- gas, bowel movements, bad mariages---- as far as I can tell nothing is off limits! I'm not sure friends and coworkers could possibly understand what you are going through, so I would stick to this forum or other online chats and look for local support groups. Good luck!
 
Thank you all for your responses. Although it doesn't get rid of my nervousness, it helps knowing that it is a normal reaction. I finally got my surgery date. It's November 5th. I just started my "pre-surgery diet" and am already grumpy, lol. I'm trying to get on an exercise routine so that I will (maybe) have an easier time of it after surgery. I heard that it helps. I'll be on here more often, sorry about the delay in response time. I'm also selling my house (we are under contract), packing everything, and making sure all of my work stuff is done for my down time. Thanks again and I will talk to you all soon.
 
Hello, Sky,

Welcome and Congratulations on securing a surgery date!

Gee, it's a real shame you have nothing to do to keep you occupied until November 5 rolls around!!! lol

As it is, you probably wish you could clone yourself, just for a little while. How long is your escrow? What does your timeline look like with regards to your surgery date?

I'm sending a little extra energy your way. Hope it helps!
 
Cloning... great idea! I'm selling my mobile home to buy a house on some land so its a bit different than selling an "actual" house. A mobile home is registered with the dmv in Maryland so on the day of settlement all monies will be divied up on the spot. It'll give me a pretty decent down payment for a home. As usual, we are going to be right down to the wire with closing. On Nov 2nd we go to settlement/closing. Tentative moving day will be on Oct 20th. We are moving everything into storage until we find a house. Thank goodness for motorhomes! We get to live in the motorhome until we find a house so my recovery will be in a motorhome, lol. I'm so glad I'm not too finicky! On top of all that, my husband has a leadership training course in Miami from 25th til the 28th. He's been really great with supporting me and going to my support group meetings and nutritional meetings and everything else. The sweetheart is even dieting with me until surgery! He's my Jack Sprat of course and doesn't need to diet but eating healthier won't hurt him.
 
I'll keep everyone posted for sure. Does anyone else have an issue with finding time to exercise on a daily basis?
 
I run my mouth a lot, does that count? No, seriously, I've been to a few support group meetings and people there have told me that you'll soon have so much energy that you'll wonder how you did without exercising. I hope they're right.
 
Sky said:
I'll keep everyone posted for sure. Does anyone else have an issue with finding time to exercise on a daily basis?
Click to expand...

Hi Sky, It gets much easier to get motivated for exersice after surgery than it did before. You will be tired for a couple of months just because you are healing up from surgery and getting used to your new meal plan but slowly you will start to like and want to get out and exersice. I used to dread it and it was part of my job and now it is fun again. :cool: Tom
 
Sky said:
I'll keep everyone posted for sure. Does anyone else have an issue with finding time to exercise on a daily basis?
Click to expand...

Sky Since I had both my knees replaced I've been motivated to exercise and keep my legs strong. It feels so good to be able to walk a few blocks with friends and not have to stop and catch my breath. It's been great to be able to work in my very hilly yard and not collapse in pain after 10 minutes. You just have to make it a priority.
 
Thanks for all your encouragement. Right now I feel like a bloated slug. I'm trying to exercise in spite of it but it is very difficult. I'm also trying like mad to stay on the presurgery diet. If it weren't for fruit and veggies, I think I'd be starving! Lol.
 
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