I'll pray for you, Kitty -- my date is July 31 -- please let me know what it's like for you.

Drinking more will relieve some of the swelling issues, at least for me it does. If it becomes a real problem, ask your doctor for a pair of compression boots. They work wonders for getting fluid out. ---jan---

You will be very glad you got in this practice run 6 weeks before surgery. I'm happy to report I had no pain or soreness after my RNY. I wish the same for you. To make my liquid phase less boring I used numerous Sugar Free DaVinci syrups. My favs were hazelnut, blueberry and german chocolate cake. Keep us posted on your journey. ---jan---

I kept a diary and hope it helps everyone. I couldn't get enough information before surgery so I wrote down everything I could think of. 7/9/08 ...258.7...It's here! Noon surgery time! Wrong, 2:00 surgery time. Wrong, 4:00 surgery time. Wrong, 5:30 surgery time. The hospital staff at CPMC is fantastic. I never heard a word from Dr Jossart's office about the changes so I sat there all afternoon waiting and waiting. Thank goodness for the CPMC relaxation CD. They came to get me from the holding tank and I walked to the OR holding tank. The nurse, Mia, and anesthesiologist, Dr. Seitz, came in to double check which surgery I was having and check on any allergies. I have to say they were all awesome! Dr Jossart came in to talk to me just before surgery. He said it would take 2 - 2.5 hours for the surgery. I'm so happy I could burst. He asked how much I had lost and I told him 30 lbs since I saw him at the consult. He jokingly said It'll only take me an hour then. I'm going to take pictures of your liver so people know what a liver is supposed to look like. We both laughed and he went to prep. Mia, the nurse came in and we went over last minute things. Then it was time. We walked into the OR and I got on the table. I was a bit nervous and laughing. Everyone there was jovial as they counted all the surgical tools and preped the room. Dr Seitz came in and had me breath from the oxygen mask and that's all I remember until waking in the recovery room. It was shortly after 8 and all was well. I felt a bit woozy from the anesthesia and Dr. Jossart was there saying how well I'd done and he couldn't believe I was already awake and alert. I didn't feel alert. I also didn't feel any pain. I didn't want to fall asleep again so I kept talking until it was time to wheel me to my room. Everyone was wonderful. All my things were there and so was DH, carrying a picture of my liver! LMAO. That was a great start to my journey. The nurse checked my vitals and let me rest for a bit, giving me more ice chips. At 11:00pm I got up to walk around the ward. I remembered to push my demerol pain button before hand and by the time I got to the door I was mega nauseous. The nurse got some reglan and put it in my IV. I'm not kidding, it was seconds before I felt fine! Off we went for a stroll. I made it back and slept a couple hours. The nurses got DH a cot and he stayed with me all night. When they came to get vitals at 2am I got up again for another stroll. No sense wasting time laying there! That was then that I realized I hadn't felt a single bit of pain. NOTHING! Dr Jossart is a miracle worker. 7/10/08 One day Post Op I woke at 5am for vitals and took another walk, again pushing the pain button before. Not that I was feeling any pain, but folks on the board said take the hit before walking, so I did. That stuff left me feeling woozy and out of touch. Now, I've never had anyone tell me they were thrilled I was burping before...I know my mom never did lol. I was chewing on ice chips and feeling fine. One time I did get up to pee and I felt nauseous sitting there. By the time anyone got there with the reglan, it had passed. That's the worst I felt the entire time after surgery. I did another round of walking and slept a bit more. Breakfast came about 10am. Orange pineapple protein drink (15g protein) Jello, broth and decaf tea. It took me 2 hours to drink the protein drink. It was too sweet for my taste so I kep****ering it down with ice chips. I was barely finished and lunch was there. Off I went for another stroll. The lunch was a sweet protein drink, Health Wise Wild Berry Spla**** wasn't good at all. I wasn't able to get that one down. But I kept drinking my water. Dr. Jossart came in to see how I was doing and said usually folks stay one day in the hospital and are released at 11. But since my surgery wasn't til late, that I might want to leave later that day or stay another night. I was still feeling a bit out of it so I asked if I could decide later when I saw hoe the day progressed. He said yes, just to let him know. I didn't take a shot of pain meds for the next walk and I felt a LOT better. Then I was able to sleep 3 straight hours and I felt like a new woman. I called the nurse and told her I'd like to go home. She got the orders from Dr. Jossart and I was cleared to leave about 4pm. DH had already gone to Walgreen's to get my prescriptions filled so we were ready. They called for a wheelchair and the nurse went over my meds and things to do and not do while we waited for a chair. They wheeled me right down to the shuttle and off we went to the hotel. I called the Petaluma Best Western 40 minutes north to see if the suite was available and it was. DH packed everything up and we checked out of the Cathedral Hill Hotel and headed for Petaluma. I felt it was still close enough that if any complications arose, we could get back to the hospital in a reasonable amount of time. I called Rose at the hospital to see how she was doing and we talked for a while. She was feeling fine, also no pain. He was able to do her reconstruction laparoscopically also. Have I mentioned Dr. Jossart is amazing, rocks to the max? We got to the hotel in Petaluma and DH unpacked everything. It was 9:00pm and I wasn't tired. I did a little walking around the living room and mixed some of MY protein powder,. Jay Rob's whey powder comes in Pina Colada, Dreamsicle, Chocolate and vanilla. Despite the hospital's too sweet protein drinks by Health Wise I was able to get in 48 g of protein now that I had what I like. Please make sure you bring YOUR protein powder so you can drink something you like. It made it so much easier. I took the Hydrocodone Bitarate and Acetaminophen Oral solution and went right to sleep. I read everyone's well wishes on my surgery page but I was too tired to respond. Thank you one and all! I can't tell you how good that made me feel. 7/11/08 2 days post OP I woke around 5am and walked a bit, read some and went to the bathroom. I'm sure everything is working now that I've have a decent poo. I felt pretty darn good. At 6am I took a little more Tylenol liquid and then slept until 10am. That was the most sleep I'd had since surgery and I felt darn good. I orbited the living room again and fixed a chocolate protein drink with one Splenda. I've walked 1271 steps so far today. I have all my protein in and I'm working on the rest of my liquids. So far the outcome of my RNY is the best I could have imagined! I'm going to take a nap. Even writing tires me out. I wish for you all as easy a time as I had. ---jan---

Well, July 16 is my day. I am glad I am the first surgery of the day at 8"00 a.m. I will need to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. I am finishing my 6 week liquid diet. It wasn't that bad just so boring. Any, lost 27 pounds. Now I will only have 2 weeks of liquids and strained. It should not be that bad afterthis 6 week trial. Just nervous and anxious niw and ready to get it over with. Tom from Ohio