what can I expect

after the surgery, will I be mobile, how will I have to sleep. How much pain is there.

which type of surgery are you having and where? 

Heidi

Hi Shelly,

It would help us to help you if we knew what type of surgery you're having and where you're having it....

If it's laparascopic... you should be up and around the day of surgery or at the very latest the next day.... the more you walk... the better you feel.

Then it all depends on your own healing powers... I had the RNY done by laparascopic in August of 2010. The first week at home was driven by pain killers... less and less each day. The second week at home was driven by food... I had absolutely NO energy for anything because of the lack of calories... by the end of the second week... all was well again and I was ready to go back to work...

There really isn't a lot of pain... I'm a wimp so I kept taking the T3's until I noticed that they were causing constipation... and I certainly didn't need that... lol..

Don't let anyone wait on you  hand and foot... do as much for yourself as you can... move at EVERY opportunity... the more you move the better you feel..

Melody

Maybe I'm a wimp too, but I had a lot of pain and absolutely zero energy for weeks.  I would get winded walking from one end of the house to the other so I took things slow.  I ditched the T3s right away and took Tramadol, a much better pain killer without the constipation.

I sometimes slept on the couch sitting up or if I tried the bed I had multiple pillows under me to keep me propped up.  We have a higher bed so I used a foot stool to get up so that I didn't have to bend too much.  I had to sleep on my back for quite some time, too, and I'm usually a stomach sleeper so that was difficult to get used to.  It was a wonderful night's sleep when I was finally able to sleep on my side.

I was off work for 6 weeks and the 7th week I was only back half days to get myself used to it again.

Hope that helps,

Jill

The one thing I wished I would have heard before my gastric sleeve surgery was god damn it hurts. I was in so much pain that the pain itself would make me stomach sick and the morphine also made me sick so I had to stick to liquid codeine. That being said would I do it again, hell ya.

The first 5-6 weeks I had very little energy and slept a lot, I was lucky to be able to be off work for 12 weeks and I certainly took advantage of it. The first 2 weeks I couldn't even drive cause of getting in and out of the car hurt. I also had to use a foot stool to get in my bed and god help me if I rolled onto my side, I had no choice to sleep on my back cause of the swelling and incisions.

I hope my honesty doesn't scare you cause like I said I'd do it all over again and just a suggestion for the gas I used Gas-x and it helped so much.

Good Luck.
Kee.

okay keelan....how did you manage to get 12 weeks off work? did you take a leave or did                   dr birch  ( ?) write you a note to be off that long. they would give it to me but i would need a note from a doctor. i do heavy liftinging all day and lots of walking, i thought the 6 weeks off would be lots? am i wrong? really can't believe it is creeping up so fast, doesn anybody have any idea what the latest surgery time is or the earlies....i want to get in and get it done and make sure they do it....oh ya, it is the ryn i'm having.....

Bonnie,
Dr Birch will initally take you off work but you can see your family physician to extend your medical leave if needed. My family doctor had a couple of family members that had this surgery done and she  wanted me to take the most leave I could take for healing and adjusting to my new life style. She was awesome through out my whole journey.
I also had some persisting pain in the right side from my biggest incision so they though it might herinate so Dr Birch agreeded that if I could take more time off I should. They wanted to figure out what was going on and lucky for me it was just a musculer pain and not a hernia. Someday I still feel it and I'm 7 months out. It's not as bad as before but it tells me to slow down or not to lift so much. It's like a little nag to bring me back to where I should be.
Good Luck on your surgery and hold on tight cause you are in for the ride of your life and I mean that in a good way.

Kee.

I had an open RNY on March 28th.  The first 5 days in the hospital were filled with shot after shot of pain medication.  I had no pain if I did not move, so I tried to just lay still as much as possible.  The nurses do make you get up and walk around as this helps the gases release and trust me, you do not want to get backed up!.  I had a second surgery on the 5th day to fix internal tearing due to a cough I had.  By the end of the second full week I was able to walk around walmart and pick up a few items.  I still have pain but those are due to retention sutures, not the initial surgery itself.  I am a month out and my energy is getting back to were it should, I am no longer taking the 2 naps a day I used to,lol. 

I must admit, there was one day in the hospital where I was saying "why did I do this" but time passes, it gets better and now I have so much more to look foward to.  I would still recommend this to anyone who needs it.  That being said, if you can do it through laperscope.  I know a few people who have had it that way and the recover and pain management is much less that way.

Good luck