New Member

Hello Everyone

I am new on this forum.  I am scheduled to have an open gastric bypass.  I am both nervous and excited.  Can anyone out there give me information on what to expect after waking up after this sugery. It would be greatly appreciated.

My biggest question would be why are you having open surgery instead of laparoscopic ??  Is it for a medical reason or because the doctor prefers it that way.

The recovery for open is a lot longer than laparoscopic and considered a more major surgery 

welcome !!! 

Hi!  You are in good hands with Dr. Nohr.  He knows his stuff.  The MedHat hospital is great too.  You won't be allowed to drin****il day three when they check you for leaks.  So you will be thirsty and dry.  I sucked on ice chips and spit out the water into a pan quite a bit.  It was a godsend that I brought chapstick to help with the dry lips.  They will want you to get up pretty quickly to do some walking and shower etc...  The more walking you can do, the better your recovery will go.  At night you will have these plastic bag type things around your legs that periodically fill up with air to help with your circulation.  I found them hot and a pain, but I wore them.  Bring your own pillow and a pair of slippers, something to read etc...  I got shots of heparin in the belly daily as well as gravol when I needed it and found myself a bit nauseous.  Morphine was my friend as well.  You'll do fine.  I had my RNY done lap.     Giselle

Welcome! I had my Rny with dr Nohr as well! I can't believe it's already been 14 and a half months now! I was so thirsty after, and my lips were so chapped, you'll want to bring chap stick. Those leg squeezing things were the worst, I felt so hot with them! On the morning of being discharged I found out the have a cooling setting, so if you feel hot from them ask the nurse to change it to cooling. For the first 2 days all I wanted to do was sleep. By the 3rd day I felt more awake and a heap better! Good luck, and congrats! You are in good hands with dr Nohr!

I had open bypass with Dr. Nohr as well just a few weeks ago.  I mentioned to a couple of nurses that I was hot with those leg things on and they knew you could control the temp but they didn't know how.  

I barely took pain meds while I was in the hospital and the nurse asked me why not and after telling her that I wasn't in that much pain, she said that pain meds actually help with healing....  so I told her to give me a dose.  The nurses that I had were great!

Dr. Nohr is a very skilled surgeon!!!  I had open RNY Oct/2007 & want to make sure you are aware of the tubes/drains you will have when you wake up after surgery!  you will have a naso-gastric tube (down your throat via your nose!)  This one is kinda yucky, but it is tolerable, then you will have a JP Foley drain, which is a little bubble type thingy, then you will have another drain as well.  These are all required as far as I know, but be sure to ask which ones (if any) you will have!  Makes the whole waking up thing a lot easier if you know what to expect!