Ft.Carson surgery, any insights?

Hi all! I am having GB surgery on dec. 11th at ft. carson.  Dr. Imlay is my surgeon.  has anyone lese had him or had surgery at Ft. Carson?  i havent been told about any special diets or anythin pre- surgery, but i know of others who have had the same surgery that did not get them either.  i guess i am just curious as to what to expect at a "military" hospital.  thanks for any info you can give!

I don't have first-hand knowledge, but have heard only WONDERFUL things about the Ft. Carson docs and surgery staff.  I'm sure you'll be in great hands. My surgical group doesn't do any special diet either, I had a great "last supper" at Biaggi's the night before my surgery. Take care, you'll be soooo glad you did this!

I had my surgery June 25th at Ft Carson and Dr. Imlay was my Doctor. He is a really good doctor. You should like him. You don't have a specific diet pre surgery but the nutrionist does mention that you should start to cut out all sugery and fatty foods so that your not craxing them after surgery. I had a wonderful expericance with Dr. Imlay and with the hospital staff. He is a very good Dr and your for sure in good hands. Do you go to the support group at Ft. Carson? I have only been a few times, but alot of the ladies there have Dr. Wilson so your experiances and stuff with the Doctors are alot different. Good Luck on your surgery and If you need anything I'm here for you.

Thanks for the info.  He seems pretty cool.  I am what they call a "light weight" ( i am just at the required 40 BMI) so i havent been cutting anything out for fear of not being able to have my surgery.  Dr. Imlay told me to wear heavy clothes and drink a lot of water for my final weigh-in, LOL.  I went to my 1 "required" support group meeting, but havent been to any others.  I actually live in Briargate, so it is a long way after working all day ;o)  How long did you have to stay at the hospital, like what day was your surgery and what day did you go home?  Mine is on a tues. and i am hoping to go home on friday.  How soon after were you up and around?  I have to go back to work on the 3rd of Jan. so i am hoping i will be ok.  A friend of mine had surgery on tues. went home on fri. and was at the flea market on sat.  I finally went out and got all my post-surgery foods and vitamins.  i think i have everything now...  well, thanks again for the info.  sorry for all the questions ;O)  I know several people who have had the surgery, but i wanted first hand knowledge from someone who had the same surgeon and the same hospital.   oh, one more question...  how long did it take for the "dirty" hole to heal?  the one you have to pack and keep open when you go home? thanks again! Kim

I had some high blood sugar when I came out of surgery so I had to stay in ICU until Wends Night. I had my surgery on a Monday morning and went home Thursday afternoon. Your hospital stay is going to be atleast until Friday if everything goes good you will be in ICU for Tuesday and then sometime Wendsday you will go to the 5th floor. Everyone is different and It just depends on how your doing on how long you stay and where you stay at. I was walking around the ICU Monday night, I did have a motrin pump but still I was up and walking. The sooner you move and the more you move the less sore you will get in the long run. You will have your bad days, but just make sure that when you go home you keep up the fluids. DRINK DRINK DRINK. I went home and was so worried about drinking to much to fast that I got myself dehydrated. Drink probel instead of just plain water for awhile until you can hold more fluid because that helps keep you more hydrated. Everyones hole heals at a different pace. It depends on how your body heals. If your a slow healer it will take awhile....Mine was all cleared up within the first month. Some people I know are 3 months out and still healing up. Is your husband deployed or deploying? Your going to need lots of help when you come home. If you need anything just let me know. My hubby leaves next week so I will be around and not doing much so I can help if you need anything.

I had my surgery with Dr. Imlay at Fort Carson on 3/15/07. He is a straight to the point kinda guy...which I like. I had some problems after surgery and he spent all of the time in the world to help me out and is always pretty positive.  My BMI was around 43...5'11" at 298 lbs at surgery day...I also had some medical issues due to my obesity so I was well qualified. So far I have lost over 100 lbs...I weigh 190 lbs. I went from size 28 jeans to 18. I am no longer "morbidly obese". There are no pre-surgery diets of any kind except people have to quit smoking quite awhile before the surgery. The night before you take a shower and clean your stomach with some iodine packs...that's it. Support group meetings are really awesome to get questions answers and they help you feel like your not alone. Other people can be sympathetic but there is nothing like people who have gone through it. There is also a support group at the Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. I answered some of the questions in different posts in this thread. As far as going to work after surgery...it's complicated. If you've had a major abdominal surgery before like a c-section that would be a good judge of how you'll handle this one. Almost everyone says take at least 3-4 weeks off of work. Most would suggest going back part-time and working up to full time. Some people have almost no pain from the surgery and are back to normal within a week. Some people have a really hard time healing and have alot of pain. Some people have major complications. Most people have some pain and discomfort...mostly soreness...they take it easy for a few weeks and are fine. I had debilitating pain and couldn't get off the couch without my husbands assitance for 3 weeks. I had the same thing happen with my c-section though. I also became dehyrated and had to get IVs several times...I just couldn't get enough fluid in. For the first while you will need ALOT of help at home...most people take at least a week to be somewhat independent....like showering...going to the bathroom...putting on clothes...etc. Definetly have help taking care of kids for awhile. Oh I also had my surgery post-poned the night before surgery. It had to be rescheduled a week after my initial date. There was an emergency surgery and they had to push mine back...doesn't happen very often. Good luck.

OMG, what is this: "oh, one more question...  how long did it take for the "dirty" hole to heal?  the one you have to pack and keep open when you go home?" I've never heard of that!  If you have your surgery done laparascopicly I don't think you have anything left open.  I didn't anyway.  This sounds kinda gross!  Or is it the drain they put in?  In most cases they remove it before you leave the hospital.

That's incorrect. I had my surgery at Fort Carson by Dr. Imlay on March 15, 2007. Here they do laproscopic gastric bypass and they leave one incision open and you also have another insicion that has a drain in it for awhile at the hospital. The drain is taken out before you leave and they just put a bandaid on it and it heals just fine. The open wound is left open because some studies have shown less infection when the wound is left to heal from the inside out. You have to pack it with gauze at least once a day...some do it up to 3 times a day...depends on how much fluid your body creates. It took me 2 months to heal...I am a poor healer. It was very painful to shove a giant q-tip into the wound and pack the gauze in. I couldn't do it...my husband did it for me the entire time. I also developed an infection pocket at the bottom of my incision that even the nurses couldn't tell was there....it exploded one day when I went to the bathroom....disgusting isn't the word for it. I had to call my husband to come home and take me to the surgery clinic. Once it was all cleaned out I did much better but still healed slowly. Once it's over with you don't really think about it anymore...the first few months is hard....you have to heal...you don't have food...it's hard to get in fluids....but after that it starts getting awesome really quick.

Most people stay in the ICU one night and then head up the 5th floor after that. While you are in the ICU you will get the best of care and someone will always be right there to help you. Once your up on the 5th floor you are more on your own. You will have these cuffs on your legs to help circulate your blood around to help reduce blood clots. They inflate and deflate regularly...I thought they felt nice. You will get a shot in your stomach every few hours...medicine to help reduce blood clots. It burns and do not let them give you the shot anywhere but your tummy...one nurse gave me the shot in my arm and it hurt and bruised for weeks. You start walking as soon as you can...I couldn't because of pain even on a medicine pump. Once you are on the 5th floor you don't have a pain pump...it's oral medicine you have to push the button for the nurse to come and give you. I stayed in the ICU an extra day because of some werid reaction to medicine that left me pretty much blind for a day...vision was so blurred I couldn't see anything...rare though. The next morning after your surgery you go for the leak test. You have to stand on this little ledge and drink this horrible stuff so they can x-ray your stomach. You do NOT have to drink all of it...tell them when you've had enough. I wasn't able to drink hardly any so they ended up giving me a CT scan which is just as good...that person tried to get me to drink alot too and I told them no I couldn't...they were still able to do it. It's better if you can have someone there with you to back you up and help take care of you. I had to do it by myself because my husband had to watch my daughter most of the time...it was hard...but worth it.

Thank you all so very much for the info.  i had my last appt. with surgeon and the pre admit stuff on wed.  all went well and i am still scheduled for the 11th.  i am the first surgery in the morning so i will have to be there pretty early :o(  but i guess i will get some good sleep after; so its all good.  i told hubby he did not need to take that week off, just the 11th since i will need a ride ;o)  i told him to take the following week off when i will be home; that is when i will need him most i think.  i am pretty sure i have all of my stuff together for when i get home, (vitamins, food, protein shakes...)  he will need to go get some skim milk since i couldnt buy that too far in advance...  they gave me the iodine scrub stuff as well as some drink to take the day b4 that makes you poop A LOT!  Dr. Imlay told me to only have clear liquids the day b4... so i will be starting those on monday.  Looking forward to starting A-New...   Thanks Kim ;o)