Bathurst Info Session Today

So I went to the information session today. There were presentations by the bariatric nurse, dietician, and a physiotherapist.

There is no psych evaluation done in Bathurst.

The surgery is not booked by the bariatric clinic anymore but by the operating room department so who knows when the surgery will happen. No one could give me an idea. 

Bariatric Nurse: reviewed the 2 types of surgery, the advantages/disadvantages, complications, and what you need to do after the surgery.

Dietician: reviewed pre-op diet, eating plan after surgery, what you should be doing now to prepare for life with a sleeve, and quite a bit about protein rich foods.

Physiotherapist: reviewed how to start an exercise program, checking heart rate during exercise, hydration, etc.

There were 10 of us there with 1 person opting for lap band, everyone else was going to have the sleeve.

One step closer!

I'm sure time will fly from now on..

Did you find it very informative and helpful?

Although I have done a lot of research I did get some things clarified. I would have liked to  have someone who has had the surgery be at the information session to answer questions as well.  I also believe that they should have a psychologist there but that is beyond their control (psych just doesn't have the time or resources). 

Doing a lot of research before is really important.  When i had my session, we were 6 and couldn't believe how 3 of the 6 were actually clueless on a lot of the things, 1 of them actually didn't even make it 1/2 way through the session as she was so in shock in the info we were given.

If you have any questions, please free to ask here or in private message, I'm open to answering any questions if i can!! 

Thanks so much. 

So how was the pain levels with the surgery? I am not looking forward to the recovery....I usually have a high pain tolerance however for some reason thinking about pain from the surgery scares the crap out of me.

I'm not going to lie, for me the pain was awful. 

I had a C-Section in 2008 and found the pain way worst for this surgery, although they say it's the gas pains. Some people apparently says it's painless, so i think everyone will have different pain.  However, it did get a bit better as the days went by, and I don't really remember, however after like 2-3 days, I was just more sore and tired than in real pain.

I tried to take the pain meds that Dr B prescribed, but at first i couldn't even tolerate them as the first day back home, i would puke even drinking a bit of water.

So i didn't end up taking much pain meds at all. I did have the moment of "WHAT DID I JUST DO TO MYSELF" which i think is pretty normal, however after only the first week or so, that totally went away and so happy now that i went through it and would do it again if i had to!!

Before this surgery, i only had the 1 other major surgery c-section, so if you know you have a hight pain tolerance, you will prob do fine!!

I have had laparoscopic surgery before so I am very familiar with the agony of the gas pain. I noticed on other forums that people took Gas X strips to the hospital with them to help with the gas pain. Do you think that would help? 

Just to add my 2 cents...my surgery was May 2012, I have had 4 kids, 3 naturally (no epi's at all) and I C-section...so I know pain, AND I  can honestly say I did not have ANY pain from this surgery at all!!!!!  The only pain I had was in the first 2-3 days when I was trying to drink my water...a lot of burping and pain in my sternum when I drank...but that passed too.  I was never put in the ICU section at the hospital in Moncton as they were full, so I had a nice bif unit to walk around and walk I did almost all night...just a word of warning...I did have quite a bit of dry-heaving the first evening out, and that scared me a lot as the nurses were not familiar with the surgery at all...BUT as far as the actual surgery area, no pain at all...I really felt great....BUT everyone is different...so I am sure you will get through it and do great...  Good luck and keep us updated.....

Jj ...  We must have been at the same session :).  I was a zombie as I had just worked an overnight shift in fredericton and would not have missed that meeting for anything lol

Cool maybe we will have our surgery at the same time. I was the one sitting up at the front and told everyone about Obesity Help so you can put a face to a name.