Liquid diet 2 weeks pre-op?

Has anyone else been ordered by the doc to do a liquid diet for a full two weeks before surgery? I understand a day or two but two weeks seems little extreme. Just wondering if my surgeon is the only one or if a lot of others have had to do this too. From what I've been reading, most of you have done about a day of clear liquids then NPO after midnight the day before surgery.

Thoughts? And if you have had a long pre-op liquid phase, did your doc say why?

Thanks!

I had to go 2 weeks having only 4 diabetic boosts a day.

I had to do a week of the preop diet. My surgeon broke it down by BMI. The higher you were the longer you had to be on the diet, in his clinic it was up to six weeks so I felt I got off lucky. The intent is to shrink your liver so that it's not too much in the way during the surgery. I was warned that if I did not adhere to the diet the surgery may not be possible to do. It scared me enough to stick to the diet. Also it prepared me for the clear and full liquid stages after.

I had 2 weeks of a full liquid diet, and 1.5 days of clear liquids only. Off to the hospital in 10 minutes for surgery. See you all on the other side....

Wyldblu

That's actually really helpful and makes sense. My BMI isn't off the charts but I can understand why the would want to shrink the liver a bit. Thanks for the input! :)

I have 6 weeks and I start next Wednesday...blech, but I know the benefits of it so I will do as the Dr. Orders!!

Wow, 6 weeks is going to be a challenge! But you'll get through it. Thanks for the input, it puts things in perspective. Two weeks doesn't sound too bad now. LOL :)

That sounds extreme to me. But then I only had to do 2 days with nothing after midnight the night before. Looks like others have 2wks or more. But it will prepare you for the liquid diet to come after surgery. Wonder what his "program" is for you after surgery?

From what I understand, my doc's post-op plan is very similar to everyone else's. Progressing clear liquid to full liquid to pureed by two weeks out. Then increasing from there. Sounds doable. I just had my lap band removed on Tuesday and my appetite has not been great as it is, so I doubt I'll have a hard time sticking to liquids for two weeks after the sleeve. :)

The liquid pre-op diet is all about liver shrinkage to make it easier to access your stomach during the surgery. It is unrelated to any food plan for after surgery. Not a test to see if you can eat nothing or next to nothing. When they do the surgery they have to get behind the liver to access the stomach. A large liver can create surgical risks and possibly even postpone the surgery - you want it to be the easiest procedure for the doc as possible.

I had 2 weeks of Ensure 5x per day, plus water and herbal tea. Day 1 and 2 were challenging then no big deal after that. I kept reminding myself that it's the last medical requirement for surgery and that helped. I wasn't going to come all this way and have all those tests just to refuse to comply with the last step of the process. Medical necessity. That's it.

At my program in Canada, 2 weeks is the minimum for pre-op liquid diet. Most patients do 3-4 seeks liquid depending on starting weight.