pre diet liver shrink

Good Luck to you!  I am 8 weeks post op and I had to do the 2 week liquid diet pre op and it was the hardest part of the whole process!  I did lose 25 lbs during that time, but my surgeon stated my liver was still very fatty on surgery day.  very frustrating~

I am currently down 34 lbs since surgery and i am loving my new life,body, clothes and exercise routine!  Make sure you remember your vitamins after surgery!!!!  they really do make a huge difference.

I'm just starting my pre-op diet now.  I was amazed at the different types of "liver shrinking diets".  My doctor is pretty conservative so I'm on the strict protein shakes with water, broth, and Jello diet for 2 weeks.  I noticed that others can have milk in their shakes etc... but I definitely want this done laparoscopic, so I will be good and follow the diet that will help the most in making it easier for the surgeon to move my liver out of the way.  Anything I can do to minimize complications!

Sara

I read quite a bit about the various liver shrinking diets, some doctors don't require it, some doc have two weeks to 10 days etc. 

I would think that if it was to lessen complications then it would be a mandatory requirement by all doctors. The more variations by different doctors is interesting. 

Why don't all drs. require it? because they are people,no two alike and all went to many different medical schools had different instructors,different experiences,different opinions.  They are not just a bunch of robots.

Just like you and I and every other third poster on this forum don't make a pan of lasagna exactly alike,cause we each learned differently and have seen different results that we like and don't like for lasagna. The surgeons protocol is a bit like a "recipe",a formula they have found to be tried and true for them and what they like to ddo.

The liver shrink diet is "designed' to burn off the fatty coating that most morbidly obese people have on their livers. This coating is know as "fatty liver disease". This coating makes the liver slippery and difficult to balance on a "chopstick" which is what the instruments they use look like.

Many very experienced surgeons feel like it is a sort of badge of honor to be able to control organs in a lap procedure without "Cheating" by shrinking the liver. They feel if a surgeon can't control the organs under his/her instruments,they have no business doing surgery.

Many other surgeons just want all the help they can get,to get in and out as quickly as possible,for whatever reason. Many surgeons maintain that it takes more than a few days or weeks to burn that coating off and maybe that is why some surgeons have their patients on 2,4 6 week preop diets.

GL

I really like your explanation. This really does sum it up, I just hope that my liver has shrunk enough to be balanced on the tool. I hope and pray that my 10 days was enough to shrink my liver.