Hello everyone! I am 1 week from my surgery.  My pre op appointment is Wednesday.  I am very organized and I am starting to prep for my return home post-op.  What do I need to have? What made your recovery SO MUCH easier?  What were some of your favorite foods/liquids?  What was your SAVIOR?

I have some items I am preparing to buy this week - some more protein powder, my vitamins (PLEASE HELP ME PICK SOME GREAT LOWER COST OPTIONS!!!), toddler/baby cutlery and toddler food plates, small 2 oz storage containers. That's it! 

What else ya got? I'm open to all your best practices for post-op.

Michelle

Clean your cabinets out of crappy foods. New measuring cups are a great thing. Best wishes to you. 

Hi Michelle,

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery!  As you can imagine this question has been asked a lot.  You didn't mention what surgery you are having?  Be sure and reach out to the surgery forum of the type of surgery you are having.  

Here is the link to a search I did for you:     Preparing for surgery

Here are some great links to articles to help you prepare for surgery.  Be sure not to buying too much of anything as your tastes will change.

We can't wait to read your updates!

Preparing for Surgery Through Nutrition

Photographing Your Weight Loss Surgery Journey

Weight Loss Surgery Hospital Stay: What To Pack

Four on the Floor: Self-Care After Weight Loss Surgery

WOW! Thank you so much for the links! As you can imagine, I'm pretty new around here so I appreciate it :)  Thanks again!

Food scale, a shaker bottle for protein shakes. PB2 (OMG just tried this for the first time in a chocolate shake-- LOVE it!). I ate so much SF pudding post op I can't tolerate it much now. 

What made my life easier...buying soups/broths from panera/subway. I don't like canned and didn't feel like it was worth my time to make small batches of different types of soups.

Good luck!

Congratulations! Copy and pasted from a recent post:

• Crystal Light - various flavors.
• Sugar free popsicles were a must have for me. Popsicle brand only (store brands like Kroger/Publix are sweetened with sorbitol and did a number on my stomach).
• A step-stool to get up and in to my bed
• Miralax
• Ready to drink protein shakes in a few different flavors
• Plastic 3 oz cups to pour shakes in to (so that I could refrigerate the rest until ready)
• Dannon Lite & Fit protein yogurt (no fruit) - check w/your plan on when this is ok
• Various broths
• A white noise machine in the hospital since I was right outside the nurse's station
• Pads/tampons (There are a few of us that started periods that weren't due...I wasn't due for 2 weeks)

Thank you so much for the great list!  This is exactly what I was hoping for :)  And for the head's up about the popsicle brand and tampons!

THANK YOU for mentioning the period thing! I got mine in the hospital and also wasn't due for a while. I also had a second surgery a few weeks later due to a perforation, and I got it again in the hospital. The nurses said that surgery shocks the body and it's normal for periods to come soon afterwards as a result, so they fortunately weren't phased by it. But having a period with a catheter...not fun :P Wish I'd known to be prepared for it!

All the others gave such great suggestions, I can't really add much. 

I do have a couple of suggestions that could make your healing a little easier. First, if you have a morphine drip and it makes you sick...and if you can have Tylenol-IV Tylenol worked WONDERFULLY on my pain without making me drowsy or nauseated. 

2nd tip: If you have a drain ( the kind that looks like a tube, can't remember what it's called ) use Press n Seal over the  bandages around your drain site instead of surgical tape. Your skin will still get irritated, but not nearly as much. My nurses in the hospital used it on me and it made things much easier for me. 

Good luck with your surgery!! 

I have never understood the logic behind using toddler plates and cutlery. Are you going to take it with you when you go out to eat???

As for lower cost vitamins, most of us use Centrum or an equivalent for our multi, but if you're getting an RNY or a DS you're going to need to take it TWICE a day, not just once. I buy mine at Sam's. That's also where I buy my calcium citrate. You can often buy vitamins on-line in buy one/get one sales---you just have to keep an eye on what's happening.

Avoiod any vitamins labeled 'bariatric'. Almost without exception they're both inadequate and overpriced. They're playing on your fears and/or your failure to research your needs. There IS no one pill that will magically be appropriate for every WLS patient, so don't fall for that. Each of us needs to choose our vitamin and minerals supplements based on your own individual lab results, and over the months and years ahead you'll probably need to adjust your dosages and specifically what YOU need to supplement.