What you wish you knew before surgery.

We go to the seminar, meet with our surgeon and staff. You take all the classes and research, research, research.  No matter how much we feel we are ready there is nothing like living it and learning after.  What was some of the things you wish you had known before surgery you learned after surgery?

I had one of the best pre-op programs at Northwestern in Chicago. 6 months of classes and support group meetings. That being said there were a few things that threw me for a loop and I wish I had been more prepared.

1.) Head issues.  I seriously thought I had worked them out and was ready.  Logged what had triggered me wanting to eat for 6 months and thought I had safe guards in place.  The games your head plays is scary.  I will never forget after losing 100 pounds looking in the mirror and crying because I DID NOT see any weight loss.  Thank goodness I had taken pictures and measurements.  Learning the difference between head hunger and physical hunger was a very difficult challenge!!!

2.)  Reaction from friends and loved ones.  I was shocked at the sabotage intentional or not that went on as soon as I started to lost weight.  You are losing too much, you look old, suggesting going to eat where they knew there was nothing for me to eat just to name a few.  In the end I had to walk away from some toxic friends that I had known for years.  It broke my heart but I had to do what was best for me.

Share what you wish you had known and maybe in a way we can help those that are just starting to be more prepared.

Thanks,

Kathy

I wish I'd have known that dumping isn't always crawl in a ball in the floor, wish you want to die severe. I wish I'd known that sometimes its an annoying feeling, almost like a fly whizzing by your ear. Enough to distract you momentarily, but subtle enough to ignore at the same time.

i wish I'd have known that we have to monitor our own trends in post op blood work. I see where the surgeon, will order one test, PCP will order another, endocrinologist orders another- but none of them interact with the other. 

I wish I'd have known that people were intimated by me before surgery, (honestly I thought they ignored me.) I realize now it was intimidation and it grew exponentially since losing weight. Makes life sort of lonely at times... but I'm kind of used to that. 

Great observations Peachpie.  Yikes on the dumping!

I wish I'd spent more time finding a therapist that I could click with to tackle the emotional issues surrounding wls. So much time was spent on the physical aspects of surgery, jumping thru ins hoops, making sure I was physically well enough for surgery, the mental stuff got put on the back burner only to raise its ugly head whenever life stresses got to me.

Head stuff is such a pita!

You are right T  I tell people "they have to get it right between the ears before rearranging their plumbing"  And stress is such a trigger.  I try and do something physical until it passes...

Thanks for sharing!

I wish I had known how wasteful it was going to be to stock up on 10k cans of broth, 16 different kinds of protein drinks IN BULK from Costco, 37 types of flavored water, all the jello, pudding and Popsicles, etc. that I could shove in my fridge.

I was in surgery on a Wednesday, home on Thursday and driving on Friday.  My tastes changed so much I couldn't tolerate the popsicles, the flavored water or most of the protein drinks.  The pudding and soup was great, but as a fatty, it's hard to fathom that one little container of pudding could easily last 2-3 days and a can of soup?  A week!

I threw away SO much tea (blurp) and instant breakfast (bluuuuuurp) and STUFF that my fat brain insisted on and my teeny tummy said "HELL NO!!!" to.

Great point!  Everything I loved pre-op I couldn't get down afterwards.  I had to put towels under the door when my son made pasta, the smell made me so sick...  It was 4 months before things were back to normal "somewhat".

Thanks for sharing!

Haha!  This is me too.  I have about 50 boxes of sf hello and pudding. Turns out I get an instant headache from aspartame. Pre surgery I didn't use artificial sweeteners so had no idea. 

I'm 8 days post op and laughing. I have a giant box of sugar free popsicles that taste like some kind of unknown chemical to me and the texture of jello makes me want to vomit. And, I bought $70 worth of protein "juice" drinks that taste NASTY. Just trying to hang on until the "good stuff" in another week or so (which I probably will also think tastes bad). 

Also; everything smells bad. EVERYTHING. I've had my kids shower and brush teeth multiple times per day and I swear I can still smell them.