New, struggling and miserable

You've all probably heard all of this before, but I just need to talk with someone who understands. After two years of anxiety over whether to have bypass surgery, I finally decided to move ahead back in September. I attended the first seminar and immediately made an appt to see a surgeon. I quickly followed through with all of the evaluations and testing.

The surgeon said he needed me to lose 20 lbs. before he would do the operation. That was at the end of October. I lost 5 lbs. and then had an accident the first week of November where I badly bruised my right leg. It turned very quickly to cellulitis and I was in the hospital for 7 days.

My regular doctor took me off of the diuretics I had been taking since he said that my blood work showed that my potassium levels were extremely low.

After returning home, I was on Dilaudid and Vicodon for a month and was restricted to bed with my leg elevated. The pain was terrible.

Now that the infection has subsided, I am retaining so much water that I can hardly wear shoes. Forget the 5 lbs I lost, I've gained that back and more in jus****er.

I'm disgusted that I can't lose the weight, miserable that I'm swelling like an overcooked sausage and I don't want to face the scale, the surgeon or anything else.

My regular doctor says that all this will pass once I have the surgery, but ironically, I can't have the surgery if I don't lose the weight. Is this hell or purgatory or something? It just feels like I'm trapped in a scene from 'The Twilight Zone.'

Anyone have any help, suggestions, encouragement.... I'll take anything, I can't remember ever feeling so completely depressed.

If you are still retaining that much water, ask your doc about boosting your potassium instead of stopping the diuretic. That's what my doc did with me - I now take 2x the potassium that I originally did.

Also, what is your water intake and salt intake like? I can better rid myself of the water I do have by drinking lots of water. It sounds backwards, but really, what often happen is that because your body feels "water-starved", it holds on to what you do have.

Hang in there.

Thanks Patty, I'll ask him about it. I'll try anything at this point. Since I started feeling so bloated, I stopped drinking as much water as I should. I think you're right - it's only making things worse.

Thanks again for your help.

Quite welcome. Everyone here on this forum understands what you are going through.

I've had several bouts of cellulitis myself, all caused by injury or falls. I think it takes longer to recover fully than we allow ourselves.

Jen is right - your surgeon does want you to have surgery. But he wants you as healthy as you can be going in. That's not a bad thing!

You may already know this, but one reason for a weight loss pre-op is to shrink your liver - that gives the surgeon more room to maneuver around in your abdomen during the surgery. It's not just to torture us!

Tell your surgeon your story. He isn't going to forbid you from having the surgery, he wants you to have surgery, that's his job. He may make you wait longer (lose the water and see where the weight is) but don't be scared to address the situation with him. That's his job.

In the meantime drink as much water as you can stand to try to flush things out,  watch the salt, and consider asking for a mild diuretic if you aren't getting rid of the water despite other things. Once you are up and moving around more it will probably help a lot.

Best wishes and good luck!