Another poop/gas question - I'm so sorry!

That's the balance I have to get my head around: cost vs. benefit.  Thank you again for the response.  It was very good of you.  And congratulations on 10 years of keeping the weight off - that's incredible!

Threadjack: WHAT HO do I see the name Hess as your surgeon? As in son of Dr. Douglas Hess? Or is this some other surgeon? Is he still doing DS? Still in Boston? Please tell!!!!!

Dr. Douglas Hess Sr. was my surgeon, before he retired.  I was willing to travel accross the country to have surgery with him, he was so incredible in the care I received.  After 10 years I am still in awe of his skill.

I have to tell you...I routinely use the small public restroom at my work that has a lot of traffic.  I am not ready to go for a couple hours after waking, and I have about a 1 1/2 hr commute each way.  There are just not enough sleeping hours in the day for me to wake up early enough to go at home.

That being said, never has anyone commented or been offended by my odor.  I spray the toilet with a cheap, oil-based body spray (Body Fantasies).  Then I do my business.  Then a squirt after.  Ladies often linger and chat while I'm in there- to include my CEO who commented on the lovely air freshner that housekeeping was using.

I'm usually pretty careful about my white carb consumption.  Overindulging in flour/sugar items like doughnuts or cookies definitely lead to a more offensive odour.  I'm embarrassed by gas and smell.  I have not ever been embarrassed at work.  It is absolutely controlable for me so far without the use of Devrom / Flagyll, etc.

 

I can't tell you what a relief it is to read what you wrote, anne M.  I have a small office with a single restroom and the prospect of sending my office mates running for the exits has caused me to lose sleep.  It's nice to know that there are effective mitigation steps that can be taken.  I'm also the early person into the office on most days, so the prospect of sitting at home for a couple hours in the morning waiting for "things" to calm down, or getting up any earlier than I already do, was not something that appealed to me.  All of that said, there are, of course, trade offs and adjustments that are the cost of getting my excess weight off and the meaningful parts of my life back.  It's been really good to have the chance to work through this with all of the people here who have been so generous with their responses - you as well.  Thanks to you and to everyone *****sponded!

P.S. sorry to the mispelling of you name.

If you can, get a high powered vent fan installed in the shared bathroom.  Learn the "courtesy flush" and other techniques.  And be assured that most of use finish up in the morning and are done for the day.  You might have to adjust to getting up a bit earlier, just in case.

And with your workmates, be honest - tell them you are having a medically necessary surgery that could - you hope just temporarily at worst - put your guts in an uproar, and that while you will do your level best to mitigate any effects, you (1) apologize in advance; (2) hope it will be temporary; and (3) if it bothers them, to tell you - kindly would be nice - in case you seem to be less aware of it, or your mitigation efforts are not as effective as you think they are (we get used to it, in other words).  That will take the onus (anus?) off of them to try to pretend to not notice, and will put them on your side in helping to mitigate, both for them, and for the sake of any clients who come into the office.

Hi again, Diana.  That is good to know and those are excellent suggestions.  I have to admit that the high powered fan idea had already crossed my mind.  I was thinking something like one of those industrial drying fans that they use in grain silos . . . okay, maybe overkill.  Again, thanks for taking time to post in response to my question(s).

As others have said, gas odors or lack thereof can easily be controlled by your food choices. The first few months might be iffy at times, but if you plan ahead there is no need to be caught in an embarrassing position.
For men, I'd recommend keeping Ozium and/or Orange Squeeze air fresheners on hand. That way even if you did have an issue, you could steathily spray some in the bathroom, under the counsel table, etc.

Or you could see about getting a service animal - then you could blame any smells on it!

No statistics here, but many if not most of us worried about these types of things. Yet we have come through and except for a very, very small percentage, these worries turned out to be baseless.
You'll be fine.

Kim

Totally loving that response, Kim.  Thanks!  It's important to hear all sides, and I don't want to delude myself, but it's nice to hear a solid "it's going to be fine."  Also, still cracking up about the service animal idea - I'm thinking a Great Dane, just so it's believable.