Recovery Questions!

Hey everyone! 

Sooooo.... I just went to my "pre-surgical seminar" and I wanted to ask you all a few questions about your experiences. From what I gather on this site - everyone has had quite a bit of different experiences so it would be helpful to hear what different people went through. 

1. Did you stay in the hospital overnight after surgery? If so, how long?
2. How long was your procedure - start to finish? 
3. How long did you have drains in? 
4. How much weight did you lose BEFORE surgery and in the 1st week after procedure? 
5. When did you have a REAL piece of meat for protein?
6. Did your surgeon say that it was okay to have gummies for your vitamin intake? 
7. Were you told to only count your "shakes as protein intake and not worry about counting the protein in real food"? IE: Make sure to have 5 protein shakes a day to equal 150g and whatever meats, etc you eat doesn't matter. 

Thanks everyone! I'm getting excited/super nervous about my upcoming surgery on April 6th! I'm trying to keep the anxiety down but maybe because this is a revision from the Band to the DS I have more than average? LOL 

These Q/A are always fun because you see all the different approaches to this DS journey.

1. I was in the hospital a little less than 24 hours. Stayed overnight and went home around lunchtime.
2. 5 hours
3. 10 days
4. I only lost about 5 pounds before surgery, I think. I only have the 1 month mark recorded and it was -26 pounds.
5. Real meat was sometime after the 4th week.
6. No gummies.
7. My surgeon is a proponent of protein shakes and wanted us to get 120 grams ASAP after surgery. I'm almost 9 years out and I still use protein shakes to make sure I'm getting enough. I had a lot of trouble eating dense foods, so protein shakes saved me. I only count the protein in shakes because I'm sure my body can digest them. I'm not so sure I can break-down dense protein enough to get much nutritional value out of it. 

Thank you Gina for getting back to me with your responses! I really appreciate it :) 

Here's a few things that I was told: 

1. I could leave the hospital that night after surgery if everything went as planned - I just thought that was pretty interesting after such a massive surgery. I am an RN so I can't imagine not staying at least overnight for observation. AND the kicker of it is that the hospital cost includes a 2 night hospital stay, regardless if I stay or not and they absolutely are refusing to refund the 2 night stay cost even if I don't use it, LOL 

2. I was told the surgery would be 9.5-10 hours 

3. Interesting about the drains - I've heard some people don't even have drains. 

4. I was told to lose 30 lbs before surgery but I understand I need to shrink my liver down 

5. Wow! I was told I wouldn't be on a "regular diet" until week 9! Clear liquids for the first 4 weeks, then pureed food for week 5 & 6 and then soft foods for week 8. Hmmmm LOL 

6. I was told I could have gummy vitamins for my multivitamin and I nearly fell off my chair! HAHA I asked like 3 times just to make sure.... Sooooo of course I did some research and there are 2g of sugar in a "serving" of gummies which is (2).... but since I was told that I have to take 12 chewable a day.... that would be 24 gummies a day, but I just thought.... well each time I eat the gummies.... that would be my 6g of sugar intake each time. I'm assuming that's why most surgeons would say no to the gummies? 

7. And that is very helpful to know about the food intake with the protein! I was just curious because I read a woman's story on DSfacts website that stated that she NEVER had to supplement her protein intake with shakes and just does "DS math" with her food and counts the proteins she eats in her food and does it that way.... sooooo I thought I would consult a veteran (hehe) and see what others thought! Thanks! I think I'm going to do the shake thing for sure.... makes much more sense to me. 

1. My husband said less than 24 hours was too quick to leave the hospital. He was not equipped to address the spike in temperature post surgery and we had to call the doc because we just didn't know it was kind of normal and that I needed to use the lung exercise thingy more. 
2. Hmm..my surgery was laporascopic and he even had to clear some adhesions but only 5 hours.
3. Some surgeons don't send you home with drains but it just seems better to take that muck out of your system than leaving it in.
4. I was a lightweight starting out, so maybe that is why I didn't have to do a pre-op diet.
5. Your diet progression sounds like old RNY advice. I was on soft foods + whatever works by 1 month out and I could eat Wendy's chili, shrimp, soft white fish, etc. The ketosis had set in and fish tasted awful to me but shrimp was awesome!
6. I sculdn't do the chewables--they hurt my teetch. So, the dietitian said to use capsules. I could take them slowly or dump the contents in a protein shake or SF pudding. I was quite lactose intolerant at first and needed to use Lactaid milk. It might have been better had I know about VSL#3 DS probiotics. I use a 1/2 teaspoon in the AM and PM.
7. Yeah, some people are very proud that they never use protein shakes. I'm not sure what's to be proud of but to each their own. I'm pretty lazy and having a protein shake rather than fixing a meal or trying to plan everything is a no-brainer. lol

Can I ask who your surgeon is? Sounds alot like mine, except the gummy vitamin part...

1. I stayed one night and left before noon the next day
2. around 5 hours I think
3. No drains
4. I lost 25 before surgery, my surgeon suggested losing 10% before to shrink the liver. I have no idea how much I lost in the first week, there was 10 pounds of fluid gain in the hospital. At my 2 wk appt I was down 15 pounds from the morning of surgery.
5. My surgeon has what seems like a very intense post-op food progression after surgery compared to most others (clear liquids w/ protein drinks only for first month), so I think my first bite of real meat was salmon in the soft food stage around 2 months out.
6. For the first year I only did the chalky chewable vitamins, I don't think I could've tolerated gummies in the beginning. Chalky chewables allow you to chew them up really finely
7. Yes, but the farther out you get and the easier it is to get in real food, you probably don't need to be as strict about doing the powdered or pre-made protein drinks. My reccomendation was to do 4-5 protein drinks a day (120-150 G) but now I do one powdered drink in the morning and usually 1-2 premier protein throughout the day and then just get the rest from meat, cheese, greek yogurt,

1. I stayed overnight, went in the morning of surgery and was discharged about 5pm the next day. I wanted OUT of the hospital
2. Mine was about 6 hours with one hour of waking up time included, so about 5 hours total. Mine was done laparoscopically
3. My drain was in about a week
4. Before, hmm, went on a week of liquid diet and I lost about 20 lbs
5. I was eating tuna after about a week and a half - lots of mayo though. It was considered a soft food
6. I don't believe that the gummy vitamins are absorbed so I avoided them. I did chewable for about a month then switched 
7. I used to rely heavily on shakes, now I still have my premier protein (30g) each morning. I get about 120-150g protein a day including the shake.

It's normal to be nervous. Try to relax the best you can. Stress only makes things worse :)

1. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days
2. My procedure was 2.5 hours for an open DS
3. I had a j-tube drain for 2 weeks.
4. I lost about 15 lbs prior to surgery, and about 15 lbs the first week (more if I counted the fluids they pumped into me)
5. I had a real piece of meat a week or two post op.  I was told to start with the tenderest meat possible and try what I felt like trying.
6. My surgeon's vitamin recommendations got me deficient, and that was on the pricey bariatric vitamins they sold out of their office.  Gummies do leave out some essential nutrients, and it's slow, but not impossible to take pills from the beginning.
7. Hell no.  All protein counts.  That being said, you'll not be eating more than a bite or two of meats for a bit, so you will likely be getting the majority of your protein from shakes.