COULDA-SHOULDA - PRE-POST

Looking for hints, and solutions   for the surgery and after.
One person said,  to be sure and bring chapstick.  What did you use
for the gas, besides walking? Another sugar-free lozenge's for after
surgery??  Katie Keane

 I just had surgery on Tuesday, so I feel your "nesting" that you are experiencing!  LOL  I would strongly suggest the following things for surgery:  Wear flip-flops or slip on shoes, low waisted pants, a loose fitting zipper/button down shirt/jacket.  I would also bring a pillow for the ride home.  It was much more comfortable to have the pillow on my lap to rest my arms on.  Don't ask me why, but it was nice to have.  When you get home:  I would have some bottles of water ready.  You can't drink much, but you have to as much as possible.  I can't get my protein in because my shakes are too big.  I just can't drink the fluid necessary yet.  I ended up getting some "super whey protein shots" last night.  I added it to a bottle of water with some fruit punch crystal lite and I finally got in the majority of my protein today.  I am still working on my fluid, but at least I got the protein.  THe first few days I did a lot of walking, sipping, nap, walking, sipping, and on and on.  This is day 5 and I feel so much better.  It is amazing, because of the swelling in our stomachs, how hard it is to drink all we are supposed to with out feeling so full.  I used Gas-x strips and they did not work for me.  I know they did for some.  After three days, I was allowed to go on full-liquids.  I would go ahead and have cream soups, sugar free puddings, and so forth ready.  On day 3, I still was satisfied with staying at home and didn't want to get out.  I wish you luck on your surgery and recovery!

I was in and out of surgery and the facility so fast that chapstick and lozenges would have been nice for the car ride home but that's about it. 

Slip-on shoes and sweat pants and a loose, easy to put on shirt were nice for me.  Otherwise I bought several pairs of stretchy sweat pants and cotton shirts that were comfy for the week or so after surgery.  Also, I didn't wear a bra for about a week afterwards and then wore one without underwires for the next few weeks.  Gas X didnt work for me at all and nothing else I found did either except for walking and time. Expect 1-5 days of gas discomfort. 

I did alot of carnation instant breakfast drinks (no added sugar), after surgery, apple sauce and chicken broth. 

Good Luck and congrats on preparing for your surgery!!

Hi Katie!  I had surgery the same day as Cristie, who also replied to your post.  She & I seem to be experiencing the same issues & share the same thoughts.

Ditto to what everyone else said about loose clothes/zipper sweatshirt the day of surgery.  Besides the pain in your abdominal area, you will feel tremendous bloating, so the loose clothes the better.

I went shopping the day before my surgery.  I stocked up on sugar free jello & pudding, sugar free popsicles (Edy's has a good selection), bottled water, vegetable broth, and cans of creamed soup.  The first 2 days I was lucky to even get a few sips of water in.  The only thing I really had was vegetable broth, jello & the popsicles.  I also drank hot tea, which many people on this site do, however, I notice that it makes me more bloated. 

By day 3, I was able to attempt canned tomato soup thinned out with milk, no****er.  It went down fairly well.  I was also able to manage protein shakes and the sugar free pudding.

I'm now on day 5 and still feel bloated quite often.  Today I only had a few sips of water to get down my vitamins, and am finishing a protein shake now.  The hardest thing I find is taking my time & not drinking in gulps.  I was thirsty at one point yesterday and out of habit took one or two gulps of water, and let me tell you, regretted it real fast! 

I tried the chewable Gas-x pills, but they really didn't work for me.  A heating pad on the area where the gas is (usually upper back, neck area) helped quite a bit.  I know this may also sound weird, but I would lie in bed on my back with the heating pad under my neck.  If I felt gassy/bloated, I would gently press down on my stomach (avoiding the incision areas, of course) over and over.  Eventually, it felt as if the gas/bloating was starting to move around instead of sitting in one place and it actually gave me some relief. 

Lastly, although I didn't try this, I've read about several people who used liquid Tynelol or Motrin.  I was given a script for Percoset and was given 1 pill prior to discharge, however, because of barely being able to drink anything, it just upset my stomach and caused me to throw up by the time I got home.  I never even touched the Percosets because I was too afraid of getting an upset stomach on top of an empty stomach! 

Best of luck to you and let us know how you make out!