How long is the hospital stay? I want as long as possible! Are there private rooms!

Surgery on Wednesday, home Friday late afternoon.

I was supposed to be going home on Thursday but was not tolerating full fluids, a lot of pain and numbness and tingling of hands and feet.

At Humber all rooms are either semi or private.

Healing will not be complete before discharge and takes a number of weeks. In my opinion the first 4 days should be for you, not your kids. Yes you can do stuff but do not expect to be super mom and pick right back up where you left of.

I seriously think there should be a paper for the DH to sign to accept responsibility for pulling the weight of the household for a few days.

You should not lift greater than 10lbs - for weeks not just days. That means groceries, laundry, bed making and even cooking can be a challenge (I made a big batch of chilli and could not lift the pot and even smashing potatoes caused discomfort three days post-op).

For me, the first 4 days I could not bend over to pick things up without excruciating pain. Using core muscles to stand up was the same (stay away from low toilets - you are not getting up without pain). I wore flip flops or went bare foot - forget socks they hurt too much.

Now that said, I am two weeks out and feel great. So I lifted a big batch of spaghetti sauce yesterday and I felt it, for a few hours after - good reminder I am not ready to go back to work, and ouch!

Thank you for the detailed response. Not looking forward to the pain. But looking forward to the new me. Where did you have your surgery?

I had surgery at Humber, they do aim for the one night and out but so do many hospitals for this procedure.

length of stay is dictated by the funding model. the government only supports funding at hospitals if they can meet the standard length of stay as determined by the procedure

that said, the dr both medical and surgeon make the decision about your discharge

from my understanding - pain under control, tolerating clear fluids and progressing to full fluids, good vitals and good blood work, you are discharged

having supports in place is a key piece for approval for surgery, the social worker appears to be assessing barriers to discharge - what could prevent you from going home and doing well after surgery

Your partner needs to be on board and ready to help with some of the things that you may find difficult for the first few days carrying things, helping you out of chairs or bed if your stomach hurts too much, making sure you feel ok and be present for the first 24 hours or so in case you need to go back to the hospital

How was your experience at Humber?

Humber was a nice and clean, almost sterile. I felt like I was cattle in a production line at first but the process is certainly smooth. Most people were friendly and helpful.

I was in just before Easter so the floor was quiet, the halls spacious and I did numerous laps of the entire floor and as a nurse in a hospital environment I took it all in.

The nurses for bariatric patients are RN's and were very nice, I had two very good nurses and one so young and green that I needed to be reminded by one of my friends to relax and be the patient and put away my nursing hat.

overall, I only saw my nurses every 4 hours for vitals, so you are really alone in the room to sleep, go walk, go pee and sip, sip, sip

the doctors do a really quick round in the morning, have your questions ready - they really move

close your curtain, close your door if you want peace. (do not be afraid to tell visitors - yours or other people's to leave or be quiet)

My recommendations:

get your prescription as soon as possible as the pharmacy is slow but good - makes for a nice break from the floor, somewhere different to walk to

take some flavoured water or drops with you, there is nowhere to get anything healthy at the hospital post-op

remove the food and fluids from the tray that you will try to consume - housekeeping removes the tray too soon and post-op we are severely restricted and this is not taken into account - hold onto a spoon for taking crushed pain meds in applesauce once IV is done

when they give you cottage cheese to advance you to full fluids - ma**** up or the pain will be unbearable ( I had not read ahead to do this and stupidly assumed they were giving me things I could handle), the full fluid soup if it is spicy (ditto - pain) ask for yogurt, or pudding or clear fluids

ice chips, great for the sore throat - ask the nurse to bring half a cup every time she comes to see you (every 4 hours for vitals - ask her to bring them with her so she doesn't have to run back and forth)

use the incentive spirometer - it helps get the mucous up, and carry a Kleenex - it will come up, usually when you are walking the floor

take an extension cord to plug in your phone, getting to the plugs was brutal

take your own small pillow to hold against your stomach when getting in and out of bed, or when you cough or yawn, or sneeze, or laugh, or cry and especially for the pot holes on the way home

try to sit in the high back chairs to eat it gets you into a better position for digestion and into the mindful eating and drinking

use a timer for taking the fluids on your phone, set every 15 mins

Overall I liked Humber, the negative was the bariatric clinic itself

1- you can never get a hold of them

2- I found the clerks rude and unfriendly, I did not find the clerks respectful of my privacy or anybody else's, I honestly could not tell you their eye colour but I could give you a list of their complaints

3- I personally do not want to be weighed in a waiting room - I found they lacked the empathy or kindness that is needed when dealing with a population that is self conscious about their weight to start with

In summary I can say, I am happy that the surgery is done, I am on the losers bench! I had a great and empathetic surgeon (who was approved by the surgeons I work with) so I felt confident that I was in good hands.

May I ask who your surgeon was? I am scheduled June 12 at Humber.

Dr Hunyh of the MIS Group.

He is so pleasant, great bedside manner very calming, and most importantly a very good surgeon.

Thank you so much for this. I learned so much from your post. I already hate that I can never get a hold of Humber as well. I'm dreading being weighed in a waiting room. I can't believe they do that. Even on my 600 lb life they take the patients to a separate corner! Okay, some superficial questions now: Is there wifi? TV? It sounds like I'm going to be in a lot of pain. Oh man.

They have these weird Tv's that have a small screen with touch control and you can also put on the large screen you can make phone calls and listen to the radio - the first 13 hours I was out of it - sleeping as I was post op at 7:30 pm. Wifi, I never used. It they have it in many different areas of the hospital- and when I was awake I just focused on passing gas, sipping and getting home. I did a lap every 45 mins.

like I said overall good experience, room was nice, clean and quiet

Who was your surgeon?