Day 1 Opti and pre-surgery thoughts

Today is the first day of Opti (2 weeks) and I have to say it isn't as nasty as I had thought it would be. Getting pretty excited. My pre-admission appointment at TWH was on Monday and that went really well too. I met someone who has been working through the process for 2 years and is just now getting to surgery.

Anyone else starting today too?

Couple of things I am thinking about:

• I moved outside of the city and I am reading that some people stayed near the hospital for a week after. I asked the nurse and she said it is really up to the person. Thoughts if this was you?
• Planning my post-op meals - what did you love in those early days home?

So I am going to my mums post surgery, She lives in Newcastle. so not near the hospital. but we did a run to the local hospital. a couple of times to see the best route to take to get there should anything go wrong. its not perfect but i live alone (with a useless roommate but yeah mostly alone) so i would have had to be alone post surgery and take a cab to the hospital should anything go wrong. (or an ambulance if anything REALLY went wrong, which it wont for any of us. i h ave hope) we thought this best.

the thing i am most looking forward to is my pureed curry. it is what i am going to try when i get to pureed food stage. lots of flavour very exciting

I started Opti today too!! And it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I also had my pre-op at TWH today so I'm right there feeling those pre-surgery vibes with you. My surgery is in 3 weeks and I started the process fall 2015 so it's been a 2 year long ride for me too. I honestly wish I'd had it done sooner but it is what it is. Better late than never!! Nervous and excited all at once and can't wait to be on that losers bench.

Congrats on getting to this point! A long wait for everyone! Sending you an Opti cheers!

I live about an hour and 20 mins from the hospital, and I went straight home when they released me. I was SO ready to be back in my own bed.

Congrats on starting opti! That's the real start of everything, I feel.

It took me over 2 years to go through the process, with a lot of bumps a long the way.

I lived over 500 km away from my surgical centre so was told I had to rent a room near the hospital for at least 5 days after surgery. The only two hotels near St. Joe's in Toronto in my price range had terrible ratings and reviews, including photos of how dirty the rooms are, so I rented a room via AIR BNB and it worked out well. My ex sister in law stayed with me and we watched Supernatural on Netflix...several seasons worth, and played a lot of scrabble, lol. We had a shared kitchen and bathroom because I couldn't find a place available with a private bathroom close to the hospital that was pet and smoke free. I could have stayed at her place but she has a dog and I didn't want my allergies and asthma to be triggered while I was recovering.

I just had my protein shakes and a bit of broth for the first week, then added some Greek yogurt in week 2. I tried cream soups when that was allowed but didn't like most of them. Once I was allowed pureed foods, I really enjoyed pureed chicken with some plain Greek yogurt, a tsp of ranch dressing, and hot sauce; it tasted like hot wings and was a great change from all of the sweet. I also liked pureed egg salad, pureed tuna salad, pureed beef stew (homemade, without potatoes), and pureed steak with home made sugar free BBQ sauce.

Congrats! Good luck! Yay Team TWH.. heehee I am going through there as well!