My BOB update

BOB update   January 14 I went on a full liquid diet. I only had 2 days to prepare, but I was able to buy Boost Glucose Control, Jello, tea, and broth beforehand.  I started full liquids on that Thursday, the problem for me was that I had planned to attend a conference out of town over the weekend. I took the Boost and premade sugar free Jello with me thinking, I can do this. Well, I did ok. Unfortunately for me the conference served amazing gourmet food, breakfast, lunch and dinner … with cookies and pastries thrown in there to sugar everyone up so they would continue to pay attention.  I had a glass of white wine at the end of the evening.  Well, I would like to say that I was perfect. I wasn’t. I did eat, however I was able to stay away from the pastry/breads and I only ate low carb foods in very small amounts. I also replaced a few meals with Boost, but not all. I lost 9 pounds on the pre-op liquid diet.  I’m not telling you this to say that it’s ok to go off your plan but to say that it’s ok to not be perfect. As soon as I left the conference I got back on my plan and it went ok … AND I was honest with my surgeon that I did have some food during the pre-op stage. I had the BOB on the 28^th, the surgery went well. I was told that I had several adhesions and quite a bit of scar tissue, however they were still able to do the surgery LAP. I believe that the surgery took a little over 3 hours and I was in recovery for 3 hours or so. Everyone there understood my anxiety and delt with me very well. I didn’t even have to have the usual pre-op meds to relax me. I was afraid, but I did my best to not let it get the best of me. I was put on the barratric unit, they took wonderful care of me and then discharged on Saturday. Now, I’m not going to lie, the surgery has been very painful. I’m still on pain meds but I have cut back to about ½ of what I had before.  At home I was on clear liquids for 2 days and slowly started full liquids. The Doc has told me that I need at least 60 grams of protein a day. I have been building up to that every day and think today and from now on I should be able to achieve 60 grams. I did develop chest pain and was readmitted to the hospital for testing. They were looking for blood clots. It was found that I didn’t have blood clots, but had an air pocket pushing up on the bottom of my lung and that was probably what was causing the pain.  The remedy to that is to go in with a needle and deflate the pocket (more complicated than it sounds) or to just deal with the pain until the gas is absorbed, which they told me should take no less than 3 days. We decided that the safest rout to go was to wait. I simply took extra pain meds and reminded myself that it wouldn’t last forever. So, here I am, a week after BOB. I’m still recovering, I walk around the house but spend a fair amount of time in bed. Yesterday I walked for 5 min on my treadmill at a very slow pace, Today I walked for 6. I still take pain medication and have pain and tenderness but it’s getting a little less every day.  I have lost 26.5 pounds so far.
         

OMG!!!! 26 1/2 lbs already!!!!! THAT IS AWESOME!!!!
How much do you need to lose to make your goal? Just curious.. you do not have to share that if you don't want to.
Sounds like it was not such an easy recovery.... sorry. Do you think the pain afterwards is similar, from your recollection, to the RNY?

You're doing great... Can't wait for your next update!

Thanks,
I don't know yet how much weight I want to lose.  I set mini goals and go from there.  So far I haven't set a weight loss goal for myself, right now my goal is recovery.

As far as the pain, it's not the same, RNY was worse, but band over bypass isn't a cake walk.  My RNY was open and I had complications, my band was LAP.

My husband took a wk off of work and has been VERY hepful around the house, I could not have done this w/o his help.  He may try to take next wk off too ... We don't know yet if he can, but I hope so.

my husband is taking a week off, too. he rocks!!! as i mentioned, i have 2 little ones pretty severly impaired with autism and a host of other stuff, so there is nooooo way i can do it alone! i am so happy that the BOB only requires a night away- i do not think i could do it if i had to be gone for a few nights.... Have to be on top of those providers, lol, so there's no slacking on programs : )

It was planned that I stay in the hospital for 2 nights.  I was told that most revisions were in the hospital for one day longer than the general stay.  That was fine w/ me.  I planned for the worst, expected the best and came out somewhere in the middle.  I understand about being away from your high needs children, I had the same concern. We had a sitter lined up for my husband to have a break for him to go out and get a cup of coffee or just think on his own. We have no family in town and it was quite a process to get everything set up … but with the help of a few friends we were able to pull it off.

I'm glad things went ok for you and that you are doing well. Keep up the great job on the weight loss!

Thank you!