Been 15 months.....ready to share the good, bad and ugly
My surgery was December 10, 2013 at Duke Med. In Durham. I have a unique vantage point, as my cousin and I had surgery same day, same surgeon...I was first case, she was second case...I had RNY(recommended by surgeon because of hernia), she has verical sleeve...my first choice. For those who are interested, here's my best advice for preops....
1.). If your insurance will pay, have your surgery done by the very best. Surgeons at the best centers cost insured patients the same as that local surgeon that does 1 case a week. Yes, it DOES make a difference. You want a surgeon that doesTHIS surgery many times a week, not one that squeezes bariactrics between other general surgical procedures. Check them out, but remember when you look at numbers, the university centers typically get the worst cases, and are often the resource locals use to FIX their mistakes. Get it right the first tine, do your homework. Duke has an excellent program, excellent. My daughter had surgery at ECU/VIDANT, who also has a great program.
2. Don't put it off. This surgery is LIFE CHANGING, sooner the better. Don't wait for more chronic problems to creep in. Just think, in less than six months, you can begin to get your life back.
3. The surgery itself was pretty much a breeze. I was kept very comfortable, and was up walking hours after surgery. Make up your mind before the surgery to get out of bed the very minute you possibly can, if for nothing but to touch floor on first attempt. I counted floor tiles each attempt until I made it to the door, then...it was to the hall, no stopping me! This is essential to help prevent blood clots, a real risk for the surgery.
4. THE UGLY.....ok, here it is, I thought I would starve after surgery until I could get soft foods. LOL! Not to mention it was Christmas. Yes I was hungry those first two weeks, but hey, it is sone work involved. I HATED all of the protein drinks, soups, etc. just could not ever tolerate them. My house looked like a market for protein drinks as i tried many from internet and local stores...,,YUK! If you think they are bad before surgery....just wait! But I made it with nutritional teams support.
5. First six months is challenging....mostly diet related. Some days I would think, "why did I do this?", the next day "I was so glad I did". After six months the good days begin to out number the bad.
6. Vomiting post op.....yes I did....alot. Just as sure as I did not follow the rules, my pouch would rebel. I had to learn new "full" signals and never over fill. I will NEVER forget the day I ate a scrambled egg...scrabled a little to hard...one of the first after advancing diet. That egg stayed hung for about 8 miserable hours. I learned to chew chew chew. I didn't want eggs for awhile. I still vomit if I overfill my pouch. This vomiting is different from say...stomach virus type of vomiting in that usually I do experience severe nausea, just a strong urge to vomit?
7. RNY or Sleeve......I was about two to three weeks slower to reach a full return to normal activites, she was sick day 3, Christmas shopping day 5. She has had no problems with her diet, no vomiting, she takes NSAIDS with surgeons blessings as needed, I'm forever tied to tylenol. SLEEVE is much easier, but, weight loss is faster and more dramatic with RNY. Of couse in our case, she did not have as much to lose to reach goal. I lost more pounds, but we both reached goal about the same time.
Enough for now, just bite the bullet, get tough and do it. Know its gonna take 6 months to get back to normal, but what an exciting 6 months. Get the best Dr. out there and believe in your self. A size 10 feels soooooooo good! Yes it was worth it all!
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this post. I am having the same problems as you did and often I say, "What the heck did I do?" I keep telling myself every single day that at 6 months out, it won't be so bad. I am two months out now and it has been a roller coaster ride, including a severe attack of gout that I never had before. My husband is having surgery in June but I know that life for me will be better then and I can help him get through his first few months too.
