Surgery is tomorrow!!! (1/11/2019)

I've been utilizing this wonderful site for as long as I can remember and just got the courage to make my first post. I will be having my RNY surgery tomorrow with Dr. Dakin and I'm excited, terrified, anxious and emotionally all over the place. I just cant wait to be on the losers bench with all of you. If anyone has any last minute words of advice, Id greatly appreciate it!

Congrats on your surgery! It certainly is a life changer and it is very normal to feel anxious and excited. I felt completely nuts in the days before my surgery so I did alot of cleaning and organizing and other things that I couldn't do on lifting restrictions after surgery. One of the other things I did that helped was to do some journaling and to write about what I was thinking and feeling. I looked back at my fears and concerns in the months after surgery and in so many ways things had changed.

As far as advice, your only jobs in the days after surgery are to sip all you can, take short gentle walks and get lots of rest. The walking may be hard but it will help your body to purge the anesthesia, get the circulation moving to avoid blood clots and most important help with getting the gas out and bowels moving! Also don't think that you're being heroic if you take less meds. Stay ahead of your dosages so you are comfortable and can rest.

My final advice is that if you have pets, get a small pillow (some surgery centers give you one) and keep it on your belly. I find that my cats and many dogs want to snuggle up when you are sick and the pillow will protect your sore bits from being injured....

Thanks for the great recommendations! I actually have a puppy so that advice will be very useful! :)

My cats know when I'm sick and often want to sit on and knead my hurting areas. OUCH! They would even jump on in the night so I lived with the pillow attached to me for a while. I've also heard that squeezing the pillow to your abdomen when you cough, sneeze and move your bowels can be helpful, so be sure to put a washable cover on it!

Above post has excellent advise- ditto--ditto--ditto. Be gentle with yourself both physically and emotionally. Beware judging your recovery based on any preconceived expectations you may have- sometimes they are a bit unreasonable -we are not superhumans. Give your body the time it needs - do not rush things.

May your surgery be uncomplicated, your surgeon's hands be especially skilled, and your recovery team gentle and compassionate.

Heal well.

Thank you for the kind words and great advice!

Something I wish I would have done, make a video journal to yourself. Remind yourself why you're doing this and what got you to this point.

It will be awesome to look back in a year, 6 months, whatever to see your progress and remember "that" person that you no longer are.

Those pre-surgery pictures are also important to look back on. Keep a folder of your progress.

A video journal is a fantastic idea, thank you for the recommendation! :)

I also agree about the pictures. Every month (or more often) I had a picture taken at the same place in my surgeon's office. Some people even wear the same outfit for a while. When the plateaus happen, and they WILL, you can look at the pictures and see how far you've come!

You got some great advice already! I hope you have a smooth surgery and recovery.