Surgery date set :)

I am so excited and nervous now. Got my call today that insurance approved my surgery and the date is set for May 20th.

Now any advise going in? Things I need to do pre surgery? I have thought about stocking up on everything so my family will still be able to eat. LOL

Also gotta kick caffeine, down to 1 cup a day now.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Leigh Ann

That's exciting news!  Pre-surgery, I made sure I was following the dietary guidelines, as I wanted to increase my chances of having a smooth surgery and recovery.  It also made me lose more weight, which was great!  I found, after surgery, that my senses of taste and smell were heightened for a few weeks, which the NUT later told me was common.  I had bought a number of items for the post surgery liquid diet, but had to re-adjust.  I couldn't tolerate the smell and taste of the vanilla protein shakes that were fine pre-op.  Water, which I've always loved and drank lots of, smelled and tasted funky, so I got a wide variety of thing and found what worked and didn't.  I experimented with temps as well, and found icy cold and hot worked best.  I sucked on sugar free popsicles a lot to get my fluids in, as they give a steady supply of liquids at a very slow pace.  The heightened senses went back to normal after awhile.  Also, prepare to be cold.  Others here can explain this phenomenon.  I had surgery in August, and gained 13 lbs of fluid right after, so I came home heavier than when I went to the hospital.  I was wrapped in a blanket on the recliner the day I got home, as I was freezing - the AC was not on, so it was definitely not an issue of having less insulation!  Found out later that this is common, as well.  Take care and keep us posted on your progress!  Mary

Hi Congrats on your surg. date!!! I am also new to the WLS forum and my surg. is scheduled for May 7th. I am excited!!! Started my 2 week liquid pre op diet on Wednesday.. and I am struggling but I will make it through.

I recommend keeping as busy as possible to distract yourself!  I definitely prepared lots of food ahead of time, since I didn't want to cook at all during my pre-op and post-op liquid phases.  It was so great to start cooking again when I hit pureeds.  

And here's a list of the promises I made myself pre-op.  They might be useful to you too!  

1. I will not panic if I stop losing weight for a few weeks. Instead, I will re-evaluate that my eating is on plan and wait until the stall has lasted 4 weeks before I start to panic.

2. I will not ask OH what I need to take to the hospital, I know these things. Lip balm and a pillow. And the pillow really just needs to be in the car for the trip home.  (I also took my iPhone and Kindle, plus their charging cables.  I didn't use the Kindle.  I wore a loose, comfy dress to the hospital and wore it back home.  I didn't need a robe or socks, those were all provided for me.) 

3. I will not lie when people ask me how I’ve lost the weight. I will either be honest and tell them “surgery, diet and exercise” or I will tell them “I’m not comfortable talking about this with you.” These are the options, lying by omission is not one of them.

4. If I fail, and I will fail, I will forgive myself and return immediately to plan. It’s okay to screw up, it’s not okay to beat myself up for it or let it become the start of a downward spiral.  (I'm not good at not beating myself up, but I try!)

5. If I don’t start losing sizes right away, I won’t freak out. Chances are the clothes I wear now are too small and tight, and I just deal with it. It might take awhile for my current clothes to fit correctly and that will happen before I can get into smaller sizes.  (It took me over 50 pounds to start losing sizes!)

6. I will own my mistakes. They’re mine and result of my own choices, no one is ever going to hold a gun to my head and make me eat crap, I control what goes into my own body.

7. I will not compare my weight loss to that of anyone else. I’m me.

8. I will do everything I can to find a therapist I can work with. This will help me out in the long run.

9. I will be hyper aware of potential addiction transfer issues and especially aware of getting too caught up in numbers as I already know I am want to do.

10. Extra skin is a fact of life, get the **** over it. If I really hate the way my body looks, I can save my pennies and nickels for plastic surgery once I’ve maintained for a year or two. People will still have sex with me if I have weird skin, and Under Armour sells compression gear. I will, however, have every issue with my skin documented.

11. I will be kind to myself. I will keep getting to my monthly massages, I will keep engaged in my hobbies, and I will spend time with my friends.

12. I already know that being a “hero” about medication is stupid so I’ll work on remembering that when the time comes. Pain keeps us from healing, it’s not noble.

13. I will only weigh myself once a week. I will not let myself get obsessed with the scale. See #9.  (I found TrendWeight.com and I weigh myself daily and it's awesome.  I now just see my daily weight as data, not something that makes or breaks me.) 

14. My stomach will probably gurgle after surgery, this is normal. Just don’t go to silent Meeting anytime soon.

15. I will not worry if people don’t comment on my weight loss. I will assume that they’re being polite and not commenting on another person’s body, which is what they should do.  

16. I will work to break the compulsions to “clean my plate” and to “not let food go to waste.” Sure, there are starving kids in Africa, but throwing away food will not change the situation.

17. There is nothing to be done for hair loss, assuming that I’m eating on plan. It will happen, or it won’t, but I will remember that it will grow back eventually. I will be a shavee with St. Baldricks six weeks post-op.

18. I understand that my hormones will be all messed up after surgery. I will do my best to remove myself from the company of others instead of taking my hormonal changes out on them.

19. I won’t weigh myself for the first two weeks post-op because I know that I’ll gain weight from all of the fluids and swelling that surgery entail. I’ll wait to weigh until I’m off liquids.  (I made it one week, lol.) 

20. I will not panic if I don’t feel restriction immediately post-op. Chances are restriction won’t kick in fully until I’m eating dense proteins and that will take 4-6 weeks on my plan.

I am in the pre-op process and tend to lurk on this site here and there.  I must say that your list of the promises you made to yourself made so much sense to me and were spot on.  Thank you for sharing. :)

You're welcome!  It really helped me out in the beginning and, I've got to say, rereading it now when I posted it ALSO helped me out.  It gave me that "Oh yea.. I SHOULD do this" feeling.  Well, in my case, more like "Oh yea.. I shouldn't be beating myself up."  

Gwen, that list is amazing. I'm going to print it out to have it on hand for my surgery 06/24. Very inspirational.

Yay!  I'm glad i could help :)

Where is that Damn like button lol  Gwen this is a.great list lol kudos to you I will be saving this.for later thanks.for.sharing