Recovery time for open RNY

It seems like I have been waiting forever. Right now I think everything is approved, but they haven't called the doctors office yet. If the insurance company wasn't holding things up the doctors office was. My problem is I have organized a group cruise (I am a cruise specialist) and we have 20 people going to Alaska on a Scrapbook cruise on August 5. Doctor Weber said I would be fine, but then when I saw him 2 weeks ago he said surgery should be in about two weeks. What I am wondering is how long after surgery did you feel up to doing stuff. I won't have a lot to do on the cruise, but I do want to be feeling okay. I don't know how long it will take to schedule the surgery once they get the okay. Hopefully the next week or 2. Thanks Marcia

Hi, Marcia!! Congrats on the cruise and your upcoming surgery! I'm almost 14 months out from Dr. Weber's open RNY and I would say you may want to hold off. I had days that I felt like I could conquer the world and then days that I felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. It went on for about six weeks post-op. I wasn't in that much pain - I didn't take any pain meds (not even Tylenol) after the 2nd day post-op, but I definitely didn't feel up to much. I did my walking, etc. but even at like a month out, just going grocery shopping kicked my hiney. You don't want to push yourself too hard too fast because you can set yourself back in your recovery. Not only that, but you'll be on pureed foods and all of that food on a cruise may be a bit too tempting, but that's just me. It is ultimately up to you, but I would say that it would be pretty soon (if you had it done mid-July) to be going on a cruise two to three weeks after. Michelle 340/205/???

Two weeks ago when I saw DR. Weber, he said I would have surgery by the end of June and I would be okay, but with all the delays, I just wonder how soon they will be able to schedule the actual date. I will be calling the Dr. office tomorrow. Maybe they will get sick of hearing from me and get it done. Thanks Marcia

If it is more than a week after surgery, you should be fine IF you can take naps. I was up and walking (like they want you to) the day of surgery. Walking "normally" in several days, not all hunched over. Was back at work in two weeks (roughly 6 hour days) and full time in three weeks. However, my energy level didn't really start getting back to "normal" for a month. Those naps were helpful. -Pam