Awesome STUFF

Now that my kick ass subject got your attention :-)  I have a few questions.  I've only got 6 days until surgery!!!! WOW! I can't believe its so soon!  My first question is how big people's scars were!? (Laparoscopic) .  I know most people haven't had the same surgery as i'm getting, (concidering my surgeon pioneered it).  But I'm sure the size and visability will be somewhat similar.  I was also wondering about sports.  I absolutely LOVE soccer, and play for my college club team.  I was wondering how long it took for you guys to get back to sports.  I know it says for a while to take it easy, and walk a lot.  But what if you want to jump past the walking stage and jump right into running and sports?  I guess i'm just wondering how long it took before you were able/allowed to get to that cardio level exercise after surgery?  Thanks for your help!!!! Have a great week and good luck to both the losers and those who are waiting for approval and considering surgery! Lara

My first question is how big people's scars were!? (Laparoscopic)  The biggest scar was about a 1/2 inch, the rest were a quarter inch... at almost 2 years out you cannot see any of my scars except the 1/2 inch one which is above my belly button... I had my GB removed in Jan and they re-used that scar so that increased its visiability. But what if you want to jump past the walking stage and jump right into running and sports?   You will have to ask your surgeon - the first 2 weeks post-op I was limited to walking only. After that I was cleared for all exercise except for ab work. You will find you are very tired and anesthesia can be very hard on the body... dont push your body further than it wants to go. Congrats on your upcomming surgery!

I haven't had WLS yet, but I had my galbladder removed like... four years ago. all of my scars are like between 1/4 inch- 3/4 inch except for my bellybutton one which is like, 1 1/2 inches. The bellybutton one is almost invisible, and all the other ones are still a light pink but not very visible. seems like it takes almost a year for them to stop being so dark and visible, and after that they fade more and more. I think it would take someone quite a few seconds of staring at my stomach to be able to tell that I've had surgery

I'm two weeks out, I have a 2.5inch scar and 5 half inch scars in different points on my stomach.  They all are healing nicely.  I'd recommend that you put stuff like aloe, msm lotion or neosporin on them regularly so they don't dry out or get heavily scabbed over.  Neosporin is good because it's an anti-bacterial but it's primary inactive ingredients are cocoa butter and vitamin E...both very good for your skin.  I've seen pictures from other lap-rny people and the scars really diminish when you lose the weight. As for sports, it's really up to you,  your body and what your surgeon recommends.  Go with what they recommend for recovery time, ie how long you shouldn't lift things, etc... you don't want to give yourself a hernia.  Otherwise, if you listen to your body, you can probably do anything that you feel comfortable with... just don't kill yourself by going overboard too quickly.  Odds are, if you're hopping and running , kicking a ball around, your stomach isn't going to cooperate with you right away, just give it a few weeks to heal and your body will tell you when it's ready to play.  Same with cardio... i can do limited cardio 2 weeks out, but theres others on here who say they couldn't do anything 6 weeks out... it's very relative to the individual.   Good luck... the 6 days will fly faster than you think.