Has anyone had WLS during Christmas break?

I am a college student. The past 12months I have been seeing my doc and surgon, nutritionalist, ect in preparation for a VSG. I had planned to have a VSG this summer, but with my insurence taking their time telling me if I'm approved or not (grrrr...my doc thought that if they had all the info in June, then I would hopefully have been approved and ready to have surgury the first week of July). Alas, nothing is going as planned. I don't see myself having the procedure done this summer unless I suddenly get approved by July 14th (I figured this date in b/c it gives me a month before going back to school)...but I'm feeling very doubtfull about this.  So being that I will more than likely not have surgury this summer, I was thinking about having the procedure during xmas break. Has anyone done this?  If I did this, I would probably only have two weeks of recovery before starting classes again (my doc said I would probably recover in two weeks)...I think this might be pushing it! but I donno...just wondering what yall have done?  This is my senior year...pretty big deal w/ grad school applications going out and such...so I want to make sure I do the right thing. I don't want to jeapordize my health OR my education. I don't want to put either one off any longer!

Is it done laproscopically? If so, I think you'll be fine....just try to schedule your surgery sooner in the break then later so you have as much recovery time as possible. Of course, there is the risk of complications, albeit pretty low, but if they do happen - it could extend your recovery time - just something to consider.

Hi I was in the exact same situation as you! I had my first appt. with my surgeon in February of last year and tried to get everything done by that June. LOL of course nothing went right, and I couldn't even get anything completed untill September. I did decide to put my surgery off untill Christmas break. I had it done on December 12th (Actually two days before school let out). I had about 4 weeks (3/12 technically) before I started school again. Ok so now I'm goign to be completely honest with you. i was told by ny surgeon to take a very light  load. I ignored his advice and basically bombed. i really did not do good at all. I ended up dropping all, but one class. I should also mention that I started back at my job just a week after starting back to school.   Now haiving said that I reall think it depends on you. I am not the best student in the world. I think if you are very motivated to do it you can. I have heard others tell me they went back to class very shortly after surgery and doing fine. Just be prepared.  I was exstremely tired for a very long time after surgery, and really didn't have the energy to keep up.  (by the way I had the Gastric bypass so I don't know if this is true for the VSG).Anyways I don't want to sugar coat it, but also I think alot depends on you, and your ability to work through a lack of energy.  The last thing I want to add is even though I did not do well this last semester I absolutely do not regrett having my surgery when I did.  Best wishes

thank you so much! i am worried it being my last year in school and having surgery that i would be tired and not be able to handle classes...end up staying longer...but that could also be a good thing. we'll just see what happens! so awesome to hear alittle of your story - keep up the great work! :)

Oh sorry I just wanted to add You might try and see if you could work something out with your proffesors for the current semester(to finish everything early) so that you can have your surgery sooner, and then have more time to recover before the next semester

I had my surgery on December 17th, the Monday after my finals finished.  That gave me nearly a month to recover before I want back to classes.  I only needed about a week, but it was nice to have the extra time built in.  It was interesting not eating for Christmas, but it was worth it and I'm really glad I did it.

thanks for your reply!

I was in a smiliar situation, I had the lapband and I had my surgery 10 days before I started school again.  I was going three days a week and had two classes, so I didn't have many books to carry.  But what I did was when I picked up my books I made sure I had a friend with me to carry them in case they were too heavy.  My dr. put me on nothing heaver then 10lbs and no crazy over head lifting or streatching. But by the time I went back to school I was not in any more pain.  And when you think about it the first week of school is normally a light week with people dropping in and out of classes, so you might not need to carry your books that week.  Also you could tell your proffs that you are getting over surgery (you dont need to tell them which type) and that if ok that you don't bring your books the first week just to lighten your load.  Also if your campus is big and your going to be walking alot in between classes, maybe get one of those rolling bags, ( I know they look dorky but they work).  Also if you do have it done during break maybe you can scheduel it earlier enough that they do it right after you get done with fall finals so you have enough time to recover.  Lemme know if you have any other questions.  Hope this helps.

I had my VSG on december 20th. It worked out perfectly, I started my two week liquid diet the day after my last final was due, then I had 3 weeks before school started again.

You will be tired. The first two to three months are hard, it took me a while to get the hang of food and eating. I work on campus, so I had a fridge available, which made it a lot easier on me.

After two weeks, you will still be on liquids full liquids. In addition, its very hard to get your liquids in, make sure you always have water with you and drink drink drink!

I had my Surgery on a Tuesday and was back to work that following Monday, I was totally fine.....to each their own....I would just scheudle it sooner than later into your break.