Hello. Great to meet you all. I have a Sleeve procedure booked in for December 12th.

Great to e-meet you all. 

I never thought such a group would exist ! 

Have no idea if I am considered light weight or not in the WLS stakes as I am 246 Lbs and hope to loose 100 Lbs following on from my sleeve op ( Dec 12th) that i am doing for medical reasons.

I wanted to seek your advice on a few questions :

1. if you had to go on any kind of medical diet ? My doctor says no need but don't put on any weight and have clear soup for lunch and dinner day before i go in  and stop eating by 8:00 pm the day before i go in. Seems odd as i have been reading so much and everyone seems to talk about 2 weeks of protein shakes etc... so just wanted to know what your experiences were. 

2. Im leaving my 3 year old son behind for almost 3 weeks when i travel to have the op. do any of you who may traveled away from loved ones have any wisdom to share on how to make it bearable to be apart in this case. I'm assuming i will be out of it for a week after the op feeling bad so skype may be tricky? !

3. final question is for those who had the sleeve op, what advice would you give yourself s if you were to go back to being 2 weeks away from having the procedure ( knowing what you know now! ) 

Thanks a million for reading ! 

I am probably the least qualified to answer you because I have had so few problems...but here goes!  Most of us have done some form of pre-op diet primarily for the purpose of shrinking the liver (they have to move it while doing the surgery, so smaller is better).  Mine was no carb!  I really missed my protein shakes that others complain about!

Second...you will not be out of it for a week!  In all probability you will...and should be...up and walking before nightfall (I started walking 15 minutes after I got to my room).  Skype will be a great idea...as well as Snapchat.

Lastly....if I were two weeks away again, I'd do exactly what I did....everything the doctor said to do!  Their advice has changed the way I look at everything I put into me and I am confident that with the Lord's help this journey will be an amazing success!

Best of luck to you!!

Warmest thanks indeed ! 

That is reassuring and had no idea that was even a remote possibility! 

I will be fixing a hernia in the same op so hope to have a double recovery then :) 

Plan to follow the dr's advice for sure and just ordered a few books to keep me company along the way. 

Would love to keep you posted. 

big hugs

L

Would love to follow your journey!  This is such a great place to get advice and encouragement...I felt so prepared when I had my surgery.  I also had the hernia repair (didn't even know I had one!)...didn't affect recovery, but sure has made life post-op better!  

Now that is good news - My Doctor promised the same thing, that it would help with post op recovery. 

thanks for your message and look forward to keeping you posted for sure. 

!0 days to go till i travel and only 13 till the op. Something tells me the days will fly by!

I had 2 large hernias and tons of adhesions removed from all the previous surgeries and I don't think it affected my recovery.  So many adhesions that my dr brought my hubby pictures out to show him.  Plus I was 62.  You will do fine!!!

Welcome!!!!  Yeah, we were all happy to find this group.  We are different and have different issues than our heavier friends.

1.  My Dr put everyone on the same pre-op diet.  4 weeks of 5 optifast shakes a day and one small food meal.  Didn't matter how much weight you had to lose or what surgery.  It wasn't bad, just boring.  The only thing that you really need to do is follow that last day because you don't want food in your system for surgery.  We had 24 hrs, clear liquids only.  That was miserable but at least you knew it was only 24hr and you were on your way to a new life.

2.  I had RNY locally, well, 1.5hr away.  I was home after 2 nights and going out for a pedicure the next day.  Lap surgery is so much easier recovery wise.  I had 5 open abdominal surgeries before RNY and I was really surprised.  Yeah, you feel like you were run over by a semi and I spent a few nights in the recliner, but nothing like open surgeries.  I think you will be ready to Skype in a few days.  You won't be back to normal for a while but you should be ok.

3.  De carb and de caff.  Stop drinking with meals.  Learn to take tiny bites, the size of a pencil eraser.  Walk.  Get in as good a shape as possible because it really will pay off in coming back from the surgery.  Read everything you can.  Ask all your questions.  Order syntrax sample pack and maybe an unjury sample pack.  Vitalady has lots of samples also.  Get a total set of labs done so if you are low in anything now, D3 is pretty common to be low in, you can get a head start of getting it up. 

Hope to hear back how you are doing!!!

Warmest thanks for the wonderful insights! 

Really value your wisdom and will be sure to keep you posted :) 

GREAT ADVICE ! 

Big hugs for now then 

Which,

You have  already gotten great advise from the pros.  Small bites, no drinking with meals.

 I'm  a Kaiser patient.  We all go on a 1200 calorie diet to lose the required weight, so nothing special following up to surgery.  Just knowing that I would be turned away on surgery morning was enough to keep me at my required weight.

Lap surgery is not that difficult.  I think I was on the treadmill on the 4th day (Sunday), and then back to work and driving the next day.

youll want to skype with your family.  You'll look fine and not scary for your child.  Remember to walk as much as possible in the days after surgery.  Phone friends on skype and talk while walking. It makes the time go faster.  I had my sleeve local but my plastics in Mexico so used the phone a friend routine.  Is someone going with you?  Why will you be gone that long?

good luck!

lee

Hi Lee, good to see you stopping by.  Hope all is well with you and your son!!!