RNYers - recovery from surgery

My big day is coming up super fast, November 23rd, and I am, you guessed it, excited, scared, anxious, a little over optifast, desperate for a poached egg, tired, energized, sad and happy!! My question is what was your recovery like in the first week after surgery and the first month after surgery. The plan, with out complications, is that I check in the day of early in the am and will be released the day after, go to a friend's house for a couple,three days and then come home. I live by myself and will have someone coming to ck on me and the dog in the am and in the pm. CAUTION!! I know that there are many people who have had serious complications from the surgery and end up spending tons of time in the hospital etc etc and I am not blind to that and I feel terrible for all of you who experienced that but I am already a little nervous so I would just like sort of what is a healthy and good recovery time. When could you cook a meal, take a walk by yourself, do the laundry, go back to work. I have all that book learning from my bariatric centre but I would like to know from real people with real pouches! What was your biggest eye opener soon after surgery. Funny and weird is welcome! lol

PS I having been dreaming of poached eggs and peanut butter

I stayed in the hospital 2 nights because I was having a little trouble getting my fluids - nothing major and the doc told me after the 1st day that the decision was really up to me. The ride home was a little rough - we live about 30 miles from the hospital and I swear DH hit every pothole along the way. Be sure to bring a small pillow to hold on to. DH was planning to go back to work the next day, but the night before I was still having a hard time getting out of the chair by myself so he called off. I'm glad he did, but in all honesty, I probably could have managed by myself - it's amazing how fast you progress (if all goes well) in the first few days. Walk as much and as often as you can. I didn't sleep much in the hospital and was walking the halls every hour or two - even in the middle of the night. I asked the nurse the 1st time and she said sure - go for it. By about day 4 I felt decent and could do some things around the house - just no lifting over 5 lbs. I think I started doing laps up and down our long driveway by day 4 or 5 (didn't go out of the house before then). I only used the pain meds for the first few days and then Tylenol was fine. I did take the pain med a little longer before bed to help me sleep. I usually sleep on my back and that wasn't happening. I took off 3 weeks - I know a lot go back sooner, but I felt I needed the time. You get really tired for quite a while and the anesthesia fog was very real for me. Best wishes!

Thanks PR just the kind of info I needed!

Congrats on your upcoming surgery! I started walking short distances in the hospital and haven't stopped. That was really important. I took 1 week completely off of work and did 2 weeks of telework. I was really tired for several weeks and was glad that I didn't have to do the stressful commute for a while.

I had a friend do laundry for me for a few weeks since I had trouble lifting and bending. That was helpful.

As for cooking, I was on liquids for 2 weeks so I didn't need to cook. Then I was on purees for 3 weeks and I premade 1 tablespoon servings of pureed proteins (chicken, salmon, tilapia) and froze them in ice cube trays. That made food prep easier for until I felt better.

I do hope that you will have help with your dog for a while since that might be hard.

Take care!

Hi Librarian - I just bought a treadmill and it is being set up in my bedroom so I can start walking short distances as soon as possible. I was a little afraid of the weather, I am in Ottawa Ontario Canada and we will have snow soon. I wasn't sure if I should start making pureed meats or not but I will now. Thanks

PS the loves of my life are books

Hi there, I was in hospital two nights as well. My hubby picked me up at about 10 on discharge day and its about a two hour drive home. He went and got my meds filled and I vegged in the chair. He was back at work on Thursday and I was on my own Thursday/Friday. You're supposed to be up and walking anyway, so it was not a big deal to go to the kitchen for my water and protein shakes. I'm not a napper so I was just chilling and watching tv and getting up for the strolls around the house. I even went outside and walked up and down the laneway.

On the weekend I was out shopping with him. My recovery was completely uneventful. Exactly two weeks to the day of my surgery I was at another Dr appt. totally unrelated to WLS, a follow up for something else and I asked him if there was any correlation to my current issues and WLS. He said no and asked if I was considering it. I told him I had it two weeks ago and he was floored. Couldn't believe how well I was doing and out and about on my own already.

I think I took the pain meds the afternoon/evening that I came home and that was more to help me sleep than it was for pain! Everyone heals differently, just take it easy and hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones like me!

Eek two hours home! Thanks for the info. I am taping all those cheesy Christmas movies on W and will be doing a couple of marathons during recovery!

I was told 2 night stay but my surgery started so late I ended up spending the first night in post op so I ended up staying 3 nights total. I took 2 weeks off from my non physical job.

I was walking within hours. Walking the dog would be really good for you if it's a small dog that is easily controlled in a "my dog goes nuts whenever he sees a ...." situation. Cooking was minimal in those first couple of weeks because WELL... eating was minimal. Heating up soup and blending things was pretty much it. Laundry I didn't tackle because laundry for me is lugging a heavy baG down the street to a laundromat. Bottom line is you don't want to lift anything heavier than say 10 pounds for about 6 weeks to give your incisions and all the other sutures/ staple lines time to heal. That's key. Other than that you might be slightly miserable for the first couple of weeks but overall it's not too bad considering what they do to your GI system. Good luck!

Hey ScottAndrews! The dog can't walk very much so the help is coming in to actually carry her up and down the stairs for me. Thanks for the info.

recovery was really easy for me. I don't think I opened my bottle of pain pills at all once I got home. The first couple of days it was hard to get in and out of bed (my abs felt like I'd just done a thousand crunches), but if I was lying down - or sitting up - or standing - I was OK. It was just the transitions.

I'm glad I had my husband around the first 2 or 3 days to get me things, but I probably could have done it on my own if I needed to. By a week out, I was driving, going to the grocery store, etc.

after that I was pretty tired (for the first month or so), but then I was felt like my old self

the only complication I had was a stricture - I had one during week 4 and another partial one at week 8. Those are a really easy fix, though - and only about 5% of patients get them.

otherwise - nothing. It was smooth sailing...