My 1st. Post. Getting ready for end of Nov. Surgery.
Hello All!
I am a 55 (56 next week) YO man and a bit under 300 lbs. I have been seeing my surgeon since the end May and with my insurance I should be good to go for my surgery the last week of November. I am very excited and apprehensive at the same time. I met with the Dietician this past week and reviewed what many of you already know. She told me that I will need to lose weight prior to the surgery to shrink my liver and said that this will be done with South Beach Diet Phase 1, and she gave me the information on it. I started it that day and in the 3 days since I have lost 5 pounds. I am not sure if doing this at this time is detrimental or not. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am going to my 1st support group meeting next week (I should have started earlier but it meets once a month and I didn't realize how important it is (though I now see the light). I know there is a lot of info out there but one thing I still am concerned with is how tough and how long is the recovery period from surgery. I am a bit apprehensive having had 2 MAJOR (Open Chest to remove tumor next to my heart-non malignant and later removal of 80% of my sternum)-surgeries previously. I know every case is different but if some of you would share your experience and advice I would be very grateful.
on 10/9/14 12:17 pm - Edmonton, Canada
I don't have a comparison, but I was pretty tender and was glad to have the pain relief in the hospital. I had RNY 10 days ago, laproscopicly; I can't imagine that being more painful than open chest. I'm taking it easy, but I'm feeling stronger each day. My surgeon told me that even when I feel normal, my insides are still healing and it will still take about 6 weeks post op to be confident that things have gone well.
Hope that helps.
Welcome, I was in my 50's with previous surgeries, too. Surgery experience helped me be more calm both before and afterward--like an old pro...ha ha. Use this website to catch up on support group time but you will notice varying degrees of recovery reports. It took me between 3-5 weeks to feel "recovered" and 3-5 months to feel comfortable with the routine. Pain after surgery was easily controlled. I slept in a bed from the get-go with lots of pillows. Fatigue was a bigger factor than pain was. Be keenly aware there is a mental adjustment period to your new lifestyle--by far the toughest for many. I lost 80# during the six-month insurance waiting period even though my surgeon required no weight loss nor any special pre-diet for liver shrinkage. The more you lose now, the better things should go later. Feel free to ask more specific questions--you'll get many good answers here.
Hi guys. I'm Ed and I had my Roux en Y on 1-10-13. At that time, I weighed 365 pounds and was taking 13 pills a day (2 just for blood pressure). I was 47 years old and had already suffered a heart attack the year before. When I had my surgery, I did everything I was instructed to do by my doctor concerning the healing process. The pain while in the hospital was manageable with a morphine IV drip and I was sent home with some pretty potent liquid pain killers. Within a day of surgery, my blood sugar levels were at normal as was my blood pressure. On the 2nd day, I was off all of my regular medicines. Within weeks, I retired my CPAP machine. I was a little tender but I was more excited about my new body. I exercised religiously and within one year, I had dropped 150 pounds. Here's where I went wrong.....I moved away some time later after I was laid off from my job and with no health insurance, I was unable to attend support groups. In the past year, I have slacked off on my exercise regimen and find that I am overeating quite a bit. I have re-gained 17.6 pounds but am seeking support for myself on here to help me "tune-up" my ways and drop what I have gained. I can assure you that I would do this all over again. I have my health back and it's nice to look good in clothes again. I am, what I consider to be, thin for the first time in my life and it's great. The only thing I wish I could change would be the excess skin but I'll take the weight loss over the skin any day. Kudos to you for your decision. I support you and am happy to answer any questions you may over during/after your WLS journey. Ed Thurman