My 2 week liquid diet starts in 5 days, VERY NERVOUS

 I feel like I am telling my best friend good bye and feel that they are dying...  This is seriously starting to go from excitement to anxiety.  Waited so long to get the insurance approval, then the surgery date, now I am 5 days from starting my 2 week liquid diet and my nerves are getting to me.  I just had a good friend get the bipass and she is feeling like complete poop, she had it done 3-4 weeks ago.  My other friend had the sleeve and she is pretty quiet about the outcome so that scares me.  

I think if I knew some of your worse experiences up front, it would actually calm me down.  I just need to know what to expect before I can go in and do this.  Do people become depressed by not being able to drink and eat anymore?  

Help, talk me through this, feeling like I am on a roller coaster and it is about to take off and I am scared to change my mind because I want to be healthy again  :(

It's normal to be scared, you're willingly walking into major surgery! Keep something in mind, you are not giving up food for life, heck your favorites may have a place again in the future after you hit goal.. You will eat and drink again, and I never had any changes in tastes and still love food.

Regarding fears about surgery itself.. #1 odds are well in your favor that you will be fine, #2, you have no control over this besides picking a good surgeon and following instructions.. try not to waste energy worrying over any sort of complications that you cannot control- ok?

I did not become depressed about food/drink.. I viewed it as just another step along a path I signed up to follow. Some shakes suck- drink them anyway even if you have to hold your nose.. treat it like medicine if you hate it and try to find ones you like.. Treat drinking water, getting your fluids in (THE #1 PRIORITY) right after surgery as a full time job, seriously. It is your JOB to recuperate, stay hydrated and work on getting in the healing protein your body needs right out the gate. If you are awake, your hand better be on your water bottle.

The hard part gets much easier after a few weeks.. the "worst" for me? I was tired, I was weak, a week out I hit the wall and felt faint and shaky at times.. this lasted for a couple weeks.. major surgery ya know? I was sore, I couldn't sleep laying out flat or on my side for almost 2 weeks.. had to prop the head of my bed up. I had side stitches that zinged me for a few weeks (muscles and nerves healing/pulling) - all normal after major abdominal surgery.. Let me see if I can find a great post about what to expect after you wake up.. I'll come back and post it here for you when I locate it.

Overall.. nothing was torture, all was tolerable, and all passes eventually. 

 Did you have laposcopic surgery?  That is what I am having on the 12th.  I know my friend is still pretty weak and I hate being weak.  I am a freak about being in control and getting stuff done.  :(  This may be my hardest part.  Already bought a special water bottle that has oz on it so I can keep track of how much I am drinking.  I am definitely going to follow the rules, I think this change is just huge and scary.  Actual surgery isn't scary to me, but them pulling that draining tube out of me has me nervous, from what I hear.  I like the whye protein drinks, so I should be fine in that aspect.  I have been eating everything I love and feel time is running out.  You would think I have gaiend 20 lbs these past 2 weeks, but I didn't gain any weight, weird huh?  Thanks for all of your information.  I also worry about acid reflux...  I already have it now so i am worried and will be sure to ask for those meds right away!

Yep- I had it lap, 4 neat holes & 1 incision about an inch long. I'm a control freak too, but use that to your advantage, focus your nature on getting fluids in and protein and healing.. DON'T overdo it the first two weeks.. regardless of the tiny holes on the outside, this is major surgery, not minor. You will likely be weak, combo of very low calories plus the surgery.. just go with it and do only as much as you are comfortable with. It's very easy to overestimate yourself and have a set back for a few days because you exerted your ab muscles and they got angry.

Re: drain tube, please don't sweat it (although most of us do) it's not bad at all... when they pull it it really just felt weird, a little burny-stingy for about 3 seconds.. Not bad, not even close to bad for me.

I was on Prilosec for years pre-op, still on the same dose post op.. until I try to wean off again, I'm saying at least for me- it's no better or worse.. 10mg controls my GERD 100%.

Ok, here's the post from ElizabethN, I'll put the link here too so you can read the responses from other OHers too.. hope this helps a little!

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4265423/PRE-OPS-Never -had-surgery-Heres-what-to-expect/

The purpose of this thread is to address the expectations of people who have never had abdominal surgery with general anesthesia. It's not specific to any WLS procedure, just to the experience of surgery. My reason for this thread is that I keep reading really ridiculous posts from people who are like 24-48 hours postop who think they should be back to normal and see evidence of weight loss on the scale and in the mirror. 

Um, NOT realistic. I would like to think that the hospital and surgeon people would educate folks on this stuff, but I know they don't. So, let's educate please. 

Would people please chime in here and tell about what happens the morning of surgery when you check in and get prepped? My experience was a little different from the usual because of my severe medical situation at the time, so I don't want folks to go by my details on this. Bascially: You'll show up at the hospital, sign lots of papers, change into surgical attire, get blood drawn, IV port started, fast interviews with several medical people, and get herded into the waiting line for your OR room/team. Chances are you will have to say goodbye to the people who accompanied you to the hospital and then still hang out on your gurney and wait for a while. 

At this time, if you want happy juice so you remember nothing, you will have mentioned this to anesthesia people at your preop evaluation, but you can still ask for it now if you start to freak. Do NOT lie there on your conveyance and just endure fear/panic/misery. SPEAK UP. 

You will either be wheeled or asked to walk to the operating room. Some people find walking into the OR to be pretty wild. Control freaks like me think it's great LOL. I don't want to give up any control I don't have to until the last second!  If you get happy drugs they'll wheel you in cuz you'll be too stoned to maneuver. 

You MIGHT remember some of this: In the OR you will be asked once again your identifying info (compared to your bracelet and their written stuff), what kind of procedure you're having and that you consent to this whole spiel. You'll get on the table, which will be cold and uncomfortable. At this time, THINK about what will help you to lie there paralyzed for hours with a minimum of misery. Do you have a bad knee/back/hip/shoulder/elbow/neck? SAY SO. Insist on getting your bad joint supported with pillows or towels or whatever, cuz you're gonna be there a long time and you will not automatically change your position like you do when you're asleep. 

If you have limited range of motion somewhere, like your neck, demonstrate your range of motion to Anesthesia Dude and say in plain English what the limits are. They will listen and try to accomodate. They LOVE IT when people tell them stuff that will help them make you less miserable later. 

Somebody will stay at your head and talk to you and say goodnight. You might remember getting a mask on your face and being told to breathe deeply and relax. You might feel suddenly drugged/dozy for a moment. The next thing you will know--and it will seem like no time has passed and that loss of time will be a little weird--someone will be shaking you awake and telling you it's over. (You will very likely not remember any of this either, especially if you had happy juice.) 

You can use Google to find a total demonstration of everything that happens in your surgery with as much live or cartoon detail as you want. I will skip those details except to say in general: The general anesthesia involves drugs that render you unconscious, paralyzed, devoid of sensation and amnesic. Look up general anesthesia for more information if you want it. The anesthesia team will do EVERYTHING for you except run your heart and your brain, basically. Anything the paralytic drugs stop, they do, like breathe for you. This is why you must be intubated and have a catheter during surgery. 

You will NEVER receive as much focused, professional, carefully, absolute attention in your life as you do when you are under anesthesia. It's just about the safest place on the planet to be. You are at greater risk of being hit by a car than you are of dying under anesthesia. Probably the risk is higher of your house collapsing on you than of dying from anesthesia, but I haven't actually SEEN those stats lol. 

Once your surgery and anesthesia are over, you will be wheeled from the OR to the PACU, post anesthesia recovery unit. There you will be lovingly attended by your very own PACU person and a hell of a lot of equipment. Various people will be bugging you about how you feel, telling you to breathe, asking you your pain level, having you move your feet, etc. You will have pressure cuffs around your lower legs and these will inflate/deflate. You might be damned cold. This is cuz the OR is about icebox temperature, and because of the effects of anesthesia. COMPLAIN....about ANYTHING that bugs you. Trust me, your complaints give the folks valuable info and they can and will help you. This is NOT the time to be brave and suck it up. This is whining time. 

If you are happy as a clam and higher than a kite, SAY SO. This is also valuable information. 
By all means tell everyone your life's story, that you love them, that you will make them filet mignon, have their baby, whatever. They LOVE hearing you talk. It's good for your breathing and it entertains them. 

Oh BTW everyone in the world will be bugging you to BREATHE and COUGH and it will suck because your belly got blasted. THAT you must suck up. Your one major task in life right then is to breathe deeply and often. If it hurts too much to breathe, whine loudly, but BREATHE while doing it. REMEMBER THIS,. do you hear me? DEEP BREATHING IS IMPERATIVE. You gotta get the anesthesia out of your person, you gotta get the crap out of your lungs, you need the oxygen.....BREATHE BREATHE BREATHE. Trust me, you do NOT want post anesthesia pneumonia. Look it up on Google, get scared and BREATHE. 

After a while in PACU, you will get removed to your room. IMNSHO remembering this (which I do, from multiple surgeries) is a bummer, because it involves moving and getting bumped even by the most careful of orderlies. Motion on post anesthesia belly is nauseating. Getting bumped with slashed belly hurts. Close your eyes, take a shot of your pain meds if you have a pain button and try to go unconscious for this. Use brain power to black out for this ride if possible. 

You'll arrive in your room. Depending on how your surgery went and how stoned you are, you will either sit up and step from gurney to bed or you will be transferred by personnell. Both methods suck but for different reasons. I cannot recommend a preference. 

Your bed will be ******g cold. New people will arrive. There will be lights and noise and annoyance. You might welcome or resent the activity, and you may or may not remember any of it.  Follow instructions, whatever they might be, with all the zest you can muster, for obeying your instructions will lead to going home sooner AND to feeling better faster, even though you might not be able to imagine it at that point.

For me, my instructions were to lie there and shut up, basically :-p. Okay, not really, but I was in ICU and had major medical **** going on and nobody knew what I could do for myself because I came in to the hospital on oxygen and barely walking. So I got treated as sicker than I really was and it was a miserable experience. Most of you will be dragged out of bed and told to walk, pee, etc. DO IT. Yes it will hurt and yes you will be cranky. DO IT ANYWAY. It's good for you. 

Depending on your procedure, surgeon, medical condition and protocol, you might wake up with: a catheter between your legs, NG tube in your nose, oxygen in your nose, drains in your belly, peg tube aka feeding tube in your belly. You WILL have some kind of IV port going, could be a basic vein in arm, a port in upper arm, chest or a central line in your neck. 

(Central lines are da bomb. You can get an eggplant sent through those suckers and you'd never know. Do not resist a central line. They get put in when you're out and held in place, usually in your neck, by one or two stitches. The scars are miniscule but resemble vampire bites, so they are cool looking. Central lines free up your arms and you don't get bruised to hell because they go in deeper veins.) 

Regarding the tubes: Chill. They are your friends. The catheter means you don't have to haul your miserably sore ass out of bed immediately for two tablespoons of pee--and trust me, with all the fluids they are pumping into you, you will have LOTS OF PEE. Catheter removal for women feels like removing a very soaked/lubed tampon. Sorry guys, dunno what it's like for you.

Belly drains: Also your friend. They get fluids out of your surgically traumatized gut that would otherwise hang out and hurt and maybe cause infection. Ignore them unless you have to go home with them. Then treat them as your friends and follow your care instructions. Really, they are no biggie if you expect them and just do what you have to do.

Jtube/feeding tube: The way to not get back in the ER with dehydration from hell. LOVELY invention. USE IT to make sure you get tons of fluids, your protein drink, etc. Be glad it is there and use it to get stuff in that will help you heal faster. When drains and J tube come out it will be WEIRD but only minimally uncomfortable unless they stick to your skin. Then they will pull and hurt a bit. It's okay. They are your friends. Attitude is imperative to enduring them and using them well.

Okay, I've gone on long enough. Someone else's turn to explain what belly surgery is like please :-).

 

My date is September 12 also!
Jo777. Thanks for the great response. The only thing I can say is that I have had laparoscopic surgery and open lower abdominal surgery, and in some ways the gas pain from the lap surg was worse, but it goes away especially with movement,

All the vets say sip, walk and rest. That's what I am planning on....

You are going through some MAJOR physical and emotional changes so your fears are not unfounded. I love to eat too (obviously!  LOL) . I'm on week 2 of my pre-op diet.  The first few days was tough and I had alot of headaches (probably from carb withdrawl) but then I started getting use to it.
For some time (since entering into my decision to have WLS) I've been mourning the loss of over eating (and over eating even more/like how dumb is that??) but now thank God, I'm really looking forward to being freed from the bondage of over eating.  
Obese people are too use to indulging vs. denying self. Going through a major transition like this is going to take some work and sacrifice on your part....but if we can do it...you can do it (as they say)...one day at at time.
I get inspired by looking at the before and after pics on O.H.'s  home page.
I CAN'T WAIT to be an "after"!  
Best wishes with achieving your goal!

LOL my date is the 12th as well =0)

I was totally spazed about the 2 week diet, and now I'm ready to face it head on, with the mindset of "lets get this **** over with already, and onto losing some weight!!!!"  Stocked up on SF Jello, Veggie and Beef Broth, Powerade Zero, Chicken, Tuna, SF Popsicles and Yogurt.  I'm ready to rock this!

My best friend and I pretty much started this journey together, tomorrow she will be 5 weeks out from RNY and doing AMAZING!!!

I dont think that you're going to have an issue with being hungry OR thristy, seems to me before and after you'll be eating NON stop...since it takes about an hour or so to finish an 8oz protein shake or 4oz mushy (or at least it should)

Best of luck to ya
~Amanda

 It IS normal to be very nervous.  I had been trying to have this done since 2008 and when all of a sudden it was happening I got scared!!  I just told myself to listen to my brain, not my emotions.  I kept crying and fighting with my husband during the pre-op diet.

I was sleeved on Monday so here have been my worst experiences.

1.  I was in a LOT of pain when I woke in recovery.  They hustled around like crazy to get the pain managed before I went to my room.
2.  I got a really sore throat from being intubated.  This is the 2nd time I have ever had general anesthesia (and both this year!) and I did not have the sore throat the first time.  They also must have banged up my mouth some, because it felt like I had bitten myself pretty badly on the right side of my mouth.
3.  Somebody is always waking you up.  The pain meds made me drop off to sleep contantly, then someone would knock on my door and need to check my vitals or blood sugar, or the stupid IV pump would set off an alarm.  The worst about this was that I would wake with a HUGE startle, and that really hurt my belly.
4.  All of the staff was great except one CNA.  She did nasty finger sticks and she kept messing with the tube from the urinary catheter which really did not feel good on my end of things
5.  I've been getting lots of migraines.  Might be no caffiene?
6.  The clear liquids they gave me at the hospital would not have been my preference.

Re: eating and drinking - I'm looking at it as - NOW I get to eat the really good stuff.  Eating such tiny amounts, I can afford to eat almost anything wonderful that I want - and I am a protein lover.

Don't be afraid - just remember why you want this surgery.  I am praying my comorbidities will resolve.  I'd love it to get back to my weight when I was 26.  I was on a "boatload of diabetes meds" according to my surgeon, and I have not needed any since the surgery.  This may change once I start eating real food, but that is very encouraging.

I am not doing anything today but drinking and internet browsing, but I do feel like getting out for a little while.  I could not believe how quickly I felt better after the surgery.  The first time I got out of bed I could hardly walk.  By the time I left, I was walking completely normally.  And BTW I am 54 years old.