New

Hi, I'm Kristin and I'm from Illesheim, Germany. I have go in for surgery on May 27th with Dr Weiner. I am very nervous but even more excited. Any words of wisdom that someone can share? Tina, I tried to reply to your post, but I am not sure if it worked.

Kristin, Congrats on you date!! It is very exciting. Being 2 years out, I enjoy looking back at some of the journaling I have done as well as looking back at what I weighed and what my measurments were along the way. I also asked a lot of questions. I stuck with the advise from other patients of Prof. Weiner because of the differences in opinions from other doctors. Any questions...just ask ~Leslie

I have my surgery with Prof. Weiner on May 20 and I am nervous and excited and the best words of wisdom I can share is read all the posts about him and take information from other patients that have been there done that. I ask and ask and ask more questions of my friends here and they are very open, frank and honet. I truly wish you the best and I know that biggest step was starting the process we are on the downhill side. Take care Neala

Hello, i jsut got home from the hospital, and i would definatly bring baby wipes for the night before with the cleanout drink since they have scratchy toliet paper, it saved me you will be in out of the toilet ALOT! and also bring things to entertain yourself its a long 7 days and ask for a room on the 411 412 side, i had room 421 and the sun beat down on it all day and the church bells,airplanes,construction going on outside,drunk people at 230 in the morning on the street below i could not even sleep and oh yeah bring some ear plugs for the ICU the nurses were not the most considerate no matter how much drugs i had i kept getting woke up they would flip the lights on just to grab a towel out the cupboard, they were actually pretty bicthy and they will make you sit naked with a bowel of sopay water there and i actually started crying because its next to a window and asked them what i suppossed to do, you will have to throw any modesty you might have out the window and you will have to have everything shaved belly,privates or you will have to do it there with there cheap razors that gave me razor burn , and after surgery you need to walk asap you will be full of gas i have never burped still cant stop,so much in my life they do have some stuff liquid and tablets the tablets worked better for me, and they are chewable called Lefpack taste minty but the regular nurses were very nice some did not speak any english but oh well, im not trying to make it sound horribble becasue the surgery itself was great the insicions are very small some only have 2 stiches and the other have 3, and there will be two tubes that do not hurt to be pulled out just some pressure and its really quick like a second, so dont be scared dr weiner is great he knows his stuff and i have no pain except the gas which from what they telll me lasts about 7 days if you have any other questions feel free to message me and i this is just my experience good luck to you

Athena, Thanks so much for all the information. It is good to know what it is really like so I can mentally/emotionally prepare myself. Also - thanks for the tip about the hospital rooms. So - why did they make you sit naked with a bowl of soapy water? Was that to clean yourself with after the surgery? I am glad to hear that the pain is minimal. I am pretty wimpy. How are you doing? Are you feeling sore? How is the liquid diet going? Are you really not hungry like people say? Did you do a liquid diet 10 days before surgery? I have one more week before I start that. I hope I can stick with just liquids before surgery. Are you glad you did this? Hope you don't mind all the questions, but it is nice to have someone who just went through it who can give me all the gory details I hope you are feeling good! Kristin

yeah it was to clean myself, it was just upsetting since i was tired and the whole window thing and the nurse didnt want to help me,. but yeah i actually did the 10 day diet, which totally sucked the first 4 days then you kind of get used to it, i just loaded up on slim fast and drank one whenever i started getting hungry and soup and tried to stay busy my house has never been so clean lol but after the 4 days it was not bad anymore and actually im glad i did follow it since its meant to shrink your liver and stomach so it dosent turn into open surgery and i couldnt imagine the night before with the bowl prep if i actaully would have had food in me OMG! it wsa bad enough not to disgust you but it is explosive be prepare on Monday you will go in they will do an EKG which lasts about 2 min then send you for a lung funtion test lasts about 5 min then off to get an endoscopie and they will give you an IV to knock you out completely i think it lasted 10 min then off to your room and i am pretty sure rooms 415-423 are on the sunny all day side you will want to sleep a bit since at 4pm they bring the drink you will have drink 3 liters and it is nasty so please bring some bottled water to chase it then around six they will bring a mug of chicken broth enjoy it, its last thing for a few days lol, then the bathroom runs will start now i swear this is definatyl TMI but you will feel a gurgle like you have to fart so you will but DON"T unless you oer the toilet because poo will come out i had to call the nurse it was so embaressing and she said it happens all the time, thats why you need to bring baby wipes because it doesnt stop. Then the next morning get up and take a shower and you get on the bag of stuff they give you and off you go the 1st person is at 9 am then the next was at 11am so it wont be too early then you will be wheeled off to the surgery ward this was the time when i started fraking out since i am especially whimpy too, then have you switch to the surgery bed and i laid there for about 10 min by myself kinda wierd but then the anesthia people come get you and within seconds you out and you wake up in the ICU which kids are not allowed at all so have someone watch them of your husband can't come in, you will have about 4 different IV's one for the pain pump and the others for all the other stuff and two tubes one for the gallbladder side and the other for the stomach side. then the next morning you get taken back to your room and hopefully you wil be able to sleep but i never had any pain only the gas and one of my iVs got infected but walk as much as possible you cannot have anything to eat or drink yet it will be all intervenous then the next day you will get taken to ultrasound and the Dr will pull out the gallbladder tube and it does not hurt promise they say brath in and its out, then i think you will get tea that afternoon then the next morning the stomach one comes out and you will feel so much bettter its annoying having to take the bags with you so you sill feel more mobile then if you dont need anymore ivs which is up to your blood work you can get ivs out and like i said before the incisions arer really tiny and then you can take a shower and dont worry about getting your bandages wet the nurse changes them after for you then just keep walking and ask for the gas medicine if needed at any time then the boredom sets in lol thats why i had to leave early i couldnt take it but i think alot of it was my room and the sun and no curtains lol they didnt like that left eraly but i called tricare and told them i was and they said no problem. oh yeah you will have a physical thearpist guy come in and give you back massage and have you do some excercises and hes really cute lol. okay now that i am home the liquid diet sucks now because my husband thinks its funny, he actually went out bought all my favorite meals and has been cooking them buts hes a smartass, but i feel great today after getting a good night sleep could actually sleep on my side aith a body pillow supporting my stomach, but i am not hungrey but i can feel when my blood sugar drops and mug of soup makes me feel better and its fast and doing the slim fast thing again but you have to take very small sips and when the gas gets bad i have my husband burp me like a baby lol it actually works and i have already lost a lot of wieght was 240 now i am 214 its crazy. but yeah now im glad i did this at first it was kinda like why did i do this but now i feel completely fine and its only been like 7 days and Dr. Weiner is the best sorry this is so long but i wish i would of had all this info when i went in if you want to give me a call feel free anytime 06221 737 9372 anyways good luck and you will be fine oh yeah if you hubby wants to stay up there for a few nights the hotel Maingau is right around the corner and was really nice and the price is not too bad, and had a nice free breakfast buffet

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I really appreciate your openness. Don't worry - not TMI for me. I would rather know and be prepared, then be surprised by things. You have given me so much information that I cannot think of anymore questions. Thanks for the list of things to bring to the hospital too! I now have a bad cold I hope it clears up in the next week or so. Thanks so much for your phone number. I might be calling when I am on the liquid diet and in need of some encouragement. Does it continue to be ok for you? When are you able to graduate to soft foods?

I love your post about your hospital stay. I had my procedure done on 2 May. Your comment about the razor burn touched me ...LOL They shaved my panty/bikini line also. Why ... I don't know why because all of the bandages were above the belly button; so needless to say when I was itching from the healing it was in more than one place (lol). Gas - I brought some Gas-X strips and they worked fine. Walking solved most of that problem. You will get shots nightly for thrombosis (sp), sometimes they hurt, sometimes they don't. What ever you do don't chew any gum. Another patient told me and my roomate that we were allowed to have gum ... still being unsure 1 of the local staff said we could so away we went... needless to say it made the gas stay around alittle longer. Pain Pump- When you awake and find your new friend ... use it! If I thought I was about to have pain... I was pressing. Good Luck Athena!

Oops ... I meant good luck Kristin!

Sondra - thanks for the luck How are you feeling? Has the change in eating been easy? Do you feel ok? I started my liquid diet today - so I am one step closer to the big day. Thanks for the idea about gas x. And, the tip about not chewing gum. I definetly will not be afraid to use the pain pump - I am a bit wimpy so I will take advantage of it while I have it. Kristin