Post Ops: If Only You Knew....

For those in Post Ops, question from a Pre Ops candidate....

If you could have told yourself one thing to prepare for surgery, what would you have told yourself (or done) to ensure success with the WLS tool? 

Thanks for all the great information already!  You guys are making me more prepared and excited for a new stage in my life.

- J

I thought the pain meds the hospital provided would be enough...., but, for me, they were not! Morphine did not make a dent in my pain and I though (or wished) I would DIE for about 10 hours.

Then, a very smart nurse gave me a double dose of Lortab, plus the regular follow up doses, and it was amazing how quickly and effectively the pain was relieved.

If I had known that going in (that Lortab would speak to my specific pain), it would have been a LOT easier!!!!!

@samsander

I wrote that pain medicine down!  Thanks for the suggestion and congrats on your success!

Even though our tastes change post op, I would have made certain I found a protein shake I liked.  I hated, absolutely hated artificial sweeteners pre-op.  I never drank/ate anything that contained it.  So....when my NUT told me to experiment and find a shake I liked before surgery, I didn't.  I figured I would just "pick something up" post op.  BAD IDEA.  Everything I tried made me nauseous and many literally gagged me.  As a result, I had great difficulty getting in my protein.  Thankfully my surgeon was patient and told me to just keep trying.  But I will tell you from an emotional standpoint it kept me in knots because my nutrition was really lacking for a while with even one manager of a health food store telling me to "buck up" because I was going to go bald if I didn't get my act together.  I finally found something months later, and, by the way, I lost very little hair.  You asked a great question.

@dasie

I have looking into suggestions on protein shakes post op, but I never thought of trying them now.  I am attempting to create good habits  now to assist with the recovery and the success after. 

One more thing.  Make sure you have family present that can help you use the pain pump, assuming you will have one.  I did not want to push the button...convoluted thinking on my part.  I was in quite a bit of pain.  Once my daughter told me if I didn't she would start pushing the button, I used the pump and the pain was easily controlled.  Dum,b I know.  tI was like I was afraid the drug police would come and say I was using the pump too much!

Hi I am out 9 days, very good advice about finding a protien shake you like before hand. Have plenty of sugar free popsicles available and if you want to avoid a lot of frustration take one of those grabber thing a ma giggys to the hosp with you and you will find in valuable once you get home too, because bending over is something you wont be able to do. and btw you can get tham at walmart for about nine bucks. good luck

@2928teresa

Ah!  What great advice!  I have sene those before, but did not think of needing that after the surgery.  I will start search for one immediately!

If post-op Nik could have just five minutes with pre-op Nik the conversation would go something like this:

Pre: Yeah, I'm going to lose all my weight and life is a'gonna be aalllllllllright!

Post: (shakes head) I think you're going into this with unrealistic expectations.

Pre: (rolls neck) Nuh-UH! Everybody always tells me I would be so great if I could just lose a few pounds! Once I get this weight off I can finally be HAPPY.

Post: Being smaller does NOT equal happiness. You need to figure out why you're like this. And for goodness sakes, do some reading on this process! You're about to have major surgery.

Pre: MAN, forget that! I have to have my last suppers! After today I can never have buffalo wings again???

Post: You can have whatever you want to have in moderation.

Pre: Nuh-UH. I'm going to be drinking protein shakes forever!

Post: You really should do some research. Ask some questions. Go to your surgeon's support group. Don't you want to know what's ahead of you?

Pre: Naw...I'm too busy thinking about what's behind me.

Post: Typical...

@Cleopatra_Nik

This made my day.  I will remember all of this advice and realize that I do not need "last meals".