Surgery date February 1st Very Nervous Many Questions

Having Gastric Bypass on February 1st was not nervous until I scheduled the date on Friday have some questions.  How long will I be out of work?? I do have a desk job  but I am nervous about not having the eating down, I dont want to be having stomach attacks at work.  I heard at my last support group from some lady that the pain after surgery is unbarable. If your pouch is swollen and small how do you keep drinking your protein shakes after the procedure cant it only hold so much???

Most people seem to take two to four weeks.  Some less, some more. 

The lady at your support group may have found the pain unbearable.  I didn't.  It did hurt.  I mean, they cut you open and stuff.  But the pain was very tolerable with pain meds.  If you find the pain unbearable, talk to your surgeon right away and ask for something different for pain.

Your pouch is small but liquids don't stay in it long because there's no longer a pyloric valve between your pouch and small intestine.  Liquids run through pretty quickly, although slower in the beginning when there is a lot of swelling.

Thanks,Kelly   What about Vitamins at the beginning does the pouch handle them okay???

Some do, some don't.  It really varies from person to person.  The chewable vitamins made me nauseous at first.  I switched to vitamins that I swallow, liquid vitamins, B12 shots, etc and those all worked better for me.

At one of my pre-op meetings they had a vets forum. Each of them took about 5 minutes sharing their experiences.They wisely chose a variety of post-ops with a range of experiences from no pain and an easy post-op experience to a very painful and difficult time with everything. 

Nobody knows in advance where you (or anyone) is going to fall. I was on the very lucky end and had no problems except for one day that the gas pain hit me, but even that wasn't bad.

I think that when you do finally have your surgery date, it suddenly makes it real even though you have been jumping through hoops for quite some time to get to that point. Remember that this forum is here 24/7 and there is the search feature for addressing problems, questions or concerns that you might have, or you can ask in a post like you did with this!!

Good luck Michael!!

Martha

Stay calm, relax...Everything will be just fine...The majority of the people I've talked to didn't experience a lot of pain following their surgeries...I had laproscopic, so perhaps mine was easier than someone who might of had open surgery...I think it also depends on your tolerance to pain...Some might do good at the dentist having a tooth pulled, to where someone else might think it was horrible pain...Guess you won't know until you experience it...You will have some pain, that's to be expected...If you have pain to were you feel the pain meds isn't working that they give you, make sure you let them know, so they can try something different...I found out the hard way, not to turn down pain medication just because I thought that I was feeling better because it caught up with me later that day...Then I was really in misery until the medicine started to work again...Only you will know how you feel...Until then, try to do things to keep your mind busy such as house work, a hobby, start a journal about how you feel...Anything to keep your mind busy to where you don't stress yourself out.

Make sure to take your measurements before the surgery, this way you will know how many inches you lose...I never gave it a thought, and now after losing 200 pounds I would love to know how many inches I've lost...Good luck with your surgery...Tammy

I'm still amazed at how little prep some people are given for this surgery. It involves some major permanent lifestyle changes and so many of the questions asked seem to be about some of the basics. This comment is not directed to you the OP, but to the system in place. Here in Ontario, Canada I have been involved with the OWLC for over 18 months of courses and tests and appointments to be sure that physically and mentally I was ok. Also repetitive information about the surgery and what was to happen before and after. What changes needed to occur before I would be considered. As well as the absolutes post surgery in terms of vit and nutrition. The possible complications etc and after they tell you again and again and again... they give you booklets about it too and tell you to call with questions.

We were told about a 4 hr surgery. Two days in hospital. and 4-6 weeks off work.... all of this is with no complications and a lap procedure. My fiance was able to manage post surgery pain with crushed tylenol every 4-6 hrs as of 2 days after surgery. A post surgery diet instruction was given highlighting initial liquid, then pureed, then soft foods. Eating is in small quantities, small bites, chewed well. Through this stage a bariatric chewable multi and calcium (vit/cal are for life) after a few weeks you need to be sure that you are consuming enough protein and water (this is also for life) The details in the above seem to vary from surgeon to surgeon but for all of you who are going into this a little blind... be sure to write a list of questions down to ask the surgeon when you meet them, and at the very least have the answers before you leave the hospital.... it can make a huge difference in your recovery.

Best of luck during surgery and recovery... I'm booked for the 17th of Jan.

sorry about the rant

KAT

I had surgery in October and the pain was not that bad for me By all means use the pain meds. I don't work but I was pretty good

after two weeks. I was watching the grandkids again by then. I had no problems with protein shakes or other liquids.

I don't know what it is, but usually once people get their surgery date, its freak out time.  This definitely happened to me and I know it has happened to others too.  Trust me--you are NORMAL!  It suddenly becomes very, very real and it can be especially scary if you have never had surgery before.  Fear of the unknown is worse than anything, in my opinion.  You have done the right thing by posting your concerns here. 

How long will I be out of work??

I would say 4-6 weeks.  Fortunately, I wasn't employed when I had my RNY in April 2010 (I was a stay at home mom) and lived with my ex-boyfriend of several years with my children.  He was supportive, and took his 2 week paid vacation for the year off to take care of me right after surgery.  I was thankful for this, because I did have a lot of pain.  I am no slouch when it comes to pain and have a pretty high tolerance level.  I already had several open surgery under my belt (literally! lol 2 multiple birth c-sections twins first then triplets) so I wasn't scared of the actual surgery or the pain.  I thought that because it was a laparoscopic procedure, it would be no big deal as I had several of those (mostly for endometriosis).  Well the pain was not like anything I had ever experienced before.  It was tough, but I got through it.  It did take some time for the surgeon to find the right pain medication that worked for me (2 days) and I had to change to liquid form after I got home from the hospital, as my surgeon requires her patients to crush their medications for the first month after surgery (NASTY!!!!)  The paid does go away and walking is essential to get rid of the gas and get the healing process going.  I walked every time I got up to go the bathroom, doing 'laps' first around my house inside, then as my stamina increase and I healed more, I graduated to going outside to the mailbox, then doing 'laps' around the outside of the house.  My biggest thing wasn't the pain--it was my energy--it was ZAPPED for the first six weeks.  You also have to learn how to follow the phases of the diet (liquids, then purees, then real food slowly introduced back) and there is no way knowing what you will and will not tolerate.  There are obvious things like pasta, bread and rice that have to be limited because these are known things that RNY patients don't generally tolerate as they swell up and expand in the pouch after you eat them, no matter how much you chew.  I can eat these things now in very limited quantities, but I'm almost 3 years post-op.  The consistency of those foods, for me, after I eat them is that they swell, then 'gum-up' inside my pouch.   I've woken up in the middle of the night and gotten sick after eating too much pasta a few times because this is what happens to me, many hours after I've eaten.

If your pouch is swollen and small how do you keep drinking your protein shakes after the procedure cant it only hold so much???

Your new pouch does not contain the pyloric valve of the stomach, it has a 'hole' that I equate to a bathtub drain.  Water and liquids go right through it like a funnel.  Yes, you will be swollen and generally the surgeon makes your pouch the size of an egg.  Over time, some stretching is normal, which is why they make it so small.  Some people have a hard time drinking cold plain water, so you can flavor it with crystal light.  Room temperature water was all I could drink.  Sometimes cold felt good, other times it didn't.  I liked hot things immediately post-op and it soothed my new pouch.  Chicken/beef bouillon and hot teas were my best friend.  I also couldn't have gotten through the phases of the diet without sugar free popsicles.  I used to chew them and let them melt and could eat as many of them as I wanted.  You just have to be careful because some people become sensitive to artificial sweeteners and can develop increased diareah if they eat too many.  Diareah is pretty common after surgery too.  Liquid in-liquid out.  Don't be alarmed if that happens just make sure to stay hydrated.

Read an research as much as you can--it will ease your fears and its good to know that others have gotten through it.  The pain, swelling and discomfort will go away and you can start living the life that you want!

Congratulations and good luck getting through your anxieties.

M'Lane

I'm still very newly post op. About 4 days to be exact but people handle pain differently.  The lady at the support group may have a low tolerance for pain. Honestly I never used the morphine pump they gave me once. I had a little discomfort I believe mostly because of the hospital bed, I wouldn't call it pain though. I was afraid of the pain people talked about too, I don't know if I just got lucky or what but I haven't really had much pain just a feeling of being uncomfortable a bit. That I can live with. I'm scheduled to be off for 4 weeks, I feel like I could go back to work on Monday if I wanted to. I also have a desk job. My family keeps calling me telling me I need to slow down so that's what I'm doing. As far as drinking, I've pretty much decided that it's my job, to sip sip sip and just get in what I can, I have been focusing more on my liquids than getting the protein in, I figure that will get easier with time but my nurses told me they absolutely did not want to see me back in with dehydration. I tend to agree. 

Good Luck :)