Walking after surgery

I know they get you out of bed to walk after surgery so you won't get blood clots. I know when i come home I will have to walk to, just wandering how often and how long do we walk because I'm afraid when I go to sleep a clot can happen so I don't know if I should stay up and walk at night. How long after you come home that you feel safe that you won't get a clot, is there a time period that you are safe?

I've never heard of anyone getting up in the middle of the night to walk, so I don't think you need to worry about that.  When I was sent home from the hospital, I was told by my doctors to walk one hour a day.  They said they didn't care how far I walked or at what speed, but that I should be moving.  They also said it was perfectly okay to break that goal into shorter chunks (four 15 minute walks, for example). 

I walked my dog starting the day after I returned home from the hospital.  I'd take him out for a half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening.  We didn't go all that far at first because I was kind of shuffling along.  :-)  But by the time I returned to work (two weeks later), I was walking three miles on the treadmill during my one hour lunch.

When it was night time in the hospital , they put compression booties on me. At home, I'm walking around 10 minutes at a time 3 days post op!

I have not had surgery yet, but I did go through all that with my surgeon already. She stated to be up and moving at least 10 mins every 2 hours when awake. Hope that helps.

Walk as much as you can tolerate during the day, sleep as deeply and long as you want at night. Both with serve your health and recovery well. 

Agree with other posters..also I am in a wheelchair and CANT walk much...the point is to move....no clots here.

No, you should NOT stay up at night just so you can walk around. You need sleep to heal and the actual chances of developing a clot post-op are really not as high as people seem to think (ask your surgeon for statistics if that will make you feel better).  It is, however, a complication that can be serious, and is one of the few complications that they can actually do things to help prevent.  There is no specific "cut off" time for risk of a clot.  You are almost as likely to get a clot right now if you are completely inactive for long periods of time (e.g., if you have the flu and spend several day in bed) as after surgery (although the surgery increases the likelihood by a small amount).  

The risk and the protocol for avoiding clots for someone who is obese is the same for any surgery;  it is not specific to having WLS. Surgeons give different specific instructions for how many minutes and how often, but the important thing is that you are up and about using your leg muscles every few hours to promote blood flow.  

You can also work your calf muscles while in bed or sitting with your feet up by repeatedly flexing your feet (pulling your toes up toward your knees and then pointing them as far as you can).  This helps the calf muscle contract which, in turn, causes increased blood flow in your legs.

Lora

I did not get up during the night to walk.  When I came home from the hospital, I walked 4 times a day as much as I could tolerate. At first I just walked around my house for 30 mins, kinda boring but got the job done. Then about 6 days post op, I move to walking outside.  

My doctor is kind of a post-op 'nazi' - even in the hospital I wasn't allowed to be in the bed, I had to sit in the recliner except for midnight-6:00 am.  Anyway, she said to walk about 15 minutes every two hours, except for at night when you sleep.  I got really worried about blood clots, too, and obsessed over that - can I sleep for hours at a time and not die???!!!  I understand your fear!  Just do everything you can do - drink lots of water, walk when you can etc.  I think the point is not to malinger - just lying in bed 24/7. 

Thanks everyone ! you are a great help.