What did you want/need in first days after surgery?

We are headed to Mexico on Tuesday for my husband's surgery and I am so afraid I'm going to forget something or not have something that he will need. What did you want, need or wish you had in the first week after surgery?

If you think about it during that first week he will only be walking around as much as possible and drinking (in sips) as much liquid as possible while getting in as much protein as possible.  There will be some discomfort / pain due to the gas they use to inflate the abdomen and I am sure that the surgeon will take care of pain meds as needed.  Also since the caloric intake will be low he will feel like sleeping and or bed rest a lot of the time.

So as long as you bring comfortable clothing / shoes / and perhaps socks with non slip bottoms (slipper socks) or slippers with non slip bottoms you should have that covered.  Since there will be a lot of bed rest you may consider bringing things to do while just hanging out and not walking around.  

As for meds I already mentioned that the surgeon will likely provide pain meds, a PPI, and nausea meds as needed.  Obviously if he has any meds to take post op you need to bring those along as well.  If he uses a cpap or bipap you may need to bring that along.  Other than that things to prevent boredom while resting.  

I guess I should also ask what is the preferred protein right after surgery? I have ordered a couple sample packs of Syntrax Nectar but they didn't arrive yet and there is no where locally that sells it. Any other suggestions?

When looking for a protein mix (powder) you want to simply make sure it meets the following guidelines (as per my nutritionist):

1) Whey Protein Isolate (Better absorbed into our bodies and more quickly than Whey Protein Concentrate or Blends.  The quicker the better ... anything not absorbed passes on through)

2) 5 grams or less of carbs per 8-10 oz serving

3) 5 grams or less of fat per 8-10 oz serving

4) About 24 grams of protein per serving.  (Any more than about 30 grams of protein cannot be absorbed in one sitting and therefore is just passing on through.)

I just Googled your location and tried to figure out something nearby that would work for you.  That wasn't successful at all.  I did see a Walmart not too far away I am thinking but when I went to the website to see what they stocked I wasn't impressed. It is nothing like the Walmarts here in the states in terms of Whey Protein.  I was then thinking that sometimes you can find something here in drug stores but the one I looked at near you didn't seem to be a likely venue.  I was also thinking about grocery stores but I really can't tell online what Sobeys carries.

It is possible that your surgeon's office might sell some whey protein isolate products.  Or perhaps locally to his office you can find something.  If you can't then you will be stuck improvising with things like broths.  Also a glass of 1% or skim milk with some liquid egg whites (obviously not cooked) might give you a good amount of protein and help to get in your fluids for the day.  I think an 8 oz glass of milk is about 10 grams of protein and liquid egg whites have 6 grams of protein per 2 oz which is the equivalent of 1 large egg.  So one cup of milk with a 1/2  a cup of liquid egg whites will give you 22 grams of protein (give or take a few) and as I mentioned counts towards your 8 cups of liquids per day.  Personally I don't like the sound of this so I would add in a tablespoon of Hershey's Unsweetened Special Dark Cocoa (1 gram of protein with only 10 calories) and something to sweeten the cocoa like Stevia or Splenda.  Then you have a chocolate milk and won't taste the egg whites.  

I realize that some people don't like the idea of drinking liquid egg whites but body builders have done it for decades and I also did that for the first 4 or 5 months post op without any ill effects. 

It is hard for me to make suggestions as I am unfamiliar with what you have available locally and what you might have available in Mexico.  I would contact the surgeon's office prior to going down to see if they sell any whey protein products from their office (mine did) or if there would be a place locally to get something.  

Only other thought is if you could one day ship from Amazon.ca or GNC.com.  It would likely be pretty expensive and I am willing to bet that you might be better off contacting your surgeon's office to ask what they might have available.

If you make a separate post here to ask if anyone else has gone to the surgeon that you are going to and whether or not they know if that surgeon sells any whey protein product.  Else if your surgeon has a website you may also be able to find this out.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful than this.

You were very helpful! You are right though, there is VERY little available locally around here. There is a little health food store a couple blocks away and their selection was crap. I did manage to find some RTD Premiere Protein at Walmart. I think we will stop in at a bigger/better chain health food store in the city before we go to the airport. What is the general feeling about Ensure? This is what my husband has been drinking for his pre-op diet.

Absolutely do not use Ensure post op.  You should be taking in roughly 40 grams of carbs or less per day by most plans.  Ensure high protein has 31 carbs.  Also from their website ...

"The protein sources in Ensure High Protein Shakes (14 fl oz) are all high-quality protein sources — milk protein concentrate, calcium caseinate, and soy protein isolate."   

You absolutely want Whey Protein Isolate.  The protein sources in Ensure are very poor in comparison.  

Remember to look at the ingredients and get ...

1) Whey Protein Isolate  (Ensure fails this)

2) 5 grams or less carbs per 8-10 oz serving   (Ensure fails this)

3) 5 grams or less fat per 8-10 oz serving (Ensure fails this)

4) About 24 grams of protein. (Ensure fails this only because it's not Whey protein isolate which means that the proteins in Ensure won't get absorbed quick enough and therefore are unused by the post op body.)

Pre op Ensure was good but post op do not use.

 

With any protein drink check these 4 things and then you will know whether or not to buy / use it.

Thank you so much for these guidelines!! I have entered them on my phone for reference when at the store. Even though it is not me getting the surgery right now, my husband relies on  me to make sure we have what he needs as he is working right up until the day we fly. Hoping all goes well with him and then I can get sleeved later this year :) You have been such a huge help!

I am sure things will go well.  I actually would be very interested in hearing how well things go.  The majority of people on this forum are women.  There is some statistic that says that something like 90% of bariatric surgeries are done on women.  

I am a man ... I know it isn't easy to tell with my avatar but I like the shar pei as it currently is something close to what I look like with my loose skin ... lol.  I swear that I am half shar pei and half man at this point.

Anyway I know that there seem to be a lot of women on here that say they had pain for some time post op and I was wondering if that was more common with women vs men.  My experience was that I had surgery at noon on Thursday and was discharged on Friday at about 3:30 pm.  That night only took one pain pill for gas pain was all.  Saturday I only took two pain pills all day and Sunday I took my last pain pill and was pain free.  I was up walking around without issue nearly right away.  It has been said that I have a high threshold for pain and after that surgery and reading on here I am starting to think that is true.

I am curious to see how well your husband does post op.  Keep me posted.  I will add you as a friend and you can email me directly if you want and also if you have other questions.  I consider myself to have been very successful.  In a little over 5 months I had dropped 95 pounds and went past my goal weight.  In the 8 months that followed I lost another 5 pounds.  At this point I am only 10 pounds away from being considered underweight.  That is a really weird feeling to actually want to gain back 10 pounds.  In those 8 months trying to gain those 10 pounds I lost the 5 I mentioned earlier.  I realize that I could go out and by snickers but refuse to to that.  There has to be a smart way to gain weight and until I find it I will be happy struggling to get it back ... what a foreign concept for me ... lol.  I am 50 years old and obese all my life.  It is a crazy journey.

Good luck.

Great point on the liquid egg whites! I have some in my fridge and there is a recipe for a smoothie on the back. Interesting. Not sure if I am brave enough to try that...did you find the texture was weird/slimy?

Honestly I couldn't even tell there was any eggs in the mix.  By the time you have the protein mix, unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  I usually only put 2 oz with my 10 oz almond milk.  I also had the tendency of mixing in 2 tbsp of Hershey's Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa and some Splenda to sweeten.  Really the egg whites got lost in the mix so to speak.  

I enjoy egg whites a lot.  I make a really weird scrambled eggs with them.  Basically mix in cinnamon and Splenda, some almond milk (to fluff them ... an oz or two) and a little olive oil to prevent sticking.  Cinnamon toast flavored eggs ... the way I mzke them I actually don't even taste egg.  Since I am in maintenance I sometimes will add in some crunchy peanut butter.  This gives it a roasted "toasted" flavoring and some great texture.

I have made a lot of odd things post op that I would never have thought of pre op.