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It's getting real....

rjbj

rjbj

Member
I've been on the pre-surgery, protein-heavy, low-cal diet for a week. It's been a snap, honestly, once I decided on the menu. I don't lack willpower.

A week from tomorrow I have surgery. Yikes.

The doc's office called to start setting up appointments for boot camp (what they call a half day of pre-surgery education, form signing, and so on). That's Thursday. Covid test and final instructions after that.

It's so strange thinking that this is happening. I wish I could better envisage what things were going to be like after this. You can have it described to you many times but still really you have to live it to know what it will be like.
 
rjbj said:
It's so strange thinking that this is happening. I wish I could better envisage what things were going to be like after this. You can have it described to you many times but still really you have to live it to know what it will be like.
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Sounds like how I felt when I asked other women what it feels like to be pregnant. Now I can actually explain it to other women pretty accurately, but there are elements relating to physics, including gravity and motion, that can't be measured.

When I had RYGB in the old days, it was major surgery, so there was hospital time followed by bed recovery before the actual changes could be appreciated.

It was most helpful for me to comprehend food and beverage delivery. The esophagus is the same, but travel of different textures of food cannot be explained. But once you have your first successful swallow, no further explanation is needed.

You'll be fine. Believe that. Once you're on the other side, you won't believe you worried about it for one second.
 
Here's a thing I posted to the Latest Resources section:

my post-op nutritional plan

Hi all, I just found this amongst my papers. It's my post-op eating guidelines. If you followed a post-op eating plan without having the surgery, you could still lose weight. But since your method of digestion has changed, your loss will be...
www.americanbariatrics.org

There's a lot of good stuff there from old members.
 
rjbj said:
I've been on the pre-surgery, protein-heavy, low-cal diet for a week. It's been a snap, honestly, once I decided on the menu. I don't lack willpower.

A week from tomorrow I have surgery. Yikes.

The doc's office called to start setting up appointments for boot camp (what they call a half day of pre-surgery education, form signing, and so on). That's Thursday. Covid test and final instructions after that.

It's so strange thinking that this is happening. I wish I could better envisage what things were going to be like after this. You can have it described to you many times but still really you have to live it to know what it will be like.
Click to expand...
Funny thing - my surgery happened unexpectedly and I’ve never had the anticipation period- and it’s probably the reason why I’m not as educated on many topics as everyone else because I literally had no time to prepare.
The beginning is tough for many people- it was very tough for me. I’m not trying to scare you by any means, but I wish someone would explain it better to me. I was a victim of my very own unrealistic expectations. It’s not really about pain, just being unable to drink, eat, fatigue, nausea etc (depending on the person) it’s not an easy journey. Just remember that all of this will pass. I was so haunted by stress and worrying it just made everything worse. It’s been less than 3 months for me and I already forgot about my ordeal. Whenever you have a challenging moment just remind yourself it’s all very temporary and will be quickly replaced by the joy of weight loss and improved health. Everyone has a totally individual experience so don’t stress if you’re recovering differently. I literally suffered from “I’m behind the program” obsession because my recovery was taking much longer. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
I actually think that's the best approach .. expect the worst and everything else is gravy. lol

I had a really easy time post op. My husband has not had the same experience, and cannot understand why he is so nauseous, and still in pain 6 days later when I was getting 64 oz with ease and cleaning the house by day 4. But I expected a lot of pain and so was pleasantly surprised. He was expecting easy and is miserable.

Everyone's experience will be different. You may have quite a bit of pain. You may have nausea and have a hard time getting your liquids or protein in for a few weeks. Or you may feel really good within a few days. So, while I don't know about weeks of misery, I think it's important to have realistic expectations for post op. It's surgery and you're still going to be using the part that they're operating on. I think it's reasonable to expect discomfort for a bit.
 
Mostly it's the inside/stomach. What my surgeon called the "construction zone". The bypass has a smaller stomach wound, whereas the sleeve has a banana sized staple line, Your stomach still has to work, even if just digesting liquid. Imagine having stitches in your palm and using your hard. Same deal.
 
missyinacage said:
I actually think that's the best approach .. expect the worst and everything else is gravy. lol

I had a really easy time post op. My husband has not had the same experience, and cannot understand why he is so nauseous, and still in pain 6 days later when I was getting 64 oz with ease and cleaning the house by day 4. But I expected a lot of pain and so was pleasantly surprised. He was expecting easy and is miserable.

Everyone's experience will be different. You may have quite a bit of pain. You may have nausea and have a hard time getting your liquids or protein in for a few weeks. Or you may feel really good within a few days. So, while I don't know about weeks of misery, I think it's important to have realistic expectations for post op. It's surgery and you're still going to be using the part that they're operating on. I think it's reasonable to expect discomfort for a bit.
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On yesterday, I was in a nutrition class a young lady mentioned that she was told by her physician that she would have day surgery and go home with a pump attached that would release pain medication for a few days and that they would remove it at a later time. I do not know very much regarding my own upcoming procedure and what to expect but I know to expect it in a few weeks or so. I am glad things went smooth for you. I certainly hope your hubby feels wells soon.
 
rjbj said:
I've been on the pre-surgery, protein-heavy, low-cal diet for a week. It's been a snap, honestly, once I decided on the menu. I don't lack willpower.

A week from tomorrow I have surgery. Yikes.

The doc's office called to start setting up appointments for boot camp (what they call a half day of pre-surgery education, form signing, and so on). That's Thursday. Covid test and final instructions after that.

It's so strange thinking that this is happening. I wish I could better envisage what things were going to be like after this. You can have it described to you many times but still really you have to live it to know what it will be like.
Click to expand...
I am definitely cheering for you .
 
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