One week post surgery - my story

bonbon · 05-12-2008, 08:45 AM

Very encouraging story, thanks! I get my band next Monday the 19th. I am very excited. A little nervous because I am a food addict, but am determined that this is the answer for my lifelong bondage to food. Keep upi the good work and God Bless.
Bonbon

gone 4 ever · 05-12-2008, 09:54 AM

Thank you Daisy Mae for your story. Congrats on the weight loss. You've done awsome. I have my LB tomorrow. I cheated yesterday a little. My Dr put me on no carb for 2 weeks. Told me I could cheat a little but not to overdo it. So all together cheated 2 times. On my daughter's b-day and yesterday. I think if everyone is honest probably most of us has cheated on pre-op diet.

Keep up the great job!

triser72 · 05-12-2008, 10:44 PM

DaisyMay - thank you so much for sharing your experience! At 36, I have never had surgery, so your realistic testimonial helps ease my nerves quite a bit!! Thank you and I hope things are still going well!

tai68 · 05-12-2008, 11:11 PM

Thank you for this - It is exactly what I need to read!!! I'm good to go on 6/30...and am hoping that 7 weeks will give me enough recovery time to enjoy 10 days in Europe...it'll be challenging to say the least. I hope that I have as smooth a transition as you have described!! Thanks for sharing!

Northwest_Nance · 05-13-2008, 12:07 AM

Thanks for sharing your story! My surgery is Thursday and I've been eating up every story I can find for weeks now. Did your doctor prescribe anti-nausea medication for you? I had my prescriptions filled yesterday, one is liquid pain meds and the other is small Phenergen tablets for nausea.

It's really interesting how different each doctor is. My doctor has done over 1,000 lap band surgeries - he has me on a pre-op diet for 7 days of 4 MediFast a day and one Lean Cuisine. After surgery he wants me on liquids for one week (anything I can drink through a straw), then week two is mushies, then starting week three he doesn't want any more liquid meals, he wants me moving into solids so my stomach will get used to it. But I've read about an awful lot of patients who are on liquids and mushies for longer than that and your story just emphasizes that. It will be interesting to see how I do.

I really agree with you about the liquid diet being good for cleaning us, both physically and emotionally. It sounds like you're doing great.... contratulations!

goin2lasvegas · 05-13-2008, 12:42 AM

Boy, I really liked your days. I wanted to know blow-by-blow what is supposed to happen and you answered most of my questions.

maggielexi · 05-13-2008, 01:06 AM

So good of you to share your experience! I'm getting banded on Thursday (just 3 more days) and I'm excited but because of the unknown, a little apprehensive too. Your story really helped me and thanks so much for sharing!

DaisyMay · 05-13-2008, 10:00 AM

To answer the question above, my doctor required that I lose 10% of my body weight prior to surgery - he requires that of all of his patients. For me, that was 28.5 lbs. I wanted to get the surgery as fast as possible so I did the most strict version of his pre-op diet in order to shed pounds fast and get my surgery scheduled. The options he gave me were to have three slim-fasts a day plus all the vegetables I wanted or to have an extremely strict diet of plain chicken or fish, vegetables, nonfat dairy and a fruit a day. Everybody is different but for me, it was easier to just not deal with food and to stick to the slim-fast diet (I ate a few vegetables but not many - I drank either three or four slim-fasts a day and then every three or four days I'd have a very small regular meal). My doctor told me that very quick weight loss - preferably from a mostly liquid diet - would get the liver to shed fat the fastest and make the surgery easier and safer. When I went in for a pre-surgery weight check, I had lost so much weight so quickly that he moved my surgery up two weeks. I hadn't quite lost all of the 10% of my total weight he had originally told me but he said since I'd lost it so quickly and stuck to mainly liquids that he'd go ahead and operate earlier. So that's why I had six weeks of liquids. For me - and everyone is different - it was too difficult to stick to the strict diet. It was easier for me to stick to the liquids. And I wanted to surgery to happen as quickly as possible. I'm self-pay so I didn't have to wait for insurance approval.

connie6288 · 05-13-2008, 02:57 PM

I could not do the powder protein mixes anymore and am drinking the protein "bullet" they have 42 grams of protein, cal is 170. I don't eat anything else but broth and mostly clear liquids anyway, so i figure i can afford to do this. Got a bad reaction from the protein powders, I think its the milk, whey, that bloats me up (not used to drinking milk) and my little stomach can't take it .. to hard on it. so i switched to these protein bullets they sell in the vitimin shoppes. taste pretty good as well. Anyone else having problems with protein mixes?

good luck to you all.

Susie70 · 05-13-2008, 07:04 PM

Thanks so much for your detailed information about your day of and after surgery. It definitely makes me feel more comfortable in knowing the process! :)

jlr58 · 05-13-2008, 08:29 PM

Thanks for your sharing your story. I'm really torn about doing this and reading the positives really helps. I want to do it, I'm just scared.

travelinsnorkel · 05-15-2008, 07:59 PM

Thanks for the post. It is nice to have a detailed account of how things go after surgery. I'd love to hear other people's stories.

kerryconner · 05-15-2008, 08:26 PM

Very inspiring story. GREAT luck to you. I will be banded on June 17, 08 an like you, I intend on doing everything correctly so things heal as they should. I am sure I will share the same success that you are, It's just the waiting that is killing me! Kerry

linesj · 05-15-2008, 08:44 PM

I liked reading your account. I, too, am one week post op. Just so everyone knows, my experience was very similar, and even better in some ways. I had no nausea at all! I also never took any pain meds other then some toredal that was IV push, never touched my morphine pump, and never took the liquid vicoden at home, just liquid Tylenol. Went back to work yesterday, felt great, even better today. I don't think I'm up to 2.5 miles yet, but I'm back on the treadmill. I will say I had an overnight stay, so I got the toredol for the first 24 hours. Oral pain killers can cause nausea and I was so afraid of that. I'm sure I'm partly just lucky to have such a great outcome, but I feel three things helped. One, follow the pre surgery diet. Mine lasted a long time, and I won't say I didn't cheat once in a while, but I lost 30 pounds PRE surgery. Second, exercise before so you are in shape. Third, positive attitude. I decided about 2 days before surgery that this was going to be a breeze. I'd had a gall bladder surgery years ago that frankly sucked big time, and I had been afraid of a repeat. This time I was better prepared, better taken care of before, so I followed all instructions, and just decided it was going to go well. When anyone said "good luck" I'd say, It's going to be smooth, easy, no problem. I'm not known for my positive attitude, so this was a big stretch for me, but I surprised many nurses helping me when I could do so much, kept insisting "I'm fine", "I feel fine" (despite at one point everyone telling me I had no color and my blood pressure was very low) "I'm FINE". This hypocondriac didn't need anyone telling me I didn't look well. "I feel FINE!". And I did. I hope this experience is the norm for everyone looking forward to a surgery date. Thanks, Daisy, for starting such a positive thread. We all need to know the possible complications, but it's also important to know how easy it can be. I would have loved to have read your account before my surgery as just one more piece of the positive puzzle.

amsderb · 05-15-2008, 08:47 PM

Daisy May...what a great post! I am 13 days out and my doc did not require anything special except loose 10% which I have! I have been dieting since December so.....

I think I may switch to liquid only about 5 days before but I really try to eat light now...the day before it said have a small breakfast like an egg and a piece of toast, lunch was soup and then only clear liquids after that...also do the bowl prep...so I am not sure what I will do about solids the day before? Did anyone else eat the morning before your band day?

TTFN Shelley

One week post surgery - my story

Thanks!