Gene1970

I think we all had cold feet at some point before surgery. Here's my story.. the honest truth!!! The day of the surgery I felt a little nausea in recovery which the quickly got under control. I felt great after that until I had to first try to get up to walk. The pressure on my stomach was pretty intense the first time, but that's what you get with any abdominal surgery. Every time I got up to walk was a little easier. and by the end of the day I was getting up with minimal pain. Day two I was feeling pretty good as well and not really taking any pain meds. They gave me some morphine right before taking out my drain and cathetor and I'm glad they did. It was not super painful but more uncomfortable. Night 2 was hard, I was out of the hospital and sleeping in a normal bed and had to get up several times overnight which was really painful from a completely flat position. Day 3 was probably the hardest of all post surgery. My stomach was spasiming/cramping quite a bit which is normal since your body is trying to figure out just what the heck happened. The nausea was better by day 4 although there was still some of the spasms going on. I would say the spasms lasted until the end of week two post op but got better every day. By the end of week three there were points where I amost forgot that I had surgery, except that I couldn't eat much. Will you have some pain... Yes, will you have some nausea... Yes, will it be worth it... ABSOLUTELY!!!! Everyone's experience is a little different. I think the better the surgeon the better experience you have post op. The short term discomforts that you will expereince post op will soon fade and the long term success and happiness that comes with it will last and last and last. Good luck on your surgery!!!!

I have come to the conclusion that I really could care less what others think about the surgery. They can think what they want, but I will always KNOW that it was the best decison of my life and that I will live a much longer and happier life because of it. I will KNOW that it was not "the easy way out" no matter what others think.

Congrats!!!! It's a good feeling for sure. I flew this last weekend and had the same experience. Not only did the seat belt have extra room but the tray table didn't touch my stomach... I was amazed that there was a ton of room between me and the tray table... I thought I was flying first class!!!!!

Yes, just on the bridge of my nose... worked wonders.

Congrats!!!!! Good luck with the liquid diet!!!

I had the same feelings around day 3 post op... By the end of week 2 they were almost completely gone. Every day WILL get much better.

Welcome Tiffany!! Sorry to hear you had problems with your band, it seems oh so common. I think you will be very happy once you get sleeved, It seems like a much better surgery. I am extremely happy with the results so far.

Absolutly does not cause cancer. I was diagnosed with Barretts espohagus a couple years pre-surgery. I had horrible acid reflux which was due to a hiatal hernia and being overweight. My dr put my on Prilosec 2x per day and I had another endoscopy a year later. Come to find out I was misdiagnosed but it was clear that all of the acid had been having and effect on my esophogus for them to even misdiagnose in the first place. During my sleeve surgery they fixed my hiatal hernia and since I have not had any problems with acid. I'm still on prilosec for a few more days but really don't anticipate any problems after I stop taking them. For me I feel like having the surgery and getting the hernai fixed helped prevent me from getting Barretts in the future and it possibly turning into cancer.

Agreed... check your produce section.

yep, spirometer was no fun... but push yourself to do it... you need to get those lungs open and keep them clear.

If you have a good Dr you probably won't need much as far as pain meds either. I filled the RX for home and never used it once.

Go with the sleeve.. that's my opinion. I am 2 months out and I have been very successful so far with mine and very happy. My primary Dr suggested it over the RNY because he said he sees a lot of RNY patients that regain weight where he doesn't see that as much with the sleeve.

Completely agree with CASleeve... a pillow is a MUST to keep around for the first week. It helps so much when coughing, sneezing or moving.

A lot really depends on the surgeon that you have. I know a lot of people complain of gas pains, however I had ZERO gas pains after surgery. My surgeon assured me up front that he works very had to get all of the excess gas that they pump in you out before he's done. He also put a drain in for 24 hours which was supposed to help and I felt great. Immediatly after I woke up in recovery I felt nauseous. The nurse was quick to help me out. she gave me some meds for nausua but first she put an alcohol swab on my nose... she said that it would help the nausea and amazing enough... it did. Who knew. I tried it a couple times at home when I had some nausea and it helped then too. I was on a morpine pump for the first day and was allowed to press the button every 10 minutes if I wanted to but to my suprise I probably only used it once an hour. Again, I think that had a lot to do with the surgeon and how good he was. The worst pain that I felt was when I first tried to get out of bed to walk... WOW... It was like my stomach was ripping open. My weight on the incisions really hurt, but I pushed though and it seemed that every time I got up to walk was a little better. I really didn't notice any internal pain until day 3 when my sleeve started "cramping" when I tried to eat or drink or really just about any time it wanted to. I was told that it was normal and would go away... and it did. Day 4 was better and by the middle of week 2 the cramping was all gone. Every day was better and better with the incision pain and I would say that they felt completely better by the end of week 2 post op. Hope this helps, feel free to ask me anything. Gene

I use spaghetti squash from time to time as a pasta substitute and love it. I highly recommend trying it.

First of all Welcome!!!! I think we were all terrified at one point... then we learned a little more about the surgery and the success of others and started to feel more comfortable about the surgery. From time to time pre-op I questioned myself and was very nervous about having the surgery. I'm 8 weeks post op now and am so glad I went through with it. My advice to you is to spend some time on the boards, read, learn,ask questions, make new friends and you too will soon see that terrified feeling go away. I have lost 60lbs since starting this journey... some pre-op, some post op and I would have never been able to do it without the surgery. I feel so much better and can see a huge difference. Good luck with your surgery on the 4th

The first few days are the worst... but rest assured it gets much better. somewhere before the end of the 2nd week you will feel soooooo much better. By the end of the second week or mid third week you will at times forget you even had surgery... at least I did. It's amazing what a difference a few days makes.

If you drink regular soda... stop immediatly... That little change alone will make a huge difference. I lost 10lbs in one month pre-surgery by just not drinking soda. I ate like I would normally eat (which was BAD) and still lost... It's amazing what little changes can do. As mentioned in another post, sugar free popcicles are another great way to get a sweet treat and cut some calories... Good luck!!!

So glad to hear that you are keeping your date!!!! You won't regret it!!! Congrats!!!

Welcome!!!! Congrats on the weight loss. This is a great forum that I used pre-surgery to get some good advice and encouragement. Overall there are a lot of great people here and it's great to encourage others as well.