GreggyBravo

I plan to post this as a separate topic, but I'll comment here as well. I had no pain on my incisions, and I had some discomfort on a drain my surgeon put in, but I had ZERO gas pains. My wife had the surgery a few months ago (different surgeon), and she battled gas pains all day long after surgery and into the night. My belly wasn't even bloated. When I went back for my 2 week post-op follow-up, I asked if they had sucked all the air out at the end of the surgery. They told me that they didn't suck out the air, but they've started doing something similar for patients. As the surgeon was setting up the drain, the nurse practitioner opened up the valves on all the tools inside me and let all the air drain out. She said that you could hear the air coming out like a balloon being deflated. After the drain was complete, she removed the tools and stitched me up. She had let all the air out that was going to cause me gas pains. WHY DON'T ALL SURGEONS DO THIS? My guess is that it might take too much time and keep them from making another dollar sooner on the next patient ... I don't know. However, I really appreciated my surgeon and nurse practitioner for doing this. They potentially saved me a lot of pain. For any future surgeries, I'm going to request it ... or rather INSIST on it.

Well ... you are probably out of the OR by now. I hope everything went well for you. No matter what negative things your brain tells you over the next week, just know that around week 2, it GETS BETTER. That cream Soup that you taste for the first time will be "gourmet soup", and you'll notice results almost immediately after the first week. I'm 3 weeks out as of today, and I would do it all over again. Good luck to you!

I had the same exact thoughts before my sleeve surgery on 11/4. For me, it was that food addict brain talking ... rationalizing ... trying to tell me that I could do it on my own ... the same way I did the last 2 times I lost over 100 pounds ... and gained it all back plus some. I finally stood up to myself and said, "I don't want to be able to physically overeat again!" So, I had the surgery about 2 and a half weeks ago. The first week on clear liquids was pretty tough, but after that ... THE NEW ME!!! Psychologically, food doesn't have that pull any more. As my surgeon described it ... it was like a lobotomy for my stomach. I had big doubts before surgery, and even a few small doubts during the first week ... but now, no regrets. I still enjoy food. It just doesn't talk to me like it used to. It doesn't whisper bad things to me anymore. I eat to live, not live to eat. With the removal of the ghrelin in the stomach, I don't get hungry any more. I just eat because I know I need to.

I'm just hoping for a smaller birthday suit ... might need a lot of ironing with all the wrinkles though.

Eat something that won't make much of a difference in caloric or fat intake. My surgeon makes his patients do a week (or more) of Nutri-Med, a powder base to create shakes, puddings, Soups, etc. The on-staff dietician said to eat the Soup at night and to add low-fat, non-starch veggies to it. I added a can of green Beans to each one for filling. You can't use other beans, but I'm sure you could use broccoli, cabbage, or something like that. If you're not using a program like this ... just doing low-fat on your own, open up a can of green beans in the evening and dig in. It's not the best choice for taste, but it should fight the hunger. I lost 14 pounds that week. Enjoy!

My mother was having similar problems earlier this year that ended up being her gall bladder. When her gall bladder was removed, the problem cleared up immediately. I hope yours does as well.