Info from the beginning

Eric H · August 1, 2011

I am brand new on this forum and am in the beginning stages of the whole process. I must say from reading some of the posts on here that I am both encouraged and aprehensive. Could someone please walk through the process a bit with me, from pre-op diets, tests and challanges, to post-op challanges, problems, eating, etc. I am the type that likes to be well informed but don't always trust the people selling me the product to tell me the whole truth. Thank you!

GreginMI · August 1, 2011

I can tell you my experience. Everyone's experiences seem to differ. I had an 8 day pre-op diet. The first 5 days were to be only 1000 calories and no more than that. The last 3 days before surgery were full liquids which were mostly Protein shakes. The night before the surgery I could have nothing. Some people have like a 2 week liquid diet. It depends on what your surgeon wants you to do. The tests were things like an EKG for your heart, an upper endoscopy, bloodwork, and a gallbladder ultrasound. No biggie. I also had to take a nutritional class to show me what I can eat and when after the surgery. That was very informative. Probably the worst part of the surgery is the day of and the week after. People experience different pains and challenges. You don't really know what yours will be (if any) until you have it. Some people have gas pain, some have incision pain, some have nausea, etc. I personally had incision pain the most. It sucks right after surgery because you can only eat ice chips the first day until they do a leak test, then you can have sips of Water. I had NO physical hunger after my surgery so not eating was no big deal to me. You have to walk the halls a lot while in the hospital to help with blood clots in the legs. I also had these "braces" (for lack of a better term) on my legs while I was in there that massaged my legs constantly. I also had a drain in my abdomen and a catheter. Some people don't have either of those. The catheter came out when I got out of the hospital but the drain stayed in for 10 days. When I came home after about 3 days after surgery I was tired and still had incision pain. It was hard to get out of bed by myself and I had to sleep on my back. I'm a side-sleeper so that wasn't good. I got a good recliner and slept in that a lot and it helped tremendously. I could get out of it easier. As far as eating, I couldn't really eat anything for a few weeks and then got put on soft food. Soft food was gross to me because it was mostly blended up regular good and the consistency grossed me out so I kept drinking mostly Protein Shakes for the nutrition. After about 4 weeks the Protein Shakes grossed me out too but I was almost to solid food by then. When I first started eating solid food it felt like it would get stuck halfway down and then finally go down. This was the swelling in my stomach. But after a while it subsided and now at 8 weeks I can finally eat pretty normally. My appetite has returned and I enjoy food now but when I first starting eating I got nauseous after eating. My incisions are mostly healed and my energy has returned and I really feel great and am glad I did this. The worst part is that first 4 weeks or so after surgery. It's not unbearable though. You can get through it and be on the losing side like I am. 8 weeks out and I've lost 57 lbs so far. Good luck to you and I hope some of this helped!

I am brand new on this forum and am in the beginning stages of the whole process. I must say from reading some of the posts on here that I am both encouraged and aprehensive. Could someone please walk through the process a bit with me, from pre-op diets, tests and challanges, to post-op challanges, problems, eating, etc. I am the type that likes to be well informed but don't always trust the people selling me the product to tell me the whole truth. Thank you!

wondering1 · August 1, 2011

Hi Eric,

Welcome! So glad you decided to look into the sleeve. I am being sleeved in 9 days so I can only speak to you about the pre-op process. Depending on your specific insurance it can be a little different. I met with my primary care doc and told him I decided I really wanted to have WLS. He referred me to a bariatric surgeon and I attended a seminar in my area. That was around 4/28. At the seminar I learned more about each surgery and was really interested in the sleeve. My next appointment was with the surgeon. We discussed all options and I decided on the sleeve. The surgeon said I would need a cardiac clearance and a pulmonology clearance and that I would have to get those on my own. For the cardiac clearance I had to do an EKG, a nuclear stress test and an echocardiogram. All of these were pretty painless but took about 3 weeks to complete. The only one I can really complain about was the stress test because it was a pain in the arse. I was put on a treadmill set with a steep incline and had to walk really fast on it for about 8 minutes. My heart rate went up to 180 and I thought I was going to pass out and fall off that dumb treadmill.

For the pulmonology clearance, I had to do a breathing test and get this.... 2 sleep STUDIES!! I was really kinda pissed about the second sleep study because these things are horrible. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and had to get a CPAP machine to sleep with. I don't use it, but I will take it with me for surgery. Apparently everybody that's 100lbs overweight is "diagnosed" with sleep apnea. I think It's just a crock and a money making thing for the providers of these horrible machines (sorry, just my opinion).

Next, I had to get a 2 year weight history from my primary care doc and send it to my surgeon. No big deal.

Now for the nutrition part. I had to attend 6 Nutrition and Life Skills classes to learn how to eat properly before and after my sleeve. And I had to weigh in at every class. My insurance did not require me to lose any weight during this process but I know there are some that do require a certain amount of weight be lost. The biggest thing they stress at these classes is drinking your Water everyday and getting enough Proteins and Vitamins. Most of us will have to take Vitamins the rest of our lives after surgery. They also stress that the sleeve is just a tool and will only work as hard as we work.

I am now on my pre-op diet preparing for surgery next Tuesday. I'm hungry and I have a headache (probably since I haven't had any caffeine today, not allowed). This will probably be one of the hardest parts of the whole process for me. Not looking forward to the next 8 days.

Again, welcome! I hope some of this information helps