Post sleeve hospital experience from a nursing perspective

[atcant 12]

From the perspective a nurse caring for the post-op sleeves and bands it has been eye opening to see how a patient copes post op. For the most part a patient comes in and is understanding of what is expected post op. Walking every 4 hours, using the pain med delivery system when having pain. Nothing by mouth until after the swallow study 24 hours out. Sound familiar? Have had patient's say they were never told they had to walk, could not have anything to drink until after the study or was genuinely surprised that they were staying overnight. Was sleeved six weeks ago so no patient can ever tell me that they were not informed of the expectations. The pre-op prep was extensive and thorough in my opinion. You can tell the patient's that will be successful with the procedure just by how compliant they are to plan of care. It is obvious that they have not studied the materials. chicken broth does not include noodles or chicken and mint tea does not include cream or sugar. As a bariatrics nurse we do a great deal of teaching and reminding. I would love to conduct a study on pre-op teaching, perception of what is taught, and compliance in the hospital and and after. After going through my own WLS and being cared for by my co-workers I think I will be more perceptive to my patient's needs. By the way, I loved being a patient on the unit where I work. We nurses rock!!!

[jane13 2,256]

@@atcant - I totally agree with your post. I am not a nurse but I do think it is pretty obvious HERE who has had thorough prep for this life changing procedure. I see posts asking so questions that I thought was pretty darn obvious and I answer sometimes and the whole time I am thinking (REALLY????)

BARIATRIC NURSES ROCK!

Kudos to my team at St. Vincents - Southside in Jacksonville Florida!!!

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I have a friend who is a bariatric dietician and she feels that a larger portion of her patients don't completely understand expectations. she had theories about it including education levels, ability to read well etc but i actually doubt that is the primary issue.

I think that WLS is incredibly emotional, many of the people who go through it are not in the best state of mind at the moment (anxiety, fear, hopelessness, wishing for a miracle etc) that they just CAN'T HEAR the details.... it is like deer in the headlights kind of thing.

I could be wrong of course, but my sense from reading some of the things posted here... people going to USA based surgeons with bariatric programs who say they were not told "fill in the blanks" and I have decided that all those programs can't be THAT lacking in basic info.

This isn't a judgement against those patients - I was pretty rattled too - my personality type is to dig and to try to understand every nit when i am rattled.

[NikkiDoc 312]

I will say that my program did not tell me that I would not be able to drink anything until after the swallow study the next morning until after I had surgery. Now I had done a ton of research so I knew that well ahead of time.

My bariatric nurses said I was the model patient. I kid with them that they tell all their patients that.

I would bet there are a few programs that aren't as thorough as they could be about telling all of their patient's what to expect. I saw some of the hand outs from my co-worker's 6 month supervised diet from the dietician. Really bad copies based on the old food pyramid. Not really good nutrition for WLS patients.

However it amazes me the number of people that hear what they want to hear and cannot effectively read a couple of paragraphs of information. It amazes me the number of people that don't do any research prior to selecting the program they select. I went to information sessions at multiple places. I read a few blogs, multiple forums and a number of medical websites about various weightloss surgeries before deciding on the surgeon and the sleeve.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I researched alot too... but part of it was I had already failed with the lapband (implanted 2001) and so felt that NEED. I thought I had researched the lapband, but in truth I was very poorly informed, did not absorb the information well... and in hindsight I think was given some very bad, inadequate guidance and advice.

Having said all that, my anxiety started AMPING up about the revision to the sleeve so I did reach a point where I didn't want to hear anymore. In the weeks leading up to surgery, I was very careful about what posts I read on here, what studies I read etc.

I had also reached the point in life where I decided to "turn this over" to the experts. What I mean by that is I picked a program that I believed in and then did EVERYTHING they said. In the past, I used to think i was smart enough to "customize" instructions to fit ME, as we all know, we are special (not so) little snowflakes - ha. Truth is, when I did what they knew was tried and true, I found much success.

For me, a key part of success was just being so "over" food as a friend, comfort or anything else - like the bad boyfriend you gotta kick to the curb! Doesn't mean it was always easy.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

In my classes people brought kids (do teenagers not babysit anymore? I am puzzled why I see children in adult settings all the time). Some were texting. Some were talking to other people.

I do think some of it is educational levels and intelligence. The average adult american only reads at 9th grade level.

When people hear walking, they think they don't have to walk until after they have lost some weight or whatever.

I walked so much my night in the hospital my nurse told me to go to sleep i did a lot of research though and didn't just depend on the information provided by my program. One thing I notice with a lot of programs is they provide information that is middle of the line so they don't scare people off, but when talk to the NUT and Dr one on one they tell you to avoid things they have on the list.

My nurse was recently sleeved and helped me so much in the few hours I was in his care, I will be forever in his debt.

[Trinn 139]

Wow, I hear you on this! I was at the bariatric pre-admission program of my hospital on Thursday. There were two other patients there: a guy who looked to be 18-20 years old, with his mother, and a woman in her 60's. The guy was on his phone texting the whole time the education was going on. He was scheduled for a gastric bypass. At some point his mother mention that she'd had the bypass, and then later, that all his sisters had, too. He never asked any questions, but when the dietician told him he'd have to stop drinking Cokes (not diet either) after surgery, he seemed surprised -- he said he was still doing that right now.

The older woman (also a VSG like me) started off by asking how in the WORLD surgery through "pinholes" works, and the representative started to explain the surgery to her again. The woman clearly had NO clue what was going to be done to her -- she said, "So, do they cut the stomach, then? How do they do that? do they just glue the part back?" and then when told they cut out part of the stomach, seemed very surprised. She asked how they got it out the "pinholes" and it was explained to her that the laproscopic cuts included a larger 2-inch one. This was apparently news to her -- she mumbled she didn't think her doctor did it that way.

The other two patients also had a different doctor, who had no pre-surgical diet; their only limit was they were not supposed to *gain* any weight before surgery. All of the information about the post-surgical diet seemed new to them.

This is the 3-4th time I've been presented with this information; I can't imagine they've *never* heard it. So, it just seems like some people just don't get it? I have no idea. And I cannot help but shake my head at a family where everyone has a bypass. *sigh*

[lealor 127]

I went to Mexico Monday for sleeve surgery( not a hospital as advertised, ore of a garage)!!....half the people I talked to had nooooooo idea about anything pre op , post op, . Now we all got one email with some instructions on it but come on, reading an email on a major life altering decision is not enough. I am pretty savvy well I thought, but made a bad choice on the place I had it done. It was like a horror show and I am glad I am safe at home...no one spoke English and have some compassion for the people who TRUST what they read for the sake of a miracle. I now wish I had gone the opposite way, took some classes to get more educated and had it done some where else. I made a mistake and can only learn and go foreword.

This site has saved my life with advice, friendship and a kick in the ass when I needed it. I in turn will do the same for others. All we can do is help each other through the questions and concerns and maybe help direct them to a place for medical advice.

To make me feel more like a loser, I did have noodles in my Soup yesterday, but by reading your posts, I now wont do that till it is ok to do so. There are hundreds of places that are not real hospitals that perform these surgeries which is scary in itself. just so you know, so ignorance might not be the factor, no education is.thanks.

[lealor 127]

@atcant@NikkiDoc..........don't judge until you know a persons situation. \I just came from hell, and am glad to be alive. Worst experience of my life, I researched hours and hours and hours and still made the wrong decision where to have this surgery in Tijuana. You sound very lucky to have had an educational, clean environment with good after and pre op help but a lot of people on this site didn't or don't have that luxury. I was with a nurse and her and her husband walked out the day after surgery....taking her life in her hands to get back to the US, There were tons of people coming in like cattle for such a scary surgery............lets be advocates for people to educate not punish, as believe e I am punishing myself enough.

[OasisTerry 13]

@atcant@NikkiDoc..........don't judge until you know a persons situation. \I just came from hell, and am glad to be alive. Worst experience of my life, I researched hours and hours and hours and still made the wrong decision where to have this surgery in Tijuana. You sound very lucky to have had an educational, clean environment with good after and pre op help but a lot of people on this site didn't or don't have that luxury. I was with a nurse and her and her husband walked out the day after surgery....taking her life in her hands to get back to the US, There were tons of people coming in like cattle for such a scary surgery............lets be advocates for people to educate not punish, as believe e I am punishing myself enough.

@@lealor your experience sounds awful, I hope you are ok and recover quickly. Where did you have your surgery? Who was your doctor? I ask because I also had my surgery in Tijuana, fortunately I had a good experience but a lot of people turn to me for guidance. I love what you wrote about being advocates for those who are in the decision-making process. If there's a hospital or doctor that is not delivering what is promised we need to be very vocal about it and use this wonderful site to let everyone know. I wish you the best.