Differences in Plan of Care

[Ruth1ess 494]

I am so grateful for the wealth of knowledge on this site. I have learned so much! I feel like BP has been an important step in my future progress, before I even begin. My surgery is April 14. I'm ready. I'm more than ready!

I've seen a lot of people talking about their post-op instructions and noticed how much they vary. Some doctors require 1, 2, or 4 weeks of liquid diets, in various stages of puree or Clear liquids. After that, they move to mushies and eventually solid foods.

After getting used to other plans as the 'norm', I was surprised to find out my surgeon's standards: He wants me to be able to drink a full cup of Water in an hour the day after surgery, and tolerate a puree before I leave the hospital.

like, woah.

Purees are supposed to be like, week 2 or 3, right?! And now, he's saying I should be able to be on 'regular' food within two weeks.

But, I trust my surgeon. He was chair of a bariatric center, and now works at mayo Clinic, specializing in gastric sleeve surgeries. He's had two leaks in his career. I'm going to work hard to do as he says and follow the plan of care he's laid out for me in order to give myself the best chance of success.

We're all going to have very different instructions. It's great to be able to talk about them, compare, and share our progress on this long journey back to health. Thank you, everyone, for your input over the past few months whether it was tough love, encouragement, or just sharing in my joy of being approved and ready to go. I can't wait to be on the losers bench!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Best of luck with your surgery and keep us posted on how you are doing.

You've got this!

[jane13 2,256]

You are so correct.

My doctor had me on liquids for 3 days, then on to pureed, and within 2 weeks I was allowed regular (soft) food.

I had no issues, I followed his instructions.

No REGRETS!

[JamieLogical 8,727]

Definitely follow YOUR surgeon's instructions. All of his/her post-op care is going to be built around the idea that you are following their plan. If there are problems, it will be easier for the to assess what might be wrong if you are doing what THEY tell you to do. I do think that if you are struggling to drink Water, you should discuss that with the surgeon, because forcing yourself to try to drink too much too fast can make things worse. It's definitely important to get in your liquids, but there can be real, physical limitations to doing so if you have excess swelling or inflammation. So that's something you should discuss if it's an issue.

[RickM 1,752]

I was on purees and soft Proteins (yogurt, scrambled eggs, etc) along with liquids in the hospital and on out. The surgeon's practice had been doing sleeves for about twenty years at that time, so I wasn't going to argue with their experience on what a sleeved stomach could handle.

A cup of Water per hour is not unreasonable (our standard was an ounce per five minutes though that wasn't a mandatory thing) but that can vary some with the amount of inflammation in the stomach that one has post-op. I can understand their requirement that you be able to handle a cup an hour as dehydration is not uncommon and is probably the most common reason for readmission to the hospital.