Good and Bad

[dfletcher1978 4]

I hear all the great stories after surgery and weight loss. I need to know everything! Has anyone had any complaints/complications? Please be honest.

[aNYCdb 310]

Is there a particular surgery you are considering?

[dfletcher1978 4]

Sleeve

[aNYCdb 310]

Well for me the biggest complaints were the hoops you have to jump through before the surgery, which of course vary by insurance company. After 7 months of tests and classes the procedure itself was pretty minor. That said unfortunately how you react to the procedure and your tolerance for some level of pain/discomfort afterwards seems to make all the difference. For me I was off of the pain meds by day 4 and feeling at 95% (back to work) by day 5. Other folks find that themselves with lingering pain which for them leads to a tiredness and weak feeling that can slow down their recovery (after pain takes a lot of energy out of you).

On top of that things like the preop liquid diet are a chore and not generally a pleasant experience and after surgery the folks that are afflicted with "Head Hunger" tend to have a more difficult time with food limitations immediately post op.

[dfletcher1978 4]

Yes, the hoops games is horrible. I’m like you can take my whole uterus out in a matter of a week. Scheduled and surgery. But me to lose weight I need everything under the sun.

[dfletcher1978 4]

I guess I’m scared of the big “D” word.

[aNYCdb 310]

Honestly, I never even thought about the "D" word (which I'm assuming is Death and not Diet). These procedures are so routine now that that isn't even a real risk. I think for VSG it's like 1 in 2500, and like 1 in 400 for any kind of serious complication. That said my general rule post surgery is get your ass out of the Hospital as soon as you can, you will feel much better and you eliminate the risk of hospital infection (which is a much bigger risk IMO)

So where are you in the process so far?

[dfletcher1978 4]

I guess I’m scared of the big “D” word.

[dfletcher1978 4]

I like you LOL! I’m a no nonsense type of person. I want to go home as quickly as I can. I have 2 C sections and was up walking the next day in pain of course but I had a baby to take care of. I’m pretty good with pain tolerance. I want to get on with my life. I have a 3 year old and 12 year old. I need to get back to my family. I wish I could do a 3 month dietitian thing. I’m just starting I only had one nutrition class. I kept putting it off because I was scared. At this point I’m over it I need to lose this damn weight. So my back can stop hurting.

[aNYCdb 310]

Honestly the recovery is a lot easier than a C-section (or so I have been led to believe) so based on what you've said I don't think you really have to worry much on that end.

[dfletcher1978 4]

C Section is rough no doubt. I just kept pushing. Is the cardiologist part hard?

[aNYCdb 310]

It depends on what you have to do. My cardiologist visit was basically just an EKG a quick high and the suggestion that if my cholesterol doesn't decrease after surgery I might want to come back to consider medication in... no joke... 10 years. Some folks have to do a stress test, but that's not so bad from what I understand. The biggest pain would be if you snore and they make you do a sleep study I would think. Honestly most of the testing was a little bit fun for me, since I had never done them before. I had to see the pulmonologist and they put me into this box to test my breathing and I was like "can I do that again, I think I can get a high score."

[dfletcher1978 4]

I see a cardiologist for my palpitations and I’ve had a stress test and nuclear stress.

[dfletcher1978 4]

I don’t snore.

[aNYCdb 310]

For the most part these tests are all going to be to make sure your risks from anesthesia and surgery are mitigated and/or to document co-morbidities to make sure your insurance approves.