Questions for all of you that are post-op!!!

[BulletWithButterflyWings 423]

So I wanted to pick your brains. I just got approved for surgery and am currently waiting on my date. In the meantime I don't want to drive my nurses nuts with so many questions. I was dead set on having the sleeve but I have to have RNY now. For all of you kind people:

1) How hard is it to take pills post-OP? I'm concerned about the size of Vitamins.

2) after approval, what all did you have to do test wise? I know all drs are different but just curious.

3) what can I expect my life to be life after surgery? I have 3 wonderful kids and a great husband but I need to prepare for the good, the bad, and the ugly lmao.

[MrsGamgee 756]

I can't speak to the pills or life post-op yet, but my testing was fairly straightforward. I had an endoscopy, a sleep test to rule out apnea, a couple of ECGs, and regular blood work. My program also had me do a refresher course on managing diabetes. Best of luck!

[BulletWithButterflyWings 423]

9 minutes ago, MrsGamgee said:

I can't speak to the pills or life post-op yet, but my testing was fairly straightforward. I had an endoscopy, a sleep test to rule out apnea, a couple of ECGs, and regular blood work. My program also had me do a refresher course on managing diabetes. Best of luck!

I have sleep apnea and am on a CPAP. Hopefully that eliminates one test lol.

[NYJenn 1,463]

1. Swallowing pills doesn’t bother me, so I can’t really speak to that
2. I had 3 visits with the nutritionist, one nutrition class, psych evaluation, ekg, I already had apnea and used cpap, and that was it
3. Your life will be awesome

[Wendums 64]

Congrats on your approval!

1) I started taking pills right away. Never had any problems with them. Your physician should be able to tell you when to start taking them. They do tend to fill you up, be prepared for that.

2) Once I was approved for surgery, I had one last office visit, they took my blood for something, can't remember what for. Then gave me a surgery date at that appointment. Everything else that was required was done before insurance approval.

3) It's a struggle at first after surgery, especially having such a strange diet compared to everyone else in the house. But hang in there, it gets so much easier to manage after month two. It starts becoming second nature, and you don't have to think about every little thing about your diet so closely. The real change comes when the weight starts dropping. You'll be able to do everyday things again that the weight has made a struggle. I've only come down 75lbs so far, and I'm already feeling like a new person..

[BulletWithButterflyWings 423]

2 minutes ago, NYJenn said:

1. Swallowing pills doesn’t bother me, so I can’t really speak to that
2. I had 3 visits with the nutritionist, one nutrition class, psych evaluation, ekg, I already had apnea and used cpap, and that was it
3. Your life will be awesome

I'm so nervous lol. I have done everything done but the ekg and I know they will want new bloodwork to double check my A1C.

[BulletWithButterflyWings 423]

5 minutes ago, Wendums said:

Congrats on your approval!

1) I started taking pills right away. Never had any problems with them. Your physician should be able to tell you when to start taking them. They do tend to fill you up, be prepared for that.

2) Once I was approved for surgery, I had one last office visit, they took my blood for something, can't remember what for. Then gave me a surgery date at that appointment. Everything else that was required was done before insurance approval.

3) It's a struggle at first after surgery, especially having such a strange diet compared to everyone else in the house. But hang in there, it gets so much easier to manage after month two. It starts becoming second nature, and you don't have to think about every little thing about your diet so closely. The real change comes when the weight starts dropping. You'll be able to do everyday things again that the weight has made a struggle. I've only come down 75lbs so far, and I'm already feeling like a new person..

I think that's when they will give me a date is at the last office visit. I know they'll want fresh bloodwork because they are vampires and love to bleed me dry lmao. I'm so excited. 75 lbs?! Holy crap congrats love!

[Frustr8 7,886]

And we may be congratulating on your journey before long! Wendy's could do it, I'm hard at work doing mine and before long you will be joining our sorority/fraternity here. And you know we all will cheer for YOUA too.

[BulletWithButterflyWings 423]

6 minutes ago, Frustr8 said:

And we may be congratulating on your journey before long! Wendy's could do it, I'm hard at work doing mine and before long you will be joining our sorority/fraternity here. And you know we all will cheer for YOUA too.

I can't wait. This group is absolutely phenomenal!

[ItzBing 54]

#1)Pills are not a issue, u can break if needed.

#2)3dietatian an 3mental health.

#3)I have 3kids, they were very helpful and supportive, I'm blessed to get healthier so I can run around with them instead of watch them run. *thankful*

~Bing~

[GradyCat 3,695]

12 hours ago, BulletWithButterflyWings said:

1) How hard is it to take pills post-OP? I'm concerned about the size of Vitamins.

2) after approval, what all did you have to do test wise? I know all drs are different but just curious.

3) what can I expect my life to be life after surgery? I have 3 wonderful kids and a great husband but I need to prepare for the good, the bad, and the ugly lmao.

1. I had no problem swallowing pills post-op. Been taking them since discharge from hospital.

2. H-pylori test, blood tests, EKG, and chest xray

3. Eating small meals multiple times a day, resisting the junk food of the other family members, resisting peer pressure to eat, learning to listen to your stomach and otherwise living a normal active lifestyle

[ms.sss 15,563]

I had some difficulty swallowing the giant Calcium and Multivitamin tablets at first (I would feel nauseous then barf soon after). I could not stand the taste of them crushed, so I switched over to chewables for the the 1st three months. Then I tried again at month 3...I could get the multivitamin down but not the calcium, even cut in half. So continued with the chewable calcium until month 5. Then, hurray, I could keep the giant calcium pills down! I still have a bunch of chewables left in my stash, so I'm just going to finish them then switch permanently to the regular tablets. They are much cheaper than chewables, so that's a plus. But I will say that the calcium chewables are tasty (I had/have the Jamieson chocolate flavoured chews).

Edited April 16, 2019 by ms.sss

[Frustr8 7,886]

And I avoided that by using and still use liquid Calcium, costs about $5-6 at Wal-Mart, not that thick and viscous and tastes just like orange push-up sherbet. And I loathed chewables, nasty-tasting, hard to chew when you have dentures, as soon as I could I went back to my prenatal Vitamins, they aren't all that large, a little smaller than Tylenol caplets. My secret, take a small mouthful of liquid, toss the pill in and let it ride the water- slide down, Use a little ingenuity, med behaviors are not etched in stone, make your own kind of music each day!

[Nic C 46]

1. I used a pill cutter as some were huge. The pills themselves weren't difficult but drinking Water with them was rough in the beginning. The Vitamins I take now are all chewable which is a plus.

2. EGD and bloodwork after approval. I had 4 nutritionist appointments and 1 psych eval prior to.

3. Listening to your stomach, consistently eating 5-6 small meals a day, getting your Protein in, getting your Fluid in, paying close attention to food you don't prepare yourself, taking ALL of your vitamins daily. It's an adjustment, for sure, but so worth it, IMO.

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

[Wendums 64]

On 4/15/2019 at 8:58 PM, BulletWithButterflyWings said:

I think that's when they will give me a date is at the last office visit. I know they'll want fresh bloodwork because they are vampires and love to bleed me dry lmao. I'm so excited. 75 lbs?! Holy crap congrats love!

Haha that's funny you said that. Today was my 3 month post-op appointment, and guess what they wanted.. blood!