nerves are setting in...

[xemmaleighx 0]

So I met with my surgeon yesterday after reviewing my pre-surgery approbal test results and I have passed all of my tests. They included blood work, upper gi scan, psych study, sleep study, and an ultrasound of my gallbladder. I have now scheduled for my pre-op testing to be done on 7/22 with surgery on 7/30. My nerves have finally kicked in though lol. I am still fully enthused and excited to go through with this process however, it is the first time I've ever gone under the knife, so I'm shakeing like a leaf. Unlike some others I've sene on here, I do not need to do the liquid fast 2 weeks prior to surgery, only the day before which is Clear Liquids only. I've heard everything froma day to 6 weeks recovery time so I really don't know how to gauge anything and I know that everyone is differnt and so are their bodies...just nervous is all...:thumbdown:

[laurr925 0]

Being nervous is normal. I was definitely nervous when I scheduled my surgery. On the day of though I was more anxious/excited than anything.

Good luck to you, and if you have any questions, these boards will probably answer them all

[JustJoe 0]

I know what you mean.. as my date came closer I was more and more nervous.

The surgery itself really isn't that bad.. and Im only 2 days post-op and doing ok in my recovery so far.

you'll do fine, just remember the reasons you started down this road in the first place.

[xemmaleighx 0]

thanks for the encouragement, i do appreciate it :0)

it truly is about mind over matter at the end of the day. people laugh when i tell them the surgery scares me with the amount of tattoos and piercings i have. i love the outcome of them but the expectation of the pain from a tattoo or piercing is not on the top of my to do list lol

[doodleallday 0]

Honestly, the surgery itself wasn't a big deal at all. The nerves didn't set in for me until I heard a nurse say, "IV" and that's only because my veins roll, so I wasn't looking forward to it. There's also a Heparin injection they give in your stomach, which wasn't exactly comfortable, but it's no big deal. Just try not to think about it. Once the Verced kicks in, you're golden! :smile:

I went in for surgery 12/30/08 and was under the knife by 1:30pm. I had to stick around in "Step Down"/"Recovery" for a while because I was dehydrated and didn't have enough Fluid to urinate 8 oz as the doctor had wanted post-op. They put a bag of Fluid through my IV and called the surgeon when I failed, yet again, to use the bathroom. Since my mom is a nurse (and had gone through the surgery herself 03/11/08), he didn't mind her watching me. I finally got his permission to leave and was home by 7:30pm that night. (I live about twenty minutes from the hospital, tops.) I don't remember much of the ride home, just walking from "Recovery" to where Mom had pulled the car around. And I remember climbing the stairs once I got home, having Mom help me position myself comfortably in bed, and passed out from the pain killers/post-anesthesia "La La Land".

Recovery after the surgery, at least for me, was a lot faster than I'd anticipated. As a matter of fact, I was up the next morning, walking around, and rode with my family to the beach for our annual "New Years" celebration. I ate out with the family that night, but was so exhausted from the car travel and am overly sensitive to the Oxycodone (it makes me stupid-drowsy), so I slept right on through the "Ball Drop".

The third day was probably the worst. Day one and two were no big deal- it didn't feel as though I had five incisions on my torso. I just felt achy. However, on the third day, my stomach started cramping horribly. They were the kind of gas pains that GasX only wished it could relieve. Mom seems to think they were from air bubbles created during surgery, that finally worked their way "out" and had to resettle my stomach tissues/muscle, or something. Whatever it was, all that would help was to walk. I paced up and down the hotel hallway as much as I could, though I went slow as a turtle, and it finally subsided enough for me to fall asleep that night.

The fourth day, I was up and moving around, fantastic. Almost fully recovered. Even spent the afternoon shopping with my mother and sister.

While everyone recovers different, depending on their bodies and their surgeons, I will tell you that anything is worth the success the LB will bring to your life. But do not, for any reason, regard the LB as a magic device. You still have to diet and exercise just like you would with Weight Watchers or any other program. It just helps you achieve goals long-term, rather than allowing you to yo-yo your way through. I made the mistake of ignoring the "eat right and exercise" part of the plan, so it's been seven months and I'm just now down -54.3 lbs. But I finally started to work out 3x/wk 3 weeks ago and the weight has been peeling right off!

Let me know if you have any specific questions. I hope your nerves subside. As has been said before, it's normal to experience pre-op anxiety. You're lucky you only have a day of pre-op dieting. I had an entire month because my surgery had been postponed from 12/15/08 to 12/30/08.

[xemmaleighx 0]

i went to my first group meeting yesterday and they all pretty much said recovery is along the lines of what you faced, however most of them were gastric bypass patients. they all reiterated the comments about the gas and also said that walking will help it to subside.

oh my, pre-op diets, i've had to watch what i'm eating and severe Portion Control but nothing beyond that. i've been walking between 45-60 minutes daily for the past month now just to try and get my mind to the right place for this whole process. i've never had a problem with dieting and looseing the weight. it's just when i thought i lost enough weight and went off the diet that i would yo-yo all over the place.

the only thing i think i'm going to miss initially post surgery is a good cold beer. i'm not a heavy drinker but while drinking one yesterday i thought about that. :wink2:

[doodleallday 0]

Wow! 45-60 minutes of walking daily is incredible!!! I have an irrational fear that, if I were to take up a daily routine like that, I would run into a plateau and not know where to go from there. I cannot imagine spending more than an hour on cardio every day. I was looking through the "Twenties NSVs" last night/this morning (the first 5 pages, cos it got to be 5:47am rather quickly, lol) and one person mentioned they work out twice a day! My face: O.o;?! I just finished up that third week of my "Make It Work" lifestyle change (Idk, I love Tim Gunn...) and, after the fourth, I'm rewarding myself with an hour-long full-body massage before I "kick it up a notch" with 4x/week.

I know what you mean about getting comfortable with having lost the weight to a point where you quit working at it and things just pile right back on. But the most I've ever lost was 61 lbs in 2004 and I was still at 216 when I went away to college freshman year and put it all back on. The gym was too long of an uphill walk. Talk about an ironic excuse! LMAO!

I've had a "good cold beer" post-surgery. The carbonation isn't as terrible as soda. (I haven't touched soda! Not willing to take that risk!) But I couldn't drink even half of a Smirnoff Ice. It just wouldn't all fit like it used to. If you do attempt to drink a beer, definitely wait until you're done with your post-op diet regimine and back to eating solid foods and such. Then open the beer and stick it in the fridge with the lid removed and let the carbonation kinda fizzle a bit. Still tastes the same... unless you love head on your beer and then I can't really help ya there. Except I've heard of people taking something like Gas-X before drinking.

[xemmaleighx 0]

oh that's a good idea, and no i'm not a fan of the head on beer, just the taste of a good amber lager lol. i've never really have been much of a soda drinker so that doesn't worry me if i have to give it up. i think the hardest bit is going to be no caffeine. i am such a junky for it, so it's healthy to break that cycle i know lol. i've begun the stepdown to half/half so that upon surgery, it's not a total shock to my system.

the walking has been rough but well needed and i've seen my stamina increase over the weeks which is exciting. i'm still red in the face and dripping with sweat but at least it doesn't feel like i'm gagging to breathe lol.

[Angie1985 0]

Hey! Congrats on getting close to your surgery date! So excited for ya!

Like Doodleallday said, anything is worth the success LB has given us. It is, without a doubt, the most amazing and significant thing I've done in my life and I'm SO happy with how I'm doing.

In terms of beer and soda, I'm a bad ass and can handle and have tried both. Soda I'll get a kids sized one at the movies and sip it slow, it makes me burp a ton but I've been just fine.

Beer I definitely drink slower than I did before, but it goes down fine too.

If you have any questions, check out my blog or message me, and good luck!

[drew05 20]

My recovery was pretty typical. I was off of my feet for less than a week total. I had an overnight stay in the hospital and they made me get up and walk around every hour to relieve the gas. Two days after surgery I was able to go visit friends at work and say hi. The only pain I had was from the port. It was one of the quickest recoveries I've experienced (and I've had a few surgeries). They hardest part for me was the diet restrictions. All liquids sucked pretty bad. But we've all been through it so if you ever need any support, we'll be here!

[xemmaleighx 0]

i'm home now which is great. i swear everytime i'd start to sleep at the hospital, someone would wake me up. but they were all extremely wonderful, from the surgeon to the nurses i had no complaints. i had 2 full blown panic attacks, one going under and one when i woke up. i think that was my worst experiance over anything else, and that was just the fear of the unknown. my stomach feels sore and i can't stand straight up for too long of a period of time but i am walking around, been up and down the steps of my house so i'm on my road it seems :0)

[doodleallday 0]

Oh, wow! I haven't heard of someone having panic attacks before, but it makes a lot of sense if you're prone to them. Going under is a pretty scary thing, mostly because there's always that risk of not waking up. And then when they woke you up, you probably had a panic attack trying to figure out where you were and what was going on. I don't think the IV meds could've given you an issue like that.

I know it hurts to stand up straight, but make sure you try to push yourself to walk around the house a little each day, especially Day 3. That's when it's crucial that you walk around to break up the gas bubble(s) that were inserted to inflate your body cavity so the doctors could work easier. If you don't move around, that gas will only increase in pain until you move. Unfortunately, it's not digestive gas that Gas-X will help.

[xemmaleighx 0]

i don't think it was the surgery itself that caused the attacks, it just served as the catalyst in my neurotic mind lol. there was truely no need for any of my fear, it was just all anxiety over the procedure and the unknown.

i've been up and walking around, been up and down our steps a few times and have taken 2 showers, which really aided in feeling human. i think that most of the gas has disapated by now, because i don't feel those hard knots rolling around my stomach and chest. however, and not to be foul, i would love to have a bowel movement since i haven't gone since tuesday and it's now sunday.

my husband has been very suportive in getting me to go walking around our condo complex, not too far but enough to help move everything along.

i also drank a 4 oz glass of light cranberry juice diluted with 4 oz of Water because my lower back near my kidneys is sore. when i was a child i had a lot of problems with uti's, so that may also be a part of my neurosis lol.