questions - ThinnerTimes

wendel34 · 04-02-2008, 04:28 PM

i have a few questions about gastrict bypass surgury.

I am scared to death about the cathader.....is it painful

i am 310lbs and Dr. said i will go down to about 200lbs, can i lift weights and build muscle after i loss the weight ( i have to be strong for work)

Will i have lose skin, my bmi is 43%

mistymee · 04-02-2008, 07:00 PM

Hi Wendel..

Regarding the catheter.. do you mean the foley catheter that they use to collect your urine, or some other? If you mean the foley, I didn't find that it hurt, cuz they insert it after you're under anesthetic... and removing it is a piece of cake.

As for lifting weights and exercise, you will need to check with your doctor, but barring some other issues, you should be able to do so.. look at the 'exercise' forum for information there.

As for loose skin, I can't really answer that.. I believe a lot has to do with age, starting weight vs. height, and your own body. I have a friend who had GBP and lost over 100 lbs, and he doesn't appear to have a problem with overly-loose skin at all, but many of us do..

There is a boat-load of info here on this forum..
good luck.

MiladyB · 04-02-2008, 09:44 PM

Hi Wendel...well Kel took all the words right out of my mouth....so not anything to add...just to confirm that she was right on with her answers.

OsoDelDesierto · 04-02-2008, 11:40 PM

Wendel, I'm afraid my WLS catheter experience wasn't quite as easy as the ladies'. Put plainly, it sucked, although it was still nothing to be afraid of.

The anesthesiologist warned me before I went into surgery that my most significant pain and discomfort coming out of surgery would come not from the incisions or the WLS itself, but from (1) the gas they would pump into my abdomen during surgery (true - it was horrendous, especially in my chest) and (2) the catheter, which he said would "feel like a garden hose shoved up inside my penis" (also true).

I'd had a lap appendectomy 9 years ago, with no catheter discomfort, so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was. It wasn't "painfully painful", but I definitely felt it, even with the morphine. I also had an annoying problem, especially in the a.m. the day after surgery, which I will not describe in detail so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities

, but let's just say it's a common male physiological response in the mornings, even though I didn't actually need to urinate since I had the cath. Now, that sensation was truly unpleasant (and I learned that yelling "No! No! No! Stop it!" at it didn't have any effect), and I was really glad to have the cath removed. The removal was uncomfortable, but the discomfort only lasted an instant - then I felt perfectly fine.

Basically, it's not fun for a man to have a catheter, but it's nothing to be afraid of. It may suck for you too, but you'll get through it just fine, and you may even have an experience more like my appendectomy, and have no trouble at all...

wendel34 · 04-03-2008, 07:35 AM

thanks for the info and look for more support from everyone, as well as provide support. i have boat loads of knowledge when it comes to weight training

mistymee · 04-03-2008, 08:28 PM

Oh, Eric..

I never stopped to think about the guy/gal differences that might come into play, where the cath is concerned..

sorry..

coptergirl · 04-03-2008, 08:34 PM

Eric - owwwwie to your cath experience!! I loved mine because I was so big and it was hard to get out of bed to go potty, but I was going right in the bag and didn't even know it

I was sad when they took it out and I actually had to get up for those natural urges. I don't have the male body part, so i didn't suffer in the morning

Kel pretty much summed up everything else I was going to say...

BillH · 04-03-2008, 09:47 PM

Eric, I appreciate your honesty...Like Wendel, I've been wondering about the whole catheter experience too. I was a hospital chaplain for 15 years and I heard a few guys share less than pleasant experiences. I also am hoping there's nobody there who will be inserting it who remembers me...but at least I'm not likely to know (or remember) who actually does that...Anyway, if this is what ya gotta do to lose the weight, onward!
But while I don't mind being cut on, being under anaesthesia, I am definitely a coward about the whole catheter deal..

OsoDelDesierto · 04-04-2008, 01:00 PM

Bill, you are NOT a coward, even where the cath is concerned. You and Wendel are both brave for undertaking these journeys to change your lives for the better, and I know you both will come through your surgeries and hospital stays with flying colors! Although the idea of a catheter is scary and its installation by a total stranger - or worse, someone we used to know - is a little embarassing to most men, dying of morbid obesity is even scarier

- I think we'd all take "the garden hose" for a day or two over that horrible outcome!

Just to emphasize the good chance that you both may not have any problems, I'll describe my GOOD catheter experience to balance out my bad one. When I had my lap appendectomy in '99, I didn't even know the catheter was there until the nice male nurse came to remove it - very skillfully and easily, I might add. I had no pre-op time to worry about a cath (it was an emergency surgery and I was in such pain pre-op that I had disconnected from this plane of existence) and thought afterwards "hmmm... so that was a catheter - what's the big deal?" I hope you both have similar experiences to that one!

wendel34 · 04-04-2008, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OsoDelDesierto

Bill, you are NOT a coward, even where the cath is concerned. You and Wendel are both brave for undertaking these journeys to change your lives for the better, and I know you both will come through your surgeries and hospital stays with flying colors! Although the idea of a catheter is scary and its installation by a total stranger - or worse, someone we used to know - is a little embarassing to most men, dying of morbid obesity is even scarier

- I think we'd all take "the garden hose" for a day or two over that horrible outcome!

Just to emphasize the good chance that you both may not have any problems, I'll describe my GOOD catheter experience to balance out my bad one. When I had my lap appendectomy in '99, I didn't even know the catheter was there until the nice male nurse came to remove it - very skillfully and easily, I might add. I had no pre-op time to worry about a cath (it was an emergency surgery and I was in such pain pre-op that I had disconnected from this plane of existence) and thought afterwards "hmmm... so that was a catheter - what's the big deal?" I hope you both have similar experiences to that one!

The doctor told me that when they put it in i will be under, when they take it out later that day it is a brief discomfort, i will ask for pain meds prior to taken them out. Did you guys have it put in while you were out/????