My surgery is soon and I have questions - ThinnerTimes

missumeeka · 03-22-2008, 03:27 PM

Hello,
My surgery will be in a couple of weeks and I was wondering how long will my hospital stay be? How long should I plan on being off of work? Is there a lot of pain with the surgery? I was told that you cant drink pop, why is that? Can anyone help?

Thanks
Teri

rivi23 · 03-22-2008, 03:47 PM

Just to make sure...which surgery are you having lap band or GBS? I just got out of the hospital on Thursday from my GBS. I was in one extra day due to some problems keeping my lungs clear. (But we kind of knew that was going to happen) Your stay at the hospital, really depends on the surgeon. There are people on here who come home the next day, some people stay a week (I personally was about to go crazy to come home and mine was a 4 day stay)

As for work, I can go back as soon as my post op appointment (Tuesday) but I have the whole week off so I will have taken 2 full weeks off, and this included surgery, hospital stay, and recovery at home. I can tell you now, I will be soooo ready to get back to work on March 31st. (Surgery was march 17)

Pain...different for everyone. TT's beloved Katie swore that they did not even do the surgery, she was not in hardly any pain. I was in a lot of pain the first day, but have discovered that it is ALL gas pains. Gas pushing on my shoulder, gas pushing on my stomach, pretty much gas everywhere. That was the painful part. Well that and the left hand incision, it is still a bit sore. I did not have a morphine pump like some others, but the nurses did give me some in an iv for Mon and Tuesday and one injection Wednesday (I had a cough that would not go away and it was very painful to cough). The doc sent me home with Lor Tab liquid and I used it once, and now I am really not in pain, just a bit of discomfort.

The pop thing...not sure about that (well I don't want to be wrong) but I think it has to do with gas bubbles in your pouch, not really something that you want. That is something that I gave up a long time ago, so I did not ask a lot of questions about that. Hopefully someone can help you.

Janelle · 03-22-2008, 06:47 PM

I was in the hospital for two nights. I missed a total of nine days of work.

Soda is a bad idea because of the bubbles. Trust me, you won't want any more gas than you will already have!

My surgeon specifically says his patients can't have it anymore, and I think lots of surgeons feel the same way. Someone...VanessaSFL maybe...her surgeon said she could drink diet stuff flat.

Janelle · 03-22-2008, 06:48 PM

Oh, you asked about pain. It wasn't pain so much as discomfort. The gas pains post-op are pretty rough, but none of my incisions hurt. (I had lap gbs.)

KathyV · 03-22-2008, 07:01 PM

Hi I had my surgery on the 10th and the only pain I really felt was gas. Get up and move that is the best thing for it. It has been 12 days sence my operation and I could definitly work if I had too. When I feel pain now and boy have I had pain it was because I ate the wrong thing. I think it was strawberries in my yogart. i thought they were small enough but ended back in the hospital with high fever and vomiting and diareah. don't eat anything like that after surgery. Your outer insisions might be healing nicely but the inner stomach surgery is still swollen and needs a few weeks to heal. I felt to good and thought I could cheat.
Good luck to you and this will be the best thing you have ever done for yourself.

KathyV · 03-22-2008, 07:03 PM

oh ya,
i was told sold carbination actually stretches out the stomach and causes gas cramps while doing so. stay away!
kathy

Omaha Jim · 03-22-2008, 10:17 PM

With the lap rny - I think most plan for 2 weeks away from work. I was working after 8 days from home and 2 weeks back to the office.

Soda - I tried it, I wont again. Not a great experience. It hurt alot and I have a high pain threshold. Soda=the devil

sherry7 · 03-22-2008, 11:04 PM

Hi, and welcome to TT.

I haven't had my surgery yet, so I can't answer most of your questions. But both my surgeon and nutritionist told me that pop will stretch your pouch because of the carbonation.

My nutritionist urged me to kick my pop habit now. I'm down to 4 or 5 diet pops per week, which is mainly because I need caffeinne in the morning when I get to work. My surgery is probably only a couple of months away, so I need to cut it down to zero soon. From what I've read here, coffee is okay, so maybe I can rely on that for my morning caffeinne fix.

mistymee · 03-23-2008, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sherry7

I'm down to 4 or 5 diet pops per week, which is mainly because I need caffeinne in the morning when I get to work. My surgery is probably only a couple of months away, so I need to cut it down to zero soon. From what I've read here, coffee is okay, so maybe I can rely on that for my morning caffeinne fix.

Please check with your doc about the caffeine fix.. my doctor made me get off all caffeine, and even when I switched from coffee to tea she insisted I drink decaf.

She said that because it's so difficult to get in all the fluid we need without becoming dehydrated and caffeine is a diuretic, that anything I drink that is caffeinated does NOT count towards my fluids for the day.

And for me anyway, getting the min. required fluid is hard.

Dawn Crippen · 03-23-2008, 08:13 AM

Welcome, I am sure you will here alot from everyone but here is my experience. I stayed in the hospital for two nights with no pain. The first day I had pain meds but next morning I went off them and never took anymore. I took it easy and paid attention to my stomach but no pain. We cannt have pop because of the carbonate..the fuzz would make our stomach grow and we dont want that. Dont be afraid there really is nothing to it. Just do what your doctors tell you, get fluids (sip, sip, sip,) and walk. Good Luck...keep us posted we are here for you.

Dawn 5 weeks 5 days post op..gastric bypass