New to the group

[Guest guest]

,

Congratulations on your surgery date and

your decision to have a healthier life. There are lots of changes to go

through immediately following surgery. You will be re-learning how to eat

and live life and as the questions come up, be sure to post here. Are you

attending a support group meeting? This is one of the most crucial,

beneficial tools you can use pre and post surgery. There are many in the

Bay Area. I think you are in ez. There is a support group in Vallejo and Richmond. There is also a PB

group in Walnut Creek. Let me know if you want more information about those.

Most importantly, allow yourself to heal

after surgery. GBS is major abdominal surgery and we must take the time

to rest and heal outside and inside. Try not to be too impatient about

getting things right with food and exercise immediately following

surgery. Those things will come. This is a process with results

that come from patterns developed over time. I had my surgery almost 2

years ago and by using the tools of the pouch, protein, exercise, water,

supplements and support, I have lost over 180 lbs. Congratulations again

your coming this far and let us know if you have any other questions.

Hugs,

Pat B.

new to the group

Hello to everyone. My name is . I

just recently found out

about the group. I whish I would of known

about this in early AUG

when I started to prepare for the surgery. I

attendant my

oreintation AUG 15th and found out last week that

my surgery is

scheduled for OCT 14th. They actually wanted

to do the surgery on

OCT 23rd, but I already agreed to give my work 3

weeks notice. I was

somewhat disapointed that I could not go ahead on

the 23rd, as like

all of you, a lot of hard work was put in to get

where I am, aswell

as all of you, today. However I will march

on.

I would really appreciate some insite has to what

to excpect post

surgery. I have reviewed all my paper work

over and over again, but

I know hearing from someone else that is post

surgery, would be so

much more helpful.

Look forward to hearing from you.

,

MTZ, CA

[Guest guest]

Hey Pat I am in Livermore(Close to dublin pleasanton) do you know where the closest group is for me and when they meet? I am waiting for my surgery date should get it by Monday(crossing fingers) was supposed to find out today but Dr. is on vacation. But I woul dlike to attend a meeting and find one I like for before and after surgery. Thanks Pat!!

*HUGS*

[Guest guest]

Hi, --

Congratulations on your surgery date, how exciting! Where will it

be? Who is your surgeon? I had my laproscopic surgery at KSSF in

July with Dr. Gorrin. When I woke up from surgery, I was sore, but

not in unbearable of pain. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being

natural childbirth and labor (although your a man, so why would I

give you that analogy?), I'd say I was at a 3. That 3 would go to 4-

5 if I coughed, threw up, or turned to get out of bed. That's one

thing I did not expect, and I did a LOT of research -- I didn't

expect to be nauseous coming out of surgery. It sucked because your

abdominal muscles have just been cut opened and stitched back

together, and here you are throwing up and using those poor muscles!

When the nurses told me it might help to stop the auto-drip morphine,

I told them to stop it immediately! And it helped. Keep in mind

that not everyone gets sick like me. Apparently, it was a reaction

to the anesthesia. And of course, my level and definition of pain

varies completely from the next person's.

Within a few hours after surgery, the nurses had me up walking (and

throwing up!) all around the ICU. Quite uncomfortable with the

cathedar and urine bag, but at that point I was just glad I'd made it

through surgery! I didn't expect it to hurt when I talked or even

breathed, but it did.

Now I don't wanna make it sound as if it was the most awful

experience of my life, because it wasn't. I continue to be so

grateful to God and KSSF's staff (and my family!) because the surgery

has been such a blessing. I knew it wouldn't be easy, and it

wasn't. But it was SOOOOO worth it! I just wish that before I had

surgery that I knew it could be normal to throw up and it was normal

to feel pain when you talked, then I wouldn't have worried so much

when it happened. That's why I'm telling you. Worrying made it

about ten times worse for me.

Some good things: I went home less that 48 hours than when I came

out of surgery. The KSSF ICU nurses and the bariatric surgeons are

awesome. They are so caring and really know what they are doing. I

always felt like I was in good hands.

A few pointers: I'd recommend taking a pillow to hold against your

tummy for your trip home. I'd also make sure you know EXACTLY what

you should be eating immediately post up. I was brought food that

was no way near what I should've been eating, and I knew ahead to

make sure it was right, so I told the nurse (not the ICU nurse, but

the regular hospital nurse), who got me the right meal. Also, the

hospital was cold, so I was glad I took slippers and a robe,

especially when I did all that walking. I didn't want all my

business hanging out! I also made sure I did all my shopping before

I left for the surgery: food, protein supps, vitamins, ice, water,

etc. It was nice that I had an " action plan " that I could

automatically go to when I came home post-op because I was so tired

that I didn't want to think about much! And here's one topic that's

probably taboo, but I gotta mention it -- I brought a long wooden

spoon to help with -- well, wiping. It was hard to reach, er,

certain places immediately post-op. I know the nurse would've

helped, but I wasn't gonna go there! (Many are fine with getting

help, though.)

Another thing I wasn't prepared for: Hunger. The first few weeks

post-op were very difficult for me. I had more head hunger than I'd

thought, and boy was I not happy about it (ask my husband; he'll

attest!). But from what I understand, this is not something that

everyone goes through, and in the end, it was good that I went

through it because I actually went through weeks of not being able to

eat when I was stressed or upset or felt physically bad from the

surgery. In the past, when I felt like crap, I ate. But I went

through weeks of not being able to eat. And I lived! (Who'dda

thunk?) I felt like I was in hell, but it was a great lesson. A hard

one, but one I needed to learn, and one I'm glad I learned.

Ok, so now that I've written a book on my post-op experiences, I hope

that this helps you or someone else at least a little. If there's

anything else I can help with or answer, please let me know.

Congratulations, again!

9/25/03: 217!

surgery 7/7/03: 265

orientation 12/03: 289

> Hello to everyone. My name is . I just recently found out

> about the group. I whish I would of known about this in early AUG

> when I started to prepare for the surgery. I attendant my

> oreintation AUG 15th and found out last week that my surgery is

> scheduled for OCT 14th. They actually wanted to do the surgery on

> OCT 23rd, but I already agreed to give my work 3 weeks notice. I

was

> somewhat disapointed that I could not go ahead on the 23rd, as like

> all of you, a lot of hard work was put in to get where I am, aswell

> as all of you, today. However I will march on.

>

> I would really appreciate some insite has to what to excpect post

> surgery. I have reviewed all my paper work over and over again,

but

> I know hearing from someone else that is post surgery, would be so

> much more helpful.

>

> Look forward to hearing from you.

>

> ,

> MTZ, CA

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks so much for all the info. My surgery is going to be in Richmond and my surgeon is DR. Baggs. He is actually new to Kaiser. I will for sure take a lot of your advice. It is always great to hear from someone who has been there. I thought I was preparring for everything but wow. However I am ready. I think I might be able to handle the pain, but the one thing I am not looking forward is the cathader, but in the long run I know it is all worth it.

For me, so far it has been a great experaince, rchm/k has treated me great and the people I have met at my classes are wonderful. They keep telling I should start going to the support groups (I have not been going) they say it makes the process so much better. My family has be very supportive and the people at my work have been awesom. They only bad part is I live alone, however all my family is in MTZ and the furthest person is 10 mins away. Of course when I get discharged I am going to stay at my folks place, it might bring back some fun memories staying there.

Anyways, thank you so much for all the great information..

Hope to talk with you again.

vmonteve wrote:

Hi, --Congratulations on your surgery date, how exciting! Where will it be? Who is your surgeon? I had my laproscopic surgery at KSSF in July with Dr. Gorrin. When I woke up from surgery, I was sore, but not in unbearable of pain. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being natural childbirth and labor (although your a man, so why would I give you that analogy?), I'd say I was at a 3. That 3 would go to 4-5 if I coughed, threw up, or turned to get out of bed. That's one thing I did not expect, and I did a LOT of research -- I didn't expect to be nauseous coming out of surgery. It sucked because your abdominal muscles have just been cut opened and stitched back together, and here you are throwing up and using those poor muscles! When the nurses told me it might help to stop the auto-drip

morphine, I told them to stop it immediately! And it helped. Keep in mind that not everyone gets sick like me. Apparently, it was a reaction to the anesthesia. And of course, my level and definition of pain varies completely from the next person's.Within a few hours after surgery, the nurses had me up walking (and throwing up!) all around the ICU. Quite uncomfortable with the cathedar and urine bag, but at that point I was just glad I'd made it through surgery! I didn't expect it to hurt when I talked or even breathed, but it did. Now I don't wanna make it sound as if it was the most awful experience of my life, because it wasn't. I continue to be so grateful to God and KSSF's staff (and my family!) because the surgery has been such a blessing. I knew it wouldn't be easy, and it wasn't. But it was SOOOOO worth it! I just wish that before I had surgery

that I knew it could be normal to throw up and it was normal to feel pain when you talked, then I wouldn't have worried so much when it happened. That's why I'm telling you. Worrying made it about ten times worse for me.Some good things: I went home less that 48 hours than when I came out of surgery. The KSSF ICU nurses and the bariatric surgeons are awesome. They are so caring and really know what they are doing. I always felt like I was in good hands.A few pointers: I'd recommend taking a pillow to hold against your tummy for your trip home. I'd also make sure you know EXACTLY what you should be eating immediately post up. I was brought food that was no way near what I should've been eating, and I knew ahead to make sure it was right, so I told the nurse (not the ICU nurse, but the regular hospital nurse), who got me the right meal. Also, the hospital was

cold, so I was glad I took slippers and a robe, especially when I did all that walking. I didn't want all my business hanging out! I also made sure I did all my shopping before I left for the surgery: food, protein supps, vitamins, ice, water, etc. It was nice that I had an "action plan" that I could automatically go to when I came home post-op because I was so tired that I didn't want to think about much! And here's one topic that's probably taboo, but I gotta mention it -- I brought a long wooden spoon to help with -- well, wiping. It was hard to reach, er, certain places immediately post-op. I know the nurse would've helped, but I wasn't gonna go there! (Many are fine with getting help, though.)Another thing I wasn't prepared for: Hunger. The first few weeks post-op were very difficult for me. I had more head hunger than I'd thought, and boy was I not

happy about it (ask my husband; he'll attest!). But from what I understand, this is not something that everyone goes through, and in the end, it was good that I went through it because I actually went through weeks of not being able to eat when I was stressed or upset or felt physically bad from the surgery. In the past, when I felt like crap, I ate. But I went through weeks of not being able to eat. And I lived! (Who'dda thunk?) I felt like I was in hell, but it was a great lesson. A hard one, but one I needed to learn, and one I'm glad I learned.Ok, so now that I've written a book on my post-op experiences, I hope that this helps you or someone else at least a little. If there's anything else I can help with or answer, please let me know.Congratulations, again!9/25/03: 217!surgery 7/7/03: 265orientation 12/03:

289> Hello to everyone. My name is . I just recently found out > about the group. I whish I would of known about this in early AUG > when I started to prepare for the surgery. I attendant my > oreintation AUG 15th and found out last week that my surgery is > scheduled for OCT 14th. They actually wanted to do the surgery on > OCT 23rd, but I already agreed to give my work 3 weeks notice. I was > somewhat disapointed that I could not go ahead on the 23rd, as like > all of you, a lot of hard work was put in to get where I am, aswell > as all of you, today. However I will march on. > > I would really appreciate some insite has to what to excpect post > surgery. I have reviewed all my paper work over

and over again, but > I know hearing from someone else that is post surgery, would be so > much more helpful.> > Look forward to hearing from you.> > ,> MTZ, CA

[Guest guest]

Hello Everyone

My name is Aziza and I have been reading all of the email since about

Dec. 2003. There is so much information on this site. I have also

been approved for surgery and had a date of January 26, 2004 and I

cancelled it because Im going to Spain on the 18th of this month and

didn't want to chance any complications. I was then giving a date of

March 29, 2004 and called on February 11, 2004 to cancell everything.

I made a mistake of telling selective people of what I was planning to

do (WLS) and received alot of negative feed back. One friend works at

Richmond Kaiser and everytime someone passed away after having WLS I

would receive a call saying why I shouldn't go through with it. Well

after cancelling and letting selective people know that I cancelled I

thought about it greatly within the last week and realize that sure I

can lose weight thats not hard but the hard put is keeping it off. Im

also a diabetic. However I donot take any meds for it. It is under

very good control. However with my weight Im not sure where it will

be 10yrs from now. My BMI is 44 right now. Anyway, as far as having

the surgery Im not afraid of that I believe with all my heart that God

will bring me through. My biggest problem was listening to

negativity. Last week I call the Richmond Kaiser and ask if I can be

reinstated and they said yes so I will meet with on the 30th of

this month to start where I left off. I have gain some weight so I

will have to lose about 15lbs than I will get another date. However

this time I decided to keep it to myself. My husband knows and is

very supportive of my decision. Sorry for such a long introduction. I

do want to thank all of those who have taken the time out to share

thier experiences its very encouraging and uplifting. My doctor is

also Dr. Baggs. I know I can go on and on but I will say good bye for

now.