Bariatric Surgery

Thanks for listioning

Kerri

Hi Kerri,

Glad you stopped in.  By "is it hard" do you mean the recovery time?  If so, that all depends on the type of surgery.  The more complicated surgeries like RNY have a longer recovery time and hospital stay.  The surgery that I had (nonadjustable band) I stayed in the hospital overnight and flew home the next day.  If I had it to do again, I'd have waited one more day before flying, but all came out fine. As for going back to work, I was able to return to work within a few days as long as I did not pick up more than 15 pounds.

I have heard the RNY be compared to having a C Section; however there are several different methods that can reduce the pain and healing time.

As for living with the surgery, I have no experience with the RNY.  The main thing I hear those patients talk about is the "dumping" syndrome that comes when you have taken in too much sugar.  Because this surgery works through a combination of intake restriction and malapsorption (meaning you aren't able to absorb the nutrients normally) your body has to deal with complex nutrients like sugar in a different way.  Maybe someone here on the board can explain that to you better than I can.

Living with my nonadjustable band is no big deal.  I have to stay away from gooey foods because I now have this little pouch for a stomach and there is an opening at the bottom of the pouch for food to go through.  The opening is about the width of your pinky finger.  So when I eat, it has to be something that can get through that opening.  Things like white bread or mozzerella cheese just don't get through there very well at all and will come back up if I try to force it.

Food becomes associated with pain rather than pleasure which, in my case, is not a bad thing. I try to stick to protiens and raw vegetables for the most part.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of.  Also let me know what surgery you specifically want to know more about and I will do my best to answer.  There are others on this board who have had various surgeries and they will jump in as well.  :)

Welcome!

Paula

Hi Kerri!  I had the RNY when my kids were 3, 9 and 11.  Honestly, if I hadn't had my DH around, it would have been a complete nightmare!  I didn't feel "normal" until 5 weeks after surgery.  DH cooked, cleaned, took care of EVERYTHING, so I could just vegetate.  But right at 5 weeks out, I felt GREAT!!!!  And THEN I had another baby about a year after surgery! *LOL*  Anyway, I've been able to keep it off for 3 years now and I'm SO glad I had the surgery!!!

Carey