Gastric Bypass Surgery and Recovery

[snowman]

I have next to nothing to add to this topic, except that I had the experience of cooking for a person who was about 10 months post-op for this surgery at New Year's. She's eating mostly normal food, though not as much, and has lost 100 lbs. (I didn't expect her to eat the duck I cooked for New Year's, but she did.)

One thing I did learn was to be really careful with dried chiles; normally, when I screw up and I or someone else eats one, it's annoying but no big deal. You know, you eat some rice, drink some water, whatever. When my friend ate one, her stomach was full and she couldn't eat any more. I was very chagrined...and she was more than a little uncomfortable.

Good luck to you both.

[FistFullaRoux]

Here's the update you've all been waiting for. She had surgery Tuesday (and the irony of having gastric bypass surgery on fat Tuesday was not lost). I'll just continue this thread as the way to update. There is a good bit of info upthread, and it may be helpful to someone else, or even a lurker. She's OK with this, with caveats.

The actual surgery took less time than I expected, and her initial coming-out-of-the-drugs-and-carry-on-a-conversation phase took longer. The doc sent her home yesterday (Thursday). She can walk short distances, about once an hour. The weather has been downright nasty here, so it'll be a little while before I'm comfortable letting her venture out. It snowed Wednesday. In Alabama. Our apartment is something like 50 feet end to end, with a clear straight path. That's her walking track for the time being. Just going back and forth.

She can handle about 3 or 4 bites of just about anything, then she's full. Last night was Chef BoyArDee ravioli. 2 of them. It's what she wanted, and it was on the approved foods list, so I got it for her because I'm such a helluva guy... She can't handle the smell of food cooking, so I've been eating a good bit of fast food, simply because I don't want to leave her alone for that long. And I feel a little guilty eating in front of her. She is also doing the occasional flavored protein powder/water mix. About a cup at a time. I'll have brand names later.

Now that she's gotten through the surgery, the interesting part comes over the next 4 to 6 weeks as we introduce more things to her diet. We know she's good with mac and cheese and the ravioli.

Another interesting thing. Medicine, when taken orally, hits her a lot harder. I was a little surprised, but it makes sense. Dosages of prescriptions will have to be adjusted.

And like I said earlier, the grosser parts of recovery will not be made public. If someone has a legitimate reason to know (as in they will be caring for someone going through the surgery), PM me and I'll fill you in.

[foodie52]

Give her a thumbs up from us here, and best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[wnissen]

Glad to hear there are no major problems. Best of luck.

Walt

[EllenC]

I am so glad she is doing well. Tell her I'm pulling for her.

[Jake]

Best wishes to your wife, I hope she's improving daily. Sounds to me like you are both lucky to have each other. Good luck.

[kusumlg]

Lentils or 'dal', as they are called in Indian cuisine have a high place as source of protien and also as easily digestable. The best dal for digestion is Mung split dal which can be with the green paper thin covering, or without it. The one with the covering is more nutritious. You should be able to buy this dal at a health food store or Indian/Pakistani store. Makes an excellent soup too.

Kusum

[Jinmyo]

Dal and roti or dal and rice make a complete protein.

Welcome kusumlg.

[FistFullaRoux]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

And as a quick update. 8 days post surgery. She's back at work and down one dress size already. 22 pounds lost so far.

It's frankly amazing.

[peanutgirl]

Back to work already? That's incredible. I'm glad to hear that your wife is doing so well. Thanx for the update .

[Jake]

That's incredible! Back to work AND 22 lbs? Congratulations!

[Cusina]

That is great to hear. I've been thinking of you guys.

[FistFullaRoux]

Jeez. It's been a while since I updated.

After the first few days back at work, she was out of work for about 5 weeks. Horrible nausea, 24 hours a day. Nothing sat right, and almost nothing stayed down. She got scoped from both ends, put on several different medications, and no real relief. Phenergen worked, but it made her a zombie. Breaking her toe did not help matters. Makes it real difficult to excercise when your head is spinning, you feel like you are going to barf, and have your toes taped together.

Found out she had an ulcer. A small one, and not very deep. The doctor described it as wear and tear, not a disease process. Long story short, it was back to clear liquids and then we worked her back up to real food. That took about 3 weeks, and she was still nauseated, but at least mealtime was a little less terrible. I finally went with her to a followup doctor's visit, and I threated to stand on Doogie Howser's toes to keep him from leaving the room until we figured something out.

I told him the blood tests I wanted to run to find any nutritional deficiencies, and she mentioned that she was having trouble with the sublingual B12 tablets. Said they got mushy, but wouldn't dissolve. Doctor gave her a B12 shot, and I do the honors at home now. Coupled with the ulcer meds, she was as close to normal as you could expect 2 weeks later.

She squeaks now. It's that sort of half hiccup-half burp thing, and she does it 3 times when she's full. It's almost cute.

She has lost 84 pounds since the surgery. She practically rents clothes, they only fit her for a couple of weeks. She is back to being a happy person, and she has lost so much weight, her face is changing. She had to get a new ID for work. She grinned about that for 2 days.

Food wise, she's good with just about anything. She's still avoiding tomatoes. We finally got a grill, so it's been a lot of chicken and lean burgers, but she is happy with it. She also found out that she does like Japanese. When she felt more like going out, we made a decision to try new places. We have a few new favorites.

She also discovered that she likes peanuts now. Before, she didn't even want to smell them. Now, she's about to develop a monocle...

As long as she chews well, she can tolerate everything, except battered and fried items. Even with the breading removed, it gives her trouble. She eats a surprising amount of fruit. Even her doctor was surprised with the amount of fruit she can handle. The sugars seem to give her no problems. Plain milk is still an issue, but she can handle dairy products. Strange but true.

And those internal deodorant pills don't work worth shit.

Other than that, she is able to find something to eat on every menu, she's learned what works for her and what does not, and we've found out that if she does not eat, the weight loss stops. Cooking at home is not something I can do as much as I'd like, the smell of cooking still bothers her sometimes. But we work around it. I usually don't feel much like cooking during the summer anyway.

Thank you for the kind notes and words. It's been an adventure. I'm just happy to have her back. Even if there is less of her.

Edited June 22, 2004 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[Suzanne F]

Cool. Let's see about merging threads, or closing the other and keeping yours going.

[binkyboots]

hiya,

I had bariatric surgery in november last year, not the gastric bypass but the older style vertical banded gastroplasty.

so far I've lost 90lbs, it's just the most unbelievable feeling ever, I've never lost weight before, not for the want of trying, last summer all I ate everyday were two cans of slimfast and a bowl of apple puree, I lost 12lbs over 5 months.

I can't eat solids at all, even very mushy weetabix are a challenge (and I try not to challenge myself, lol) mashed potato/veg are "safe" foods, very soft and with gravy/sauce on them. I've also become very imaginative with soups!

It's wierd, it's gotten to the point where I look at other people eat and can't imagine eating like them, a whole plate of potatos and a piece of fish the thought of that makes me feel queasy. in fact, my response to people who say "can you eat normal stuff?" is yep, I eat completely normally for me.

it really brings home the oversized portions we tend to eat, I mean, my body is the same body just with a very tiny capacity for food, I eat 500 calories a day max but I'm not sick, I'm thriving. not suggesting that anyone should eat as little as that, but yeah, portions are enormous.

congrats fistfullaroux (and your wife) it's an incredible thing to live through, the changes to a partner, physical and mental can be hard to deal with...

this is my journal entry the day after I came home....

so, how things went... pretty well I think, the op was fast (1.5 hours I think) I remember waking up in recovery (happily the tube was out!) and having the morphine pump explained to me... then I was moved to hdu, all I remember from there is being told to kick my legs, mum, debs, mike and teresa all visited, gorgeous flowers arrived and a nurse sat by my bed more or less all night... at one point my stats went right down (scary) but they gave me a nebuliser and that sorted that out...

moved to ward 106 the next day at 12pm, don't remember much more about that day, was taking quite a bit of morphine... lol.

hmm.. much of that week is a blur, lynx came to visit, on wednesday I think, the physios had taken me for a walk and I was so tired that I fell asleep while she was there x_x sorry lynx...

that evening was scary, I got left without my oxygen all afternoon, in fact till after 9ish that night, I had a temp and chest infection, then in the early hours they found out I'd had a pulmonary embolism, scariest moment in hospital, they gave me somehing to help me sleep (I was pretty tense) and left me till morning, had a ct scan which confirmed the clot was (is) sitting in my lung, not doing any harm now, but looking back on it I'm scared.

I'm taking warfarin for six months to reduce my chances of another pe forming... got to have a blood test twice weekly to check my clotting time. also means no piercings, flying or long distance bus journeys for six months!

my staples came out yesterday, the scar, I've had some trouble coming to terms with it, pre op I thought I'd wear my scar with pride (maybe I will someday) but right now I just look at it and wonder what the hell I did this to myself for. first shower I had, they peeled the dressing off and showed me the wound, it's long, from the top of my belly to around and inch below my belly button... it's very neatly done, apart from my belly button which is a bit of a mess really... but it should fade up quite nicely. lol, when they took the staples out (all 35 of them) they left me with my curtain shut to get dressed, an hour later a nurse stuck her head in, I was still sitting in my nightie in the same position she left me in, too scared to move in case my belly came in half!!

got some pics, but I'll put them up with cuts, lol, they're not pretty....

weight loss, I've lost around a stone in hospital, but it's not suprising since I didn't eat for a week... now I'm having a little build up drink, a yoghurt, gravy... liquids only till december 17th at least.

funy thin, a tiny pot of yoghurt really fills me up! I'm amazed.

oh, my blood count is down, 8.7 at the last check... so I'm on iron syrup to get it back up, they wanted to give me a tranfsusion but couldn't find a vein (my arms are so bruised) lots of stabbing though, in fact I ended up really distressed, at that point they decided to leave me alone... if I get really ill with it I'll go back in and we can try again to tranfuse me... I hope not, the idea of having blood pumped in bothers me.

that's really it, the nurses (bar one) were lovely, very caring, mr mac was round everyday to see me and check the wound... my bed was so uncomfortable that I barely slept, the other patients were so funny/cool, I'm glad to have met them....

hoping to go to the support group in december, I'm up and walking, though I get tired fast... I miss my independance, asking for help is so crappy, so I'm working hard to get back to normal....

my blood count never did get right back up, but I'm very carefull, if the anaemia gets really bad I double my dose of iron syrup (vile stuff)

I do now wear my scar with pride, I made an effort everyday to look at it, moisturise it with lavender oil and say something nice about it, the thought of losing it when I have the plastic surgery bothers me more than living with it. it's faded quite well, still visible from a distance though, both a line and dots either side from the staples.

I'm off the warfarin now too, my blood stabilised quickly and now I'm a slightly lower risk for pe than I was before.

[tryska]

And those internal deodorant pills don't work worth shit.

so what's all this then? i missed reference to this stuff? (d'you mean like chlorophyll tabs?)

[FistFullaRoux]

And those internal deodorant pills don't work worth shit. 

so what's all this then? i missed reference to this stuff? (d'you mean like chlorophyll tabs?)

I'm not sure what they are. After this kind of surgery, um.... farts get really bad, mostly due to the shortened intestinal tract. Shorter trip through the system, and things don't get broken down as much as they would normally. The internal deodorant pills are supposed to help somewhat. Not in the amount, but in the... well, smell. I haven't noticed a bit of difference.

It wasn't mentioned before because I didn't know there would be a need for such a thing. It's not something the doctors remember to warn you about beforehand...

[tryska]

hmmm. wonder what can be done about the gas? i'm not sure i'm close enough to my coworker to ask, but she doesn't seem to have a reputation for being gassy around here, so maybe she's got some secret. want me to broach the subject?

Edited June 24, 2004 by tryska (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

hmmm. wonder what can be done about the gas? i'm not sure i'm close enough to my coworker to ask, but she doesn't seem to have a reputation for being gassy around here, so maybe she's got some secret. want me to broach the subject?

If you feel the need to. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during that conversation...

[tryska]

so i asked my coworker - she said Gas-X and avoiding high-fat foods helps.

then we got into a convo about tummy tucks and boob lifts and she showed me her extra skin. i think we've bonded. no topic is taboo.

[niobe]

in a recent meeting, a company i may have dealings with, is coming out with a concentrated protein product geared for post surgical patients

it should be out by the end of the year- im not sure if this was privileged info or not,- if not, I'll post their name and website

[FistFullaRoux]

An update - Not a really good one:

Last Friday, my wife felt great, we were looking at houses, she was happy, mobile, and 179 pounds lighter than when we started all of this.

My wife is right now in the hospital with weakness/numbness in her legs, and her hands are starting to give her trouble. She can't walk without assistance, her legs crumple with no warning, and she has started developing problems with her hands. I, like everyone else, got into the mantra of "protien and water" being the most crucial part of the new diet.

We were wrong. Or at least we didn't grasp the complete story of this particular complication.

There was always a risk of this, but it was written of as pretty rare, and nothing to worry about. This was early 2004. Since then new information has come to light, and the rate of occurence of neuropathy is something like 16 percent. It seems to be related to a vitamin B complex deficiency. It's similar to Beriberi, of all things.

When she had the surgery, not only was her stomach made smaller, but 3 feet of small intestine was bypassed as well. These 3 feet allow the body to absorb fewer calories, but also reduce the nutrients that the body absorbs, including the B complex vitamins. It's not that she was eating the wrong things, it's just that her body wasn't absorbing all of it.

I add this to this thread as advice to anyone considering the surgery, or someone who may have to help care for someone with this surgery. A 16 percent occurence rate is pretty damn high for something this serious. This is really only coming to light in the last year or so, since the operation got "popular", and the screening and education processes may have been short-changed. It is preventable, but that's whats so frustrating about it. We will hopefully find out about her vitamin requirements, and be able to boost the intake to the proper level.

The neurologist is confident that it can be reversed, but she will have physical therapy for a while, and will have to basically relearn to walk and do other things. And she was healthy a week ago. I've never seen or heard of anything like this that can progress this quickly, and out of the blue. Except maybe for strokes and trauma patients. It really started about a week ago when she said she had pins and needles on her leg, and we both wrote it off as a pinched nerve from sitting cross-legged. We were wrong.

If you have had the surgery, get this checked out if you have any weakness/numbness/pins and needles in your legs or hands, or if you have a fast unexplained gait change. The earlier it's caught the less chance of permanent damage to the nerves.

[Genny]

Oh FistFullaRoux, this is terrible news. You and your wife are in my prayers tonight.

This thread caught my eye because my FIL had the bypass Sept. 04. He is doing great and has lost quite a bit of weight (I don't know exact numbers but I'd guess at least 50#). I just wanted to see what this thread was about. It discusses quite a bit of what our experience with him was and some other things too.

Thank you so very much for sharing your personal story here.

My neice is 15 and I think she is thinking about the bypass. I sure hope she tries to lose weight the conventional method!

Take care!

Genny

[FistFullaRoux]

Oh FistFullaRoux, this is terrible news.  You and your wife are in my prayers tonight. 

This thread caught my eye because my FIL had the bypass Sept. 04.  He is doing great and has lost quite a bit of weight (I don't know exact numbers but I'd guess at least 50#).  I just wanted to see what this thread was about.  It discusses quite a bit of what our experience with him was and some other things too. 

Thank you so very much for sharing your personal story here. 

My neice is 15 and I think she is thinking about the bypass.  I sure hope she tries to lose weight the conventional method! 

Take care!

Genny

←

IMHO, 15 is way too young to consider this surgery, unless she is in dire need of it. If she's just fat but otherwise healthy, there is no way she should even find a doctor that would consider it.

It's a great surgery, it probably saved my wife's life, but it is fraught with potential problems and it not a quick fix. Anyone who thinks that it is the easy way out is totally and completely wrong. It's not just the fact that is makes the stomach smaller, it forces lifestyle changes. You simply do not have the option of doing something that is not allowed. You can cheat on a diet. There is no cheating with gastric bypass.

People have gotten stupid about the whole thing. A lady who works with my wife forced herself to gain over 50 pounds so she would qualify for the surgery. That is just ludicrous.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I have a close friend who, in desperation, had gastric LapBand surgery as he neared 300 pounds and was suffering numerous health issues. It is less invasive than the gastric bypass and the Band is tightened periodically to prevent eating much at a time. Now he can barely eat at all but I doubt that I would attempt this type of weight loss. Doing Weight Watchers because it seems most reasonable.

Hope for your wife's return to good health and strength, FistFullaRoux.