Life After Gastric Bypass Surgery: The First Two Months

Gastric bypass surgery brings about many major changes inside your body as well as the obvious changes to the outside. For example, with the Rouxen-Y procedure (the surgery performed on me) a small pouch is dissected from the stomach thus creating your new stomach. The original stomach is left intact because of vital nerves and blood vessels. Both are sutured or stapled closed. Then the small intestine is rerouted and attached to the newly formed pouch. All of this is usually done laparscopically, which means there are the incision sites where the poles for the laparoscope are inserted, plus there is usually a drain site as well. These are healing along with all of your insides.

Here are some general tips to help you through the first couple of months. But always make sure to follow the directions given to you by your surgeon and dietitians:

1) Exercising

All of the "rearranging of the furniture" inside your body will cause some pain. The level of pain varies from patient to patient. The first several days after surgery are usually the most difficult. Just the thought of getting up and moving around can be a bit unnerving to patients. But moving around, especially in the form of walking, is essential to the healing process. During the first few days at home, walking should last for approximately ten minutes at a time three to four times a day. This is to avoid getting too tired and worn out and to avoid starting up more pain in the abdomen. Even just shuffling around your house for a few laps at a time is better than not doing anything at all. After a few days, begin to gradually increase your walking time each time and take your walking outdoors. I'm sure your moms always told you that "fresh air will do you good". Well here's where you actually prove them right! As you increase your walking time, you can decrease the number of walks you take (if you want) to two or three walks a day. At first your muscles in your abdomen will protest and argue with you, but as you go walking more and more you will begin to feel the pain less and less. Another benefit of walking is that it will help your muscles to be less tense when the staples or sutures are removed from the incisions made in your skin and it won't be quite so bothersome.

2) Nutrition

You will need to concentrate on your protein and liquid intake, especially during these first two months after the surgery. The general requirement for each is 60-80 grams of protein each day and 48-64 ounces of liquids each day. Remember, your protein shakes that you will be drinking count toward your liquid goal each day. Your best bet for all of that counting is to get yourself some one ounce cups. Usually the hospital will send a bunch of them home with you for your use. But if they don't, places like Smart And Final carry them at an inexpensive price. Make sure you have a notebook too so that you can write everything down to keep track of your ounces and types of liquid. What I did was to write down each individual ounce that I drank and showed whether it was protein shake, water, or other type of liquid.You can do it that way or whatever way you are more comfortable with, just as long as you keep track. That way when you go in for your follow up appointments, your dietitian can see right in front of him/her what you have been consuming and how much. Later on in the other stages of your diet it will also help show what types of food you have been eating and give the dietitian an idea as to whether you are getting enough protein and liquids or not. Something very important to remember about the different stages of your after surgery diet is that every surgeon has different amounts of time designated for each particular stage. For example, my surgeon's requirements were that his patients follow each stage for two weeks before progressing onto the next one. But I have spoken to people that were required to stay in, say, the pureed food stage for at least a couple of months. So remember to follow the directions of the surgeon and dietitians to the letter. DON'T RUSH!! If you try to move through the stages too quickly it can cause you pain and sometimes complications, which you most definitely do not want.

3) Medications

As well as your protein/liquid journal, you might want to keep a written time table of your medications taken. When you're trying to concentrate on all of the different things required of you it's sometimes very easy to forget exactly what time you took what medicine. The types of medications and vitamins you will be taking vary with each doctor, so make sure you have a list of what you are required to take after surgery. Write down the time for EACH individual medication when you take it. It sounds tedious and time consuming, I know. But it really is a big help, especially during the first several days when you are on pain medication. Depending on what your surgeon prescribed for you, some of that stuff can make you downright LOOPY! So it's better to keep track each time. That way you won't forget when you took what and you'll avoid taking too much.

4) Keep in touch with your surgeon's staff

This final bit of advice is very very important. I put it to use quite a bit after my surgery, and I'm so glad I did. Otherwise I would have ended up back in surgery. Anyway, the advice is this: no matter how trivial or unimportant you may thing your problem or question is, DON'T hesitate to call your surgeon, dietitian, or any of the other staff that is there to help you. That is what they are there for and what they are trained to do. Don't feel like you are bothering them or taking up their time, because believe me they will tell you that you're not. They would rather have you call them for help instead of you trying to "tough it out" or be in the dark about what you need. Not only does this keep you on top of things but it also helps to avoid or take care of any potential or unforeseen problems.

For all of you that are planning on, scheduled for, or are just contemplating gastric bypass surgery, I hope that this will help you to prepare for what is to come after the big day. Kudos to you for readying to take the big step to the new you. And to those of you that have already had your surgeries a great big warm CONGRATULATIONS from me to you!