Dietitian Appointments

Before I went in for my surgery I had 2 appointments with my dietitian.  The first covered my pre op diet and the second covered what to expect in hospital and the first 2 weeks post op.

One of the things my dietitian drilled into me was the fact that my surgeon Michael Hatzafotis was very strict in the post op liquid phase compared to other surgeons as he likes everything to be as low risk to the patient as possible.  I have to say that as that patient that is a very reassuring thought and I am sure is what contributes to his zero complication rate.
I did not realise quite how different the process could be but now I understand that every surgeon has very different perspectives on the post op phases.

Michael keeps you nil by mouth for 3 days in hospital before getting you to do your barrium swallow test and then keeps you on very small and measured amounts for the next 10 days.  Some surgeons get you to do your barrium the day after your surgery and if all goes well you are straight on to liquids.  Then once you are on liquids every surgeon differs as to how much and what they want you to be drinking.

My third dietitian appointment today was all about moving on to the puree food stage.  He really pressed apon me the need to take it slowly and not force it.  He explained to me that it was important to start off with food that was more watery and over the two weeks move to thicker and thicker consistency.  He explained that if the puree was too thick I would end up feeling too full too quickly and this would prevent me from getting enough food in to get enough nutrients.

He has given me some examples of food that I should be trying to eat in a pureed form and I have asked about some other meals that might work as well.

Now that I have the go ahead and I know when I can stat on the puree I am really excited.  I am so looking forward to something other than shakes.  In fact today I got a bit desperate and ate a piece of cheese.  well actually I sucked on it until it dissolved in my mouth and it tasted sooooo good.  But then I had a big panic that I was going to hurt myself so I have vowed not to do it again.

I am going shopping tomorrow to get some supplies to cook up meals and freeze it into portions to cover me for the period I am on puree food.
And the most exciting thing the dietitian told me today was that for the second week of my 2 week puree phase I can eat Cruskits.  Cruskits are allowed as they dissolve in your mouth when you eat them.  But it will still be exciting to eat something with some texture.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

Hospital Stay

Let me tell you about the my hospital stay.  I had my own room with bathroom, visitors chair and TV with all the free to air channels as well as some pay TV channels too.

The day of my operation and the next 2 days were not the most fun times.  I am not someone who copes well with the after effects of anesthetic and it makes me very very nauseous.  My surgeon was aware of this and so were all of the nurses so they kept me well topped up with anti nausea medication.  Even still I felt really sick each time I got up to go to the bathroom and a coupe of times I started heaving.  This was something I was really worried about as I was concerned that I would damage the staple line on my stomach. Thankfully my stomach only heaved a couple of times and by the time I got back to bed it settled down.

The nurses were great and they made sure I always had my pain in check and was comfortable.  They encouraged me to get up and walk as often as I could and were always happy for a chat as they did their observations.  Dr Hatzafotis visited each day to check on my healing and to see how I was going.  I was happy to just rest since I was not feeling well and other than having a shower I did nothing at all for the first 3 days.  I stayed in a hospital gown for my entire stay as it was so much easier with the IV in my arm.  Plus I was not having visitors other than Hubby so I was not worried about how I looked.

I had my surgery on Friday morning and I was not having my swallow test (more about that in another post) until Monday so that entire time I was was nil by mouth.  So that means I was not even allowed to sip water. I had to be really careful when brushing my teeth as the temptation was there.  I never felt thirsty and I guess that is because the IV fluids were quite high.

Overall I was really happy with my hospital stay and all of the doctors and nurses were great.  I will tell you about the last 2 days of my stay next time.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

A Brief Overview

I am at a bit of a loss as to how to start this, so I have decided to give a brief overview of where I am now and some basic details of my situation.

I am 35 years old and have battled my weight since I hit puberty when I was 11.  This is partly to do with the fact that I have PCOS (poly cycistic ovarian syndrome) but the reality is that I also over eat.  Not a good combination.

My weight has not been much of a barrier for most of my life and I have always done some sort of exercise, although not enough to ever shift a significant amount of weight or keep it off.

But over the last few year there have been signs that my weight is now starting to have an impact on my health and I can feel myself at the start of a downward spiral.

So just over 12 months ago I started investigating bariatric surgery and decided that a gastric sleeve might be the way to go.  I got a referral from my GP and started investigating surgeons.  I ended up going to see Dr Michael Hatzifotis .

After putting him through his passes with an exhaustive list of questions I had decided to book in to have a gastric sleeve in just over 12 months time.  The reason for the wait is that I needed to upgrade my private health insurance.

So for the last 12 months I have been in a holding pattern waiting for my surgery.  But now it is only 5 weeks away  on February 14 and there are so many thoughts running through I really needed somewhere to get them all out.  I have been looking on line to try and get answers to some of these questions/thoughts and while there is lots of information out there I feel like there are details missing.

So I hope through writing this blog about my experience it will help other people.

I have only touched on some subjects very lightly here and will expand on them in future posts but for now you know a little bit about a few things.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.

I really appreciate any comments you take the time to leave.  Feel free to ask questions.

If you are on this journey too or any other type of weight loss journey feel free to say hello and share your story.