I’m a bit behind in posting. I have had a very busy few days, which has thrown me off of my posting schedule a bit!
Last Thursday, I had a four hour surgical review at the hospital. The surgical reviews purpose is to go over everything that you should except from a few days post op until the time that you are discharged from the hospital. The review was incredibly helpful. There were about a dozen or so people in the class, and we were grouped together by the type of surgery that we were having. I wound up meeting gentlemen who is having his sleeve exactly one week prior to mine, so we exchanged email addresses and are going to try to keep in touch.

During the review class, we were given a packet of information specific to our types of surgeries. There were all sorts of things in the packet, including:

• Nutritional supplements to have on hand once I get home from surgery.
• Liquid Diet (2 weeks post op, I’ll do a full post on this at some point.)
• Mushie Diet ideas for once the liquid diet is over. I’ll do a full post on this at some point. Think 2 Tbsp of soft protein, 1 Tbsp of pureed veggies, and if you can handle more it 1 Tbsp mashed fruit.
• What to look for in a protein shake (100% Whey Protein Isolate, 20 grams of protein per serving.)
• What medications we can and can not take leading up to surgery. No NSAIDS 2 weeks pre-op, so no Aleeve, Aspirin, Advil, etc. Tylenol for this lady!
• We went over various do’s and don’ts post op. For example, the doctor doesn’t want us drinking for at least one year post op.
• We went over what to expect when I check into the hospital, what to have with me and what to have Mama Scale and the Hubs hold onto.
• The VSG is approximately 90 minutes, perhaps 15 minutes more for my hiatal hernia repair.
• I will spend approximately 2 hours in the recovery room, a little more if a regular room isn’t ready for me.
• At approximately 6 AM I will do a barium swallow to check for leaks.
• Once I do the barium swallow I’ll be allowed more than ice chips, they will bring me protein jello, protein broth, and cranberry juice. They want us to do the jello or broth first, no matter how thirsty we are. Then it’s our job to sip sip sip sip sip.
• I received my Incentive Spirometer, which is a wacky contraption that you use while taking a deep breath. It measures how much air your inhaling. I am required to use it 5-6 times a day pre-op to help build up my lungs strength. Post op you have to use it every hour to rebuild your lungs strength since they will have a hard time recovering from the breathing tubes they use during surgery.

I am sure there is more to it than this, but this is what I can remember at this moment!