You can lower your risk of complications by following a low fat; low carb diet starting now, before surgery. It will reduce the size of your liver. If you have a fatty liver, it can get in the way of surgical instruments during laprascopic surgery. Start some type of moderate aerobic exercise (walking for example) now, before surgery if you can to increase your circulation. If you smoke or drink taper off those habits now, before surgery.

Isn't it ironic that the very things you will need to follow to optimize your results after surgery are the exact same things that can help you guard against complications? So yes start building those habits now.

Rosemary

protect? there's no guarantee, darlin. BUT there are things you can do. and here are some [and everyone else, feel free to jump in here!]

1. change your attitude - think positively, but more important, it's time to put yourself first in your life.

2. start NOW with regular exercise and healthy eating. and NOT view it as a punishment, but rather as part of taking care of yourself

3. the reason - the better your general health going into the surgery, the better off you'll be from start to finish.

4. take a good long look at your aches, pains, blood pressure, blood sugar, breathing, etc etc etc. if you've been diagnosed with anything 'exciting' like diabetes, hypertension, or apnea, make sure that you're DOING WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO - taking your meds, monitoring and controlling your blood sugar, using your CPAP. ya gotta get these under control. under EXCELLENT control. it'll make you a better surgical candidate [and see above - about changing your attitude to put yourself first]

5. research research research. ask for help in doing your research. talk to your docs about what you find.

6. check out your surgeon's credentials - how many operations? % of complications. % of deaths. the followup. the support groups. is there a big team of EXPERIENCED nutritionists, nurses, counselors, whatever. and are they people that YOU trust and can talk to?

7. make sure to ask about YOU and YOUR case. and don't let the surgeon talk in generalities.

ok. that's my first, off-the-top-of-my-head suggestions - and these are just the things that go into MAKING YOUR DECISION. we haven't gotten to the actual surgery yet!!!!!

yes, kimberly, there's LOTS of thinking and research and activity that has to happen. and you can discuss anything you want in this forum. honest!

many hugs, darlin!!!

How about guidelines for any and all surgeries?
Go into it as healthy as you possibly can.
Do what you're told! The medical professions involved in your recovery are not there to harm you. If they say roll over ... do it! If they say let's walk in the hall ... do it!
Do your deep breathing exercises.
Take your analgesia so that you can do all that as freely as possible.
Report accurately. If you haven't farted all day ... that IS important! Even a teeny tiny poop is a poop! A wave of nausea that you can swallow down is still nausea.
Keep your incision clean and dry.

OK ... I'm done now. It's hard to shut up a nurse once she gets giving advice

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are great!

But I do have a question in regards to this...and believe me, I get it, about being as healthy as possible going into surgery, BUT....if I'm just starting on this journey and have to do a six month structured diet in order to get insurance approval, do I really want to lose much weight??? I can lose weight, to an extent, but not keep it off, and I don't want insurance denying me because I was able to lose twenty pounds. Know what I mean? How does that work?

Sorry cant advise much on whether an insurance co will deny you if you lose weight before surgery on your own. I do know that the requirement for surgery are usually based on BMI-body mass index and comorbidities. How tall are you Kim, do you know your BMI. A BMI above 40 or above 35 with multiple comorbidities (mine were diabetes, high blood pressure, bad knees and incontinence) is usually acccepted for approval. At 6' and 368 lbs my BMI was 49.8 at the time of surgery. Link to BMI calculator: http://www.3fatchicks.com/Diets/Calc...MI_Calculator/

I wasn't required to do a 6 month diet because I already had previous dieting attempts documented in my medical records. I do think that insurance companies partially ask for a 6 month diet in order to see if the patient will in fact be able to stick with a change in diet and be successful with those type of changes after surgery. I was advised 3 months before surgery by a nutritionist to modify the fat intake in my diet in order to reduce the size of my liver.

I was truly in terrible physical shape when I decided to have WLS. My diabetes was so out of control, I had horrible repercussions. In 2000 I had a terrible bout of Pneumonia and almost died. I landed in the hospital with blood sugars over 600. After that on insulin I gained 70 lbs in less than a year. I could not stand up if I sat down on a low couch. My incontinence was embarrassing. I suffered with terrible boils on my body caused by the high blood sugars. I walked with a cane. At the rate I was going I do not think that I would have been able to keep working much longer. It took me all of the year 2001 to go through all the hoops of appointments and testings to get approved and schedule my surgery. My fear of being totally disabled and dying a slow death from diabetic complications was much greater than my fear of dying on the operating table.

It came down to me, to being sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time. I was tired of the working my butt off to lose 1 pound and then gaining 2 on a bad day. I could lose weight and I did - 25 lbs, 50 lbs, and 75 lbs...but I always gained it back. I could not maintain without absolutely starving myself and working my butt off at the gym for crazy amounts of time. Finally, I got to my highest weight of 288 lbs...and my Mother had a heart attack. She was smaller than I and had a heart attack at age 59 which is a bad sign (women don't usually have them til around 65 years of age on average so she had one sooner than most women....). I found out that I was now twice as likely to have a heart attack myself and that freaked me out. That was the final straw and seeing a relative as well who had the surgery have major success was another impetus for having surgery.

I read and read and read. I chose my surgeon and facility carefully. Then I knew I was in good hands...and generally I was pretty healthy so I figured that the chances of me having any major complications were relatively small. I wasn't a "heavyweight". I didn't have blood or clotting issues. I didn't have heart or breathing issues. And I picked a great surgeon/facility. That was enough to help put my mind at ease.

Mind you I still freaked out before hand..especially the day before since I'd never been in a hospital before much less have surgery!!!

I put myself in a positive frame of mind before surgery. Spent two months working my butt off to lose weight (lost 32 lbs before surgery) and then after surgery, again made a resolution to work hard and not complain about whatever I am dealt with after surgery.

Your can read about my surgery and my journey there at http://home.cogeco.ca/~diminishingdawn

I felt that all the reading I did made me major prepared for this surgery. I felt confident in my decision. Perhaps you need to do more research and then click! One day you might decide it is for you.

Dawn

Rosemary: So glad you are feeling better these days.


Dawn /"stefani": Thanks for the link to your personal page. You photos are terrific! Good for you.

Kimberly - many overweight people have fatty liver [and that's what SARose is talking about]. however, not all of us do! i didn't. never have, even at 500 pounds [and they biopsied it!]. but the lowfat diet is a reasonable idea, and good practice for the future.

as for the 'how successful during this 6 months' question, that's a tough one. they're generally looking for several things - like can you stick to a program? do you try to think of ways to outsmart it? are you honest with yourself? are there emotional issues that come up that should be addressed? and all this in addition to the amount of weight you lose. See, as noted above, and in other places around here, many of us can diet and diet and diet, and lose next to nothing. i gained weight on 800 calories.

on the other hand, some programs require you to lose 10% of your excess weight BEFORE SURGERY in order to make you a better surgical risk.

it varies from insurer to insurer and from surgeon to surgeon. so your best bet is to just follow the program. and bottom line, if your BMI is 50, and the qualifying BMI is 40, how likely do you think that you'll get down below 40 in 6 months? let alone maintain it?

and just because i was curious, i calculated what you'd have to lose in order to drop to a BMI of 40 - you'd have to weigh about 233. how likely do you think that is within the next 6 months? to lose roughly 60 pounds? for some people, especially those who haven't spent decades in the yo-yo pattern, it is indeed possible. but for most of us, we'd be happy to lose about 20 pounds! and then keep it off.