Why have bariatric surgery in midlife?  Let me explain. I closed down 2020 with a bang.  How?  Not with a big celebration and fireworks, but rather something to hopefully move me toward a healthier me.

I spent New Years Eve at home not being able to move much.  The day before I had bariatric surgery for a stomach sleeve.

Why did I get so drastic a surgery?  Regardless of my weight, I had always been fairly healthy.  I could keep up with my family and just about anything else that was thrown at me.  That was until the last 2-3 years.

I had started gaining weight fairly steadly after having gone through menopause and now other things were beginning to happen.  No diabetes, yet, but I do have high blood pressure and I generally never seemed to feel really good like I was used to.

On top of that, two years ago I thought I was having a heart attack.  Turned out my heart was fine, but now I have to see a cardiologist on a regular basis.  Then in the summer of 2020, I came down with double pneumonia which put me out of commission for several months.

I was also diagnosed with asthma and severe sleep apnea.  I’d had it with all of this.  I might be in midlife, but dang, from where I was standing things were going down hill to steadily for me.

APPROVAL PROCEDURES FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY

Luckily, by this time, I had already started procedures for the surgery, but I was still going back and forth with the idea in my mind.  Surgery seemed like such a final, you can never go back, kinda thing.

But, I always came back to the same things. I just don’t feel good and I didn’t like all these illnesses I was already having to deal with. Diabetes was creeping up the hill and then I’d think of my daughter.  She is disabled and I need and want to be around, as long as I possibly can for her.

THE SIX MONTHS BEFORE SURGERY

This is not a surgery that is really easy to get when you are someone that needs to have their health insurance pay for it.  There was a lot of criteria that I had to meet.

It takes six months of jumping through different hoops before your insurance will look at the various accummulated paperwork at the end of that time.  And only after they have looked over everything will they say yay or nay to their approval for them to cover your surgery.

My medical health was taken into consideration and also my BMI and weight.  I had to either attend a group type weight meeting each month or meet with a nutritionist to learn how to eat healthly and to lose weight.  And all information had to be kept.

I had to talk to a therapist at least once and also take a pychic test.  Due to my health, I also had to do other things also.  Because of having the double pneumonia right in the middle of this preparation, I had to be tested for sleep apnea, see a pulmonologist and cardiologist on a regular basis.

These last two things may not have been required by my insurance, but by my surgeon.  I didn’t ask—I just did what I was told.

MY FIRST WEEK HOME AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY

I won’t lie and say there was no pain during recovery from my bariatric surgery.  I was very bloated from the air pumped into me during surgery.  The first day in the hospital, I didn’t think was too bad and I was able to get up and move around pretty good.

But by days three or four, I had to have hubby help me get up out of chairs—what a baby, right!!  LOL.  This pain actually felt like I had exercised way too much.  You know when you excerise so much and then two days later, you almost can’t move.  That’s how I felt.

I was sent home with pain meds and I even had some type of pain medication that was going into me through a tube that was still hooked to me.  I only took the liquid pain medication I was given for three, maybe four days.  After that, I didn’t really think the pain was bad enough to justify me taking anymore.

HUNGER PAINS START

I had surgery on a Wednesday, and I’d have to say by Sunday or Monday, I was feeling pretty hungry.  That was when I pulled out the creamed type soups.  Everything else was going pretty good by this time.

Oh, and I have to tell you that when I got home, I, of course weighed myself.  I actually weighed more than before I went in for surgery.  I just walked away from the scale.

NINE DAYS AFTER BARIATRIC SURGERY IN MIDLIFE

Today was not a bad day per se, but I haven’t been able to keep anything down.  The first two weeks after surgery, you’re only allowed to have liquids, jello, puddings and creamy soups, no solid food.

I’m only nine days out, so I’m still in this phase.  Blah, blah, blah.  I’m really bored with this and wanting to eat something solid.

I have no idea if what is happening today is from the surgery or I’m getting sick.  And of course, the first thing that comes to mind is covid.  But luckily, I don’t feel too bad otherwise.

Truthfully, it feels like I have way too much air in my stomach.  I chewed two antacids mid-morning, but they didn’t stay down long enough to help.

I did weigh myself this morning to see that according to my scale, I’ve lost a little over 10 pounds.  Wooohooo!!  That, of course, made me feel good.

Although, I don’t plan on thinking I’m going to steadily lose weight that quickly.  I’m sure its because of not eating what I call “real food” since everything has to be pretty much in liquid form until I see my doctor this coming week.

I forgot to mention exactly how much food I’m allowed to eat at one time.  You ready for this???  A whopping ¼ cup.  Doesn’t sound like much and doesn’t look like much either, but I really couldn’t eat more than that right now anyway.  I hate feeling over full and eating more than that would definitely make me feel over full.

The reason for the liquid diet and only ¼ cup of creamy soups at a time is to give my stomach time to heal.  Which sounds like a good idea to me, so I’ll continue.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON BARIATRIC SURGERY IN MIDLIFE

One of the hardest things I’ve done so far was deciding whether or not to add my photo to this post.  This took as much back and forth thinking as deciding on the surgery.  I hate having my picture taken.  But, it seems I’m even going to share that.

I’m two weeks out from my surgery and I feel pretty good.  The best thing is it looks like I’ve lost 16 lbs.  I won’t lie though, I’m craving solid food, but at the same time, I can’t say I’m very hungry.

I’m scheduled to see my doctor tomorrow and should be moved onto mushy foods for at least the next 4 weeks.  Still not solid foods, but better than just liquids.  I suspect the weight won’t fall off as quickly either but that’s OK as long as it continues downward.

I’ll be writing updates about once a month, so if you have any questions as I go through this process, please feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll answer as best I can.

Stay Awesome!

Cher

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What is Bariatric Surgery?
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BMI and Bariatric Surgery

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