Preparing For Bariatric Surgery
Going ahead with bariatric surgery can be at times very overwhelming. Before having surgery you want to be as prepared as possible for your hospital stay and to make sure you have all you need at home for when you return after the procedure. The more you prepare before your surgery as well as ahead of time, the less anxiety you will have going into surgery or to the hospital.
Each individuals hospital list is going to be different depending on your specific needs. But there are some non negotiable items that you will need to take with you into your stay. You will need AT LEAST FIVE PAIRS of underwear. You wont be able to shower while you're staying there, so by having multiple changes of underwear it allows you to stay hygienically fresh, always take extra incase you’re told you need to stay longer. Wipes or feminine wipes are a good way to also “freshen up” but can also make you feel better knowing you’re clean. Always take your own deodorant, mouth wash, toothpaste, dental floss and body lotion, these things make us feel more conformable especially in a hospital settings.
Some other things that are a must, these item are a life saver in most individual eyes, they are a portable charger so that you can charge your phone where ever you are sitting or laying down you can find these online. A robe is a nice way to cover up after surgery as you’re more than likely to not water to wear heavy jumpers or pants, being comfortable is key. Make sure you back a few lim balms! The hospital setting are super dry, and the hospital usually only has not amazing lip balms. Dry shampoo will also help you be able to freshen up your hair. Another thing that will come in handy is a spray for dry mouth, in most case you will be “nothing by mouth” meaning that you wont be allowed to eat or drink until you go down for a barium swallow so this spray helps during this time. Also taking a few pairs of your own socks and slipper is a must.
FOOD AND THINGS TO HAVE AT HOME FOR AFTER SURGERY
There is a never ending list of things you can purchase ahead of time to make life a lot easier after your surgery and hospital stay. These are the things that are super helpful when you return home from surgery and that you will use more often then other things. A lot of these items can also be bought later down the road after surgery, but are super helpful to have once you get back home from surgery. To help you out our team has made a pre operative pack that will ensure you will have all the nutritional tools for after your surgery you can find it here.
Nutribullet – After surgery this is a must, a Nutributllet is so handy to make easy protein smoothie or even crushing up ice to make your water icy cold. A smoothie after surgery is a the perfect way to get all your nutritional needs in without breaking the texture phases.
Food processor – Super helpful to make food suit the different texture phases. Its a great tool to use to make foods such as salsa, cauliflower mash or any type of mash, soups, smoothies and many more food dishes
Formulite protein shakes – Hands down my favourite protein drinks to drink after surgery. They have tons of flavours. Caramel and banana were my favourite. They have vanilla, chocolate, chai latte, peaches and cream, cookies and cream.
Tasteless protein powder – We recommend using the Feel Good Tasteless protein powder, this powder can be added to anything, such as sugar free pudding, oatmeal, your morning coffee, ANYTHING. It was such an easy way to get fast protein in when you’re not feeling overly hungry. Because, in fact you’re to going to be hungry, maybe for the first time in your life, you are not going to want to eat, or feel the need to eat, but you still need to get some type of nutrients in, especially protein.
Pill crusher – This was super helpful for the first couple weeks/months for larger pills. I was unable to swallow large pills because of my little belly.
Tupperware containers – These are my containers that are ideal for meals when you get to 3/4 cup servings. I loved these when I was ready to go back to work and was packing lunches. These are really great quality and I still use these for dense meals. I do recommend hand washing these so they hold up longer. I use Tupperware from the Dollar Tree also for less dense meals.
Bento Box – A bento box is a great tool to use after your surgery. It allows you to potion out your meals but also makes it a priory to pack your own meals so that you know what you are going to eat for the day, it means you can be organised and not slip up or make silly little mistakes when it comes to eating food after surgery, a bento planner is an easy way to keep on track of things, heres one that could help you.
Opti Multivitamin Capsules – After surgery you must take a specific bariatric multivitamin, due to the bodies lack of availability to absorb nutrients. A bariatric patient will need to take these capsules for the rest of their life.
Sugar free jelly, broth (chicken, beef, ham, or vegetable), flavoured waters, Powerade zero, sugar free icy poles, pureed fruit or, unsweetened applesauce, Low fat greek yogurt and low fat cottage cheese.