Before you have weight loss surgery, you might be extremely anxious and anticipating your surgery day. I remember like it was yesterday how much I was counting down until my surgery. It can feel like it is taking forever, especially if you had to follow the 6-month pre-op diet beforehand. It can also feel really overwhelming getting ready for surgery because there is so much information being thrown at you. With my first surgery, I was so anxious waiting for my surgery day to arrive, that I got so overwhelmed and felt a little unprepared. I did not work well under pressure and just started to panic as it got closer. When I had my revision to gastric bypass, I did things a little differently and I definitely felt more organized before my surgery date.
I had an extremely quick turnaround from the time I decided to have surgery to the day of my procedure. This is not always the case for patients because a lot of people have to follow a 6-month diet with their insurance company before being approved. Regardless of how quickly you make it to the operating table, I learned with my revision surgery the steps you can take to get organized and feel more prepared. After all, this is one of the biggest decisions of your life and it is critical that you are ready. I am an organizer and feel so much better when I feel like I know where things are. When I had my first surgery, I felt like a mess because I did not keep up with things well. I could never find my broths or different foods and also did not do a good job with keeping up with my weight or measurements. With my revision surgery, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Now I will say, I went to Mexico for my revision so I absolutely had to be more organized this time around. There was so much that went into having surgery in another country and it was crucial that I was organized. No matter where you have surgery, you can do certain things before the day of your procedure to get organized.
One of the most important things I did before my second surgery was that I went ahead and got all my liquids and post-op care ready to go. Looking back, I do not think I did this very well with my original surgery. I literally took it one day at a time and figured it out as I went. I think to a degree this will happen no matter what, but I felt so much more prepared with my second procedure. I knew the foods that I wanted to eat so I went ahead and ordered them so I would have them ready to go. You never want to be stuck starving after weight loss surgery because you are so limited to what you can drink/eat. I learned the hard way how important it is to make sure you never run out of your food. Before I had surgery, I really enjoyed organizing my kitchen. I took this time to get rid of any trigger foods and really cleansed my house. This is an important step that I would highly recommend that you do pre-op. It can really help with your nerves when you take the time to prepare your house for your new lifestyle. I took the time to separate my items into each stage, which made life so much easier after surgery. It was really freeing to get rid of all the junk in my house and replace it with my post-op foods. It really pumped me up for surgery and made it to where I was so ready for my new life.
If you are anxiously counting down the days until your procedure, I encourage you to use this time to get organized. Figure out how you want to track your weight loss. Do not wait until after surgery to purchase the items you need. Clean out your kitchen and get rid of anything toxic that is going to get in your way. Use this time to figure out the tools you need to be successful on this journey. It will help you get to your surgery day faster by focusing some of your nervous energy into something productive. You will never have it all figured out, but you can definitely be in a better place than I was with my first surgery and feel more prepared. This is your time so make the best of it and get ready to rock your new lifestyle!