Rupert,
I had my sleeve 13 weeks ago now and don't regret a single moment. The 2 weeks of liver shrinkage diet were a bit boring and probably the most difficult thing to get through. Once you've had the surgery your appetite disappears so you don't worry about food. Before surgery you still have the same desires and have to control yourself. I managed to stick to one of my suppliers diet options totally for two weeks, but you will hear of some people who fall off the diet temporarily. As you are probably aware the whole purpose of the diet is to shrink your liver to make it easier for the surgeon to do their bit. My surgeon told me that just one meal high in carbs could totally destroy all the good work you have put in and as a result the surgery may not be able to proceed. So stick to the diet no matter what if you want to make life easier for everyone.
The surgery itself, for me, was a doddle I didn't have any pain afterwards. Was given 10mg of morphine when I came round from surgery as I had a bit of discomfort then. After that it was just paracetamol, was given some to take home but never took them and haven't taken any pain killers since. After surgery I was back in my room and walking about after an hour or so and had a cup of coffee. First night didn't get much sleep purely due to the hourly observation checks by the nurses. Second night they left me alone from about 11pm to 6am so that was good.
The only downside was getting rid of the trapped wind - for me this was the worst part of the entire experience. Nothing I did seemed to help, from walking around, taking wind relief tablets, drinking peppermint tea and many other supposed cures. None of them worked, it was uncomfortable and lasted nearly 5 days, slowly getting better each day as your body re-absorbed the gas they pump you with to enable the surgeon to see what there doing. Once absorbed back into the body it left by one of two ways (if you get my drift).
After leaving hospital I was 2 weeks on fluids, 2 weeks on pureed food, 2 weeks on soft food before going back onto a normal diet. I hated the pureed food stage as it was just disgusting looking, but, it was only a couple of weeks. I'm now eating normal food, but really small portions, occasionally I feel a bit hungry between meals but it takes very little to satisfy that until my next meal comes around.
As I said I'm now 13 weeks post op, have lost just over 61lbs since the start of the pre-op diet and feel brilliant. Most of my clothes have been recycled as they are way too big for me now. I've gone from Morbidly Obese through Severely Obese to just Moderately Obese in those 13 weeks. The future looks good and I'm so glad I did this. Would I do it all again if I had to - absolutely without a doubt.
I wish you all the very best for your upcoming surgery and will welcome you onto the losers bench when you've had it.
AE.