Episode 7: Our Bariatric Surgery Full Experience. Part 1: Post-Op

🚨 Surgery Talk: The Good, The Bad & The IV Anxiety 🚨

Alright friends, let’s get real about bariatric surgery. In this episode of Bariatric Banter, Hannah & Steph spill all the tea on what it's actually like to go from "maybe I should get surgery" to waking up post-op wondering, "Did they actually do it?!" (Spoiler: Yes, they did.)

We’re talking honest, no-BS surgery prep—the awkward health assessments, the diet changes that nobody wants to talk about, and why your support system matters way more than you think. Plus, we’re diving into:

💉 IV Anxiety & Walking into the OR (seriously, why is it so cold in there?) 🍗 Goodbye to Certain Foods (yes, we still miss them) 🩺 Doctor Visits & Honesty 101 (lying gets you nowhere, folks) 🧠 The Mental Game (turns out, the hardest part isn’t the surgery) 😵 Waking Up Post-Op (disoriented, emotional, and VERY thirsty)

This isn’t your typical, clinical surgery chat. It’s raw, real, and maybe a little too relatable. If you're considering surgery or just nosy (no judgment), hit play and let’s talk about it.

🎧 Listen now and laugh/learn/cry with us! #BariatricSurgery #WeightLossJourney #SendSnacks

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Asta, hello.

(00:09):
Welcome back to another episode of Bariatric Banter podcast.
Love it.
Featuring Bo.
He's so cute.
Yeah.
He's decided he's going to be joining the podcast this week.
Love it.
He's always welcome.
Yes.
He likes to crash in this office.
He's a, listen, he is a stay at home.
I'm a work from home person, so he's not used to being by himself.

(00:30):
That's okay.
Mine is literally like, I can see his nails under the door of my office right now and
I can like hear him just going.
Yeah.
Well, it's easier to have him in here than it's to, than to leave him out because then
the cat fights him and then he gets all sad.
So he's here everybody.
Bo is part of the podcast.
We're keeping it real guys.

(00:50):
We're keeping it.
This is real life.
What we do with every real life.
Welcome.
Welcome to episode seven, I think of bariatric banter podcast.
Today we, I know we're still here guys.
Today we are going to talk about surgery.
We're going to go like all in on our surgeries from orientation to actual surgery to post-op.

(01:16):
We're going to talk about what the clinic's like, what the program's like, what it's like
for anybody who's kind of curious and interested.
Our likes are dislikes.
Welcome to the all surgery episode.
We've got a lot of questions about like the actual, I'll say physical surgery.
Yes.
A lot of questions.
People are curious about the process and about like the why, but a lot of people want to

(01:40):
know the juicy like, what was the actual, what was it like?
What was it actually like?
And it's like, well, all right, well, that's what we're going to talk about today because
yeah, we get an awful lot of questions because we do have a lot of people that are interested
in going into surgery that are kind of hesitant.
I think once you know someone and like, you know, know them, it could be, I could be a

(02:05):
close friend.
I could be like a colleague of a colleague.
I have people in like all the rings asking me questions about this.
The people that have come out of the woodwork and sent me messages has been, it's great
thing.
This is why we did it, right?
We want to help and answer questions.
But it's crazy how many people have had this on their mind and for whatever reason have
never gone down.

(02:26):
So now it's almost like, well, I know someone so it's almost easier now.
I can be like, hey, don't worry family.
Don't worry husband.
Don't worry XYZ.
Like I know someone and I'm going to get all the info.
I didn't know anybody who chose to do this, but it's surprising when you talk about it
because it's like, well, I know someone.
Do you want me to introduce you to that person?
So I still think it's a small network that's growing of people who had the surgery.

(02:52):
So we're happy to be able to talk to people about it.
We had a really lovely person reach out who had PCOS that discovered our podcast who was
like, oh my gosh, like thank you so much for talking about this.
Cause I just felt like I had no idea where to start with my doctor.
So that's, that's our goal is to just tell you what our experience was like and break
it down.

(03:12):
So we're going to dive into it, we'll talk all about surgery.
This, this podcast, for those who don't know, Stefan, I had surgery at the exact same clinic.
It was the Guelph bariatric clinic.
I'm sure the name is not, yeah, I'm sure that's not the name of it, but yeah, we had, we had

(03:32):
our surgery at the Guelph bariatric clinic.
Our surgeon was exactly the same.
Everybody else was kind of different.
Oh, our internal medicine doctor, he was the same.
Yes, our dietitians and social workers and those people were all different.
All different.
Our internal medicine and surgeon were the same.
Were the same.
Now you're not allowed to request a surgeon, but I did tell stuff like, yeah, you should

(03:58):
really ask for this doctor if you can.
If there's somebody that, you know, I would like to have, the first nurse right away was
shot me down, she's like, nope, it's just a rotation and I was like, okay, fair.
I get it.
Cause I think there's four, five, four, five, anyway.
Four or five.
Yeah.
I can't remember.
I can't remember.
And then as I was getting closer, it was almost like my last appointment, one of the very

(04:21):
last ones.
And I, and I kept like sneaking you into the conversation about how I knew somebody you
went to go up.
I know.
And I would constantly say how, you know, she said so many great things about her surgeon.
And so then the nurse was like, oh, well, that's really good to hear.
And I said, so I said, you know, I know I'm not allowed to like request a specific surgeon,

(04:42):
but is there any way that I could, you know, like just put a note in there?
She laughed.
She's like, who is it?
And so I told her and she laughed.
She goes, everybody wants him.
And I said, well, I've heard nothing but good things.
And sure enough, who I got.
Oh, like he honestly, absolutely wonderful.
My mom who is a retired nurse came with me and like pretty, when you can impress her,

(05:06):
it's good because like she's obviously worked with doctors and surgeons and has kind of
like a jaded view on them because to be honest, nurses do majority of the work for sexual
ill credit, but she was like, oh, he's good.
Like he's good.
He's very good.
And they, you know, they joked about a bunch of stuff together and just, yeah, they had
a good time.
So yeah, I was, I was quite impressed with this surgeon, but yeah, just so everyone knows,

(05:29):
we had our surgeries in Canada.
We had it from the same clinic.
We had the exact same surgeon.
And so this is going to be very funny because we were one year apart having surgery and
our experiences totally different.
Like you would, we went to separate clinics.
Yeah, it's so different.

(05:52):
So yeah, let's, I think the best place to start from my perspective is the orientation
because there's a lot of people listening, especially Americans who are like, I have
no idea what you're talking about.
This is not what it's like where I'm from.
And it's like, yes, absolutely.
This is unique to, this is unique to Canada.

(06:13):
This is unique to specifically our location because we'll also highlight a clinic that's
an hour away from us that is completely different than the clinic that we went to, which is
shocking.
Same province, literally same distance as the other one.
Vastly different.
Couldn't be more different than what we went through.
So orientation, that is the first, the very first step in your surgical process is you've

(06:39):
already talked to your doctor.
They need to recommend you for surgery in Canada.
I will just say in Canada, in the States, you can go pay for it at private clinics.
In Canada, you do need to be recommended and referred by your doctor.
So your doctor sends in this referral.
You usually don't get to pick where you go.
At least at the time I was not given the option.
He just said, Guelph and I said, yep.

(07:02):
Yep.
That's like, I was just thinking like, that's the hospital that offers it.
That's closest.
In my mind, I didn't know that there was, there was a program and a clinic.
I literally thought he was just saying Guelph is the only hospital that does this type of
surgery.
Are you cool to go to that hospital?
And I was like, yeah, okay, sure.
Had I known that there were other choices, I don't know if that would have impacted things,

(07:25):
but we'll get to that later.
So I was recommended.
He sends in the referral.
You sit and wait, and then somebody calls you and says, okay, it's time for orientation.
I think that was the same for you, if I'm not mistaken.
I went to the doctor.
She same thing.
She said Guelph.
I didn't know there were others.
I also just assumed Guelph was the place to go, but it is the closest to me.

(07:50):
So that was a positive.
But no, I was the same thing.
She sent in the referral and she said, I'm not sure exactly what the wait time is, but
they'll contact you.
Okay.
And I got an email saying, welcome to the clinic.
Here is your orientation details and date.
Okay.
Same thing here.
Oh yeah.
So I should point out, I was still under COVID protocols, which was kind of funny.

(08:14):
So I was still under COVID protocols when it came to my surgery.
So everything was virtual and they told me that upfront, right?
Because we're still masking and limiting how many people can come in.
But then the funny thing is fast forward to Steph doing surgery when there is no protocols
left and it's still all virtual.
So your orientation will be online.

(08:35):
It will be like going on a webinar, going on a Zoom call.
You'll enter it and the whole purpose of orientation is exactly what it sounds like.
We are going to cover the different types of surgery, what this looks like, what the
next steps would be like.
And if you're still interested, what you have to do to then officially kind of say, yes,
we'd like to be in this program, which I think was like blood work.

(09:03):
Blood work, ECG, EKG, I always get them mixed up.
I think they're the same thing.
If they're not, somebody tell me.
The little sticky things, blood work, that.
And I think there was like a form, like a health history questionnaire thing you had
to fill out.
Okay.
Yes.

(09:23):
Yes.
You had to put some of your measurements in your weight and that would, and if you possibly
needed a sleep study at some point, like you filled in all those questionnaires and you
sent those.
Yes.
Now that you talk, now that you mention it, yes.
So you had to, yeah, fill in a questionnaire.
You had to get blood work done and send that in.
And if you got that all sent in, then you were officially enrolled in the program, which

(09:49):
was kind of great because it, you know, it let you make that decision and then move on
from there, orientation was, was really basic.
Like there wasn't really many questions during orientation because I think everybody was
just very like, okay.
There's another call that will, that comes up throughout this progress where yeah, the
questions were a flowing, but in the orientation, it's very much just, okay, there's different

(10:12):
types of surgery.
To be truthful, a lot of this, you'll probably know because most of us have Googled it before
we even went to our doctor to say, I'd like to go do this, but they cover the types of
surgery.
They let you know that it's fully covered by OHIP.
So in Canada, you don't pay, you don't pay for this surgery.
It is covered regardless if you have, you know, it's covered by OHIP.
So it doesn't go through your personal insurance either.

(10:35):
So then they kind of just go over, here's all the different things, you know, there
might be a liquid diet.
You'll have to do this.
You'll have to do that.
If you're interested, like it will be a long process.
They do lay out.
It will be eight plus months and that eight months is considered fast track.
Like it will take a while.
There is no jumping ahead.
You aren't going to get a call and be like, oh my God, five months, here you go.

(10:56):
It's going to take, it's going to take most of you one year at a minimum, I'd say 11 months
from the time you start orientation to the time you have surgery.
Do not expect it to move faster than 11 months.
It's probably going to take you that long for good reason.
We're going to cover why.
So you get into orientation, you decide, you know what?

(11:18):
I am going to go into this program.
Awesome.
You have a rec for blood work.
You have to fill out a little form.
You have to do an EKG ECG.
You have to just kind of get a bare bones basics and you send that in.
And then you sit and wait a guess and again and again.
And then eventually somebody reaches out and says, congratulations are in the program.
You know, just so you know, next steps are going to be, you will talk with a nurse, you'll,

(11:40):
you're going to talk with a dietician and you're going to talk with a social worker
and that's going to be your first step.
And that I think for most people was, I want to say two months after orientation.
That's three, two, three months depending.
And the, they're, they're spread out.
I think mine were probably spread out around like two weeks, two to three weeks in between

(12:03):
each one.
Oh yes.
It's it wasn't all three at once for this first one going forward.
After that point, it was all of them in the same day.
But yeah, they were spread out.
For me again, they were still 100% virtual at this point.
I was not going in to see anyone.
So at this stage, your first initial call, let's start with the dietician.

(12:27):
So for me, the first initial call with the dietician, she did email in advance and say,
I need you to keep a two week food journal.
I need you to send that two week food journal in no later than a week before our appointment.
And that's what we're going to talk about on your call.
So that's what I did.
I kept a two week food journal.

(12:47):
Now there's no, they don't give you any guidelines at this point.
This is just kind of like the initial, let's see where you're at for me.
Yeah.
For me, that's what it was.
It was just, there was no restrictions or guidelines at this point.
It was, let's just see where you're at.
So I did my two week food journal that includes like all medication, what time you're eating,
where you're eating, what you're drinking.
Like they want to know basically your whole snapshot.

(13:10):
I send it in.
I meet with the dietician and we go over line by line.
Like she is asking, okay, so on this day, I see that you ate at your desk.
Is it normal that you're going to eat at your desk?
They want to know how long does a meal last for you from start to finish?
Are you grazing?
Are you snacking?
When do you eat when you first get up?
When do you eat before you go to bed?
How many hours are you sleeping?

(13:30):
They are going to ask and want to know literally everything about your lifestyle and habits
and eating patterns at this point.
They're going to ask about exercise at this point.
She's diving into everything.
She's going to ask about, okay, so I see that you said that you had chicken with vegetables.
How'd you cook it?
Did you fry it?
Did it have oil?
What type of oil are you using?

(13:51):
What's the amount of oil you put in the pan?
Do you know roughly how much food you were eating?
Are you eating off 12 inch plates?
Do you know?
But they're going to, they ask everything.
Now it's okay at this meeting to be like, oh, I'm not sure if it's a 12 inch plate.
That's okay.
We're just checking.
I recommend starting to eat off smaller plates and blah, blah, blah.
There's no shame.

(14:12):
There was no judgment at this one.
They were just asking all of these things.
At the end of this call was when I started getting dietary restrictions.
Okay, great.
Here's what we'd like to see you do between now and the next time we talk.
I want you to try eating this much protein.

(14:34):
I want you to start cutting out this.
I want like, it wasn't calorie restrictions.
It wasn't macro restrictions.
It was more, can you try to cut out some of the sugar and processed food?
Can you try to make sure you're eating three meals a day?
Really track your water, really watch your protein.
Can you start adhering to some guidelines?
For me, that's what I was left with at the end was here are things we want to see you

(14:57):
do over the next three months before we meet again.
Yep.
Yeah, and it was a lot of, like you said, not saying calories or macros by any means.
It was a lot of, can you try to work more fiber into these meals?
Can you make sure that each meal has a protein, a fat, a carb?

(15:20):
Can you try and swap out some of these carbs for healthier carbs?
It was more, let's try and make some tweaks.
Can you?
This is one we'll get into later.
Can you take the protein shake out every morning in your protein coffee?
That was a big one.
And then it was do that for X number of weeks.
And then we submit your journal again and we'll review it on our next call.

(15:42):
Yeah, I forgot about that one too.
Because I had obviously in advance decided I was going to start buying and doing stuff
and they were like, we want you to cut out the protein drink.
We don't want you to do that.
Don't be eating those protein bars just yet.
The other big thing for me anyway, when I went into the program was you need to cut
out alcohol.
You need to cut out completely from the moment you're in orientation.

(16:06):
And if you're a smoker, you need to stop smoking as well.
And if you are eating certain things, like if you're pre-diabetic or your blood work
show, because they obviously see your blood work as well.
So if they see things like that, they'll also say, hey, we need to see you cut down on this
and cut down on this and cut down on this.
The big thing for me was you need to not be drinking alcohol.

(16:31):
And there is no ifs, ands, or buts about that for our program.
You must stop drinking alcohol from the minute you enter orientation.
Same thing here.
Yeah.
And that's important.
There's a reason because alcoholism is very, very high in the bariatric community because
it's called transfer addiction.
Because your stomach is smaller, because you get drunk quicker.

(16:53):
It becomes pretty addicting.
But it leads to a high, high, high rate of people becoming alcoholics.
So I have never gone back to having alcohol.
I have not had a drop since November 2022 when I entered the program.
I have not either.
Yeah.
I mean, it's just empty calories for me at this point.
So that's your dietitian, your first dietitian.
The nurse, very similar.

(17:14):
Hey, saw your blood work, see where you're at.
I'm going to need you to increase your vitamin D. They're basically going to look at your
levels and they're going to start making recommendations to start to balance those levels ahead of
surgery.
So for me personally, my vitamin D was low.
And she looked at it and said, you're going to go on a prescription vitamin D. We need
to get your levels here.
So I'm going to need to see you start doing that.

(17:34):
And we need to see you start tapering off some of the medication.
I was on blood pressure and cholesterol.
We had to start getting those levels a bit lower medication wise because two weeks before
surgery I had to be off all medication.
So she's like, we have to start making choices that keep your blood pressure balanced, but
get you down to the lowest dose we can get you to so that your body will be okay during

(17:54):
surgery.
So the nurse was very much just focused on blood work and your current levels and making
suggestions on vitamins, minerals, supplements that we needed and medication.
For me anyway, sorry, that's what it was.
Yep.
I think the only thing missing that I had was focusing in on family history.
Oh yes.
Yeah.
And what, especially if you had like cardiac issues in your family or anything like high

(18:18):
blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, that kind of thing.
And then just in overall, how's your health doing?
Any concerns, anything come up from?
How you feeling?
Have you ever had strokes?
Have you ever been pregnant?
Have you ever done this?
Have you ever done that?
Like, yeah, again, it's like a physical, what will differ for all of you than it did for

(18:41):
Stef and I is like, if you are on medication, if you have any illnesses or diseases, if
you're diabetic, if you're suffering from, I don't know, afibrillation, if you're on
medication for mental health disorders, like all of these things, you'll obviously spend
more time talking to your nurse about.

(19:02):
They will not cut you out of surgery.
I think I said this in one of our earlier podcasts, you won't be excluded from surgery.
They will work and make a plan that fits around you.
And I don't want anyone to panic who might be on like mental health medication and think,
oh my God, I have to come off of that.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
They will work with you to figure it out.
I had to come off of my medication because of the risks of like bleeding and things that

(19:28):
would happen.
So we, for my medical team, we worked on things.
They will not just, they will not throw your body out of whack.
Just know that.
They will work with you.
You will be removed from surgery if you refuse to stop smoking and drinking though.
So just full stop.
You will not have this surgery if you cannot stop doing those things because they don't
feel the investment is worth it because you're at a very, very high risk for a lot of complications

(19:54):
if you're a smoker.
So that includes weed, folks.
I had to switch to gummies and then also I wasn't really allowed to have those either.
But yeah, that includes smoking joints, guys.
So any form of inhalation.
Yes, but be prepared.
Like weed is a, they just don't want you on that.

(20:14):
It can cause you to overeat.
It's not great.
So there was a lot of people that asked about like oil and edibles.
So I also don't do that anymore because it is a slippery slope and I was eating more
than I should.
So anyway, I digress.
That's going to be your first meeting with the nurse and just know that they are busy
and seeing many, many, many people.
So there's a good chance they just got your file that morning.

(20:36):
They have to ask what your current weight is, what your height is.
They have to collect a lot of info and you won't have the same nurse every call.
So don't expect them to know, oh, Steph, hey, like they're not going to remember who you
are.
Be honest with these people.
I cannot stress enough.
There is no point in lying to these people at all.
If you want to be successful, be honest.

(20:59):
If you have a disease, if you have an issue, if you have concerns, tell them.
You will not be kicked out of this program.
But if you lie to them, you are only hurting yourself.
Just be honest.
The next person you talk to, social worker.
A lot of people ask us this question, why?
Why do I have to talk to a social worker?

(21:21):
For those who don't know, that's a therapist in Canada.
Okay.
You're talking to a therapist.
You're not talking to a psychiatrist, which is the like highest level of like mental health
care doctors we have.
You're talking to a social worker, which is still incredibly talented at mental health.
They just can't prescribe medication.
That's kind of, I believe, the difference between a social worker therapist and a psychiatrist.

(21:46):
Usually psychiatrists are like medically recommended and there's a long wait list to get in to
see them.
So you'll see a social worker.
Super important because there's a reason that we're going into this program.
And it's probably because we suffer from emotional eating, binge eating, making bad choices
wrong choices, but also this is mentally a large change to your life as well.

(22:08):
That can cause body dysmorphia.
You might not have the support.
This meeting was all about, have you told your friends and family?
Do you feel like you have support?
Why do you think you got to this point?
I talked to the dietician and I can see your eating patterns.
How are we going to combat that?
Do you feel prepared to handle emotional eating and to handle transfer addictions?

(22:31):
Basically, she asks you questions to gauge if she truly believes that you are mentally
ready for this surgery.
For me anyway, that's what it was.
And it was all about my support system, my reasons for wanting to do this, what my biggest
outcomes were that I was looking for and was I truly prepared for what this entailed.

(22:57):
They want to make sure that you are going to be able to handle everything that's going
to be thrown at you because there are people that will get kicked out of this program.
The number of people that were in my orientation were definitely not the number of people that
were in my final appointment.
And for me, a lot of the questions were, how are you going to manage this with a family

(23:19):
at home who is not doing this program?
How are you going to manage, because I usually make dinner, how are you going to manage making
dinner for your family when you cannot have it?
How are you going to manage them eating things that you cannot eat?
How are you going to have that conversation with your children around why you're doing
what you're doing?
Because as Hannah and I have said, there are a lot of physical components that come with

(23:44):
this surgery and this program.
But I would argue that the majority of it is mental.
And I will be the first to admit, I am not the same person that I was at the start of
this program.
I am not the same person that I was three months ago when I came out of surgery from
this program.
There is a big mental shift, personality shift, thought process shift, perspective of the

(24:10):
world shift.
And they need to make sure you're ready for that because that is the biggest component
in my life.
It is.
Yep.
And for me, it was, are you going to be able to do this living by yourself?
Do you have friends that are going to support you?
Are you concerned about telling anyone?
At the time, there were people I was concerned about.

(24:30):
What have been the reactions?
And I talked about some of my friends that negatively reacted just kind of out of, again,
I've said this before, subliminally not being happy that they were now the fat friend.
And then it was like, yeah, can you do this by yourself?
Do you feel confident?
Do you feel like you've got this?
And then the big thing was why?
Why are you doing this?

(24:51):
And the answer could not be because I want to look skinny.
They were really trying to dig into, are you prepared?
And they were very adamant to, well, what's your goal weight?
The first person to ask about goal weight for me was the social worker.
What's your goal weight?
And I said my goal weight.
She said, well, what happens if you don't hit that goal weight?
And I said, well, she really is asking the hard questions to kind of gauge mentally,

(25:17):
will you be prepared if you don't succeed with this?
Mentally are you prepared for how long that this is going to take?
Are you in a good head space to begin with?
And they won't kick you out if you're not, they're going to work with you.
But you have to be able to handle a big, big thing.
I just remember during this call was the first three months are going to be different.

(25:38):
She never said rough, but she said different.
She said your hormones will be all over the place.
Because you are in a massive deficit, you're losing crazy amounts of weight, you just had
major surgery.
Are you prepared for this?
And that could be kind of scary because I was like, oh, I would like my mental health
to stay where it's at.
Thank you very much.
Like, I don't think I want to be dealing with mood swings and depression and anxiety and

(26:01):
all this stuff.
And now it's obviously not at a level that's like, you know, you're not dealing with clinical
depression and anxiety, but it's like your hormones are all over.
You can ask Devin, it's not a simple.
Yeah.
And she's like, are you prepared to handle that?
And again, it's just that they're trying to prepare you like, don't be afraid.
Don't be alarmed.

(26:21):
This is normal.
Oh, and it was the first three months were not brutal in any way, but I was like, holy
Christ, I'm all over the place.
But now I can say that my mental health has never been better in my whole entire fucking
life.
And then she also asked about work.
That was a big one.
Will you take time off?
How much will you take off?
Have you told work?

(26:42):
Are you prepared again?
Because I was single.
I am single still.
Are you prepared to handle your recovery by yourself?
So that's again, that's a lot of what your first meeting with the social worker would
be.
Be honest with them as well.
And do not be afraid.
They're not asking because they're trying to scare you out of this.
If anything, they want you to say, wow, that that kind of scares me.
I don't know.

(27:02):
I didn't think so.
Let's work on it.
They're trying to figure out where do they need to give you the most help.
And that's why they're asking.
They want to know where can we make you feel comfortable, supported and helped.
So that's your first initial call.
You will have these calls pretty much every three months.
You will be meeting with the same three people, not the same three people, but the same three

(27:24):
jobs.
You'll be meeting with the nurse, the dietitian and the social worker.
And they will continue to ask these questions and continue to touch base, continue to see
where you're at, track your progress.
Your dietitian will ask you to continuously still make changes as you get closer to surgery.
You're going to be on kind of like a diet.
It's not going to be super restrictive, but the closer you get to surgery, the more they're

(27:46):
going to say, we want to see lean protein.
We want to see this.
We want to see this.
We want to see that.
The closer you get, they want to get you to a certain protein level and then see, can
you stick with that?
They're not going to be like, oh my God, Stephanie, we said 80 grams of protein and you're not
doing it.
You're out of the program.
What we're trying to do is say, this is what life is going to be like after the program

(28:07):
and we want to get you in the mindset now.
More habits you can build up front, the better.
We just want you to get in that mindset and in those habits and thinking the way that
you need to think post-surgery as early ahead as they can.
Correct.
So remember, this is a year roughly that you're in this program.
So almost every three months, you're going to be meeting with this team.

(28:30):
You'll be doing blood work every three months without fail.
Doesn't matter if you have the most perfect blood work in the world, you will continuously
be doing blood work because they need to see where you at.
Be prepared that you'll be on vitamin D or things because they need to get your levels
up.
It won't stop you from having surgery, but I had to get on prescription vitamin D. I
was on 10,000 units a day because they were like, get this fucking up.

(28:52):
Crank it up.
So those are the people that you'll meet with the most often throughout pre and post.
You'll also meet with the internal medicine doctor.
This person's whole job is to again, deep dive into your health, your history, and then
they will assign you to the appropriate surgeon.
This was in person.

(29:12):
This was one of my only in-person appointments.
Everything else was virtual by the way.
And not even virtual, sorry, it was a phone call.
So you do not see these people virtually.
So then you see your internal medicine doctor and he goes over what medication are you on?
What's your family history?
You know, I'm going to take your blood pressure.
I'm going to weigh you.
I'm going to do all this stuff.

(29:33):
And he dives deep.
He does not want to shoot the shit.
He doesn't want to talk about anything except your fucking family history and your current
medical history.
And he will ask the questions.
Don't ramble.
Don't go off topic.
Like he's got this like methodical away we go and he's going to be taking notes the whole
time he's looking at you.
He's going to get you to walk around the hall.
That was really funny.

(29:53):
Go, I need to see you walk up and down the hall.
Then take your blood pressure again.
He does all of it.
And then he says, okay, I'm going to go assign you to a surgeon.
This was great.
He told me I want you off this medication.
I want you off this medication.
You'll see him closer to surgery.
So he'll take you off your medication.
He'll say, you know, you're going to be on a two week liquid diet.

(30:14):
I don't have the date yet.
But you know, when I do or no, yes, he didn't tell me he did.
He went through everything you just said.
And then he went through.
He went made me bring all my supplements.
Yeah.
He made me bring all my supplements.
And so he's sitting there.
And as Hannah said, he's taking tons of notes.
He would pick up the supplement container and go, what's this for?

(30:39):
And I would tell him, he literally be like garbage.
Yeah.
And then he would be like, what's this for?
And I would tell him, he'd go, okay.
He was hilarious.
So after he's like, if you want to take these, that's fine.
But they're not going to do anything for you.
Waste of time.
He's like, okay, he's like the whole and you come back and he like redictates all of

(31:00):
his notes verbally into a microphone.
So you have to be very quiet when you come back in.
So then you walk the hall and you hook yourself up to the oxygen.
And you just sit there like in this awkward moment while he's dictating all this stuff
about you into the microphone.
And I remember sitting there trying to be calm because I wanted my numbers to be good.

(31:23):
But I was also trying to listen to everything he was saying about me.
But it was terms that I don't understand.
So then I remember like in my head, I'm like, remember that, remember that.
So that I could get in after and start Googling, what does this mean?
What did he say?
I didn't remember shit.
I was like, what don't I do?
What?
But it was fine.
Like everything was fine.
Oh, it was all good.
Yeah.

(31:44):
I thought he was going to name my surgeon.
He didn't.
It was so funny.
It was so funny.
My numbers were sky high, but he did the same thing to me.
He was like, why are you on this?
And I was like, well, a cardiologist said that you wouldn't do surgery unless I was
on this.
And he was like, don't be on this.
And then the cardiologist was like, who the fuck is he?
And I was like, I don't know, man.
I'm just saying he told me I don't need to be on this.
So I'm not going to be on it.

(32:06):
He's funny as shit.
God, I love him.
So then there.
So that's your internal medicine doctor.
The reason I was confused is because there is one more in person.
I fucking nevermind.
I remember now.
Okay.
Then you meet the surgeon.
So you see your internal medicine doctor and this is probably the final yes or no as to
whether or not you can have surgery.

(32:27):
Yeah.
You probably meet the internal medicine doctors six months out.
Six.
Yeah.
Five, five to six months out.
Cause I remember asking you like seven fucking times when you saw him.
So about five ish months before you're actually going to have surgery, you'll see the internal
medicine doctor.
So don't get excited.
Oh my God, I met him.
He gives you the final.

(32:48):
He gives you the actual approval for surgery.
Correct.
And assigns your surgeon through all of those nurse, dietician, social worker meetings again.
So you're really excited because you're like, Oh, I met him.
I met him.
No, no, no, no.
Calm down.
Calm your excitement.
You got another six months.
Yeah.
He's just approving you for around two.
You're halfway.
You're halfway in the process.

(33:09):
So you meet with him or her or whoever the hell you're going to meet with.
And again, this was just our Guelph bariatric program.
Every other program is insanely different and some move in like months.
Ours takes a year.
So you meet with him.
He assigns your surgeon and then you go back to your just meetings with the social worker
dietician nurse and you wait and you wait and you wait.
And then, then you get the call that don't call them.

(33:32):
They'll call you.
But then you get the call.
Yeah.
Hey, Hannah, we have a surgery date for you.
It's time to book your surgeon appointment.
And it's like, what the fuck?
And they're like, we're thinking, thinking sometime in March.
They still won't give you the date on the phone.
They'll say, we have a date for you.
We're not telling you, but we need you to come in and meet the surgeon.
So that was meeting the surgeon was, I believe, a month and a half before my surgery, if I'm

(33:57):
not mistaken.
I went in, you meet with the nurse, but you see the surgeon for like a half a second.
You meet with the nurse and the nurse is going to do the almost the same thing doctor, the
internal medicine doctor did.
Walk the hall.
Let's look at stuff.
Here's the blood work.
We had, you have to do blood work before this meeting.
Let's go over your diet.
Like she basically acts as nurse, social worker and dietitian and goes over everything and

(34:18):
makes notes.
And then she goes, congratulations.
You have Dr. Matt.
And I was like, okay, don't know who that is.
And she's like, you're going to go over and meet Dr. Matt.
He's next door.
And you go in and like, boy, surgeons are methodical.
I brought my mom with me because I was like, mom, you're a nurse.
He was like, your mother can go sit over there.
I'm here to talk to you.
And I was like, oh, uh-huh.

(34:40):
And he goes through or your surgeon will go through.
Here are all the surgeries available, which for us was bypass sleeve, duodenal switch
and something else.
I do not remember.
I'm going to tell you all the pros and cons of every surgery.
I'm going to tell you all the risks and complications of every surgery.
And then you, my dear, we'll get to choose what surgery you want.
Now they heavily push bypass heavily, heavily, heavily, heavily.

(35:04):
It's the gold standard.
Do bypass.
I was like, I want sleeve.
And he's like, are you sure?
I said, yep.
He's like on the day of surgery, you could walk into the operating room, look me in the
eyes and say, I want bypass.
And you can make that choice.
You get to choose up until the moment we knock you out what surgery you want.
We've made our recommendations, but I will do whatever one you want to do.

(35:24):
And I said, I want sleeve.
And he said, okay, totally fine.
But you have until surgery to make your choice.
But they do heavily push bypass, but I was not over 400 pounds.
I was not pre-diabetic and I had no co-morbidities that would require me to have bypass.
Some of you unfortunately will be required to have it.
I was young and I believed that sleeve was non-invasive and that I could do the work

(35:46):
to maintain it.
So I picked sleeve.
And I think Steph, you had the same experience.
Exactly.
He sat down.
He had like little diagrams of each.
Yeah.
But then he also drew them out for me also one at a time.
Yep.
And then went through all of this.
I'll do this.
Yeah.
And he said, same thing.
They typically recommend bypass, but it was up to me.

(36:08):
I said, I want sleeve.
He said, why?
He made me explain why I wanted it.
Exactly.
Which is fair.
And same things you did.
I said, I think it was less invasive, faster recovery typically.
The complications were very similar.
There was a little bit more with bypass risk-wise that I wasn't totally comfortable with.
And then I said, I feel comfortable and confident that I can put the work in.

(36:30):
Knowing sleeve typically doesn't lose as much as bypass.
It's close.
It is close.
But I said, I feel comfortable and confident that I can put in the work I need to do to
get me where I want to be.
And he said, yep.
He goes, you know what?
If that's what you want, that's what we'll do.
You change your mind.
That's cool.
But here's the paper.
Sign it.
Go to the desk.

(36:51):
Get your surgery date and your good night.
And same thing.
He didn't shame me for picking sleeve.
He was like, yeah, sleeve gets on their feet quicker.
You do know about the weight loss.
I said, yeah, but everything I saw was that it was minimal.
He's like, yeah, it is.
The differences are minimal.
Here's the pros and cons.
The complications from bypass were just too, nope, not interested in it.

(37:17):
So I was like, this is what we'll do.
But he was great.
He was like, great.
You're approved.
You're signed off.
Go to the front desk.
You're going to get your Optifast and you're going to get your date.
So the one thing you will have to pay for is your Optifast.
It's like 120 bucks.
But you go up to the front, you sit down again.
They go, Hannah, March 13th, that's going to be your date.
I was like, oh my God, this is happening.

(37:38):
And they're like, you're going to buy your Optifast.
You want chocolate, vanilla or a mix?
And I was like, I don't know, fucking mix, I guess.
So then you buy your Optifast and they give you all the paperwork.
You're going to start your Optifast on this date, it goes till this date.
And they give you a binder of stuff, all the paperwork you need for surgery.
And then they go, great, we've also booked you in for your pre-op appointments.
You'll have two.
You need to come in the day before surgery for this pre-op appointment to get all this

(38:01):
blood work and get everything checked.
And then there was one a couple of days before that for me where I think I had to meet with
the anesthesiologist and he had to get my weight and my medical history.
And I had to talk to the social worker.
That was like, I think a week before surgery.
And then the day before surgery, I did have to go in for my nurse pre-op, which was my
blood work and just a bunch of stuff that they do so that when you come in for surgery,

(38:22):
you come in, you change and in you go.
And for surgery, they gave me the option.
I know I'm jumping ahead stuff.
I'll let you talk about the pre-op stuff.
But when it came time to surgery, I came in, I got in my gown and that was it.
We didn't have to do any blood work because we had done it the day before.
Everything was good to go.
They had my bed ready.
I was not staying the night.
I was doing day surgery.
I was given the option because I lived close enough to have day surgery.

(38:46):
So I showed up at the hospital for 6 a.m.
My surgery was set for seven on the dot and I was going home at three.
And literally that's what happened.
But the nurses come up to you and they go, would you like to walk into the operating
room?
And I was like, whoa.
They're like, yeah, we don't have to wheel you in.
So they wheel you to the door on your little bed gurney and then they let you get off the

(39:06):
bed for me anyway.
And I got to walk into the operating room and it was very surreal.
It was ice fucking cold, ice cold.
But I got to look around and it was like a factory.
There was like 13 people in there methodically going over everything.
And I remember being like, this is kind of cool.
You get up on the table, they put a warm blanket on you.
They make you huff oxygen, which like I wasn't.

(39:27):
And they kept going, Hannah, breathe the oxygen.
And I was like, I'm like looking around because I thought the oxygen, thought the oxygen was
knockout gas.
And I was like, I don't want to breathe this.
And it was just oxygen.
It was just trying to get my oxygen levels up.
And then you black out and the next thing you know, you're done.
But that was what it was like, like the week before surgery, the day before surgery, and

(39:48):
then the day of surgery in the hospital.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Similar like after Met Surgeon went out, got all my stuff.
They also, for us, they give you all your appointments for the year, booked out on a
paper too, which is nice.
And then yeah, they brought out my Optifast in a garbage bag.
Yeah, mine too.
I had a clear garbage bag.
I was like, three boxes of these shakes in this garbage bag that she comes trucking out

(40:10):
with.
And I was like, okay.
So it's super, like that's when it hit me, when I got my Optifast bag.
And I was like, oh shit, like this is going down.
And so yeah, we left.
My pre-op was a little different because I'm further away.
They did mine a little bit further out.
But same thing, I had two pre-ops.

(40:32):
I had the one with the anesthesiologist and that one was funny.
And then I had one with the longer one with the nurse where they did like the blood work,
the history, they go through what's going to happen the day of surgery, what your recovery
is going to be like.
They go through all the ins and outs and that kind of stuff.
Mine were, I think two weeks and one week before surgery.

(40:52):
So fairly close.
And then my surgery was at eight, I got there at 830.
And then my surgery was like-
Fast, it moves quick when you're there.
It moves you real quick.
So like you show up at 830, you sign in, they take all your info and they tell you to follow
this line and go through these doors.
And all of a sudden before you know it, like you go through two doors and you're in pre-op.

(41:14):
And I just looked around, I'm like, this is like some back entrance somewhere.
Like, okay.
Craziness.
Yeah.
So they took all my stuff.
They put you in your little pre-op room.
Got a little bit of that gown.
They put you on your gown, then you got to wait.
And then they give you the lovely blood thinner shot.
Oh Christ.
So I left, I PTSD'd that out of my brain.
Oh Christ.

(41:35):
The thing I remembered, I was so, Devin was with me.
And then at one point they came to give me the blood thinner.
For me, my biggest paranoia and concern was the IV.
Oh yeah.
I'm not a meal person.
I'm okay with blood work.
I used to not like, I'm not even kidding.
You used to have to like get four people to pin me down.
But then doing a year of fertility treatments, I had blood work like every day.

(41:58):
I had no choice.
So I would take blood work, but I'd never had an IV.
Terrified.
And I said to the anesthesiologist, I was like, the only thing that scares me about
this surgery is the IV.
The surgery itself, I'm not even, the IVs give like literally keeps me up at night.
So it was really funny because he goes, can I see your hands?
And I said, sure.

(42:18):
Cause he goes, typically we put them in your hand.
And I was like, I know.
That's weird.
No, I had mine.
No, in my hand.
And he goes, can I see your hands?
And I said, sure.
So I went like this and he grabbed my hands and he looks at them.
And so it turns out the anesthesiologist is somebody I went to school with like all through
them.
Yeah.
I remember you mentioning.
But I hadn't seen him since then.
So anyway, he's got my hands and he's looking at, he looks at me and he goes, figure something

(42:43):
out.
And I was like, well, that's not, that's not what I want to hear.
I didn't have mine in my hands.
I had mine in my arm.
He ended up being in my hand.
But then I remember I'm in pre-op, got on my stuff, got my booty, my gown and everything
on.
And then I was so anxious at that point because then you sit there for two hours waiting to
go to surgery.

(43:04):
And so then she comes in and she goes, okay, hop on the bed.
We're ready.
And I had remembered you saying you walked into the operating room.
And I thought for a minute, I was like, well, I'm going to walk into the operating room.
Like what?
So walking into the operating room.
So I was like, fine, whatever.
So I climb on the bed, Devon leaves.
The fuckers?
Yep.
I was like, this isn't fair.
So then, yeah, they wheeled you in outside of the operating room.

(43:27):
Outside the door.
And it's really nice of you to come over.
And she said, hey, we know we're just sterilizing the room.
We're just getting it flipped over for you.
You okay?
You need anything?
You good?
I said, yep.
There was some construction happening outside.
So she was trying to distract me by like, oh, look at what we think they're building out
there.
Yeah.
Then the anesthesiologist came out, put my IV in.
That was super fun.
And then he goes, okay, come on.

(43:49):
Yeah.
You get to walk in.
And he goes, come on.
And I looked at him and said, come on.
He goes, well, you need to go into the operating room.
Yeah.
Oh, shit.
So I walked in and same thing.
People moving everywhere.
Oh, yeah.
Like an ant farm.
People were just going.
Yeah.
And yeah, cold.
Yep.
And then they put you on the bed.

(44:10):
And the other surgeon comes in and introduces herself.
And she goes, I'm so and so.
I'll be working with the surgeon.
The assistant.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they put me down at the same time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, draft?
Okay.
But then me being me.
So they go to put the mask on.
The surgeon comes over.
He's like, you good?
Yeah.

(44:31):
Everything's fine.
Yep.
And there was, I can't even remember what song it was, but there was some song playing.
And I remember going, oh, I love this song.
I love the music.
Our surgeon had great taste in music.
He goes, do you want me to turn it up for you?
And I was like, sure.
So they put the oxygen mask on and I remember like singing along, trying to like calm myself

(44:51):
as the anesthesiologist is like, okay, we're pushing the drugs.
Here we go.
See, they didn't even tell me that.
I just blacked out.
No, he said it was going to burn.
He's like, I'm going to burn.
I didn't feel a thing.
I'm pretty sure I fainted.
I'm going to be like 90% sure.
I wasn't breathing the oxygen and just passed the fuck out.
It weren't the propofol.

(45:11):
It burnt like a mother.
No, I didn't feel it.
But I just remember laying there with the mask on singing and the surgeon, our surgeon
like being over top of me just laughing.
And I was like, I got, I got the surgeon doing the check.
And when he announces the check, it's like the most regimented, like, so everyone's talking
and moving and going.
And then they stop to do the check, which is where they literally verbally walk through

(45:37):
what surgery are we doing?
Who's on the table?
What do we have laid out?
And not a single person breathes or moves during this.
It's cold as hell.
It's really cold.
It's ice fucking cold in that room.
We'll do a whole, we'll split this podcast in two folks because we're not going to go
super long, but we'll talk all about post surgery.
How about next week?

(45:57):
We'll cancel extra, we'll, we'll do another episode about post surgery.
So we'll make this pre, pre and during.
The funny thing is like you come at, I came out of surgery slightly different than you,
where my whole face was blue.
And I remember telling Steph, bring face wipes because you look ridiculous.
I bought them and packed them just because of you telling me.

(46:20):
I love that you get to walk in because you know what?
I was nervous, but excited.
And they really try to make you feel like this is such a great, such a great thing you're
doing.
You're here for you.
You, you physically have decided to do this.
You're not being forced into surgery because of your health.
Like you've chosen it and it's really empowering to do that.

(46:41):
The worst part of surgery, the worst part is coming out of anesthesia.
I had no real pain.
The heparin shot, the heparin shot burns.
You're going to get a blood thinner shot.
It burns.
I got more than you and that made me so math.
It burns and it leaves a big bruise.
That was the worst part about before surgery was that heparin shot sucked.

(47:03):
And IV actually feels less painful than getting blood taken because the needle, like it's
just, well, I will fight you on that one.
Oh, I thought it was easier because the nurses knew their shit.
Cause you were getting surgical nurses.
So the anesthesiologist did it.
Oh no.
See my nurse did it and it went in here.
So it goes and away you go.
And I was like, this is dope as hell.
I wanted this one and they wouldn't do it.

(47:23):
They said it has to be in the hand.
Got it in the arm.
So everything was great.
The worst part for me about surgery was coming out of anesthesia.
I did not like when they woke you up in recovery.
It's really just, just jarring.
Like I, I, oh my God, I did not like it.
I somehow was on my side in a fetal position.
I remember that when I woke up and they're calling your name and they're shaking your

(47:46):
foot and trying to wake you up.
And I fucking hated that feeling.
It was like a combination between I'm going to faint vomit and beat the shit out of someone.
It was a weird fucking feeling.
It only lasts like maybe 30 minutes and then once they think you're good, you go back to
your room for recovery and all you want to do is sleep.
And I was day surgery.

(48:07):
So I have my mother at the end of the bed, like, hey, how you doing?
And I remember I looked at her.
I looked her dead in the eyes and I went, I need you to fuck off.
I was so like, stop touching me.
I was so cranky and she was like, I want to go home, get out of bed.
Like she was shaking my feet being like, let's go.
And I was like, mom, they're not going to let me go before 3pm.

(48:30):
And sure enough, the nurse came over and said, she's not going anywhere before 3pm, but they
get you up and going.
You need to start drinking almost immediately.
They give you a paper and a little sippy thing and you have to drink every 30 minutes and
market and then halfway through you switch to apple juice and can you tolerate apple
juice?
And then before I was allowed to go home, I had to do laps of the surgical floor and

(48:51):
they stood me up.
They were like, okay, let's go.
And I sat up, they stood me up and I went, folks, I'm about to go right the fuck back
down.
And they went, get back in bed, get back in bed.
And I was like, this is not.
And so they put me back in bed and immediately started me on apple juice because they're
like, you need some sugar, let's go.
And I was, I did my laps around the hospital.
I was cracking jokes.
They're like, how do you feel?
I was like, like I didn't have surgery.

(49:12):
Like I feel I'm tired and I'm very cranky and I feel very disoriented, but I think my
mom feels worse than I do sitting here for eight hours.
And it was true.
My mom was horrible because she was miserable sitting there for eight hours.
So I recommend to like the person picking you up and dropping you off does not need
to stay the whole time.
Tell them to drop you off, kiss you goodbye and come back after you're ready to go home

(49:34):
because they're just going to sit there bored out of their mind.
They will not discharge you before you do all your tests.
But that was the worst part for me.
Literally the worst part was just coming out of anesthesia.
It was horrible.
And the blue.
I didn't have the blue.
That's so this is what's weird.
So I had no surgery.
I could be wrong.
I could be wrong because I remember waking up and bless the nurses bless bless their

(49:58):
hearts.
I love nurses.
I woke up and I woke up when I say woke up my eyes were so close, but I woke up and I
can feel them rubbing my shoulders.
And they're like, yeah, like literally rubbing my shoulders.
How nice Steph.
How nice.
I got wake up.
I got the nice shoulder rub, but I could not physically open my eyes.
So I had surgery when I was little like tubes in my ears tonsils, but I never had surgery

(50:21):
as an adult.
So I had no idea.
Me either.
I had wisdom teeth.
I've never had surgery in my life.
Wisdom teeth was a light sedation.
Like it was IV sedation, but really light.
I'd never been out.
So I woke up, but I couldn't open my eyes.
And it was the worst feeling in the world.
Like panic.
My eyes would not physically open.
I could hear the nurses talking.

(50:42):
I could feel them rubbing my shoulders.
And I had a little bit of gas pain, but not crazy and a little bit of nausea.
And so the nurse kept saying like, are you good?
I was like, yeah, a little bit nauseous.
So they gave me that little bowl thing to hold there, which I had, but I didn't actually
get sick.
I just had a little bit of that and she goes, you okay?

(51:03):
I said, I think so.
I opened my eyes for a second.
I was like, nope, not happening.
Right back down.
And then I remembered after, but I remember opening my eyes and our internal medicine
doctor being put on my bed going like this.
At the time I was like, who the hell are you?

(51:24):
I didn't get to see any of these people.
I got to see the surgeon.
The surgeon did come, but I did not get to see.
I remember him saying, I'll see you soon.
And I just, at the time I remember going, who the hell is this?
Oh yeah.
You're very, very discombobulated.
You're so out of it.
I woke up and no one.

(51:45):
Thank you mother, by the way, who was with me told me that I had blue coming out here.
There was a nurse wiping my mouth.
Okay.
So she could have been rubbing the blue off.
What a lovely experience Steph got.
Shoulder rubs, wipe your face.
You remember a wet cloth being like rubbed on me.
Maybe I was drooling.

(52:06):
Maybe it was just drool.
Yeah.
Well, Hannah got shake her feet and get up, get up, get up.
I couldn't open my eyes.
And I said to the nurse, I said, I feel like I feel a little bit of gas.
She was, are you in pain?
And I said, I can feel some gas pain.
And she goes, oh, well, if you've got gas pain, then let's get you up to your room and
get you moving.

(52:26):
And I remember laying there going, you haven't opened my eyes.
And you're talking about getting me moving.
This is what they want.
Yeah.
They wheeled me to my hospital room.
Get up, get going.
Which I think I was awake for like parts of.
And I remember the feeling of being wheeled through the hospital when you can't open your
eyes and you're all like discombobulated was horrible.

(52:48):
I remember digging into like the rails of the bed because I just thought like I was
going to float away or something.
And then yeah, Devin came.
So then the surgeon called Devin to say, you know, surgery's done.
She's fine.
She's in her room.
So he came, checked on me for a bit.
And I said, that's the same thing.
I said, just go.
Because I had to stay overnight because I lived too far from the hospital.

(53:08):
Which is fine.
But I said to Devin, I'm like, just go.
There's no point of you being here.
He was staying in Kitchener anyway.
I'm like, what are you going to do?
Just hang out here and watch me sleep.
And then Hannah, Hannah came to see me.
And I remember I felt so bad because like I wanted to like hang out and talk, but I
was so tired.
And I was like, I remember being like, hey, how's it go?

(53:29):
And just like my eyes would close.
And I was like, I can't even walk.
But then yeah, the water comes, the juice comes.
The juice helps a lot once you get to apple juice.
The juice really helps.
That's sugar.
I was up and walking.
And not in a bad way, but they kind of left me on my own.
Once they realized I was holding fluids down and I was able to move, they just kind of

(53:52):
left me.
And so every half an hour, every so often, I would just get up with my IV pole and I
would do my laps through and come back, hang out, get up, do my leaps.
It was pretty boring.
But I had no surgical pain, gas pain up here.
But I didn't feel like I had surgery.
I had, at one point, the nurse, can I lay on my side?

(54:15):
He's like, do whatever you want.
But I was so afraid because in my head, I was like, just had surgery.
And I remember, and you have your incisions and I remember rolling on my side and just
being like, what's the big deal?
There was some heat, but I had no pain.
I didn't have gas pain, but I think it's because I was day surgery.
So I was literally on my feet like an hour after waking up.

(54:36):
Like I was up going, talking, moving.
Nothing, nothing horrendous.
No, no pain.
It really didn't feel like surgery.
Again, the worst part was coming at a sedation that sucked and is super discombobulating
and I do not like it.
And I don't really want to go through that again.
But overall, the surgery was less than an hour.
It was super easy.
There were no complications.
I did not get my face wiped off.

(54:58):
So what I'm referring to is like my mom, I looked at myself and went, what the hell,
mom could have told me.
She's like, oh, well, that's from like the intubation tube and the tube that goes in
like down in your throat.
Like they have to put this, it's like iodine almost basically, but it's to make sure you
don't get bacteria in there.
So when they pull this stuff out, like it's all still there.

(55:21):
So I had blue stuff coming out my nose for like a week and then you have to cough.
They really need you to cough after surgery because you had, you were under sedation and
you had tubes and stuff, blue stuff, just blue stuff for weeks.
And I was like, ugh.
So I told Steph, bring facial wipes because this was brutal.
And I was like, all right, maybe your surgery was different with mine then jerk.

(55:42):
But like I clearly was, something was different.
I asked because they told me that when I mentioned the blue, he said, yeah, we do a leak test
after your surgeries.
And he said, we pour dye down your throat and watch it to make sure that there's no
leakage.
That's what it was.
Yeah.
Cause the camera's in there and he says, we watch.
So I expected the same thing.

(56:03):
Maybe they, maybe they forgot they cut corners on old Hannah.
Okay.
They were like, ah, get her in, get her out.
She's fine.
Rump it in her.
Yeah.
Fine.
That's, that's pre surgery and kind of a little bit of surgery.
We will do a whole other episode cause we're getting too long on this one where we'll talk
about post surgery.
And we will also talk to you about the things we like about this clinic, the things we don't.

(56:27):
And we're going to talk to you about the other option that we did not learn about till after
and why the clinic that's literally an hour away from us is so drastically different than
the one that we went to and what our thoughts are on that.
So we're going to stop it here because I know it's getting long, but that is the deep dive
into pre surgery and what surgery kind of looked like the day of.

(56:49):
We will do another episode very soon where we will talk about post surgery recovery and
the differences between our clinic and the other ones and what we like and don't like.
So thanks for coming along on this extra long special edition of surgery highlights.
We really do appreciate it.
We love each and every one of you that's been listening.

(57:10):
Keep letting us know what you want to hear.
Also we want to know, do you like an hour?
Do you want this to be 30 minutes?
Tell us.
We want to make sure we deliver the format that works best for all of you, for our listeners,
but thanks for trucking along on our surgical journey episode.
Love it.
Thanks guys.
Thanks Steph for joining me.
Anytime Hannah.
It's great.

(57:30):
See you all next week everybody.
Take care.