Gastric Bypass: Discharge Instructions

Medications

Specific instructions about your medications will be given to you by the nurse in written form.  The following general rules usually apply:

• Most medications that you took before surgery can and should be resumed on the same dose and schedule, except
  Usually diabetic medications and diuretics (fluid pills) should not be restarted. 
  You should not take Aspirin, Motrin, or other pain medicines in this group (medically known as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, or NSAIDs).
  Tylenol is OK.
• You will receive a prescription for some pain medicine, usually Lortab liquid.
• If you still have your gallbladder at the time of discharge you will receive a prescription for ursodiol.  This is a bile thinning medicine and it is intended to reduce the chance you will form gallstones during the most rapid period of weight loss.  You are instructed to take this medicine once per day for six months.
• You should begin taking vitamins, Iron, and supplemental Calcium, for life.  You will find specific guidelines on your discharge orders, and our dietician will also serve as a resource for questions.

Diet

You should refer to your diet handout for a complete description of the diet, but a few points deserve emphasis:

• You should drink zero-calorie fluids almost constantly, except
  Don’t drink fluids with food, and don’t drink fluids within an hour of eating.
• It is normal to have no appetite for 2-4 weeks following WLS.  If you force food “to keep your energy up” you will make yourself feel sick, delay your recovery, and impair weight loss.  Now is the time to begin learning to listen to your stomach – eat small amounts only when your new little stomach pouch tells you it is ready.  If you go for a whole day or two without eating food, it’s OK (as long as you are taking plenty of liquid).

Activity

Walking is highly encouraged.  You should walk as far as you can at least once each day, and twice is better.  This means you should get out of the house and walk around the neighborhood.  Going up and down stairs will not impair healing, so it’s OK as long as you’re steady enough on your feet.

Showers are OK.

The abdominal binder is intended for your comfort, and it has nothing to do with long term healing.  That means if it feels good, wear it.  If it doesn’t, take it off.

Riding in a car is OK, but don’t drive until your surgeon clears you to do so.

Wound care

Your wounds should heal nicely without special care.  It’s OK for the incisions to get wet in the shower, but not to soak (swimming pool, hot tub) until your surgeon says it’s OK.

You may put lotions or oils on the incision if you desire – we don’t know of anything along these lines that helps healing but most of it doesn’t hurt either.

The wounds don’t need extra covering for healing purposes.  On the other hand, if it feels better to put gauze on the incision to pad it that’s not a problem.

For women whose incision extends underneath the usual spot for their bra straps – you can put a large Band-Aid (the patch style) on the upper end of the incision.  The Band-Aid will pad the incision and let the strap slide more easily in this area.

Signs of an infection in the wound are redness, increasing tenderness, or thick white leaking from the wound.  You may also feel a fever if you have a wound infection.  Call our office if this seems to be happening.

Some of our patients develop a red-orange drainage from an incision within the first two weeks at home.  In the vast majority of cases this is not serious, but call us to talk it over.

Followup

Your surgeon will want to see you around 10-14 days after release from the hospital.  We will check on your liquid intake, check your incisions, and begin teaching for the next phase of recovery.  Arrangements can be made for a local physician to see you at that time if you live far from San Antonio.

Call the surgeon’s office for the following problems:

• Fever of 100.5 or greater
• Chills
• Worsening pain, unrelieved pain, or pain that worries you
• Increasing or pus-like drainage from your incision
• Redness, swelling, or increasing tenderness of the incision
• Inability to keep down liquids

Our office number is (210) 614-9210, and this will reach your surgeon or the covering partner at any time, even outside business hours.

Next: Adjustable Gastric Band: Discharge Instructions →