Typical Course - Gastric Bypass

Take nothing by mouth starting midnight the night before surgery. Medications are too be discussed with your physicians. Please be at the hospital admitting office two hours before surgery.

Operative time for a laparoscopic bypass is usually between two and three hours. There is also some time on either end for anesthesia to put you to sleep and wake you up. When you wake up, there are typically no tubes in the nose or mouth but a nose tube is sometimes a possibility. There will also be a small temporary drainage tube through on of the abdominal stab wounds. This is typically removed prior to your discharge.

When you are wide awake, you will be transferred to the floor. The day of surgery, there will be nothing taken by mouth. You will be connected to a pain medicine pump and have a catheter in your bladder. Two to three hours after surgery, you will be asked to walk with the assistance of the nursing staff and to work on coughing and deep breathing to prevent lung collapse.

The day after surgery, you will be taken to x-ray for a swallowing study to rule out any leaks. Once this has been interpreted, you will be started on sips of liquids. The bladder catheter is often removed and you will be encouraged to walk ten times that day.

The following day, you will be started on pain medicine by mouth, the IV will be removed and you will be encouraged to walk again ten times that day. Your diet will be increased to stage II. Once you can tolerate the diet, have good pain control with the pain medicine by mouth and demonstrate that you can safely get out of bed, you can be discharged home. The drain is typically removed at discharge

Follow up is traditionally the week after surgery, six weeks, three months, six months and then yearly after that.