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Table of Contents
Recovery Timeline
Coping With Recovery
Wound Care
Next in Gastric Bypass Surgery Guide
In order to optimize your chances for a successful surgical outcome, it’s important to carefully follow your surgeon’s post-operative instructions. These instructions will include when to follow-up, types and amounts of liquids and foods to eat, and what activities to restrict.
Jessica Olah / Verywell
Some of the main goals of these visits will be to:
About four to six weeks after surgery, you will also need to see your primary care provider and any specialist practitioners (e.g., endocrinologist or cardiologist). With your significant weight loss, any chronic health conditions that you have, like type 2 diabetes mellitus orhypertension, will improve, if not reverse, over time. Your healthcare providers, therefore, may need to adjust your medications.
Besides your surgery appointments, you will also have regularly scheduled sessions with a bariatric registered dietitian. These sessions are essential for ensuring that you are sticking to healthy eating habits, preparing food correctly, not skipping meals, and controlling portion sizes. Your dietitian appointments will occur around the following time points:
During your hospital stay, expect to:
Once discharged home, your surgical team will provide you with the following instructions:
As you cope with the physical and emotional aftermath of surgery, it’s a good idea to have someone home with you for the first few days after surgery.
Besides providing comfort and boosting your emotional well-being, a friend or loved one can help you with cleaning, caring for pets, grocery shopping, and keeping you on track with your advised fluid and diet intake. If you are still taking oral pain medication, they can also drive you to any appointments you have.
While you are recovering at home those first few days, keep in mind that you may require assistance with personal habits like using the bathroom or taking a shower.
If you have not already purchased or rented fall prevention items like a long sponge stick, toilet lift, or shower head with a detachable hose, a social worker or the person helping you at home may be able to take care of that for you.
Keeping your abdominal wound area clean and as dry as possible is important for preventing irritation and infection. While your surgeon will likely allow you to shower soon after surgery, they will advise you to pat the area dry after gently washing it with a mild soap. You will also be advised to not bathe or go into a swimming pool until the wound has fully healed (usually about three weeks).
You may have a dressing or thin bandages, called steri-strips, on your wound site(s).Talk to your healthcare provider about how to redress the wound after showering or when you can expect the steri-strips to fall off.
You may also have surgical staples that need to be removed (around ten days after surgery) or dissolvable stitches that do not need any intervention.
Seek Medical AttentionBe sure to contact your surgeon or go to your nearest emergency room if you develop any symptoms or signs of a potential infection or other complication, such as:FeverYellow/green and/or malodorous discharge from the wound site(s)Increased wound redness, swelling, or tendernessCoughing, chest or leg pain, or shortness of breathVomiting and diarrheaPain in the abdomen or shoulder
Seek Medical Attention
Be sure to contact your surgeon or go to your nearest emergency room if you develop any symptoms or signs of a potential infection or other complication, such as:FeverYellow/green and/or malodorous discharge from the wound site(s)Increased wound redness, swelling, or tendernessCoughing, chest or leg pain, or shortness of breathVomiting and diarrheaPain in the abdomen or shoulder
Be sure to contact your surgeon or go to your nearest emergency room if you develop any symptoms or signs of a potential infection or other complication, such as:
A Word From Verywell
As you navigate your recovery, do not hesitate to reach out to your surgical team with any concerns or questions. They are there to help you succeed and feel well. Often times, little changes in your daily habits can go a long way in easing any unpleasant symptoms.
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Penn Medicine Princeton Health.Bariatric follow-up care.
UCSF Health.Recovery from bariatric surgery.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.About post-surgery bariatric vitamins & bariatric supplements.
Richardson WS, Plaisance AM, Periou L, Buquoi J, Tillery D.Long-term management of patients after weight loss surgery.Ochsner J.Fall; 9(3): 154–159.
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