Bariatric surgery - Hospital stay

You will be admitted to the hospital the morning of your surgery.  If you use a BiPAP or CPAP machine at home, bring this to the hospital with you the morning of your surgery. 

You will have admission paperwork to fill out as well as an additional consent for surgery to complete.  Medication will be given to you to decrease your risk of infection and clots. 

A nurse will talk with you about what you will need to do after your surgery including using the incentive spirometer, getting out of bed, and walking as early as 4 hours following your surgery. 

Walking soon after surgery can help prevent complications such as blood clots and pneumonia.  The nurse will also discuss techniques and medications available for pain control following your surgery. 

Your surgeon, an assistant surgeon, and a team of trained surgical nurses will perform your operation. Your anesthesia will be administered by an anesthesiologist.

To prevent pain after your surgery, you may have a patient controlled analgesia (PCA) device that will allow you to administer your own pain medication. 

You may have a Foley catheter in place after surgery to drain your bladder of urine.  This is usually removed 1- 2 days after surgery. 

You may also have 1-2 drains in your abdomen after the surgery.  These are small tubes that will remain in place for approximately 1 week. 

Hospital staff will be visiting your room frequently to encourage you to use your incentive spirometer. This helps expand your lungs, which will decrease your risk of pneumonia.

On the morning after your surgery you will have a swallow study to confirm that there are no leaks from your surgery. After this you can begin taking small sips of clear liquid.