Had my surgery on Monday 4/15/13. The whole day is a anesthesia induced blur. I don't remember leaving post-op. I woke up in the recovery room & was basically in & out of it the entire day. No pain but then I was barely conscious. My hospital stay was not so great. How are you supposed to sleep when people keep coming in all the time!? I know they need to check on patients, but damn. I did my walking but I had a lot of trouble with my breathing. I finally used the incentive spirometer and it got better within a day. I almost didn't get to go home yesterday because of a temperature. It was 100.4 at the highest. I dropped down a little but I was told I wouldn't get to go home until my temp was under 99.5. Well, I hated being in the hospital. I've rarely been so bored. So maybe I didn't put the thermometer under my tongue the next couple of times they took my temp. Just maybe.... Today is my first day home all day & I'm in more pain & have more nausea than I've had so far. I'm having a hard time getting liquids down. Even water tastes bad to me right now. Gotta say, I'm not thinking this surgery was such a good choice. I've never had a "real" surgery before so I didn't know what to expect but this sucks.
By this time tomorrow I should be out of surgery or darn close to it. I'm scared senseless & hoping the clock goes slowly today. I know the surgery is fairly safe & my dr has a good record but I'm still mostly scared about the surgery itself. I'm sure I'll have issues following surgery but I'm not worrying about those right now. I'll have to deal with them because there's no other choice. I just want to make sure I see my babies grow up.
Today is my last day of eating as I know it. Good thing & scary thing I've bought everything I need to start: protein mix, skim milk, light yogurt, fresh veggies and fat free balsamic dressing. I'm nervous about remembering when & what to eat/drink! I haven't told my co-workers about this so I'm just going to tell them I'm on a new diet. Not really fibbing, either. I'm nervous about how I'll feel on this diet. I get headaches (migraines) if I'm too hungry so I'm scared that will happen. With 2 small kids (that just got candy filled Easter baskets!) not eating at home is going to be a challenge. The kids are going to wonder why & I haven't told them I'm having surgery. My little guy is too young to understand & my daughter will worry & cry. I'll tell them what I think they can handle - no sense in scaring them as much as I'm scared! To top it off - I've caught a cold from my son. Feeling like crap - well, why not? lol
It feels like my body is starting to "settle". I don't know if anyone else has experienced this feeling or if it's just me. Don't know quite how to explain it. My clothes are not fitting right - almost everything is too big. It's a weird feeling to have underwear that's too big. If I wear it to bed it slides off when I move. TMI, I know but it's just weird. Believe me I'm not complaining I just don't want to spend a ton of money on "in between" clothes. My massage therapist says working on me is like working "on a completely different body". That's awesome to hear. I've created a huge bag full of clothes that I can no longer pull off as presentable. They are just too large. That's so nice to say! I'm looking into joining a gym now to start to tone since I'm getting some definition in my arms & legs now. Yep, even starting to get a figure! Although at my 3 month post-op I was only awarded a C- by my surgeon because I'm not drinking enough according to him. Well, it's really tough to get down 80 ounces while not drink during or 1 hour after meals! I'm trying, I swear! Keeping track of food & liquid like this is almost a full time job! 53 pounds down - 73 to go... GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!
6 days out of surgery & I am feeling better. I have an occasional tweak of what I'm assuming is gas pain & I don't have the endurance back yet but I am definitely feeling better. I've been up & out: grocery store, Farmer's Market, etc. Strangely enough, even though I'm still on liquids, everyone else in the house still needs to eat That first day home was really bad until my Dr prescribed an antinausea med for me. One tab & I felt so much better. I was able to get liquids down & feel better. Now I'm getting at least 2 shakes a day down & quite a bit of other liquid. Probably not the 80 ounces I'm supposed to but I'm getting there. I've had a couple of bites of motzerella cheese & some hummus. Felt good to taste something other than shakes & crystal light
Day 2 of liver shrinking diet. And the cold I was coming down with on Sunday has become a full blown sinus infection. Weird, but I'm just happy it happened now & not closer to my surgery which is now 13 days away. Just started antibiotic today so I'm hoping to feel better soon. Yesterday I drank so much I felt like I was going to burst. I'm not sure I even took in the 100 ounces of fluid I'm supposed to but I swear I couldn't get one more sip down. I had to take a Sudaphed before bed for my sinus infection & I just barely swallowed that sucker! lol Today since I'm feeling so sick I'm nowhere near where I should be for drinking. I skipped my yogurt at breakfast & lunch because I just didn't care. Maybe it's good that I've lost my appetite due to illness so I'm not starving!
3 and a half weeks post op & I feel so good it's hard to believe how crappy I felt. I fit into pants that were too snug before surgery, too! I am able to eat almost anything without trouble - have not tried breads, etc yet because it's on my "no-no" list. That's okay - don't need it I even had a few sips of iced coffee today - 5 days early because I'm such a rebel - lol! I've eaten out a few times, too & managed to find good choices that didn't bother me. Oh and the best find: no sugar added Klondike bars!!!! OMG!!! Thanks to my mom for buying them for me!! Only 3 grams of sugar & they taste fabulous!! I hope everyone is feeling as good as I am
I'm so excited to be down 50 pounds!! I can see and feel a big difference in my clothes - I'm amazed how baggy my clothes are on me. I would love to buy new ones but financially it doesn't make a lot of sense. I've bought some here & there as I've needed them. Like this new dress in my picture. I had a cocktail party for my company sales meeting & yes, I bought it in the regular size section! Who was happier than me in that dressing room? No one!!
Yesterday was my pre-op visit. 7:30am - 4:00pm. What a long day!! Met with my patient advisor, paid my deductible, met with the exercise physiologist (can't spell at all -sorry), finally met with my surgeon! Had a 3 hour seminar with the nutritionist. That was informative but there were a few people in the class that kept asking the same questions over & over. Damn, I hate that! But there's always one or two in every group! Maybe if they were paying attention... The office gave me Calcium supplements, Iron & Vitamin C and Multivitamins plus a sample of their protein powder. The protein powder was decent so I bought some more. Lord knows I'm going to be drinking a lot of it post op! My dr's orders are: clear liquids only day of surgery then day 2 after the barium scan, just liquids for the next week. Week 2 we're onto purreed foods. Yum yum... I'm much less nervous about what I'm going to go through now. I'm not liking the 5:30am arrival time for the hospital on Monday, but oh well. Better to be first than last, I guess
So 10 weeks out and I've lost 38 pounds. I could have lost more if I was exercising but I haven't been. I bought a bike & was riding with my kids every night after school. Now the temps here are around 95 every day with high humidity and rain. The joys of summer in Central Florida. I should be working out indoors but I've been lazy. I'm determined to start now that I am settled into my new job (started 2 weeks ago) and am lighter. I had a great surprise today! I have a cocktail party to go to in 2 weeks and had nothing to wear. All my clothes are too big (Yahoo!!!). I went to Kohl's and found a dark navy lace dress that I thought was just gorgeous! I also thought "no way am I going to be able to wear this". Well, I had to have my daughter zip it (damn back zippers!) but IT FIT!!! And I looked amazing! I wanted to dance around the dressing room! I can't wait to knock 'em dead in 2 weeks! Inspiration to work out, too! I would love to see that dress a little loose next month! Good luck everyone!