Well my recovery has been going quite well. I haven't experienced the severe gas pain that some others have talked about, I have had zero shoulder gas pain. I have been walking a lot and taking my Gas-X strips every 4 hours. It seems to help. I also have been swigging a diet ginger ale here and there to help me burp which seems to relieve most of my gas pain.

I have been able to climb out of my drug induced coma long enough to update everyone and post some pictures as promised in my last post. The first day home after surgery I woke up in quite a bit of pain. I was concerned that the pain meds prescribed weren't strong enough. My nurse practitioner told me to take Advil in between pain meds. So I began taking them 2 hours after taking pain meds and it made a world of difference. I tried to tell myself it was time to start getting myself off pain meds last night. I slept through when my 4 hours would have been to take it, I woke up 2 hours past med time. And needless to say I was in excruciating pain. So back on the pain meds I went. I don't know why I have to try to be such a toughy.

Day 2 of Post-Op, I was exhausted and spent most of the time asleep. I think I walked too much day 1 and didn't sleep enough. So most of Day 2 and Day 3 were spent asleep or sipping on a shake or broth. I will say that I had read that most people didn't even want to eat the first couple of days after surgery. Well that didn't apply to this fat girl, I wasn't ravenous starving, but I wanted to eat. I have discovered though that I can't eat a whole lot before I feel satisfied. Like I am talking 1- cup of soup broth or half of a 12 ounce shake. Its been hard to make sure I get all my water in because I have spent the vast majority of my time asleep. Its funny, because I will be in the middle of typing a text and then the next thing I know I am waking up and the whole thing is gibberish. I feel like I have narcolepsy. I do have to shout out to my family for making some wonderful soup options. They are giving me lots of variety in the food area so I am not getting bored with broth.

Anyways, I came home from the hospital on Monday 6 lbs heavier than when I went into surgery. I know that I have a ton of air inside of me, a lot of fluids floating around, and my organs are extremely bloated. But it just messes with your mind. I went to have this surgery to lose weight yet here I gained. I figured that as time progressed and the air and swelling went down I would lose weight. And I have, I am now down 4 lbs since when I got home from the hospital. But as my family has pointed out, I haven't had anything to eat besides protein shakes and soup broth I should be losing weight faster. Anyways, it's starting to get to me. So this is why I will not be getting back on the scale until next Tuesday. At that point I will be weighing only on Tuesdays Chin up! I have finally had the surgery and am on the road to recovery.

I know this ramble is more like a rant and I am sure not very well thought out, but these meds kinda inhibit better writing. In fact it is about time to go crawl back into bed for my mid-morning nap.

Here are the pics:

1- Me right after surgery, extremely drugged up giving the thumbs up sign

2- My incisions the day of surgery, you can see how bloated my stomach is, I look pregnant

3- My liver picture, my surgeon just thought it was hilarious I kept asking for the picture

4- The flowers my wonderful sister in law, Carrie brought me

5- My incisions as of today, you can see the bruise coming in between them, but that my stomach is a lot less bloated.

Anyways, until tomorrow,

Amanda