I write this with a full sleeve--I think I might have overdone it on the yogurt a little!

The first ten days of my new life have been pretty busy! I haven't had the ability to really stop and take time to rest since I got home from the hospital. There's a lot of sickness in the family these days and my mother in law depends on me to take care of things for her!

I'm going to go to sleep soon--today was SO busy! But first--

I got the opportunity to talk to five ladies today at the surgeon's office, and gave them a presentation about the experience of having surgery. It was great to see the relief on their faces when they realized that I'm only 10 days post-op, and I'm doing so well! There was a lot of hope in that room--and I know those ladies will be successful! It makes me feel good that I can help them the way a kind lady helped me by showing me her scars.

Oh, and the surgeon gave me a DVD of my surgery--yes, we're just geeky like that. My liver was much prettier than I imagined!

I spoke to the ladies about how odd it was that not only am I not hungry, but I'm beginning to appreciate food in the abstract (pizza steaming on a tray in a commercial is yum!) rather than in the concrete (the thought of pizza on my plate, even a tiny piece, is not really that appetizing). I like the idea of pizza, but the idea of chewing and swallowing it and processing it through my sleeve doesn't appeal at all!

The same goes for soda, french fries, etc. It's like a miracle, I tell you!

You have to learn to listen to the sleeve's cues. For me, that hasn't been difficult. I know about two spoonfulls before I'm full, I can feel it. There is a two tablespoon difference between stuffed and uncomfortable and satisfied. Before, I could eat plate after plate of food (not that I often did, of course, but I was physically capable of it). Now, I have to FORCE myself to eat, especially the first meal of the day. Anything more than 8 tablespoons at a time and I'm physically uncomfortable--lots of swallowing, light cramping in my upper abdomen. For the first time in my life, my body is telling me when to stop! Do some people have this sensation naturally built in to their stomachs? Maybe some of us need to have it surgically constructed, while others are born with it.