What's a TMI post you (might) be asking.  It's a post about those things I'm finding a part of VSG life that people don't talk about in polite company or usually admit to in any company, but that I really wanted to know about before getting myself into this! (Don't worry, still no regrets). So if you are polite company or do not want to hear about blood, bodily functions, and the vagaries of animal existence, you might want to skip this one. 

To those of you who are still with me, this edition will cover Underwear woes, scabs, itches, surgical leftovers, bowel movements, vomiting, periods, and a special surprise guest appearance by Yeast.

Underwear woes:

Your surgeon will tell you not to bother buying new clothes, because you'll only wear them a couple of times before they no longer fit.  

Your surgeon will not warn you that your boobs will soon be falling out of the bottom of your bra, and your oversized underwear will twist in new and exciting ways on your body. 

As a woman, I can honestly say I have never needed to "adjust myself" so many times in a day as I have since surgery.  I started out wearing size 10/Torrid size 1/2 underwear that were all either snug (the 10s) or fit perfectly (Torrid, of course).  Now, they're all a nightmare of chafing, twisting, falling down, and creeping up my butt. 

I would seriously recommend considering the purchase of an inexpensive package of underwear every few weeks or so.  

Scabs, itches, and surgical leftovers: 

Let's put all of the skin stuff together.  

We'll start with itching, since it has been a constant since surgery. There are two types of itching, though.  There's a deep, crazy, going-insane itch that happens inside with the healing tissues.  I hate that one.  That seems to have faded around week 3.  The other itch has been ongoing and is stopped only by Eucerin for eczema lotion. It's a combination of healing and difficulty fully hydrating. 

When I came home from the hospital, all of my incisions were covered in purple surgical glue with the instruction to shower carefully and avoid getting "much" water on them for "long."  I followed this to the letter, and when I saw Dr. Zane again for the 10 day follow up, he was surprised the glue was all there, and he said go ahead and peel it off.  

This is where the blood comes in.  The incision above my belly button had glue that had lifted by a good centimeter, so I figured I'd go with his advice.  I got half way across when, blood! I stopped there, and was seeping blood for the next 12-16 hours, and now, two and a half weeks later, that incision is a bit deeper and more tender than the others. That also happens to be the incision with a stitch in it.  The stitch is still there almost a month later, and it is black with blood I can't get out of the knot.  I may just be slow to dissolve the last part, though a week ago, a 1" piece of filament poked out of my skin next to it and slid out when I scratched at it.  No pain for that one, just "weird." 

As tempting as it is to peel after approval, go slow, and if there's any tenderness,  maybe wait.  The others that I peeled the last of the glue off of were no longer tender and looked sealed underneath, and that's what I found.  The only raised scar I seem to be developing is the bigger scar where my stomach was pulled out to the left of the belly button.  That one is raised on the edges where it was (I assume) stretched during removal. 

Other surgical leftovers not to stress over: 

I came home with iodine on my sides, no big deal, but a bit itchy.  It looks like they washed the area where surgery actually happened (good to know!). 

I found serious gunk in my belly button once everything was un-swollen and de-tenderized enough for a thorough wash in there. I can only describe it as goo. I do not know what it was, but it didn't do me any harm, and I assume it was from the surgery, since I've never seen anything like that in there before. There was a lot of it, though!  

I also had a big bruise on my tailbone along with a painful abraded area about 2" long and 1" wide.  Silly me, I put an antibiotic ointment on the rash.  DO NOT DO THIS.  I woke up the next morning to pustules all along the abraded area.  The doctor I saw for that diagnosed it as a reaction to the ointment, and said to just use petroleum jelly or a steroid cream because (something something - sorry) antibiotic ointments can cause reactions after all those IV antibiotics of another type. 

 Following those instructions, the area cleared up within a week after shedding the entire top layer of skin. 

I found out from my surgeon's office that the bruising is because they sit you up during surgery.  Mystery solved. 

Bowel movements: 

I had to gird myself for this one, since I'm not really the type who usually talks about bathroom habits in public, but if this helps one person not feel so weird or at least feel better knowing what to potentially expect, it's worth it. 

Bowel movements since surgery have been consistently weird.  The first was about three days after surgery (which they say is good), and very very little actually came out of me in a thin, strangely orange, stream.  In spite of how little there was, I still felt the same cue from my body as I did pre-surgery that it's time to find solitude and a toilet. 

Since then, BMs have been increasing slowly in bulk, but they remain orange, soft-to-runny, and low-velocity enough that as soon as I feel that cue, I'm also planning a shower.  Aside from week 3, in which velocity was so slow, I spent all day close to the house, it hasn't been awful. 

It's not fun, but it's also not often.  Once a week or so at a month out from surgery. 

I should also mention that it's one of the things that can cause that "my heart is racing" feeling, because there's an enormous blood vessel that runs right next to your sphincter. I may only notice it so much because BMs are no longer a daily occurrence.  As far as I understand it, the phenomenon is harmless; drink more water. 

I'll also add that urinating is fairly normal, though for the first week after surgery (or longer if you're slow to clear anaesthesia) prepare for some stop/start and give yourself a little more time. 

Vomiting: 

There has been more vomiting than I'm accustomed to after surgery, and I've pinpointed a few things that tend to cause it and others that don't. 

Triggers: 

• Vitamins, unless buffered with a lot of food, are coming right back up.  Even the ones I don't need in chewable form.  I'm looking into the vitamin patches for this reason.  Even before surgery, my stomach has been iffy with multis and B vitamins. 
• Juice without water.  Even a tiny sip. 
• Too cold water on an empty stomach 
• Water without additive (I had a serious case of water nausea which is starting to resolve just this week) 
• Stress (I had to ask my family to please not talk about anything remotely stressful around meal times) 

Not a trigger: 

• Fat 
• Protein
• Carbohydrates 
• Fruit 
• Dairy 
• Physical activity 

I do find that sometimes I need to lie down after a meal or taking medicine until the nausea goes away.  Lying on my side seems to help. 

Periods: 

Depending on your rate of recovery and when it falls, prepare to be more exhausted than ever on your period.  That hit me hard.  Otherwise, totally normal.

Yeast:

I found out at my 10 day checkup that I had a mighty yeast overgrowth on my tongue from the IV antibiotics. I was first prescribed the slimiest mouthwash in the world (which belongs on my vomiting triggers list, probably), then 5x/day tablets to suck on which left my tongue raw and painful but tasted like nothing at all, and finally a single pill, take it once and you're done oral treatment. (Why not that one first? I don't get it!) 

It's almost gone now at 4 weeks out, but while it was active, the entire back 2/3 of my tongue were slimy and thick, and a lot of foods tasted very strange.  

So, keep an eye out for that. 

This concludes the first month TMI post. I expect any future posts to be shorter.  My top recommendations really are to watch out for yeast and make sure you always carry Eucerin (or similar thick lotion for SUPER dry skin that works for you).