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Today was my 1 month followup, 5 weeks post surgery. My dietician gave me a gold star review for my post op diet, and I graduated to Stage 4 of my program. Stage 5 should be approved in November, and that is the forever way of eating.

I had to go to a post op nutrition class as part of my appointment today. There was a young lady in there that had been eating WAY off diet, and she was not doing well... She had been eating fast food, but peeling the buns off, eating vegetables that were not well-cooked, and eating all kinds of foods that were not part of the detailed instruction that everyone in this program receives. We had SO many caveats from Day One to not try to jump ahead on the schedule for the foods that we eat. I was baffled that someone would decide to eat off program, especially so soon after surgery. She became tired of the liquids & soft foods, so she chose to eat ahead.

The result of her skipping ahead was that she had experienced a lot of vomiting & foamies, a lot of pain, and was unable to drink any fluids. She started feeling flushed and faint in class and had to be sent to the hospital to get some IV fluids.

The discipline that one needs for bariatric surgery cannot be overstated. We have to dig deep mentally and physically to get through surgery itself, learn new things, manage medications, and really lean into that crucial change of mindset and behavior. I hope that this young lady is able to get herself together to make the most of her surgery.

Thanks to the LPN at the office, who lost my testing/lab results and took over 6 weeks to let me know, even though I called to verify they got the paperwork, every week for six weeks to no avail. I am finally getting ready to be scheduled for surgery. Annoyingly, I have to get one more weigh-in due to her mistake and I can't get in to get weighed until Monday, plus my period started 10 days early and my weight is up by 2 lbs. I have struggled with weight loss that is why I am here, but never in my life, have I struggled so much to lose 5% of my original weight, until I started the bariatric program. Maybe it's the stress affecting me more than I realize. These 2 period pounds are putting me above the goal weight, even though last week I was 10 lbs below the goal weight. Honestly, I am pissed at this nurse screwing my stuff up and not informing me when I called over and over again. She has single-handedly affected my finances, my school scheduling, and my struggle to stay positive with her incompetence, not to mention she is cutting it really close to my surgery being at a time when it will be a struggle to get to the clinic that is 3 hours away up a mountain (not a hill), and the roads get super icy and snow covered. That is what is on my mind!

Today marks 4 weeks from my surgery date. My incisions are largely healed, and the surgical glue/scabs have fallen off. There is clearly more healing happening inside, where I can't see. My surgeon calls this 'surgical stuff'. The spot just under my left ribs is particularly tender. Is it my stomach? My hiatal hernia repair? It doesn't pain me too much.

My weight loss slowed down a bit the last 2 weeks, with the addition of purees. I've enjoyed things I never thought I would ever eat, such a dish I'm fondly calling 'tuna pudding'. Buffalo chicken dip with canned chicken is amazing. Surprisingly, ricotta bake was meh. Yogurt is still a staple. I've started experimenting with decaf tea. I would LOVE a cup of coffee, but no word yet on when I can have it. Soft foods are just around the corner, and all I can think of is tender, flaky white fish. And some soft asparagus. 

I haven't had a ton of energy. I have to sit a lot and my walks are short and slow. I'm hopeful that when I can eat a little more I'll feel more athletically inclined. Next week, I'll try the commute to my office two days a week, which involves a lot of walking, stairs, and carrying my laptop. We'll see how that goes.

I had an overnight trip this past week, and packed a small cooler with my pureed foods. It was hard to be around others eating delicious things while I slowly spooned down curry chicken salad puree. Fun fact, not drinking while you eat curry chicken salad puree is a fun game. Play with your friends. I resorted to serving it with a bit of greek yogurt on the side to cool my mouth down. Driving multiple hours without caffeine or road snacks is also a new thing. 

I've tried on some old shorts and work pants, to see if they fit yet. Some do, and some very nearly do, which is exciting. At least I won't need to source smaller clothes for a while. I'd saved all my favorite things down to about a size 14. Hopefully they are all still in style.

Over six weeks ago I had finished the testing my surgeon required pre-surgery.  I had my regular doctor fax the surgeon my results, and I called to verify the results were received per the instructions given to me by the surgery clinic. 

I called once a week for 6 weeks and never got a callback. The coordinator for the bariatric program under my insurance called to do a check-in with me, as she does every couple of months. I told her what had been going on, she emailed the clinic.

The next day I got a message from my scheduler, in myChart at the clinic informing me she had never seen my paperwork and results from the tests and to have them re-faxed. I thought it was funny she did not want to call me to tell me this. My doctor faxed the info right away and the scheduler told me she got the tests and sent them to the surgeon. I told her that this was really frustrating because I had tried many times to contact her and verify that she had received the paperwork per the clinic binder instructions and the clinic coordinator.  Honestly why ignore someone when you could take 2 seconds to call them back or send a myChart message?

11days post-op. I will get my two week checkup in two days. Everything seems to be healing well; I have been fortunate to be off work and able to lay down a lot. However, I have been able to work up to walking 1.5 miles per day. I wish I could stretch a bit more, but I want to be very careful with my healing incisions- I've got 5 of them to look after.

Swallowing is getting better. I have been eating some sugar free popsicles in between shots of ProT Gold and protein shakes. I'm really looking forward to getting the go ahead for soft foods like eggs and yogurt in a couple of days.

Something that helped me today was something I saw someone else mention in a forum... I cannot recall who it was. But they mentioned that they drink "proffee" in the mornings. As a fan of the occasional black coffee with hot chocolate, I made a version this morning with decaf coffee and a warmed up chocolate protein drink. T'was divine, and gave me a feeling of normalcy for the first time in awhile.

A little more than one week post-op update:

Pain - My incision pain decreased enough for me to feel comfortable most of the day on Tuesday, Day 6. As of today, Friday, Day 9, I can get in and out of chairs without feeling my incision pulling and needing to put pressure on it. I was able to drive my teen to work in the next town, with the support of a seatbelt pillow. I stopped by the local rail trail and had a short walk in the greenery yesterday. I'm planning to up my walking now that I don't have so much pain, but I want to take it slow so I don't overexert myself. My legs are starting to cramp from inactivity.

I've been building up to my hydration and protein goals daily, and worked up to 4 oz of liquid intake every 30 minutes. I didn't really have a schedule until I woke up on Wednesday, Day 7, feeling absolutely ravenous. The day before I had concentrated on hydration and come up a little shorter on my protein goals. So I made a spreadsheet, to plan out my protein and hydration intake according to what my stomach was capable of now, and discovered I could get a bit more in if I paid more attention to things. Yesterday, I made 72 g protein and 64 oz hydration/36 of which was clear liquids.

I have medications/vitamins to take 4 times a day, and I had been following the 30 min before/after for them, just in case, because I wanted to make sure they were absorbed. However, my dietician told me this morning that I didn't need to do that. So that clears up significantly more time for clear liquid hydration!

I weighed myself yesterday, and discovered that in the first week since surgery, I've lost 23 lbs. Part of me thinks that is a worryingly large number, but also probably a great deal of it is water weight. I did some measurements, and it appears that most of the weight has come from my arms and bust (of course). My clothes don't appear to fit differently yet, but I haven't worn most of them yet. I did notice while putting my face serums and creams on that my cheekbones and jawline seem more prominent.

One of my first NSVs is that my left ankle used to swell after sitting all day. Recently, despite sitting most of the day during recovery, my ankles have matched in size and slenderness. It's very exciting!

The best news of all is that I met with my dietician this morning and been cleared for advancing to more foods. Our program has weeks 1-3 set aside for full liquid diet, so that is what I was prepared for. My dietician said that starting today, I can start making protein shakes with fruit, and I can also have fully blended soups of any type. So that expands my diet significantly! Also, I am permitted to move to stage 3, purees, next wednesday.

10 days out from surgery and found this online community for support. I'm on day 3 of the pre-op diet, and have been having dreams about food.

1.7 kilograms lost the past week, well before was 1.4.  Very happy!  Stepping on the scales is weird, I anticipate the worst for some reason, the relief is great when the numbers keep going down.  I'm sitting on 131.2 now, I'll be I the 120's next week or the week after!  150's, 140's, 130's, coming for you 120's!