So full...so fast.

Eating is all new after weight loss surgery. It's going to take some time for my habitual behaviors to cease! I scoop reasonable amounts of food on my plates only to find that I've sorely misjudged how much food to serve myself. I haven't overeaten, because the newly sized stomach form won't let me, but I have taken a lot more than I can honestly put away. It's a strangely fun conundrum I am having a bit of enjoyment with.

Eating and drinking enough is; however, an unforeseen chore. I mean it! In the fifteen or so hours of being awake, I'm supposed to drink at least 48 ounces of liquids, SOME of which needs to be protein drinks, AND eat 4 small meals. AND I have to space the liquid and foods at least 30 mins. apart from one another. Do you know the day is just not long enough to do all this? At least not yet.

Clear liquid isn't very filling and it doesn't cause discomfort unless I drink too fast and trap air in there...then have to burp. Burping sucks. It is at once a relief and an awkward pang...but enough of that. The thicker stuff, like protein shakes and soft foods (eggs, beans, minced up meats like ham, fish and poultry) make me feel full relatively quickly and just kind of sit in my stomach. It takes some time before I can safely drink anything (because it's a rule) so I'm usually thirsty after a meal. I'm like a ten-year-old watching time, just waiting for the go-ahead to sip something.

For the first week of eating foods, I have flailed just trying to keep up with demand (the ounces, the number of small meals, the instructions to eat every 4 hours)...so I created a schedule with prompts that push to my phone and calendar - stuff to make me do what I'm supposed to.

Here looks a day in the life:

8 AM Soft Food Breakfast (2-3 ounces)
8:30 AM to 10 AM clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
10 AM Protein Drink (11 ounces)
- this takes me anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to finish but I have to stop by 11:30 because I can't drink anything from 30 mins before until 30 mins after any food.
12 PM Soft Food Lunch (2-3 ounces)
12:30 PM to 2 PM  clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
2 PM Protein Drink (11 ounces)
4 PM Soft Food Snack (usually a string cheese stick or a Babybel cheese)
4:30 PM to 8:30 PM clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)
8 PM Soft Food Dinner (2-3 ounces)
8:30 PM til bed time clear liquids (sipping, sipping, sipping whenever possible)

But, believe me, it's hard to drink 48 ounces of liquid AND eat 12-ish ounces of food - which sounds crazy, right? I could easily drink 4 Coke Zeros a day. Maybe even 5. Maybe even 6. I skipped meals, drank Coke Zero, lost myself in work and busy-ness until I was so ravenously hungry, I'd go for anything fast (aka premade and ready to eat!) Nothing healthy to mention.

I'm going to keep trying to stick to this plan and (hopefully) get better at it. The real threat is dehydration and hospitalization so I want to be super careful about it. Anyway, tomorrow is my week three-versary.

I am functioning well. I'm back to work, back to driving, back to eating (kind of) normally and I'm still so glad I chose weight loss surgery. My next goal is to treadmill just a little bit and see if I can make a pattern of that.

It's Doctor Day! It's Doctor Day!

"Thank God, Almighty," it's Doctor Day! By the time you reach the end of your 2nd week post-op,  you will rejoice, too. The big deal about today is twofold: I should hear the words, "You can drive again." and get permission to eat mushy foods.

Mushy, baby food-thick, foods may not seem appetizing to you...but to me this is almost the best news ever. I've been drinking meals for 4 weeks and beef & chicken broth, SF popsicles and gelatin will only get you so far in between protein shakes. It takes me a long time to drink a protein shake, but drinking clear liquids and eating popsicles isn't that hard at all.

I hope everything looks good in terms of healing. I'm excited to have my sutures looked at. The largest one has a bump under it that I'm a little concerned for...but I try to keep in mind that muscle has been cut through and had to be repaired as well. It could just be a bump from all that fibrous muscle tissue clumping together. That's the hope! Fingers crossed?

Otherwise everything feels good to me. There are some sore spots...but nothing feels painful. I haven't had to take my pain medicine since a few nights after coming home. Recovery has been incredibly easy. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but I hope so.

I've planned a trip to a nearby Indian food restaurant (IF the nurse gives me the go-ahead to eat mushy food) where I can have mushy cheese and spinach (palak paneer) or maybe curry lentils. Something soft and not clear liquid. Are you feeling me?


Prayers for a good outcome. Peace!

OMG! It's been a whole entire week!

A week ago, tonight, I shared a room with my daughter and the most ice chips any hospital has ever produced. The procedure itself was over in less than an hour, that morning, but I was still feeling the affects of the gas pumped into my remainder of stomach and the cuts and bruises all over my middle.

I stayed overnight in the hospital about an hour away from home so it was really cool of my girl to drop on a cot and just be with me for the duration. She was sincerely helpful in every way. I found myself mothering her just as much as I always do - insisting to nurses to keep the lights down, to let her sleep whenever I could get up to walk the floor on my own - but she turned the tables on me whenever possible.

We had the most fun walking through the quiet hallways, just talking and laughing but trying not to wake anybody who could try sleeping. I was getting doses of pain medicine through an IV so I wasn't feeling much discomfort and could walk relatively OK...dragging my hospital gown and IV pole along. Several people tried to adjust the gown so it'd be shorter than me but none of the string-tied alterations stayed in place. No big, I learned to walk with the constant threat of tripping and NO FALLS. I did alright. :) I stubbed my toes on the base of my IV pole countless times though.

Whatever, it was all fuel for humor between my daughter and I. She was overtired and fresh from college stress so the two of us made a heck of a pair as we waddled around from place to place. The staff at the hospital was always encouraging, extremely helpful. I didn't want for anything. Even the nurse who comes in to check blood sugar came to see me at regular intervals.

We were impressed!

That night, I was introduced to chicken broth, beef broth, sugar-free orange jell-o, water, ice chips, sugar-free popsicles...whatever I felt I could take in. I kept with the ice chips mostly because they -felt- good and my throat was still raw from the mandatory breathing tube I had during surgery.

I slept off and on, talked with Hopper and the nursing staff, paid a little attention to TV and rolled into the next day like I didn't just have a big piece of an organ removed.

I still haven't felt the change in my actual stomach yet. At only 1 week out, I'm still sipping on liquids so there hasn't been a test of any sort to see what the new size holds. I did get to see blue chalky dye stuff move through me while in radiology the next day...but still no real *feeling* toward the small pouch.

Overall I am feeling well. I maneuver OK and most of that movement is pain-free. I haven't taken any pain medicine in a few days. I've been sleeping here and there. Trying to get comfortable in bed is probably the hardest thing about being home but it's gotten a little easier. I'm managing. :)

My disposition is good and so far I can say, "Yes, I'm glad I did this." I will let you know if that changes.

How Much Water Can a Body Made of 65% Water Take?

I admit to being kind of a dummy, most of the time, so it doesn't bother me when I don't understand something. I am comfortable with asking questions - even when they reveal how troublesome it can be for me to comprehend basic information - especially when it comes to math. Math equations of any kind are my greatest weakness.

So when I left the hospital with the order to "drink 48 ounces of fluid and" have things like sugar-free jell-o, chicken or beef broth, my protein shakes, G2 (the lower carb Gatorade option), sugar-free popsicles..."but make sure you get that 48 ounces of fluid a DAY or else you'll dehydrate." I came home thinking, "48 ounces. Got it. Other people have done this successfully - I can, too."

It takes me a few minutes between sips of whatever I'm tasting just to let the liquid settle in my newly-reduced stomach, but 48...piece of ....not...cake. I assumed that by fluid and all the options pooled on my menu, the word "fluid" could only translate to "water." What else could it be? Everything else was outlined as an and - as an addition.

In the few days of being home, I hadn't been able to drink 48 ounces of water. I filled my 24 ounce bottle up and did the best I could, and I had little sugar-free jell-o shots... little one ounce servings of chicken or beef broth...little one ounce servings of protein shakes...the occasional sugar-free popsicle, and water, water, water, water, water.

And I wondered how the hell I was going to get nutrition just drinking (mostly) water for days on end. Didn't I need the nutrients from like the broth and the protein shakes especially?

I looked online for the answer. Websites all say the same thing...48 ounces of fluid....and then they give you a list of things you can have in addition to water.  I admit to having more of those and less of the water, as of yesterday, after finally confirming with one of my nurses.

Me: "I think I'm getting enough fluid (water). I know I'm supposed to have 48 ounces and it's not been easy with the jell-o and the broth and protein shakes and other stuff. I get full and water gets really boring. How am I supposed to drink 48 ounces of water and have other things too?"

Then she explained that I can have anything in the list as long as I get 48 ounces of any of those fluids in by the end of the day - to stave off dehydration. Water is a priority, of course, but protein is too. I was hoping she'd say that!

Now I'm sharing this because the world is full of dummies like me who may take an assignment quite literally and not know the difference between additions and options, based on how the information is presented.

So now I'm having a much easier time of sipping my G2 and worrying less about my "fluid" intake and more about getting sponsors for my radio show. I can't just take time off, you know.

Farting is a Necessary Virtue

Of all the things I wish I understood about my vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), the level of pain/discomfort and pressure that gas you feel immediately after surgery is tops. 

It's so bad it took whole lot of people to convince me that the surgery really did go as well as the surgeon said. Now that I'm home and out of that pain, I'm not embarrassed to pass gas in front of anybody...which is funny because I've dramatically opposed doing so under normal circumstances since early childhood. 

Benjamin Franklin shared an idea of how to create something pleasing out of the obnoxious inevitability of passing gas; however, my perspective was completely changed by a belly full of co2 after surgery so science needn't go to many lengths.

I woke up in the recovery bay with so much pressure and pain in my chest, I feared a heart condition.  Reassurance came from several assistants and nurses whose explanations, when all strung together, helped me understand this pain was normal, it would take a little while to dissipate, they could give something for my discomfort, but it will all get better with walking once I'm "upstairs."

My abdomen was filled with carbon dioxide during surgery to create a larger work space in the abdominal cavity. I am SURE it's written somewhere in the pre-op paperwork and I am SURE it's one of those things gone over in the pre-surgical class, but I didn't comprehend the impact of having that expansion what.so.ever.

OW.

That air breathing thing they gave me to suck air into several times an hour? That caused the gas to be “pushed out” of the abdomen (as the lungs expand) so it helped disperse of some of it.
 
Walking helps the most to move it though - and I didn't care at all while walking the halls of my floor just farting away. Seriously. I felt joyous to finally rid of the discomfort. Even at home, I'd only slightly apologize for having to let one go because, well, it mattered more to me to let it than to be kind to others.