I am 3 weeks post-op today, still struggling with ups and downs. It seems I have a good day or two and then a couple of bad days and so on. I am still having quite a bit of pain around the abdominal incision that is being packed (though it is healing and getting smaller), and the pain radiates to the lower left side of my abdomen and towards my bladder. I am thinking I'm going to send an email to my surgeon's nurse and see if this pain is still normal healing pain or if I should be concerned. This recovery has been no walk in the park, that's for sure.
Tomorrow I am supposed to start soft foods. Who knew figuring out what to eat could be so confusing. I am just going to try a few things and see what I can tolerate. It will be nice to not have to puree up everything, that was definitely a pain in my butt. I am going to try a soft scrambled egg with cheese and half of a veggie sausage cut into tiny pieces for breakfast tomorrow and probably some hormel chili for lunch. I have heard mixed reviews on the eggs, some people live off of them and others can't tolerate them at all, so we'll see. Interestingly enough it seems most people tolerate chili well, which is good because I like chili and it is pretty high in protein.
I weighed in this morning and I lost 3.6# this week which means I have lost 13.4# since surgery and 39.8# since I started dieting in January. I will be honest I am a little disappointed that I haven't lost more weight, I was hearing of people dropping 10# or more each week and frankly I was losing this much weight low-carb dieting. Then I had to just step back and think for a minute, sure I could be losing this weight dieting without surgery and then go on an eating binge 1 month, 3 months, 1 year into it and blow it all and gain the weight back plus some. The weight is coming off slow and steady and I have broken my endless cycle of yo-yo dieting. This will work out in the end, I just have to be patient. I plan on taking pictures next week and taking measurements, I will post them and hopefully there will be a noticeable difference.
Until next week.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
2 weeks post-op and a hard lesson learned
Today I am two weeks post-op. I won't lie, I thought I'd be feeling better by this point. I feel a little better every day but no where near where I thought I'd be. I am honestly contemplating taking a slightly longer leave of absence from work and taking off the first weekend in May instead of going back. I am still sore, I still need to have the visiting nurse come to my house daily to pack my wound (though it is healing nicely), and I have no endurance for anything. I went to run some errands with my husband and went the grocery store Saturday and we were out for maybe 2 hours and I was wiped out when we got home. How am I ever going to make it through a 12 hour night shift much less three of them in a row??!??!? I know I need to be patient with myself and I am trying to be. This was major abdominal surgery and I need to take it slow, I guess I am just not bouncing back as fast as people on the forums who related that they had no pain, or they went back to work after a week. Kudos to them, but that is not my experience.
I learned a hard lesson last evening, we had gone to a movie in the afternoon and I just sipped water through the movie, didn't eat anything. When I got home I was very hungry so I pureed up some refried beans and heated them up with a little mozzerella cheese and then I also grabbed a little leftover pureed tuna with mayo. I was hungry and didn't take the time to measure out my portions and I ate it all. I knew as soon as I was done that that had been a big mistake, I was so full! It was the full that you get after over indulging in a buffet. I started pacing the hallway hoping that the food would start moving but then the nausea and watery mouth hit and I knew I was in trouble. I dry heaved into a bucket for nearly 20 minutes. Let me tell you that hurt my abdomen more than you could imagine! It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach repeatedly. I had a lot of pain after that and no appetite. I just basically sipped water the rest of the evening. Lesson learned I will measure everything from now on!!
So at two weeks out I have lost 9.8# post-op and a total of 36.2# since January. I am still wearing the same pants I was in January which is frustrating, I am just one of those people who loses weight and my clothing sizes don't go down very fast. I can tell my pants are looser, I'm just not able to get into a smaller size yet. Soon I hope!!
I will weigh in again on Thursday, that is my normal weigh in day and a day I post my weigh in on a forum I belong to, so I will update then.
I learned a hard lesson last evening, we had gone to a movie in the afternoon and I just sipped water through the movie, didn't eat anything. When I got home I was very hungry so I pureed up some refried beans and heated them up with a little mozzerella cheese and then I also grabbed a little leftover pureed tuna with mayo. I was hungry and didn't take the time to measure out my portions and I ate it all. I knew as soon as I was done that that had been a big mistake, I was so full! It was the full that you get after over indulging in a buffet. I started pacing the hallway hoping that the food would start moving but then the nausea and watery mouth hit and I knew I was in trouble. I dry heaved into a bucket for nearly 20 minutes. Let me tell you that hurt my abdomen more than you could imagine! It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach repeatedly. I had a lot of pain after that and no appetite. I just basically sipped water the rest of the evening. Lesson learned I will measure everything from now on!!
So at two weeks out I have lost 9.8# post-op and a total of 36.2# since January. I am still wearing the same pants I was in January which is frustrating, I am just one of those people who loses weight and my clothing sizes don't go down very fast. I can tell my pants are looser, I'm just not able to get into a smaller size yet. Soon I hope!!
I will weigh in again on Thursday, that is my normal weigh in day and a day I post my weigh in on a forum I belong to, so I will update then.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
1 week follow up appointment and real food!!!!
I had my 1 week follow up appointment with the dietician and the surgeon yesterday (even though it was 8 days out). The dietician said I could advance to pureed foods and the surgeon agreed that would be fine. To be honest I am a little nervous about eating food, even if it is pureed. It has been a long time since I've had food. Yesterday I just had some strained low fat cream of chicken soup for lunch and for supper the same soup and some natural smooth applesauce. My stomach capacity seems to be about 4 tablespoons, at that point I'm not stuffed or uncomfortable but just satisfied. I'm sure that will change as time goes on. For breakfast this morning I had 4 tablespoons of Fage Greek yogurt, it was the plain kind and I added a sprinkle of truvia and some sugar free torani syrup. I was worried it might have been too thick, but it went down well and didn't feel like it got stuck. I am still planning on doing at least one or two protein shakes per day to make sure I am getting enough protein. I am still having the visiting nurse come daily to pack my wound, but both the surgeon and the visiting nurse said it is healing well. The packing of the wound is so painful, I can't wait until it is done.
I will be on pureed foods for 2 weeks, after that I can do soft foods which I will do for about one month until I go in for my 6 week follow up appointment at which point the dietician will discuss with me what I need to eat for the rest of my life. 6 weeks in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long, I guess.
Today for lunch I am going to puree some tuna with lite mayo, we'll see how that goes. I have heard that pureeing tuna and cottage cheese together works well, so I plan on buying some cottage cheese at the store this weekend and giving it a try. It's funny how food sounded so good when I was on my pre-op liquid diet and I was imagining eating certain things, and now while I may see a recipe or food commercial and think about it looking good I really am not hungry for it. Hopefully that feeling will last.
So I weighed in at home on Monday which was 1 week post op and I had lost 2.4#. I was kind of disappointed with that but when I was talking with Dr. Garza's nurse yesterday she said some people don't lose anything that first week because of being in the hospital and the IV fluids and such. I actually was down another pound or so when I weighed in at the office yesterday. On the weight tracking sheet at the doctor's office, I am down 30# since I started seeing him in December, that was pretty cool! I will probably weigh in at home on Mondays and Thursdays for a while, I will do Mondays so I can track what I've lost weekly from the day of surgery, and Thursdays just because I have always done a Thursday weigh in and eventually may go back to doing that again. Who knows what I will decide to do in the future but that's my plan for now.
According to my records I am down 28.8# since I started dieting January 6th and I'm down 2.4# since surgery.
Until next time...
I will be on pureed foods for 2 weeks, after that I can do soft foods which I will do for about one month until I go in for my 6 week follow up appointment at which point the dietician will discuss with me what I need to eat for the rest of my life. 6 weeks in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long, I guess.
Today for lunch I am going to puree some tuna with lite mayo, we'll see how that goes. I have heard that pureeing tuna and cottage cheese together works well, so I plan on buying some cottage cheese at the store this weekend and giving it a try. It's funny how food sounded so good when I was on my pre-op liquid diet and I was imagining eating certain things, and now while I may see a recipe or food commercial and think about it looking good I really am not hungry for it. Hopefully that feeling will last.
So I weighed in at home on Monday which was 1 week post op and I had lost 2.4#. I was kind of disappointed with that but when I was talking with Dr. Garza's nurse yesterday she said some people don't lose anything that first week because of being in the hospital and the IV fluids and such. I actually was down another pound or so when I weighed in at the office yesterday. On the weight tracking sheet at the doctor's office, I am down 30# since I started seeing him in December, that was pretty cool! I will probably weigh in at home on Mondays and Thursdays for a while, I will do Mondays so I can track what I've lost weekly from the day of surgery, and Thursdays just because I have always done a Thursday weigh in and eventually may go back to doing that again. Who knows what I will decide to do in the future but that's my plan for now.
According to my records I am down 28.8# since I started dieting January 6th and I'm down 2.4# since surgery.
Until next time...
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Not what I expected
Or maybe I'm just a big wuss when it comes to pain.
My surgery was on Monday and the surgeon said it went pretty much by the book and there were no complications. I was really nervous going into surgery but as soon as they got me into the OR suite they gave me meds to relax me and then a mask over my face and I was out. I don't remember too much from the recovery room but my first vivid memories are those of crying in pain as they were transporting me from the recovery room to my hospital room because every time they hit a bump it hurt terribly. I remember thinking it wasn't supposed to hurt that bad, no one really said the pain was that bad. Oh but it was...
I slept quite a bit on Monday but I remember my husband coming to my bedside and I told him even though I was sleeping I didn't want him to leave. They had me hooked up to a PCA pump and I could push the button for pain meds through my IV whenever I needed to and I did that pretty much whenever I was awake. I had a foley catheter in my bladder so I didn't need to get up to use the bathroom but I did ring for the nurse to help me stand up at the bedside sometime in the middle of the night just because I needed to get out of bed. It was tough but I needed to stand up after laying for almost 24 hours. The hospital had me in an inflatable bariatric bed that was super comfortable to sleep in but absolute HELL to get in and out of. It sat too high up off the ground and needed to be deflated for my feet to even come close to the ground to stand, and it was impossible to use my arms to push myself up to get to an upright position. Not to mention that once they pulled that bladder catheter I needed to pee when I needed to pee and if no one came to deflate the bed it was hard to get out. Needless to say my last night in the hospital I slept in a high back chair, which was fine, too.
The pain medicine and the pain itself frequently made me nauseous and they were giving me IV nausea meds as well. I decided to wean myself back on the IV pain meds which was a bad idea because while the nausea from the pain meds improved the pain skyrocketed until I was in tears not knowing what to do. I was miserable all day on Tuesday. I did walk with physical therapy on Tuesday, it's the last thing I felt like doing but I knew I had to do it. I had to go for a swallow test on Tuesday morning where they make you drink this vile, bitter, syrup like contrast material so they can see if there are any leaks. It literally left a bad taste in my mouth for half the day afterward it was so gross. At least there were no leaks so I could start drinking clear liquids Tuesday instead of just swabbing out my mouth.
On Wednesday they had me up walking even more and changed me to oral pain meds which seemed to help. I was drinking more and didn't have to deal with the nausea as much, and if I did it was tolerable or at least manageable with a protonix pill that helped reduce acid in my stomach. I felt a little better on Wednesday so I had a feeling every passing day was going to see me feeling better, even if only a little bit. Dr. Garza decided that I needed to stay over night one more night in the hospital and really concentrate on getting more fluids in and make sure that the nausea was going to be OK.
I walked a lot on Wednesday and Thursday. Danny spent time with me and the kids came for a visit Wednesday night. Paige stayed home from school Wednesday because she hadn't seen me Tuesday night as planned, and basically had a melt down before school. She was fine after she got to see me Wednesday night. I guess I didn't really think about how this was going to affect everyone in my life, even though I did it for me. In the long run it will be worth, but right now it sucks!
They turned down my IV fluids and let me drink all I could on Thursday and by Thursday evening Dr. Garza said I could go home. I follow up with him on Tuesday morning in the office.
I still have a lot of pain and I am needing my oral pain meds every 4 hours. I am beginning to think I just have a low pain tolerance because I really don't remember reading much in blogs or forum posts about how bad the post-op pain is. I can honestly say the amount of pain I've had post-op took me off guard. He did take my gallbladder out too, which I guess contributes to the pain after surgery, but holy cow, I didn't think it would be quite this bad. He did leave an open incision in my side that the stapler passed through and the visiting nurses come once per day to pack and re-dress it. I hate that part, it is painful and gross and I can't even really watch...gross! It sounds like that will take about 2-3 weeks to heal. I guess I don't understand why this incision is left open, I know he said he does it for infection control purposes but it seems so barbaric to me and I really haven't heard of other surgeons doing that. I guess as long as it heals well that is all I ask.
I came home Thursday evening to a super clean house and all my laundry run through, thanks to Tori. She had been busy all day to make it look nice. That was so sweet of her. I basically set up my "place" in my bedroom. I have my bed and a hard straight back chair from the kitchen and a recliner. Danny has been sleeping in the recliner so he can help me if needed. I can really only sleep on my back if I lay down very carefully and even then I only sleep for 3 hours maximum before the gas pain or internal pain wakes me up. Then I usually walk the upstairs hallways for a while until it is time to take more pain medicine. The gas that rolls around in my stomach is audible to anyone within a 6 foot radius of me and I have been having some loose stools every day which is how I expel the gas. Gross I know, but the surgeon said that is all normal at this point. My intestines are swollen and are not going to be acting like they should.
I am so thankful I took off work the amount of time I did, and I may tack another weekend on there if I need to for recovery. I know I am not going to recover as soon as I thought I would but I am just taking it one day at a time and taking baby steps hoping for little improvements every day.
I got my period yesterday, too, it's been great fun managing that. Great timing! I can't bend at the waist because of pain so if I drop anything it just stays on the floor for someone else to get. I can't reach the floor to get dressed and pull my pants up, so I need help from my husband for that. It's been a humbling experience, to rely on someone for even the most basic of needs. I said I was going to write a book called "The joys of trying to get a pad into your underwear after abdominal surgery and other hilaroties post gastric bypass." It's been a journey and it's far from over.
That is all I can think of for now, I'm sure there is much more and I will post as I think of them. I didn't weigh in last week Thursday because I was still in the hospital, I guess I will see what I weigh at Dr. Garza's office on Tuesday and then I'll be back to my own Thursday weigh ins again.
OH...one other fun thing! I am going to cut my hair short and dye it blond before I go back to work. I have decided to do something radical!!!
My surgery was on Monday and the surgeon said it went pretty much by the book and there were no complications. I was really nervous going into surgery but as soon as they got me into the OR suite they gave me meds to relax me and then a mask over my face and I was out. I don't remember too much from the recovery room but my first vivid memories are those of crying in pain as they were transporting me from the recovery room to my hospital room because every time they hit a bump it hurt terribly. I remember thinking it wasn't supposed to hurt that bad, no one really said the pain was that bad. Oh but it was...
I slept quite a bit on Monday but I remember my husband coming to my bedside and I told him even though I was sleeping I didn't want him to leave. They had me hooked up to a PCA pump and I could push the button for pain meds through my IV whenever I needed to and I did that pretty much whenever I was awake. I had a foley catheter in my bladder so I didn't need to get up to use the bathroom but I did ring for the nurse to help me stand up at the bedside sometime in the middle of the night just because I needed to get out of bed. It was tough but I needed to stand up after laying for almost 24 hours. The hospital had me in an inflatable bariatric bed that was super comfortable to sleep in but absolute HELL to get in and out of. It sat too high up off the ground and needed to be deflated for my feet to even come close to the ground to stand, and it was impossible to use my arms to push myself up to get to an upright position. Not to mention that once they pulled that bladder catheter I needed to pee when I needed to pee and if no one came to deflate the bed it was hard to get out. Needless to say my last night in the hospital I slept in a high back chair, which was fine, too.
The pain medicine and the pain itself frequently made me nauseous and they were giving me IV nausea meds as well. I decided to wean myself back on the IV pain meds which was a bad idea because while the nausea from the pain meds improved the pain skyrocketed until I was in tears not knowing what to do. I was miserable all day on Tuesday. I did walk with physical therapy on Tuesday, it's the last thing I felt like doing but I knew I had to do it. I had to go for a swallow test on Tuesday morning where they make you drink this vile, bitter, syrup like contrast material so they can see if there are any leaks. It literally left a bad taste in my mouth for half the day afterward it was so gross. At least there were no leaks so I could start drinking clear liquids Tuesday instead of just swabbing out my mouth.
On Wednesday they had me up walking even more and changed me to oral pain meds which seemed to help. I was drinking more and didn't have to deal with the nausea as much, and if I did it was tolerable or at least manageable with a protonix pill that helped reduce acid in my stomach. I felt a little better on Wednesday so I had a feeling every passing day was going to see me feeling better, even if only a little bit. Dr. Garza decided that I needed to stay over night one more night in the hospital and really concentrate on getting more fluids in and make sure that the nausea was going to be OK.
I walked a lot on Wednesday and Thursday. Danny spent time with me and the kids came for a visit Wednesday night. Paige stayed home from school Wednesday because she hadn't seen me Tuesday night as planned, and basically had a melt down before school. She was fine after she got to see me Wednesday night. I guess I didn't really think about how this was going to affect everyone in my life, even though I did it for me. In the long run it will be worth, but right now it sucks!
They turned down my IV fluids and let me drink all I could on Thursday and by Thursday evening Dr. Garza said I could go home. I follow up with him on Tuesday morning in the office.
I still have a lot of pain and I am needing my oral pain meds every 4 hours. I am beginning to think I just have a low pain tolerance because I really don't remember reading much in blogs or forum posts about how bad the post-op pain is. I can honestly say the amount of pain I've had post-op took me off guard. He did take my gallbladder out too, which I guess contributes to the pain after surgery, but holy cow, I didn't think it would be quite this bad. He did leave an open incision in my side that the stapler passed through and the visiting nurses come once per day to pack and re-dress it. I hate that part, it is painful and gross and I can't even really watch...gross! It sounds like that will take about 2-3 weeks to heal. I guess I don't understand why this incision is left open, I know he said he does it for infection control purposes but it seems so barbaric to me and I really haven't heard of other surgeons doing that. I guess as long as it heals well that is all I ask.
I came home Thursday evening to a super clean house and all my laundry run through, thanks to Tori. She had been busy all day to make it look nice. That was so sweet of her. I basically set up my "place" in my bedroom. I have my bed and a hard straight back chair from the kitchen and a recliner. Danny has been sleeping in the recliner so he can help me if needed. I can really only sleep on my back if I lay down very carefully and even then I only sleep for 3 hours maximum before the gas pain or internal pain wakes me up. Then I usually walk the upstairs hallways for a while until it is time to take more pain medicine. The gas that rolls around in my stomach is audible to anyone within a 6 foot radius of me and I have been having some loose stools every day which is how I expel the gas. Gross I know, but the surgeon said that is all normal at this point. My intestines are swollen and are not going to be acting like they should.
I am so thankful I took off work the amount of time I did, and I may tack another weekend on there if I need to for recovery. I know I am not going to recover as soon as I thought I would but I am just taking it one day at a time and taking baby steps hoping for little improvements every day.
I got my period yesterday, too, it's been great fun managing that. Great timing! I can't bend at the waist because of pain so if I drop anything it just stays on the floor for someone else to get. I can't reach the floor to get dressed and pull my pants up, so I need help from my husband for that. It's been a humbling experience, to rely on someone for even the most basic of needs. I said I was going to write a book called "The joys of trying to get a pad into your underwear after abdominal surgery and other hilaroties post gastric bypass." It's been a journey and it's far from over.
That is all I can think of for now, I'm sure there is much more and I will post as I think of them. I didn't weigh in last week Thursday because I was still in the hospital, I guess I will see what I weigh at Dr. Garza's office on Tuesday and then I'll be back to my own Thursday weigh ins again.
OH...one other fun thing! I am going to cut my hair short and dye it blond before I go back to work. I have decided to do something radical!!!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
T- minus 7 hours
My surgery is 7 hours from now. I am nervous and excited and I just want to go in and get it done. We are leaving home in about 4 1/2 hours. I have my bag packed and everything at home is in order for while I am in the hospital. I found myself praying many times today that everything goes well and that I don't die and leave my kids without a mom, I can't help but worry, it's my nature. It doesn't help that I am a nurse and probably know a little too much about what can go wrong.
The anesthesiologist called me this evening and chatted for a bit, he said the OR is booked for 4 hours, hopefully it doesn't take that long.
I had to use antimicrobial wipes all over my skin after showering tonight, they are gross, they left my skin tacky and itchy...blech.
I had my husband take some before pictures tonight and I took a bunch of measurements. The time is here...let's roll!!
I'll post as soon as I feel up to it when I get home from the hospital.
The anesthesiologist called me this evening and chatted for a bit, he said the OR is booked for 4 hours, hopefully it doesn't take that long.
I had to use antimicrobial wipes all over my skin after showering tonight, they are gross, they left my skin tacky and itchy...blech.
I had my husband take some before pictures tonight and I took a bunch of measurements. The time is here...let's roll!!
I'll post as soon as I feel up to it when I get home from the hospital.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Almost there
I can say I am honestly sick to death of this liquid diet. This has been the hardest thing (next to child birth) that I have ever done in my life. I have been good and the end is in sight! My surgery is on Monday and I am so ready to do it and get on with my life. Just FYI...Atkins shakes=good, Muscle Milk Light=tastes like ass!!! I haven't really felt too terrible on the shakes, yes I have been hungry and yes I miss chewing and I miss food, and sometimes I feel sorry for myself, but all in all is wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's not easy, but it is easier to do when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I have been on this liquid diet since 3/25/13 and I have lost almost 10# on the liquid diet alone. My weigh in this week showed a loss of 5.4# for a total of 23.0# since January. I am really hoping to loose another 2.2 # by Monday so I can go into the hospital at 240#, today I am 242.2#.
I work 12 hour night shift Friday and Saturday night. On Sunday I plan to get caught up on laundry and take my photos and measurements. I will keep myself busy, that is what I have been doing while I'm on this liquid diet. It's almost here, I can't wait!! Pretty soon this period of my life will just be a memory.
I will post more on Sunday with pictures.
I have been on this liquid diet since 3/25/13 and I have lost almost 10# on the liquid diet alone. My weigh in this week showed a loss of 5.4# for a total of 23.0# since January. I am really hoping to loose another 2.2 # by Monday so I can go into the hospital at 240#, today I am 242.2#.
I work 12 hour night shift Friday and Saturday night. On Sunday I plan to get caught up on laundry and take my photos and measurements. I will keep myself busy, that is what I have been doing while I'm on this liquid diet. It's almost here, I can't wait!! Pretty soon this period of my life will just be a memory.
I will post more on Sunday with pictures.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
What doesn't kill me...
What doesn't kill me will make me stronger.
I started my 2 week pre-op liquid diet on Monday the 25th, the first two days were great and then yesterday BAM migraine from hell with nausea. Let me tell you what, trying to drink those nasty shakes is bad enough when you feel fine but when you have a headache and nausea it is 100 times worse. It's not that the shakes taste that terrible but when you have to drink 5 of them per day it gets old real fast, especially when you aren't feeling good. I will muscle through it, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today is day 4 so only 10 more days to go...ha! My headache feels somewhat better today but that doesn't mean it won't flare up again. I haven't taken any ibuprofen because I was advised not to because it is a blood thinner and we don't want that for surgery. I have been taking tylenol which doesn't really touch the headache for me, maybe slightly takes the edge off. I have imitrex injections that I use for my migraines and I used one yesterday and it helped for a couple of hours and then the headache came back. I think unless I absolutely have to I am going to hold onto the 3 injections I have here at home for after surgery in case I have a migraine again from the narcotics or whatever.
I never really realized how many food commercials there are on TV or how many damn dessert recipes people pin on pinterest...holy shit! I miss food and more specifically I miss chewing. Chewing sugar free jello and sugar free popsicles doesn't really count! I know it will be quite a while until I get to eat, but man, those food commercials really get me. I saw someone post something about a peanut butter sandwich on facebook this morning and I thought how good a peanut butter sandwich would taste. I never ate peanut butter sandwiches in the past, ever...lol! I think I just miss food. Honestly, though, I feel strong, I have no desire to cheat and I really don't have physical hunger most of the time, it's more head hunger, something sounds good or I remember how good it tasted in the past. I will get past this. I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to justify just a taste of this or that. I am in this for the long haul and I am strong and able to do this!
Now let's get to the weigh in. I weighed in this morning and I am down 4.2 pounds. Keep in mind I pretty much ate crap the last half of last week and over last weekend. Not an all out food binge but some definite high carb meals and sweet treats. I started my liquid diet Monday so I'm sure that weight came off in the few days I have been on the liquid diet and I'm not surprised, it comes in at about 800 calories per day. So I am down a total of 17.6# since January and I need to lose a little over 7 more pounds by surgery to hit my goal of going into the hospital at 240#.
One last thing...chicken broth is my friend! The shakes aren't super sweet but they are sweet-ish and seeing that is the majority of what I am taking in that one flavor gets overwhelming. At night when I am sitting on my computer or watching TV I make a big cup of chicken broth and it just hits the spot. I sip at it and it is hot an salty and makes me feel more like I am having some food. Just thought I'd share...lol!!
I will post next week or sooner if I have something great to say :)
I started my 2 week pre-op liquid diet on Monday the 25th, the first two days were great and then yesterday BAM migraine from hell with nausea. Let me tell you what, trying to drink those nasty shakes is bad enough when you feel fine but when you have a headache and nausea it is 100 times worse. It's not that the shakes taste that terrible but when you have to drink 5 of them per day it gets old real fast, especially when you aren't feeling good. I will muscle through it, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Today is day 4 so only 10 more days to go...ha! My headache feels somewhat better today but that doesn't mean it won't flare up again. I haven't taken any ibuprofen because I was advised not to because it is a blood thinner and we don't want that for surgery. I have been taking tylenol which doesn't really touch the headache for me, maybe slightly takes the edge off. I have imitrex injections that I use for my migraines and I used one yesterday and it helped for a couple of hours and then the headache came back. I think unless I absolutely have to I am going to hold onto the 3 injections I have here at home for after surgery in case I have a migraine again from the narcotics or whatever.
I never really realized how many food commercials there are on TV or how many damn dessert recipes people pin on pinterest...holy shit! I miss food and more specifically I miss chewing. Chewing sugar free jello and sugar free popsicles doesn't really count! I know it will be quite a while until I get to eat, but man, those food commercials really get me. I saw someone post something about a peanut butter sandwich on facebook this morning and I thought how good a peanut butter sandwich would taste. I never ate peanut butter sandwiches in the past, ever...lol! I think I just miss food. Honestly, though, I feel strong, I have no desire to cheat and I really don't have physical hunger most of the time, it's more head hunger, something sounds good or I remember how good it tasted in the past. I will get past this. I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to justify just a taste of this or that. I am in this for the long haul and I am strong and able to do this!
Now let's get to the weigh in. I weighed in this morning and I am down 4.2 pounds. Keep in mind I pretty much ate crap the last half of last week and over last weekend. Not an all out food binge but some definite high carb meals and sweet treats. I started my liquid diet Monday so I'm sure that weight came off in the few days I have been on the liquid diet and I'm not surprised, it comes in at about 800 calories per day. So I am down a total of 17.6# since January and I need to lose a little over 7 more pounds by surgery to hit my goal of going into the hospital at 240#.
One last thing...chicken broth is my friend! The shakes aren't super sweet but they are sweet-ish and seeing that is the majority of what I am taking in that one flavor gets overwhelming. At night when I am sitting on my computer or watching TV I make a big cup of chicken broth and it just hits the spot. I sip at it and it is hot an salty and makes me feel more like I am having some food. Just thought I'd share...lol!!
I will post next week or sooner if I have something great to say :)
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