Mountain Mama
Finally on the Mend
Apr 16, 2011
Well, here I am -- 3 weeks after sepsis almost killed me after the gall bladder surgery.In the meantime, I continued to lose weight due to nausea from the infection and the potent antibiotics. I got down to a dangerously low weight of 117.2 on April 7. At this point, I had to regain 21 pounds to get back up to where I was before the gall bladder saga began. I was theatened with a feeding tube if I dropped any lower.
So -- to combat the nausea, I started drinking flat ginger ale. . . not the diet kind -- the regular kind because I needed the calories. I started adding more complex carbs and would eat a couple of squares of a thin crust pizza a couple of times a week and even treated myself to a single scoop of lemon sorbet. I also found that I could eat 25 Reese's Pieces to stay under 12g of sugar so as not to dump for an occasional snack and to satisfy my sweet tooth. I know some things weren't the healthiest choices -- and some days I just can't tolerate much of anything. But I'm happy to report that as of April 14 -- in just 1 week -- I had gained 3.1 pounds, so I now have "only" 18 more pounds to regain.
I went back to pulmonary rehab 2 weeks ago to begin working into my routine again by just using the treadmill. Some days, I could hit a mile -- and some days I couldn't. But I was back out of the house making the effort to regain my energy and strength by MOVING. I'm going to try adding back the elliptical this week, but just starting at a lap and then adding a lap a week until I work back up to a mile on it, also.
I also started back in my water aerobics class last week. All I can do is the 25 minute group exercise -- but none of the wall routines or water weights. But again -- it's a start and I'll have to work my way back into the full routine. But I'm just absolutely WASTED when I leave from just the group exercise.
I have a long way to go to get back to "normal", but I'm making progress -- and that's the important thing. I know that getting the weight back on in addition to the workout sessions will work hand in hand on regaining my strength and energy and it's just going to take time. Strange how I never thought I'd hear ANYONE tell me I needed to put ON weight.
For those of you who have been following the story, I want to remind you that according to my surgeon what I went through is EXTREMELY rare. I've never had any kind of surgical complication and expected the gall bladder surgery to be routine and I'd be back up and on my feet and back to normal in 5 - 7 days. But this story is a reminder that complications can and DO happen -- no matter how rare they may be.
I'll update again in another month. Hopefully I'll be back into my pre-op workout routine with everything except the weight machines and water weights at that point. But if not, I'll be happy to just make some sort of progress on the workouts and on the weight regain.
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About Me
Evansville, IN
Location
23.0
BMI
Surgery
12/10/2009
Surgery Date
Jul 04, 2009
Member Since
Before & After
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