One Month Post Op!

Mar 01, 2017

I lost 5 pounds this week, for a total of 46.6 Lbs gone since i started this journey with 3 weeks of pre-op Optifast on January 18th. 

I lost 23 Lbs with Opti in 3 weeks, 9.8 Lbs week 1 post Op, 6 Lbs week 2 post op, 2.8 Lbs week 3 post op, and now 5 Lbs week 4 post op. 

So that's 23.6 Lbs gone since surgery on Feb. 1st, 2017. My body seems to like the number 23, lol.  I'm a bit surprised that I lost 23 Lbs in 3 weeks with Opti, and 23.6 Lbs in 4 weeks Post Op; I had thought I'd lose more post op than pre-op.  I did, but only point 6 more.  I'm not complaining; I think it's awesome and I'm thrilled to be down 46.6 Lbs. I'm also thrilled that I didn't hit the dreaded 3 week stall.

My Dad drove me down to Sudbury a few days ago, for my one month post op appointment. We left on Feb. 27th and the 4 hour drive was lovely, with sunshine, clear skies, and dry pavement the whole way. We stopped for coffee (for Dad) and peppermint tea (for me) and I won a free coffee and donut with Tim Horton's roll up the rim.  I gave both of my winning cup bits to Dad and he was thrilled, lol.

We stayed at the Clarion Hotel in Sudbury because it is my favorite hotel in Sudbury. It is 100% smoke free, and never has any funky smells, like other Sudbury hotels do. It's always clean and quiet and the beds and pillows are super comfy.

We arrived early enough that we still had daylight, so we walked across the street to the used bookstore so I could browse a bit. I didn't get anything though, as we decided to walk down street to the mall and we didn't want to carry anything.  It took us about 15 or 20 minutes to walk to the mall because we were stiff from the drive.  It was nice and sunny but super cold out and my nose was frozen by the time we got to the mall.  It was only 5:30 and we were shocked to see that many of the stores were closing (the stores in our mall stay open until 9 PM). It was a pretty, albeit empty mall, and we looked around a bit.  My Dad saw a jacket he really loved, on sale, but unfortunately they didn't have his size.

We walked back to the hotel and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe Gastro Pub.  I tried to convince Dad to have one of their famous burgers but he opted for liver and onions.  I tried their roasted red pepper soup, and managed to eat close to half of it before I was too full. It was good, but sort of reminded me of a pepper sauce i used to make for my Steak Pizzaoili recipe.

The water in Sudbury was so grosse that one small sip made me instantly nauseated, so I was thankful that I'd packed my bottled water, flavored with crystal lite like sugar free flavoring (koolaide brand).

We went to the room to relax and unpack a bit, and then Dad went for a swim and I went with him to keep him company.  He had the whole pool to himself and loved it; said it was wonderfully warm. He swam laps for half an hour.  I took lots of photos but don't know how to add them to the blog. I think I need to use a different browser for the photos to work.

My appointment in Sudbury was for 8 AM, yesterday, but I had to register at 7:45.  It only took a few minutes to drive to the Bariatric center from our hospital so I had plenty of time to register. 

We checked out because we weren't thinking; Dad should have just dropped me off and gone back to the hotel to relax or have breakfast or go for a swim, but instead, he just stayed with me and had to wait 4 hours.  Everyone chatted with him, so that was nice.

The first portion of my appointment was in a classroom setting, where we learned about vitamins and minerals and calcium.  It was informative but nothing that couldn't have been done online, or just handed to us in a handout.  It seemed like an incredible waste of time to make so many people from all over Northern Ontario drive all the way to Sudbury to get information that could easily be emailed or relayed via telehealth.

The second portion of the appointment lasted all of 15 minutes.  I met with the nurse one on one. That was very helpful, as I've had some issues with pain after eating pureed food.  The food went down fine, no nausea, no pain, but about 4 hours after eating I got sharp pains in my left lower abdomen.  I had an ultrasound and xray and there was no blockage found, but my test results showed my lower left lung had not reinflated after surgery, and that there were surgical clips left inside me. I was thrilled to hear that the surgical clips were supposed to be there, and that they were likely staples.  The nurse didn't say anything at all about my lung, but she did fax my report to my surgeon, and sent him a message asking what I should do about the pain.  She said she'd call me back when she heard from him.

After that, I was free to go. Dad wanted a free coffee from MacDonald's (they are giving away free coffee all week), so he drove to a Walmart with a MacDonald's inside.  He ordered his coffee and a Big Mac. I've been fine watching people eat but Big Mac's are a weakness so I couldn't stick around, lol.  I walked around the (huge) store while he ate. I'm happy that I did, as I found a Spiralizer that turns veggies into noodles. I've wanted one for a while, ever since reading Eggface's blog, and it was cheaper in Sudbury than the Sault, so I got one.

I was supposed to start soft solids today and was looking forward to trying zoodles (zucchini noodles) one day in the future.

After the Walmart, I ran into the GNC to see if they had any protein water, because some of the other WLS patients told me the GNC has a nice raspberry flavored protein water.  I know our GNC in the Sault only has coconut protein water in two flavors; Pina Colada and Chocolate, so I wanted to get some berry flavored protein water.  They didn't have any, and the guy said they never had, as far as he knows.

Next to the GNC was a Subway, and an image of soups caught my eye, so I went in and asked if it was possible to get a cup of chicken soup with no noodles.  It was, so I bought a small cup for my lunch.

We left Sudbury and it started to rain. I started drinking my soup, and it took me 150 km to finish half of it. It was very good and i felt cold so it was nice to have something warm inside, but my pouch much prefers ice cold to warm foods.

We were almost home when my nurse called me.  She had heard from my surgeon, and he told her to tell me to do two more weeks of Full Liquids.  She said he thinks I have inflammation inside and that's why it hurts when the food moves through me, and to stay away from purees for 2 weeks to give my insides a chance to heal.

So, everyone else in my group is moving to soft solids and I'm right back to square one, starting full liquids again, like it's 1 day post op instead of 1 month post op.  I was kind of bummed about that but if it means no pain, then I'm all for it.

I couldn't tolerate full liquids for a week after surgery anyway; I had to stay on clear liquids for a week, so my body is definitely taking it's sweet time, lol.

I had no pain yesterday and so far no pain today and that is such a terrific feeling.  I was beginning to think I'd have to live with pain forever. 

I don't really mind the full liquids; I can still have yogurt, cottage cheese, broth and cream soups, cream of wheat or runny oatmeal, jello, pudding, apple sauce, etc. I bought powdered milk to add to my foods to make them higher in protein, because i hate the taste of flavorless protein powder (it still has a flavor, bleah!).  I'll still need to drink my protein shakes, but yesterday was able to just have one and make up the rest of my protein with food.  I can still have my pureed egg salad as I made it with so much yogurt the nurse said it was basically yogurt flavored with egg, lol.

I'm going to make some butternut squash soup this week, and hopefully that will go down OK. 

If I have inflammation inside, I wonder if that is why my pouch loves ice cold drinks and doesn't like hot drinks?  The cold would help with the inflammation.

It was nice spending time with my Dad, and I'm so greatful he drove me as I get so tired so quickly.

The nurse said I'm walking too much; that 1 hour is overdoing it considering the low calories I'm consuming and that I need to limit myself to half an hour until I start eating purees again.  She said my incisions are healed enough to swim, but she said it without looking at them at all; she was just assuming they would be healed. My doctor, who examined them, told me I need to wait, so I am going to wait. He said they were healing nicely but were still raw enough that water could soften them up and make them open.  So as much as I'd loe to swim, I am going to wait until he gives me the go ahead.

Despite the problems, I don't regret having surgery and am thrilled with the weight loss and the need for smaller clothing and bras already! 

I weigh 257.4 Lbs today and haven't been in the 250's in years, so that is quite a milestone for me. I started this journey at 304 Lbs, on January 18th of this year.

My next milestone will be hitting (and exceeding) 50 Lbs lost. I've managed to lose 50 Lbs on my own several times over the years, but never more than that, and I always quickly regained it all, plus more.  So hitting and exceeding 50 Lbs lost is going to be cause for major celebration!

 

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