Katrina1d

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Surgery Day-The days before my surgery I was a nervous wreck. I had my “last supper” at my favorite Italian place full of pasta and bread-YUMM-and then went out to my favorite spot with a few of my friends to ease my nerves. When it was finally the day of my surgery I was tired of being nervous and was just anxious to get it over with. My surgery was around 10:30am so my mom and I got to the hospital around 8:30am. They quickly took me back and began to prep me. The rest of the day was a blur. However, I do know that when I was awake I was in A LOT of pain. It was a little unexpected and my mom and I came to the conclusion that I thought the pain was so terrible because this was my first major procedure and I had nothing to compare it to. My mom was so wonderful through everything. She was so patient and helped me, and from what I hear the nurses, quite a bit. I was really lucky she was there with me since she had already been through this and could relate to what I was going through. She is my best friend and I love her. Wednesday came before I knew it and it was finally time to go home.

Week 1-I began walking the day I came home from the hospital. I found this was the ONLY way to get rid of the gas and man was that gas was killer! The first couple of days I couldn’t go very far mostly because my back and hips would begin to hurt really badly. Besides the normal pain my hips and back have from my weight in general, I think they were compensating for what my stomach muscles couldn’t do for me. Unlike most people, I was not on a liquid diet. Instead I was told to eat soft proteins 3x/day. I had a hard time the first few days eating the entire ounce because of the swelling. My first outing was on Friday to the nail salon-just because I was recovering from surgery didn’t mean I wanted to look like I was recovering from surgery 

Week 2-Was the beginning of all of my protein drinks and vitamins. I have not had any problem with the vitamins but the protein drinks gave me some trouble at first. I found I was trying to drink too much at once. I’ve adjusted my schedule for 1-4oz serving every other hour between meals and vitamins (about 20oz/day) I am also taking prescription meds for indigestion and for my gallbladder. Something I wasn’t aware of, people are more at risk for gallstones while they are rapidly losing weight. Trying to stay on top of everything is a little overwhelming so I’ve made myself a daily checklist just until I get the hang of it and am confident I won’t forget anything.

The exercising is going much better. I am able to walk at least a mile without any issues. Most days I walk between 1.5 and 2 miles. It’s not much compared to what some people do each day, but to me it is a major advancement. I plan to get to the point where I can walk a 5k within a decent amount of time and then steadily pick up the pace until I am jogging and hopefully running more and more. One of my ultimate goals in all of this is to become a person who enjoys exercise. I want it to become a part of my daily routine. I know this is key to my success.

This week the emotions started flowing. I started to feel the stress of not being able to turn to my old friend (food). I had a couple of “meltdowns” and for the first time ever in my life I turned to exercise to calm down. I would go for a walk until I didn’t feel anxious or upset anymore. This is HUGE for me.

My post op visit was on Thursday and it was a little bittersweet. The surgeon says I am right on track (I’ve lost 12lbs since surgery! I am so excited about this) and that everything seems to be healing well. He reassured me that my spells of exhaustion were normal and he let me know they would probably last a couple more months. Then he gave me the bad news. Like most obese people I have a fatty liver and was informed that if I had kept going the way I was I would have had liver disease in a couple of years. That is so scary for anyone at any age but I am 24 and was really taken back. It was just another reason that I am so glad I did this.

I know I have rambled on and on but real quick I would like to say I have already experienced a NSV-I HAVE ANKLES!! All of the swelling is completely gone from my feet and my ankles. They are just regular old dirty SKINNY BONEY feet and I love them! 

My mom asked me the other day if I knew before my surgery what I know now, would I do it again? Abso-friggin-lutely!!