Megan L.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

So I'm about a week and a half post-op.  I weighed myself at one week and was down 10lbs. WooHoo!!!  I'm also starting to actually feel hungry and my stomach growls (loudly) if I don't attend to it fairly quickly.

I am having trouble getting all of my protein in.  I was told I should be getting in about 90 grams daily and when I tracked the other day I only got in 30ish grams.  I know part of it is that I am SICK of my current protein supplement because I was drinking it the whole month pre-op.  I've ordered a couple of variety packs from Unjury that should arrive tomorrow to help me get on the right track. 

Physically I am starting to feel like ME again! The overwhelming fatigue is subsiding, the pain is minimal (haven't even had ibuprofen the last few days) and I can drive again!  My clothes are fitting looser and it feels great! Normally I would HATE to have my jeans sagging all over the place, but it means I am LOSING WEIGHT (Forever!) so it's worth it!

I think being more active on the forums may help me know if I'm experiencing "normal things" for this stage post-op and to get some tips from others.  So off I go to read away!!!!!!

It's day 3 post-op for me now and while I'm doing better than I was, I still don't feel great.  I didn't expect the recovery to be quite this hard.  After I posted my last blog I became nauseous, and pretty much stayed nauseous the whole day. I know I didn't get enough fluids in, but I was still peeing.  I actually called my Dr.'s office around 7pm, but didn't get a call back. I would have called back but by then it was 8:30 and I knew all the pharmacies closed at 9 so I just went to bed.

Yesterday was better.  I started the day out pretty light headed, but mid day I was able to take in a good amount of fluids, and even "passed gas!!!" I can tell that my GI tract has totally woken up and that feels much better.  I did feel some tightening of the band at one point when I was eating jell-o so I knew it was time to stop.  It was kind of good to feel that the band really is in there :)

I am still having a lot of pain in my left shoulder but I'm sure that most of it is related to the gas.  It kind of hurts all of the time, but gets worse when I have a hiccup or have to burp and then the pressure is pretty intense.  I can't wait for that to go away!!! The incisional pain is tolerable and I have been walking a lot-it's just that darn gas pain.  I realized last night too that it is my pain meds making me light headed-and I thought it was because I hadn't had enough to drink.  So I'm going to skip out on those as long as possible because they make me feel worse instead of better, or only take them just before I go to sleep.  The heating pad has done just as good a job of pain control.

I'm excited to be on my way in this journey! 

I had surgery yesterday around 12 noon.  I woke up in the PACU with a lot of burning at my incision sites and pain in my left shoulder.  I'm pretty sure that shoulder pain is from my car accident and my arm must have been positioned weird while on the operating table.  Ocassionally it feels like that gas pain, though. 

When I got back to short stay I was still REALLY groggy and nauseous.  They tried Zofran, which didn't help.  I held off for a while on taking something else (Compazine) because I didn't want to be any groggier than I already was.  Eventually I gave in because everytime I opened my eyes I got nauseous.  After taking the compazine, I took a good nap and woke up almost completely nausea free.

Drinking my medicine cup full of water was no problem, even when I was nauseous.  Urinating, on the other hand, WAS a struggle.  I kind of expected it because I knew that I had trouble peeing after having my c-section too.  Eventually around 7pm I was able to go a bit.  As a nurse, I knew I hadn't gone enough but I didn't tell my nurse that :p  I knew from my previous experience that I wouldn't be able to relax enough to pee when there was a man in the bed right in front of the bathroom door.  A couple hours after getting home I really went, so I knew everything would be okay.

It was a hard day for my daugher, Ariana.  Right after she got to the hospital they were ready to take me to surgery.  Afterwards she had to stay at the hospital with my husband because my mom had an appointment.  Unfortunately though, I felt yucky so I kept asking my husband to leave with her.  When I got home she got to snuggle in bed with me for a while before her bedtime and I think that helped her.

I slept fairly well, although I woke up at 2am with that gas pain in both of my shoulders.  I put a hot pack on them one at a time and it seemed to help.  I took clear liquids just fine last night.  I have just tried sipping on my protein drink but I am feeling a bit nausous again so I think I'll save the rest for later. 

Looking over what I've just written and all of my typos, I think I'm still a bit groggy so back to the couch I go!

A week from today I will have my Lap-Band!!! I am super excited!!! I must admit that I am nervous for general anesthesia, feeling sick afterwards, and the overall unknown of what it will be like to live with the lap-band. However, those fears are nothing compared to knowing that I am 100% making the right decision for ME! I can honestly say I am going into this WITHOUT HESITATION or doubts.   In my first journal entry (that wasn't saved) I wrote a little about experiencing some of the "Last Supper Syndrome." I think that overall I am doing really well and LOSING WEIGHT as I was told to do, but I still have eaten quite a few things that are not on my "pre-op diet." While I have eaten some forbidden foods-today it was a Blizzard-I am eating them within reason (it was a small)and not binging. I think this diet is not just a weight loss tool, but it's also a great exercise in will power and learning how to eat with restriction. So...even though I have not been perfect I have done really well 85-95% of the time and I have lost 10 lbs since starting the pre-op diet 3 weeks ago.   My pre-op "class" is tomorrow and I am most looking forward to being weighed. It sounds weird for a FAT GIRL to say she's LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING WEIGHED, doesn't it??? That's because my goal is to be 300lbs or darn near close to it, on the day of my surgery.    I was 330lbs when I started the 6 month pre-op program, and 320 when I started the diet March 28th. My last weigh-in, on April 9th, I was 310 so I'm seeing improvements. I've been weighing myself at home and today on my scale (w/o clothes-sorry for the image!) I was 301.4 so I'm getting close. I want to see what the "offical scale" (WITH clothes-a much better image, huh?) says tomorrow.