Day 4 Post-Op

May 01, 2009

Incredible as it sounds, I made it!
I made it through the surgery, the 2 quite uncomfortable days at the hospital and now I'm on my 3rd day at my parents' house. They have been so great to me, keeping me on track with my walking and my eating/drinking. I guess that might be some good advice for people before they get their surgeries: make sure you have a supportive environment to come home to. It's been so great for me to feel safe because there is so many unexpected things happening with my body.

#1) the re-awakening of my digestive tract. Turns out anesthesia is not so kind to the lower/upper intestines. After more than 72 hours, I started to feel evidence that things were indeed moving again. While this was encouraging, I also had to experience these events inthe context of post-op discomfort.

#2) The pain of laporoscopic surgery. I cannot imagine what people must go through who had the open procedure. Laporoscopy meant 5 tiny incisions in my abdonimal cavity. It also means minimal discomfort after the surgery, but rest assured there still is some. Some of it comes from the air they use to inflate you so that they can more easily manipulate their surgical instruments. The other part comes fromt he fact that there are 5 tiny holes in your belly that were stretched out temporarily and that are now stapled up. I can only describe it as someone inserting a watermelon into your front and leaving it there. The discomfort gets better over time, so you graduate from watermelon to XL honeydew to smallish cantaloupe and... you get the idea. I still feel like there are a couple of mangoes in there but I hopeful that after 7 days this will be different

3) Swallowing, holding down and digesting food. In the hospital, my first sip was applejuice followed by some chicken broth. I have since started to consume yogourt, pudding, jello and refined oatmeal. The nutritinist who met with me explained the importance of waiting 60 seconds between each bite to let it trickle into the stomach pouch and avoid blocking it up. I have been incredibly lucky so far because I have not experienced any eating-related nausea. it's incredible to me that I have kept everything down so far. I even felt something close to hunger on 1-2 occasions.  I just want to say that I dont take this for granted- it is possible that the next thing I eat, whatever itis and for whatever reason, wont go down as well. I feel that sense of fear every time I sit down to nourish myself, with is 4-5 times a day right now.

Well it's Day 4 and i'm 15 lbs down since beginning my liquid fast 2 weeks ago. I was 210 lbs to begin wtih (BMI 38) and I'm very excited to drop some more in the next little while. I'll keep you posted!!

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