5 days out from RNY

Hi, All! This is my first time posting in this section. I just joined this week and wrote a few blog posts before a kind woman said that this is actually where people read. Makes sense!

I love seeing stats, so I'll start there:

HW: 287, SW: 266.5, CW: 258.5, Height: 5'5

I'm 5 days out from my gastric bypass surgery and I'm doing pretty well, I think. I was pretty nervous when I went to the hospital and I was waiting there wondering if I was making a huge mistake. Honestly, drinking my protein shakes, I'm still kind of wondering that! Ha. I know that when I continue to lose and when I can eat "real" food, I'll be much happier. Also, when I really heal!

I spent 2 nights in the hospital, but it went by pretty fast. I slep****ched a little tv and tried to take little walks down the long hallway. The nurses were impressed by how often I was up, so that's good. I need to keep it up. I live in Boston and it snowed and then rained right after I got home, so outside is pretty treacherous. I might be able to walk outside some tomorrow, despite the cold.

I'm kind of amazed that I'm not hungry at all. I was only able to get down a shake and a half (30g of protein each) on Friday and Saturday (first full days home after hospital). Today, I did 2. Doctor said, try to do 2.5 shakes a day, so I'll see if I can hit that tomorrow as my Christmas goal. I'm not getting my 64 ounces of fluids either, but it's hard trying to sip sip sip all day long. I don't want to drink too much at once, so I slow down, but then I don't get everything in. It has only been a few days, so I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I've had 2 concerns since coming home. The first is my where my drain came out. There area protrudes out and makes one side of my stomach a lot bigger than the other. I'm hoping it's just normal swelling. That is the only place I have pain left. I have staples in my incisions instead of dissolving stitches because I was told staples would scar less. I'll have them taken out at my 1-week post-op on Wednesday (technically 1 week and 1 day). I called the doctor about the swelling and it seems to be normal. My mind will be more at ease when I see the Physician's Assistant on Wednesday and she confirms.

The second concern I have is an alternating numbness and shooting heat/pain in my right thigh. I looked it up on various forums and it's probably a pinched nerve from surgery. I hope it goes away because it's really annoying and kind of frightening to have a mostly numb thigh. The only time it hurt was Friday night when I tried to lay on that thigh and got sharp shooting pains - enough to vault me out of bed. I called the doctor on call at the hospital (who was kind of rude and made me feel dumb for calling) and he mentioned the pinched nerve.

I really can't wait to have real food, but I'm kind of nervous that I'll overdo it and start eating poorly again. I'm not one of those people who feels like I need to eat 100% clean for the rest of my life (no snacks or sweets ever!), but I want to eat 90-95% clean with room for a taste of a sweet or snack (assuming my body tolerates it). Is that bad? I see all these postings about NEVER eating crackers or sweets or popcorn again. Never? I'm hoping for healthy with treats in moderation/special occasions as long as my body says it's ok. Would love to hear other thoughts. Thanks and happy holidays!

Hi and welcome! Congrats on your surgery. Good job with the shakes, they do count towards your 64oz of fluids. By sip as much water as possible too. My disc didn't have a 64 oz goal right off the bat, I was glad for that, less overwhelming. I built up to 64 in the first week.

I didn't have a drain, so can't offer any insight. Swelling makes sense, as long as it not warm to touch/tender, or oozing I'd write it off as swelling. After my thyroid surgery a section of my leg near the knee was numb. I thought it was odd, the docs dismissed it. It went away w/o issue.

I'm not in the never again camp for sweets, crackers etc, but I'll say keep them out of your diet for at least the first year while getting that excess weight off. Trust me, whenever you reintroduce that stuff, you regret that you did. It's a hard habit to break once it's started. Moderation is great in theory, but if we did that well we wouldn't have needed WLS.

Thanks! That's all really helpful. I started early this morning with my shake and water, so I'm hoping to get more in today.

I'm hoping that my numbness goes away like yours did. I read some forums where people still had it years later!

I agree with the food. I think I'll be able to do moderation, but I know it's something I'll be looking verrrry closely at when I get to that stage. I want to use the honeymoon period to really learn to eat right and to go to the gym to lose even more weight and build muscle. I'd like to reach my goal weight within the first 9 months if possible and my vision is to maintain within 5 lbs for the rest of my life. Hard work ahead and fingers crossed!

I'm a WLS newbie myself- today is my 2 week surgery anniversary! I can tell you from my limited experience that I think the first week was the hardest. I couldn't wait until I could eat "real" food again, but sometime during the second week I realized that I wasn't hungry or craving solid foods anymore. So it does get easier, I think. I'm with you on moderation but I too am going to hold off as long as possible now because I don't want to open that can of worms. If I'm not really wanting it then I'm not going to eat it.

Merry Christmas and congratulations on your surgery!!

Congrats on your surgery!

Thanks very much! I'm at 1 week today! I realized that I have only been craving things that I've actually seen people eating it front of me since my pre-surgery diet! Sushi, popcorn, crackers, mac & cheese - all things that I've been in the presence of in the last 2 weeks! I'm not actually hungry or craving random other things that I've always loved (like cake or french fries).

I still can't wait to be able to eat real foods, but right now I'm thinking eggs and yogurt will be a good start.

Hope you had a great Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Congrats on your surgery! Sounds like you are doing well. It is normal to have some swelling. It will go away soon.

Remember it is your job right now to drink and walk as much as you can. It is hard to do both at first, but keep challenging yourself to do more each day. Also remember that SF popsicles count toward your fluids. I did alot of them and herbal tea in the first few weeks.

Hang in there and be good to yourself. The time will pass quickly.

Thank you! That's very helpful. I'm starting to get sick of just the shakes, so I'm going to add broth and sugar free popsicles/jello.

Congrats on a successful surgery!

I have been trying the moderation thing too, and allowed myself extra carbs for Christmas. I'm 11 months out, so not quite a year, and down 130 Lbs. I allowed myself some things I normally wouldn't eat, I planned for them, I enjoyed them, but still felt guilty about it and am glad to get back to normal eating today.

I'm lucky that sugar bothers me so my planned treats were sugar free. I don't know what I'd do if I was OK with sugar.

I do know that I feel healthier and better when I eat high protein, low carb; the extra carbs gave me headaches, and I'll probably feel icky until I get back into ketosis.

Thanks, Kathy! And congrats on your terrific year of weight loss! That's amazing.

I'm still on my post-op protein shake diet, so I haven't had the hardship of picking and choosing my foods yet. Just the hardship of not really eating at all! ha. I'm very curious to see what my body will/will not handle. I'm hoping that I have your willpower and feeling of peace when eating healthy!