7.23.11

Jul 23, 2011

With almost 3 weeks since my surgery I can't believe how drastically my life has changed already. The time leading up to "THE" day seemed to drag and take forever and be filled with terribly challenging moments. Watching others eat is not fun when you're trying to stay within such rigid restrictions. One of the things I'm most proud of is that I did not stray 1 bit from the pre-op diet, despite the fact that it was monotonous and left me feeling drained.
The immediate post op period was not as bad as I thought it would be, with just 48 hours in the hospital. I would like to say that I think it's fairly motivating (in terms of my desire to get home) to have surgery somewhere you work. Once the first 18 post-op hours passed I seemed to be over the nausea that was plaguing me, and the rest of the recovery period was very tolerable. Be aggressive in asking for anti-emetic/nausea medicine if you're easily bothered. For me, I think that the IV morphine is what caused the majority of my problem. Once I switched to pain pills my nausea resolved.
Getting adequate liquid seemed pretty easy after the first few days (thank goodness for sugar free popsicles), but I had lots of problems tolerating the protein powder that the dietician sold. Of course it took until I moved up to mushy foods last week to figure out that the pp was the problem. As soon as I switched to squishy proteins and soft foods my stomach straightened out. Now I'm thrilled with a scrambled egg or two a day, and one other protein based small meal like well minced shrimp or fish or chicken. I even had a tiny taste of a hamburger yesterday (and chewed like a wild woman) that was absolutely heavenly. At this point, I am thrilled with my progress, but attribute lots of it to all the support and love and help I get from my dh and mom.

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