Connie_S
6 Months Since Surgery
Dec 23, 2009
Well, here I am, on December 23rd, 2 days before my 6 month surgiversary. I didn't get that 100 pounds in 6 months, but I did get 95! Even I recognize that's nothing to sneer at! So, I am pleased.
Changes since I last posted? Well, I have remained off the iron supplements. I finally found a multivitamin I actually like and calcium supplements that are easy to get in. They both come from Bariatric Advantage.com. The Multivitamin is the chewable one developed specifically for the RNY patient in orange flavor and the calcium is in cherry flavored lozenges. I'm taking 4-400mg lozenges per day and they are working well. Easy to take with me, taste good, and no-muss-no-fuss.
I quit taking the sennokot/colace/benefiber cocktail I was using daily for constipation and am now using Miralax. It works good, but did cause a lot of bloating and stomach pain in the beginning. It also makes the stool soft and very difficult to clean up. So, I added Benefiber twice a day to my regimine and that helped a lot with clean-up. And I increased my water intake from 64 ounces/day to around 104 ounces/day. I did this for 2 reasons. First, my support group newsletter in November said some research was showing people needed an extra 8 ounces of water (above the recommended 64 ounces/day) for every 25 pounds we are overweight. Well, I am still at least 125 pounds overweight, so I added an additional 5 glasses of water a day to my schedule. I felt the miralax needed it too, since it works by pulling fluid into the stool like nature intended. And finally, finally, the constipation issue is put to bed. I was terrorified of getting addicted to the senokot and needing ever increasing doses of laxatives.
My hair has started coming out pretty heavily since my last post, but remember, I was advised by my doc to back off on the protein in November. I don't know if it would have started falling out heavily anyway or not, but I can't help but blame it on the reduced protein. And I had a lot of trouble getting 60 grams in every day with food alone after he advised me to lay off the protein shakes. In fact, I got so tired of trying to choke down 60 grams of protein a day with meat/milk/eggs and cheese that I finally gave it up last week. It's just too hard, and it's too frustrating at this point. And I never had room for a single bite of anything but meat/milk/eggs or cheese - so it got really old. Sooooo......I'm back to drinking 2 protein shakes a day and I eat whatever I want but don't push it. If I only want green peas for dinner, I eat green peas. If I want salad, I eat salad. And I count on the little bits of solid protein I get through the day to equal at least 20 grams of complete protein. I get the other 40 grams from 2 protein shakes a day. And I don't care what anyone says, I'm keeping them till I don't think I need them any more. So there. Thankfully, even though I am shedding hair like a labrador retriever, it still looks good. Hopefully, it'll slow down soon.
Another change I have noticed, is that I can now go to pretty much any restaurant and eat from the menu without a lot of trouble. I even went with my husband to Jersey Mikes the other day and he got a giant philly cheese steak sub. They cut those things into 4 pieces, and I comfortably ate 1/2 of one of those sections. It actually went down really well, did not make me sick, I did not ever feel too full, and it was very satisfying. In fact, on the rare occassions when I do eat that substantially, I generally find I am not hungry at all till the next day. But interestingly, I have noticed that hunger signals are less since I started taking the Miralax. I have no idea if the two are related or not, but I like it. And it’s another reason I am glad I don’t have to eat meat if I don’t want it. It’s so much easier to get down 6 oz of protein shake than a dry piece of chicken breast if I don’t want to struggle with it.
It seems I can eat small amounts of almost anything as long as it isn’t too dry. Salads pose no problem for me. Beef (which has just been introduced at the 6 month mark) doesn’t cause any problems and I find I am absolutely famished for it! Air-popped popcorn, that’s lightly sprayed with buttery spray goes down incredibly easy! I’ve tolerated the bits of bread, pasta, and rice that I’ve tried in the last month without problems – but mostly, I try to stay away from those carbs. I’ve eaten eggs till I am sick of them, and I just can’t face another egg right now.
I have yet to buy new clothes. People at work tell me it’s time, but my husband (who sees how much enjoyment I am getting out of wearing baggy clothes) tells me not to listen to them. So, I’ll buy new clothes when I want new clothes, and not before! Right now I am wearing size 22/24 pants and XXL shirts/sweaters. There is a part of me that doesn’t believe I will be able to buy 18/20 pants or XL tops when I finally do go shopping, so that may be some of the reason I am putting it off.
Suddenly, in the last few weeks, I notice there are days when I can eat lots more food than I have previously been able to eat. For example, one day last week, our family helped my husbands’ 93 year old aunt move into a retirement complex. I had my protein shake and ½ a banana for breakfast at 7:30am. When lunch came, at around 1pm, I had ordered a ham and cheese sandwich with chips and a pickle spear. To my amazement, I ate the entire sandwich and the pickle spear over about 20 minutes. I kept waiting for my ‘getting full’ signal, but it never came. In fact, I stopped because I knew the volume of food I had consumed was more than my pouch should hold and I didn’t want to stretch the stoma. I was comfortably filled, and did not get hungry again till very late that evening. I have no idea why sometimes I can do that, and other times (though admittedly they are getting fewer and farther between) I really can’t eat much of anything.
Anyway, things are going well! I am happy with my progress and look greatly forward to the next six months! If I manage to loose another 60 pounds over the next 6 months, then I will be within 60 pounds of my goal. Woo hoo!!
Thanks for listening, and have a blessed Christmas!
connie
