3 Weeks Post Op

Jan 05, 2016

Here I am, starting on week 3 of my post op, and I'm doing alright. Weighed myself today for the first time and I'm down to 259. When I had the surgery, I weighed in at the hospital at 274lbs. My surgery proved to be a journey that was a life-saving maneuver for me. The surgery was 4.5 hours long. My husband says that when the surgeon talked to him, the reason for the long duration was my stomach was lodged in my diaphragm and esophagus. Had the surgery not been done or if another doctor had not thought to look and I had continued to gain weight, the weight of my stomach would have eventually crushed my esophagus and would have killed me. So he had to do a hiatal hernia repair on top of the RNY. I had issues with my sugar while in the hospital, but I finally leveled out.

The first week post-op was also hard for me. First, when people say your taste buds will change, I never imagined that in a weeks’ time that I would not be able to tolerate Sugar-Free Jell-O. The taste was so overwhelming and intense that the sweet taste from the artificial sweeteners was nauseating. Even now, I can't stomach the taste. Next was the smells of the family cooking. One night, they did a lasagna bake and I nearly barfed. I sat in my room on the furthest end from the kitchen with the windows wide open and a fan blowing in air to rid the smell. Then, the family got Chinese food for lunch one day and my head hunger just took over! I wanted nothing more than to chomp down on some General Tso's Chicken and an eggroll! I had to again lock myself away and remind myself that I could not do that. That was a very very strong battle and I've told the family no more Chinese food in the house until I can control that urge again. By the end of the first week, I wanted nothing more than to just chew something. When I could have mushy oatmeal and grits, it helped curb the itch of chewing a lot! So here I am at the end of my 2nd week and ready to begin the semi-solid diet on Thursday! I am anxiously awaiting to eat some tuna and a half piece of toast. I'm working on achieving my 64 ounces of water every day too. I'm still home healing like I should be and outside of the sheer exhaustion that overtakes me anytime I do anything strenuous, like go to grocery store, I'm ok I think. 

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