Deb F.

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I stayed home today, sick to my stomach.  I threw up this AM after taking my pills with liquids.  I suspect the pizza I ate yesterday may have gummed up the stoma from my stomach pouch to the intestine, and when I drank enough to fill the small pouch it had no where to go.  I laid down, fell asleep and slept for many hours (I guess my body needed it?) and am now sipping liquids ok, though my stomach still feels a little unsettled.   Another good lesson learned -- don't experiment off the diet plan!!  Yes, I should have known that...in fact, of course I knew that!  But then there is the complusive eater in me that has a hard time resisting certain temptations.  Good evidence of the absolute need for me to continue working on that part of my problem!  I can't believe I would go through ALL THIS and then take a chance on messing up my new anatomy!  What was I thinking????  Anyway, hopefully having experienced the down sides of inappropriate experimentation, I will be less tempted, or at least more able to resist the temptations, in the future.  Meanwhile, back to work on the OA 12 steps! 

Ok, I don't know why I did it -- I guess it's an example of my food compulsion -- but I had a very small piece of a frozen pizza I made for the kids tonight, sausage and all.  Amazingly, it seems to have gone down just fine!  That's probably not a good thing to have discovered!  I know I need to proceed conservatively and stay on my Phase II diet.  It probably would have been better if the pizza had made me puke!  :-)  Time to work on my compulsion again...back into the OA materials!

Let me start by saying that having the drain tube removed after a week was a very, very wierd experience.  It was somewhat painful, but mostly just wierd!  It felt like he had wrapped it around all my internal organs, and that they were being flipped over inside of me as the tube was coming out.  Just very strange!  I had nooooo idea what to expect, so wanted to mention this for others.

I had my 2 week post-op visit this past week and all is going perfect.  I was released to soft / pureed diet.  I never knew chewable food could taste so good!  After a month of liquids, real meat is a real treat!  I've had chicken, turkey, beef and pork, all of which has gone down just fine.  I've also had sweet potatoe, carrots, potatoe and green beans as well as mashed banana and apple sauce...all fine!  The one thing I ate that did not sit well was sugar free chocolate pudding.  Big mistake for me!  I got really sick after this and did not feel well for most of the next day after I ate it.  I'm kind of glad about that.  I have hoped I would be one of the people who could not tolerate sweets, fats and rich foods after surgery (because I am otherwise compulsive with these foods) so while I'm not sure what it was about the pudding that caused such a problem for me, I hope it's an indicator of intolerance for JUNK that my body really doesn't need anyway!  I am working hard to readjust my relationship with and attitude toward food.  I want to put food in it's proper place -- fuel to nourish the body, not medication to sooth the soul, and not a source of pleasure for pleasure's sake (not saying I don't want to enjoy my food, I just don't want to eat for enjoyment). 

Pain-wise, I'm well I think.  I am mostly just using extra strength Tylenol as needed for pain, although I do have an Rx for Tramadol that I use if it's too bad.  Tramadol is non-narcotic, but stronger than Tylenol and can be used with Tylenol.  I recommend it for when you are trying to get off the narcotics but still have a fair amount of pain, especially at night (rolling over and getting in and out of bed were when I hurt the most!). 

I had great support for my first two weeks -- my Mom was here for about 10 days during/after surgery, then my sister came to finish out the two weeks.  It was so very nice to have the company, distraction and assistance!  Now I'm solo.  It was a long week last week!  I went back to work 4 hr days Mon - Wed, increasing to 6 hr days Thur - Fri and it was pretty exhausting.  I'm divorced and have three young kids so my evenings are not a "break" most of the time :-)  But I am doing well.  Today I drove to Des Moines with a couple of friends to see the musical Menopaus.  It is soooo funny!  This was my second time seeing it and I highly recommend it!  But we left here about noon and just got back about 9pm, so it was a very long day including about 4.5 hours of driving.  I got a little sore but not bad. 

General observations at this point in my recovery -- well, the main one is that it is amazing how little substance the body can survive and thrive on!  Throughout the liquid diet pre and post surgery, and now with very small amounts of food, I feel amazingly good, energetic, etc.  I never would have believed I could eat so little and be doing so well!  Good lesson to learn!  Also, I do not get hungry very much and when I do eat I get full very quickly.  I can eat 3-5 tablespoons at a time at this point.  Probably my biggest challenge at this point is trying to get all the fluid in given that I have to sip approx. 1 cup per hour, and can't eat for 30 min. before, 20 min. during, and 45 min. after each meal (and need to eat 4-6 small meals to get in the protein).  I'm still trying to figure out how to make all that work in a normal day and still sleep!  ha.  But it's all workable and definitely worth it! 

At this point I am down about 14 lb. since surgery, and a total of about 43 lb. from my high weight in August.  It feels good!  What feels even better is that I packed up all of my largest size cloths and gave them to my niece-in-law!  And the next size down that I am wearing is actually pretty loose.  Yippee!!!  Soon I hope to be into 18s (yea!!  no "2" on the tag!!).  It's all exciting progress.  I'm anxious to see how my loss continues in the coming weeks.  The next hurdle for me to get over is starting a daily exercise routine.  I have to push aside my excuses and get on with that!  I know it will make a big difference over time. 

The only other thing I'll mention for now is tummy butter...in an effort to make my skin more elastic, hoping to reduce the "hang," I am using "tummy butter" on my stomach, breasts, upper arms, hips and thighs.  It has elastin and vit E and other things that are supposed to help with stretch marks.  I have no idea if it will help with the hang, but I figure it's worth a try! 

I had RNY surgery on January 13, 2009 just three days before my 43rd birthday.  I have my first follow up visit with the surgeon tomorrow morning and am hoping he'll pull my drain tubing!  So far, I am feeling quite good although I am surprised that I have not lost a little more weight since surgery.  I am amazed that I am not hungry, even though I am having trouble getting my calories in (averaging only about 300 per day).  The sweet juices just don't sit well in my stomach, so I am preferring broth, V8 and hot or iced tea.  I have also, just in the last couple days, develop allergic symptoms to my Whey protein.  My mouth and around my eyes get very itchy and irritated when I use it.  Of course I feel like I have to have the Whey at this point, so have been taking Benedryl to help with those symptoms and that seems to be working out ok and allowing me to get in my 30 grams of protein needed per day.  I'm having trouble remembering my vitamins consistently, and also my Pepcid (for acid reduction).  It seems like trying to get in all the different things in just the right combination is quite consuming!  I'm surprised how much thought and planning it takes!

I have tried to reduce my use of pain meds in the last couple of days.  I was hoping to switch to Tylenol, but I can't tolerate any more crushed pills than I already have to mix into my fluids, and the liquid Tylenol is soooo sweet, thick and yucky that I just can't stomach it!  So, 1 tsp of the Rx pain meds every 4 hours or so keeps me fairly comfortable (2 tsp makes me nearly pain free, which is nice at bed time!).  One thing I am trying to do now is stand and sit up straight -- I have been hunching over a bit so that there is less "stretch" pressure on my abdomen, but that is causing my back to hurt.  I think I'll treat myself to one of those Shiatzu (sp?) back massagers tomorrow, to help get my posture straightened back around!  :-)

My surgeon is great -- Dr. Glascock in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  I found and selected him based on information from this site, so THANK YOU to others who took the time to provide feedback on him!!!  He is highly experienced, having done over 1600 WLS, including 600 or 800 in the past couple years at the Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls.  He specializes in laparoscopic surgery, and while he does different surgeries it seems WLS is his speciality.  When he visited with my Mom immediately after surgery, he said my procedure went to well it was "boring" (I don't mind boring the surgeon!!).  The next day when he visited me in my room he said his surgical team had named mine their best RNY yet!  All very nice to hear!  I think it helped that I am on the lighter-weight side (this is the ONLY context in which I can say that, and I have to admit that it feels kinda nice!!), with just over 100lb to lose, I had lost about 30 lb prior to surgery, had been pretty compliant with the liver shrinking diet (Dr. Glascock's is quit restrictive, and lasts two weeks pre-surgery!), and I have no comobidities to create complications.  Overall, a fairly low risk profile for this surgery. 

I am sooooo glad to be on THIS side of surgery, and through my first week of recovery which I'm sure will be my hardest.  I feel like things will just keep getting better from this point forward!  :-)  I am really looking forward to progressing from the all liquid diet to a little bit of mushy food soon!  I'll post more as my recovery progresses!