2 Month Update

May 03, 2011

It is hard to believe that today is my 2 month anniversary from surgery.  While the first month dragged on and on, since I have returned to work, the days have just flew by. I had my 6 week follow up with the surgeon 2 weeks ago.  I had started to have some fairly intense stomach pains whenever my pouch was empty a few days before my appointment.  When they first started I thought it was gas and tried to take Gas X chewables, but only experienced minimal relief.  After meeting with the doctor, he said he was fairly confident that it was just my stomach being hyper sensitive to the stomach acid when nothing was in my pouch, and said I should try some Maalox or Mylanta.  After trying it for a couple days, I found that I had relief, but that it quickly returned after an hour or so.  My doctor then called me in a prescription for carafate, an anti-ulcer medication that I took for 1 month after surgery.  After a day of taking the carafate, the stomach pains have stopped completely.  I will have to periodically stop taking it and see if the pains come back, but for now I am happy to be pain free once again.  The surgeon said I am to healthy to be hanging around the doctors office, so don't have to go back for 3 months.  We will do blood tests at that point to be sure my levels are looking good.  

I have moved into the maintenance diet, which consists of 3 meals a day.  Snacking between meals is to be avoided. At this point, I am supposed to introduce new foods one at a time and eat between ¼ and ½ cup of food per meal.  Depending on what I am eating, I can usually eat about 1/3 cup before I get full.  I can eat more when I eat very soft foods like yogurt or soup or thin chili and can only eat about ¼ cup if I eat a solid piece of meat like chicken, pork or steak.  I still have yet to run into any problem with anything I have tried to eat and have come to the conclusion that I have a very accommodating pouch.  Bread, rice, crackers, meats, dairy, vegetables, spicy foods…anything I have tried to eat has been fine as long as I chew well and don’t eat too fast. I cooked a huge Easter feast complete with desserts. I was able to eat a small bite of everything and did not feel left out at all.  I made a hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting. While I was icing the cake, I got a good amount of icing on my finger and without even thinking I popped my finger in my mouth. All the sudden I realized what I did and thought, oh crap! I am going to dump. I sat down and waited for it to start.  I waited and waited and nothing.  I haven’t even tried to eat anything with any significant amount of sugar since the surgery, so this was my first experience that I thought may cause me to dump.  Since I was fine I assume either I don’t dump or I just did not have enough to cause it.  I suspect that since my pouch has been so corporative with everything else, I probably don’t.  I am not a big sweet eater so this is not a big deal to me and I would rather not dump so I don’t get caught off guard if I eat something with hidden sugar.  I had no desire to eat any of the cake, but I wouldn’t have even before the surgery.  Sugar has never really been my problem. If only I could dump on potato chips and fried foods, then we would be in business!  

My weight loss to date is right about 50 lbs. It has slowed down quite a bit, but I know that is to be expected.  I actually stalled for about 10 days, which was kind of frustrating, but I tried not to let it get to me.  I also had my period over the last part of that time, so that may have something to do with it.  I was up 4 pounds at one point, then dropped 5 pounds overnight.  As of Sunday, I seem to have finally started to go down again.  Another factor that may have contributed to my stall is that since I have gotten busy again, I find that I will forget to eat and drink when I get off my schedule.  There have been many days over the past 2 weeks that I know I have been low on protein, calories and water.  I may have thrown my body into starvation mode as a result.  So, as of this week I have made it a point to focus on getting back on track with eating and drinking and making sure I get a protein shake in every day.  I think it has helped because the scale has started moving again. I don’t get hungry so skipping meals is too easy to do when I am distracted.  I do better during the week when I am on a regular schedule, but the weekends are harder.  I sleep later, so I eat breakfast later. I sometimes forget to take my vitamins on weekends.  I will totally forget lunch if I eat breakfast late and get busy.  We tend to eat out with friends often on the weekends, so my meals are not as healthy as when I eat home during the week. I forget to take water with me when I run out the door and since I can’t drink during meals, I don’t drink anything at restaurants.  All combined it is just asking for trouble, so I need to make a better effort to focus on my needs and not get caught up in my activities.  

All things considered, I am very happy with my progress so far. My life is still the same, I can still do everything I enjoyed doing before surgery, only the way I eat has changed.  I feel great. I am getting into clothes I haven’t been able to wear for many years and people are starting to really notice.  I can’t tell you how fun it is to go through my closet and try on pretty clothes that haven’t fit into for years and look good in them again.  I have started weeding out the clothes that are too big to go to Goodwill.  I am very tall and can only wear tall pants so maybe someone at Goodwill will be happy to find them.  I can’t wait to see where I am 6 months out. I have a feeling the really fun part is just beginning!

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