Dudette
30 days post-op... the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Oct 30, 2011
The Good
I drove to Mexico, had a DS performed by two of the best surgeons south of the border and drove back and survived. Not just survived, but thrived and had an amazing time! My profile pic on this page was taken the day I was released from the hospital. We left Mexicali and drove to the Imperial Sand Dunes in Southern California near the Arizona border. Six days post-op and I had enough energy to climb way to the top of a sand dune! I had the Lap DS, so physically my recovery has been remarkably fast. In some ways (at least energy level and blood pressure wise) I felt better six days post-op that I did six days pre-op. My distolic blood pressure had already dropped 10 points by the time I was discharged from the hospital.
The long drive from Mexico back to Minnesota was no problem post-op. It was like a mini-vacation. We did a little sightseeing, stopped whenever I felt like it and did plenty of walking. We even got caught in a surprise early October snowstorm on the way home and had to pull off the Interstate near Cheyenne, Wyoming. We spent an hour playing in the snow and taking pictures near the state capital. My husband got tired and went back to the car before I did! 
My Lap DS recovery has been TEN TIMES easier and quicker than the one unplanned C-Section I ended up getting when my youngest was born 19 years ago. And I was in my mid-20’s at time. Everyone stressed to me that DS is a major, MAJOR surgery, so I was prepared for a lot worse. I must be one of the lucky few that sails right through the physical part of the post-op DS recovery. That’s not to say it’s all been perfect. I have some minor stomach issues (more on that later) but physically I’m doing great.
The best part so far? Survived my first spinning class two days ago! My brother is a competitive bike racer and does spinning in the off-season for conditioning. He’s totally ripped and buff and not fat and out of shape like me. LOL! He took me to his health club as a guest to try the spinning class. We hopped on the bikes and started to warm up. I was horrified when he then told me that the class was an hour long. Noooo! Then he said “Don’t worry” and explained that he had taken his teenage daughter (my niece) to the class a few weeks earlier. She only lasted 30 minutes in the class before she had to stop.
Relief. I figured I could handle a half hour. 30 minutes passed. Then 45 minutes. My legs felt great! I had lots of energy left! But my ass was killing me! It felt like I had a brick shoved up my rear end. Those bike seats are brutal! At 50 minutes I hopped off the bike to give my butt a break. I stood there for a minute and was bored already, so I jumped back on the bike and finished the class. Yay me! I’m planning to go in and join his club (LA Fitness) tomorrow. However, I will be buying one of those after market gel seat covers for my butt before I jump on the spin bike again. 
The Bad
My Grandmother passed away last week. She had a long, wonderful life and was 83 years old. Since I was giving her eulogy, I made sure I didn’t eat anything that morning – stuck to water. I didn’t want to start slime-ing or foaming at the mouth while I was up at the podium speaking.
Afterwards there was a luncheon at the church. Lovely. A huge buffet and not a thing I could eat. I took a couple pieces of fruit, one spoonful of broccoli salad and a ham sandwich. I put the sandwich on my plate for “looks”. I wasn’t planning to eat it… just didn’t want to stand out as having nothing on my plate. My son grabbed the sandwich off my plate when no one was looking and polished it off. What a good kid!
So anyway, I ate two small bite sized cubed pieces of watermelon, one strawberry and two very small broccoli florettes (all well chewed to mush). That’s it. Ten minutes later I was out behind the church barfing in the grass as my brother was holding the backdoor so I wouldn’t get locked out of the chapel. LOL! Sounds horrible, but it was actually kind of funny. You should have seen the look of horror on my brother’s face! Priceless! Fortunately. none of the food was coming up, just slime. Clear mucous. Projectile clear gunk. :-O That’s been happening with some frequency lately whenever I try to ingest anything that’s not plain broth. Even happens with water sometimes. Hoping it’s just a phase and goes away soon.
The Ugly
I was hoping to keep news of my surgery under wraps until perhaps the holidays… then I was going to let the cat out of the bag. I had been planning this bad boy in secret for years. My husband was aware of my plans about three years ago when I went through whole insurance routine – six month supervised diet, etc. Then I lost my insurance coverage a few weeks before my scheduled surgery due to the sale of the company I worked for.
Earlier this year I decided I was going to do it self pay. In Mexico. I researched and planned for six months. No one had a clue. Not even my husband. If they had, they would have tried to talk me out of it. I mean really…. Mexico?! LOL! Yeah, I waited until the whole thing was scheduled and paid for and then I sprung it on my husband and kids a few weeks before the actual surgery date. I went to visit my father two days before I left town to go to Mexico and told him. He freaked out, of course. He told me that I was going to get kidnapped, car jacked, sold into white-slavery and/or come back on a slab. Ha! He cracks me up! Then he calmed down and listened to what I had to say and understood my reasons. He wanted me to call him every day while I was gone. 
I didn’t tell my mother until after the surgery. She thought I was down in Mexico getting some dental work done, which I was. I got a bunch of much needed work done in Los Algodones, BC, Mexico a few days before my surgery. My smile looks gorgeous BTW! Since the deed was already done, Mom couldn't waste my time trying to talk me out of the surgery. She was very happy and supportive about the whole thing once I told her, especially since I sounded so well on the phone after having had my guts rearranged. I swore her to secrecy. Or so I thought....
Fast forward to Grandma’s funeral two days ago. Everyone there told me how great I was looking and wanted to know if I was feeling well. WHAT?!? I don’t think there was a single relative, friend or acquaintance there who HADN’T heard about my weight loss surgery. SERIOUSLY?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! My husband and kids wouldn’t have dared uttered a peep. Who ratted me out? Apparently, BOTH my parents (who are divorced and don’t even communicate with each other) were blabbing about it to everyone! They were so excited and happy that I was losing weight and getting healthy (esp. since my stage 2 hypertension was a big reason I did this).
I'm not even mad. Just terribly amused.
