Amy M.
3 week post op update
Aug 20, 2014
So here's my story on the last 3 weeks since getting sleeved. When I made it to the hospital my nerves were absolutely shot and my anxiety was going crazy. My boyfriend sat with me in pre-op (IV's, BP, etc) and the nurses were really nice and made me as comfortable as possible and I was able to relax a bit. When they brought me into the surgery room I got nervous all over again. Has any one ever noticed that surgery rooms are the scariest looking rooms ever? The next thing I remember is waking up in my room. My mom, her boyfriend, my boyfriend, his mom, and 2 of my friends were there. I knew they were going to be coming and at first I was glad for the support but when it came down to it I felt odd with everyone staring at me when I was in no mood to be social! The nurses had me up and walking within 2 hours of waking up which was so horribly painful! I had waves of nausea hit me as well but the nurses were really good about giving me anti nausea meds and pain meds. Because of the effects of the anesthesia, I was unable to urinate the first day and night. Eventually they had to give me a catheter to drain my bladder. They didn't give me one during surgery because I was able to go right beforehand. It was frustrating getting woken up throughout the night by nurses to get my vitals. I just wanted to sleep! I was given ice chips but I was so out of it that I would grab a couple and the rest would just melt. I had such horrible dry mouth and I was terribly thirsty but I just didn't have the motivation to suck on the ice chips because all I wanted to do was sleep. They continued to get me up every so often to walk which got a little easier each time. I was discharged to go home around 4:30 on day 2. I was surprised that I was sent home so quickly and a part of me didn't feel ready to come home.
Week 1 was rough for me. I have a low tolerance for pain so I was diligent on take my pain meds every 4 hours. Walking was painful. Every time I stood up I felt like my stomach was going to rip if I didn't hold it up. I did do a good job of managing to drink my liquids. I was able to start protein shakes on day 3 and I was cleared to start pureed foods by my surgeon a few days after my 1 week follow up appointment. I admit that I got a little frustrated when the weight didn't immediately start dropping but I understood that it was due to the IV fluids and swelling.
Week 2 got better. I was able to walk for longer periods of time and didn't have to hold my stomach as much. I only used my pain meds once or twice a day and it felt great to be able to eat something besides protein shakes. I mostly stuck with greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and ricotta cheese. I wanted jello, pudding, and applesauce but I really just wanted to choose foods that contained protein. At the end of week 2 I had a horrible experience with constipation. There was one day where I was in severe pain from 11:00 AM until 11:30 PM when I was finally able to go. The pain from the constipation hurt worse than the pain from the surgery! I am now taking lactulose every couple of days along with 2 stool softeners daily. I haven't had constipation since then.
Week 3 I'm getting bolder with my food choices. I'm now incorporating scrambled and hard boiled eggs (I can barely eat 1 whole egg), ground turkey with red sauce (2 oz), tuna, and mashed potatoes (yum). Each meal is roughly 1.5-2 oz and I'm getting between 70-80g of protein per day and between 500-600 calories. The hardest part for me now that I'm actually eating food is trying to get in all my liquids. I'm still drinking 2 protein shakes per day and getting my water in is challenging. I am walking about 30 minutes a day and once around my block is 1.2 miles. Today for the first time since surgery I rode my stationary bike for 10 minutes. I was absolutely exhausted after but it felt good to do something other than walk. I can't wait until I can use weights. I am still having some stomach pain mostly at night when I try to sleep so I am still taking pain meds once in a while to help me sleep. I hope I'm not addicted to this stuff. It's been such a necessary aid for me throughout this experience and I'm afraid that I'm going to have insomnia once I stop taking it.
The weight loss since surgery so far is less than I expected. The morning of surgery my weight was 287 and this morning the scale said 274. I had a stall because I lost about 15 pounds during my 2 week pre op diet. However I have lost nearly 50 pounds since I started this journey and I'm already noticing a huge different. The biggest difference is that my clothes are a lot looser. I put on a size 24 dress pants that were too tight 4 months ago and now they are falling off of me. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my NUT and the 28th is my one month post op appointment with my surgeon. I'm not back to work yet so I'll get my doctor clearance on the day to go back to work. I've enjoyed having all this time off but I think I'm ready to go back. I'm kinda bored!
