Dolly J.

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Today was the day to transition to puree food.  Wow, real food and real taste.  It's amazing how flavorful things are that I have had in the past are to me now. 

Lunch went well with the tuna and miracle whip.  I was afraid I would dump or throw up or something.  But everything went well.  We were supposed to be going grocery shopping this afternoon but never made it.  So I ran out to Wendy's to get some chili.  Back home into the blender and wow!  It tastes so good.  And I'm amazed at how full I get so soon. 

Mmmm, last spoonful.  Good to the last drop!

Today was my second follow up appoinment with the clinic.  I'm down five more pounds in less than a week.  That's a total of 32 pounds since I started this journey.  I can tell that my clothes are fitting a little looser.  Nice.  I met with the dietician and we talked about the puree stage that I start tomorrow.  Real food taste.  Woohoo!!  Two weeks of puree.  I'll be heading back to work during this stage so I'll have to make lunches for myself.  I'm so used to going out to lunch with a co-worker.  We laughed.  I'm putting her on a diet just by virtue of not being able to go out anymore.

I'm feeling really good.  I was so bored yesterday.  That's a good sign.  Not bored enough to go to work though....

My parents should be here within the hour.  I hope they had a safe trip.  I guess we're ready for them.  teehee.

Wow, a whole week yet off of work.  What to do with my "vacation".  I know that I should be exercising, but I've been a lazy butt.  Tomorrow for sure.

I did something stupid today.  I had way too much tomato soup.  I guess this is what they meant by dumping.  It wasn't horrendous but it was truly uncomfortable.  That was earlier in the evening and I still feel sick.  I suppose we go through this once to teach us.  Okay, I'm done with my turn.

I splurged.  We have someone cleaning our house for us.  She will be here tomorrow morning.  I haven't met her yet but she's done a wonderful job the past few times that she was here.  I so appreciate coming home to a clean house.  I'm not much of a housekeeper.

My parents live with us in the lower level throughout the summer.  They willl be here on Wednesday.  They are early because of the racing season.  This will be the last season my nephew races before college, so my dad wants to be a part of every moment.  They race late model stock cars at Elko and Raceway every weekend during the season.

Having my parents live with us had it's growing pains the first few years, but things have been better.  We've both gotten used to having the other people around.  It really helped last year when we put a kitchen in so they can stay downstairs except for doing laundry.  Mom had shoulder replacement surgery at the beginning of this month, so she'll be healing while she's here.  In the past she had gone back down to Florida for the summer but I'm not sure if she's going to do that this year.  She's been slowing down and I don't know if she's safe alone for that long of a time.

So far the surgery has gone well and has not been too difficult to deal with.  Of course I'm sick of the liquid diet.  And then two weeks of pureed.  Woohoo!  But I'm really careful so my pouch heals correctly.  By the way, no more tomato soup...

Okay, now that I'm feeling more normal, I'm bored.  This surprises me.  Maybe I'm not ready for retirement yet.  Wait, I'll always be ready for retirement!!

We had an exciting date to WalMart today.  I didn't even mind that the store was really busy.  Got the few "full liquids" I needed to restock. 

I bought a new water bottle that I can use at work and also carry around with me.  I noticed when I went to the doctor the other day that I was very thirsty.  Same thing happened at the store today.  Someone on the board mentioned they started taking water around with them to get their fluids in each day.  I don't have a problem with getting all my liquids in, in fact, i probably drink more than the normal person does.  So the bottle will help.  I always have a mug of ice water next to me at home.

Mom, what can I do?  Mom, what's there to eat?  Mom, can we go somewhere!!!!  Help me.

Today is day 8.  And it's the first day I've felt more like myself since before the surgery.  I'm not as fatigued.  Okay, I still snuck in a nap this morning, but I'd do that anyway if I was off of work.  Previously I was napping morning noon and night plus sleeping at night.  Such a wonderful healer.

It doesn't hurt as much to lay on my side in bed as it did before.  I always lay on my side to fall asleep and it's been unusual not being able to do that.  I have a temperpedic bed that sucks you in and makes it hard to move.  So turning and getting up and down are quite the chore.  My stomach muscles weren't being babyed throughout this process just because of that.  The physical therapist said that the muscles can weaken during this stange and in turn your back takes the burden and then pow, hurt your back.  So I've been remembering to walk and sit as much as possible.

I can't believe I'm excited to go to WalMart tomorrow.  We need to pick up a few things for the house and i told Bill he'd better not go without me.  It will also give me a chance to walk more than I do at home.  Get out among the living.  I also told him that it would be fun to go to a museum next week, one that I usually am not able to attend because of my working schedule.  I'm thinking of the Minnesota History Museum.  They have wonderful displays.  It's in association with the Minnesota Historical Society.

The liquid diet is going okay.  Today I discovered a V-8 in the fridge.  It was like the finest nectar of the gods.  I am so sick of sweet.  So to have something strong and salty tasting was a delight.  I had cream of broccoli soup for a late lunch.  Saving the pudding for dinner.  So tough...  But I am beginning to look into the next stage which I will start next Thursday.  Puree.

I still get hungry.  I wake up with my stomach growling.  But it takes so little to satisfy the hunger.  Yes, I could induldge the head hunger if I felt like it, but I'm sure it will taunt me soon enough.

I don't know how it happened or what I did, but before surgery my relationship with food changed.  Fuel not fun.  Guess what my last "food" was before I had surgery.  A thin mint girl scout cookie.  Perfect!!

I'm feeling great about my decision.  No regrets at all.  Looking forward to eating real food.  Looking forward to losing real weight.  Looking forward to a real life.

Today was my one week post op appointment.  First thing was to step on the scale.  I'm down 8 pounds since surgery date!  It's really strange to not mind stepping on the scale for the first time in years.

I met with the physical therapist.  We talked about movement.  What I'm able to do now and what my goals are.  I liked the question he asked about goals.  You have a weight loss goal, a clothing size goal, but what about a life goal.  What is it that you want to do that your weight has been an obstacle to you.  The things I thought of were hiking, being able to go shopping without having to sit down.  Get back into photography.  Other things that I haven't thought of in years.

Then the physician's assistant came.  She took out the drain and looked at the incisions.  Taking the drain out was really weird.  It did not hurt at all.  It's just that you're not used to feeling something inside you moving like that.  Had my vitals taken and I was out of there.

It's time to start exercising.  I wish it were nicer here to walk.  But I'll see what I can do.  I'm going to rest for the remainder of the day.  I didn't sleep well last night, so I hope to get some good sleep tonight.

Day 6 post-op.  I think I've been overly indulgent in taking it easy.  I tend to sleep a lot.  But then I did that before I had surgery.

I'm kinda bored.  Since I live with my boyfriend and we have no kids, I live a quiet life.  There really isn't anything to do around the house.  I don't want to spend any money, so shopping is out.  Gee, I don't need to go the grocery store or out to eat at a restaurant. 

I just read a post about life changes.  When your relationship with food changes, other things change.  Like I mentioned above.  What do I add to my life now that these things are gone?  Exercise sounds like the perfect thing.  I would have liked to go walking, but it has been cold and rainy out.  I guess it's supposed to be that way in March in Minnesota.

The stomach muscles are still sore.  However, when I'm sitting still or walking they don't bother me.  I'm using very little pain medicine.  Just a little vicodine at night to help me sleep.  All in all, I'm thankful this is not as painful as I expected it to be.

Tomorrow is my one week appointment.  I'll have the drain pulled and step on the scale.  I don't expect to have lost much weight because I'm not physically active.  But we will see.

I've enjoyed being home these past few days.  It's so nice to cocoon in your own home.  Bill's taking good care of me.  I enjoy being pampered.  And he doesn't mind.  I think he kinda likes me.

Everything seems to be healing well.  When I get in and out of bed, or turn, my stomach muscles hurt.  That is something that I don't like.

Drinking has been easy.  I was worried that I would only be able to take little tiny sips.  But I've been able to take a normal sip.  I hope this isn't stretching my pouch too much.  But I am paying attention to the different feelings I have.  Empty, just right, cramping, too full. 

Then there has been the experimenting with pills.  I'd been cutting them small and that's been okay.  So today I just cut them in half and left the small ones whole.  They didn't get stuck, so I'm glad about that.  She said that any pill the size of a dime or smaller should be okay.  Seems true to me.

Not too much gas.  I can still feel it rumbling around inside me.  Eventually it "escapes" if you know what I mean.  Peeing has been just fine.  I had a bowel movement the second day in the hospital.  Seems to be every other day.

Meals have been easy.  Pudding, cream soup, protein drinks, broth and lots of water!  Sticking with doctor's orders.

So day 5 is going well.  Naps are my friend!

Awake at 5:45 in time for the nurse to come in, give me some medication and take my vitals.  A good nights sleep.  I was grateful.

Time to get up and go walking again.  I made the usual circut up and down the halls.  It was much easier.  I didn't feel light headed or dizzy at all. 

One of the challenges is to get in all of my pill medications.  Cutting them up and swallowing was a challenge.  After piecing them out, there were 10 pieces to get down.  This takes a while, to say the least.  I take Wellbutrin SR.  I know you're not supposed to cut them up, but they are so big.  I think I'm going to have to talk with the psychiatrist and see if I can go back on the Wellbutrin XL.  These are much smaller pills and worked the best on me.  I went through a few months of hell going back to the regular Wellbutrin because they said the other ones won't work.  I hit a really bad down spot around Christmas time.  I'm hoping that being back on the Wellbutrin XL will do me well.

While waiting for the doctor, I took a shower.  One of the things that they had on me was an elastic waist binder.  This is where the drain tube is pinned onto.  The incisions themselves have steri strips over them, little white bandages and then regular bandaids over that.  I have six poke holes in me.  This includes the one with the drain.  Just sitting still I couldn't feel anything from the incisions.  The drain is there but it doesn't feel like anything either.

Navagating a shower was interesting.  I still had the IV in my hand so they taped a glove shut around my hand.  I had a string around my neck that I could pin the drain to.  Then into the shower.  I had forgotten to use my deoderant as soon as I could, so I was due for the shower!!  Probably not the best shower ever taken, but it was nice to wash up and wash my hair.  I was able to put my regular clothes on after that.  I was feeling a little more human at that point.

Got back to the room and met with Dr. Benn.  He took a look at the drainage.  Right color and not very much.  He told me I was free to go home.  I didn't even have to stay for lunch, which would be my first full liquid meal.  I decided to stay for lunch to see how it went.  It took Bill a while anyway to get there.  Lunch was 2 oz of cream of chicken soup and 2 oz of vanilla pudding.  The soup went down fine.  The pudding felt like a lump in my stomach.  But that's the feeling of fullness with a thicker substance.  It went really well.

The nurse went over all of the discharge paperwork with me.  I had been fully educated by Fairview Weight Loss that it was all review.  And of course all of the reading I had done was of great help.  Books, and especially peoples experiences as posted on OH.

Bill got there and a volunteer took me downstairs to the front door.  Got in the car and it was off to home I went.

So nice to be home in my own bed for a nap.  I was tired, but felt pretty decent.  Not a lot of stomach pain on the ride home, even though Bill's driving stresses me out!

So the rest of the story is being at home, drinking a lot of liquids, getting my meals in and giving myself permission to relax, nap and get better.

All in all, it was an excellent experience.  The people at the hospital were great.  The facility was nice.  God guided the surgeons hands well.  And I'm on the loser's bench!!

As I said previously, I didn't sleep much the first night.  7 am came that lovely shot of blood thinner, Heperin.  Lots of taking vitals all day long.

First thing in the morning it was into a wheel chair and down to radiology.  I had to stand against a flat surface with the xray machine in front of me.  They gave me some clear thick liquid to swallow.  Two small swallows and two big gulps.  Done.  Wheeled back up to my room.  Catheter was taken out.  Went quick and wasn't too weird or uncomfortable.

A little while later, I was brought my breakfast tray.  I must have passed the leak test.  I was so thankful!  Breakfast consisted of 1 oz of chicken broth, 1 oz of apple juice and 2 oz of jello.  The nurse had me use little pill cups to measure out 1/2 oz sips.  To give me the idea of how much to drink at one time.  I loved the chicken broth.  Something warm and savory was nice.  Everything went down well with a little cramping and fullness.  Learning what my pouch was really like.

Lunch came.  Beef broth, cranberry juice and jello.  I was given water to drink all the time.  Someone had put peach tea Crystal Light on my tray.  So I mixed that with the water to give it some flavor.  Biggest mistake ever!!  It irritated my pouch so bad.  I had severe pain for an hour and threw up for a few more hours.  It felt like I had ulcers.  It made for a miserable day.  If it sounds bad it actually was quite worse!  Words cannot describe the pain.

Bill spent the afternoon with me.  I appreciated the company.  Even if it was just someone to watch TV with me.

I didn't do too much walking during the day because of throwing up.  But later when it subsided, I made it around the halls again.  It's funny watching all of us from the surgical floor pushing our IV poles up and down the halls getting us moving again.

Dinner helped to ease my stomach.  Vegetable broth, apple juice and jello again.  The warmth of the broth helped to settle my stomach.

Lots of dozing, watching TV, a few phone calls and good pain medicine.  They took me off the pump the middle of the second day and started me on liquid vicodin.  They gave me an ibupropian through my IV throughout the day too.  This kept the pain under control.

The time went fast and it was time for sleep.  I was able to sleep on my side which shocked me.  I'm used to sleeping on my side to fall asleep, so that made it easier to drift off.  Onto a night of actual sleep!!