Monday, January 21, 2008
2 week post-op doctor visit
Well...time to see how I'm doing.
First off, I waited a loooooong time to be seen but that was ok because the waiting room was like a friggin' support group meeting. It seems like everyone was in for their 2 week follow-up although I was the only GBS patient, everyone else was lap-band. I was surprised to learn that lap-band patients have an even more horrid post-op diet than bypass. They have to do two weeks of liquid only, two weeks of pureed food and then they can eat solids. Now all this would not be so bad except that their band at that point has not been filled and so they are hungry. Compare that with my experience: never hungry, no stomach growling, and I get to eat real food. That surprised me since my surgery involves actual cutting of the stomach, but I guess you learn something new every day.
So on to the details because that's the important part. I am healing fabulously, my incisions are closed (all six of them) and my only pain are the suture sites in my stomach which ache but are tolerable. So that's all good.
What? Did I forget something? Oh, how much weight have I lost? (People have been asking me that from the first day out of the hospital). I am happy to report that I've lost 12.8 lbs. That's a 2 point drop in my body mass index. I am hoping my weight loss ticker comes across on this post so that you can see my progress. I have a long way to go (167 lbs.) but if I do what I'm supposed to do (exercise...ugh, I'm going to have to make peace with that), then about 80 of that 167 should be off by the summer. I can hardly imagine that. This time next year my weight could begin with a "1." That's freaky.
All for now!
First off, I waited a loooooong time to be seen but that was ok because the waiting room was like a friggin' support group meeting. It seems like everyone was in for their 2 week follow-up although I was the only GBS patient, everyone else was lap-band. I was surprised to learn that lap-band patients have an even more horrid post-op diet than bypass. They have to do two weeks of liquid only, two weeks of pureed food and then they can eat solids. Now all this would not be so bad except that their band at that point has not been filled and so they are hungry. Compare that with my experience: never hungry, no stomach growling, and I get to eat real food. That surprised me since my surgery involves actual cutting of the stomach, but I guess you learn something new every day.
So on to the details because that's the important part. I am healing fabulously, my incisions are closed (all six of them) and my only pain are the suture sites in my stomach which ache but are tolerable. So that's all good.
What? Did I forget something? Oh, how much weight have I lost? (People have been asking me that from the first day out of the hospital). I am happy to report that I've lost 12.8 lbs. That's a 2 point drop in my body mass index. I am hoping my weight loss ticker comes across on this post so that you can see my progress. I have a long way to go (167 lbs.) but if I do what I'm supposed to do (exercise...ugh, I'm going to have to make peace with that), then about 80 of that 167 should be off by the summer. I can hardly imagine that. This time next year my weight could begin with a "1." That's freaky.
All for now!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
I'm here...
It's been a long time but I decided to re-vamp the blog a bit because my life is changing! I just underwent gastric bypass surgery on January 8th and am attempting to re-invent myself a bit (not that there is anything wrong with the Goddess that I was, but it's time for something new). So I want to invite all my friends to join me for this journey as I keep you all updated on what's new with me, mingled with lots of information on WLS (Weight Loss Surgery) and the challenges of trying to break out of my mold. So here goes...
I am 12 days post-op and boy what a difference twelve days can make in a person's life! Twelve days ago I had just got out of surgery and could barely walk because of the pain of the six small incisions along my abdomen. I felt like a balloon from the gas they pumped into me so that they could see my insides through a laparoscopic camera, and I was scared. Very, very scared. Mostly I was scared of failure. What if this surgery did not change anything? What if my demons were too strong to conquer? I know that all sounds very dramatic and existential but when you are having surgery to make your stomach smaller because you are morbidly obese, you're allowed to have existential thoughts.
Twelve days later...well, I would love to say I have it all figured out (but that would make me God or something...wait, that was seven days :-) but I don't. I take every day one day at a time. I can't eat as much and that is causing big changes in me. Firstly, because my life was so food-centric that I realize now that I'm going to have to learn to think of and do other things because the hunger is just not there anymore. Secondly, I still am not entirely acquainted with how my body works. I'll spare you all the more grotesque illustrations of how I came to think this, but it's true. It will take a while to know what works for me and what doesn't. In the meantime, instead of fearing failure I am trying to embrace possibilities. I look forward to getting clearance to start an exercise program (after 12 days of recuperation I am looking to go on the momentum of my own cabin fever) and just get back to my life and change some things.
I guess that's all for now, but I'm going to try to post every few days because there's always some new observation or discovery that I've made that I feel merits sharing with the entire world wide web.
To borrow a phrase pattern from a very well respected colleague of mine,
Peace, Love, and Protein Shakes to you all.
I am 12 days post-op and boy what a difference twelve days can make in a person's life! Twelve days ago I had just got out of surgery and could barely walk because of the pain of the six small incisions along my abdomen. I felt like a balloon from the gas they pumped into me so that they could see my insides through a laparoscopic camera, and I was scared. Very, very scared. Mostly I was scared of failure. What if this surgery did not change anything? What if my demons were too strong to conquer? I know that all sounds very dramatic and existential but when you are having surgery to make your stomach smaller because you are morbidly obese, you're allowed to have existential thoughts.
Twelve days later...well, I would love to say I have it all figured out (but that would make me God or something...wait, that was seven days :-) but I don't. I take every day one day at a time. I can't eat as much and that is causing big changes in me. Firstly, because my life was so food-centric that I realize now that I'm going to have to learn to think of and do other things because the hunger is just not there anymore. Secondly, I still am not entirely acquainted with how my body works. I'll spare you all the more grotesque illustrations of how I came to think this, but it's true. It will take a while to know what works for me and what doesn't. In the meantime, instead of fearing failure I am trying to embrace possibilities. I look forward to getting clearance to start an exercise program (after 12 days of recuperation I am looking to go on the momentum of my own cabin fever) and just get back to my life and change some things.
I guess that's all for now, but I'm going to try to post every few days because there's always some new observation or discovery that I've made that I feel merits sharing with the entire world wide web.
To borrow a phrase pattern from a very well respected colleague of mine,
Peace, Love, and Protein Shakes to you all.
