Post Op Week 2

10.14.2013

Now 2 weeks after surgery (and it feels like longer) I'm down just over 21 pounds, with 7 of those lost in the past week. I've also noticed how important walking is, as on the days I go with Gina out to the school walking track I lose a little more than the days I decide to stay home and recoup.

After my steak/solid-food craving of last week, I'm now back to "normal". Today starts phase 2 of the post op diet, with adds "pureed" to the liquid diet. Fish I can eat without blending into a liquid, so I'll give that a try. Low fat cottage cheese is on the list too. I don't think I've ever had cottage cheese by itself, but I'm going to try it at least once in the next 2 weeks of phase 2. Unstrained egg drop soup is also on the list, and I enjoy egg drop soup!

Last night I had some chicken broth, but it tasted more like salty water to me (and this was low sodium chicken broth). This morning I swear I can still taste the salt. I've never been one to add salt, and salt can often overpower the taste of what I'm eating. Mentally, chicken broth is now off the menu.

Everything else is continuing as it has been, post-op wise. No nausea, no pain. I woke up at one point during the night and found I was laying on my stomach, so I guess that's safe now. The vitamin schedule is a little hard to maintain if I leave the house - I take vitamins with me, I just tend to forget to take them on time. Once I start delaying taking a vitamin by 30-60 minutes and shifting the schedule, I run out of day to take those things.

Today is my first day back to work. I'm just a little worried about my stamina, as I've been fading around 1:00 the past couple of days. Not fading enough for a nap, just enough to sit and watch some tv for an hour or so. We'll see how today works out.

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Fitbit

10.08.2013

Years ago I got a Fitbit (just a high tech pedometer) and enjoyed it, right up until I lost it the second time. Now they make one that fits in a wrist band, which should be harder to lose. As impetus to get up off my butt and get to walking (the #1 thing they told me I would have to do after surgery), I picked one up from Amazon before surgery and decided to start using it Monday.

For a pedometer, the actual device doesn't show you anything. The only display is a row of 5 small lights that show a percentage of your daily progress (of 10,000 steps). Any actual readings come from the Fitbit website, which the device syncs to whenever I'm close enough to the dongle I;ve plugged into the computer. I like the limited display - I don't get distracted looking at numbers on my wrist every 15 minutes.

Yesterday I started walking a little in the morning. I'll take a trip to Target or WalMart and just wander the store for a while. In the evening, thanks to Gina being helpful, we go out to the walking track at Athens High School and see how far I can go. I have no idea how far it actually is around that track, but tonight I made a lap. I've only walked a lap around that track one other time. I think it's around a mile and a half, though.

This week I'm averaging around 3.5 miles of walking per day. The doctor's paperwork mentioned getting in at least 2 miles per day. As long as Gina doesn't let me slack off I think I'll keep doing good.

Seeing the (alleged) calories burned per day is interesting. Monday was 3785. Today has been 3201. Both days I've taken in ~700 calories. This is one of those times math is my friend!

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Post Op Week 1

10.07.2013

1 week after surgery I've managed to lose 15 pounds. More importantly, I've not thrown up at all!

I discovered something very important yesterday: I was supposed to start taking my new regimen of vitamins this past Thursday, not next Monday (when I'm allowed solid food). Whoopsie. So on Sunday afternoon I began the nastiness that is chewable vitamins. Due to restrictions on what can be taken with what along with the body being able to absorb only a given amount of some vitamins at a time, it feels like you're chewing vitamins all day.

The key thing they stress at the nutrition class is that you should take in 1500mg of vitamin C per day. The body can only absorb 500mg at a time (the extra is peed out), so you take 3 vitamin C per day.

Since you're not eating as much/real food, a multivitamin is included. Just to be safe, take 2 per day. And space them out, so you don't pee out too much extra needed goodness. Eventually they'll tell me to take an Iron supplement. Most of my hefty Iron came from gobs of red meat I would eat. I'm just going to go ahead and start in on the Iron. They'll also eventually tell me to include some extra B12. I started taking B12 about 6 months ago, so I might as well keep it up. I just stick it under my tongue, so it's not a big deal.

Now I have a vitamin schedule. It starts when I wake up and continues every 2½ hours:

• Nexium (take for the first month after surgery to help my stomach lining; Can't take with vitamin C or Iron)) + B12.
• Vitamin C (600mg)
• Multi-vitamin + Iron
• Vitamin C (600mg)
• Multi-vitamin + B12
• Vitamin C (600mg)

That's 12½ hours between first and last vitamins. Today is the first day of that, so we'll see how well this little plan of mine works out.

I've appreciatively had lots of people check in on me and ask how I'm doing. It feels weird to say "fine" after what sounds like major surgery (I had most of my stomach cut out after all). I've had zero side effects, especially if you consider how I felt before. Nausea, pain, mobility - all good. A week ago my right knee had been hurting for 2 weeks and the chiropractor couldn't really do much to help it. My knee hasn't hurt since last Monday. I've gotten a little light headed a couple of times when I walk, but I chalk that up more to lack of calories than anything else. Plus, me getting light headed while walking isn't that new of an occurrence as it's a big part of what convinced me to start this path of surgery I've taken. I haven't taken any medicine for nausea or pain since Thursday. So yeah, I'm doing fine.

Sunday was the first time I was hungry with a craving. It was all in my head, but knowing that doesn't always help. After a week of drinking everything (Greek yogurt not withstanding), I was missing meat. Red meat. Steak sounded good. I knew even if I had any steak I couldn't eat it, but I was wanting even the smell of a grilled steak. This led me to eat the left over 3oz of Greek yogurt from the afternoon, which tasted nothing like steak. So I went through steak remorse for a couple of hours. Steak and I have been friends for a long time. During the heyday of the Atkins/South Beach Diets of 2006, we were best friends. For the first time in the past week, I was feeling a little down.

While feeling down, I was in my closet (my actual closet for those of you that have been to my house, not some metaphorical closet). The vast majority of clothes I own I haven't been able to comfortably wear in a while. I've been in 1 pair of comfortable jeans for 6 months, pick from 4 polo shirts, 3 baseball-like jerseys, 4 bowling-style shirts, and 5 t-shirts. I'm a clothes horse raised by my mother, so that's been a sore point with me for a while. I've been wearing 5XL shirts, but I still have 4XL hanging up and 3XL tucked away. I was looking at line of Polo button-down shirts that I haven't worn in a year (or maybe 2) because of how tight they were around my gut. I randomly picked one out, saw that it was 4XLT, and tried it on.

Finally, it was not tight around the gut. There was room to breathe. Now I was feeling a little better.

I have to remember that I haven't just lost 15 pounds since surgery, but I also lost 40 pounds from January until surgery. 55 pounds since January. In the Atkins/South Beach Diets heyday of 2006, I lost a total of 56 pounds before I started putting it back on. I've got another 37 pounds to lose to meet that weight (349), but to me it's a given that I'm going to sail right by that number. Probably not in 3 weeks like the rate I've been going, but I'll get there. I'll get there in a nice shirt that I haven't worn in a while. A shirt with no steak juice on it :)

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11 pounds in 5 days

10.04.2013

Just because I can't really believe it, above I show that I've dropped 11 pounds since Monday morning.

I know the vast majority of that has to be fluid loss as I'm averaging 40-45 oz of liquid intake per day right now. But still, give some credit to surgery for losing that much, that fast.

Today I learned I can drink more - I managed to drink most of a 17oz bottle of water in an hour with no adverse effects. My protein shakes (300 cal / 50gm protein / 10oz) still take over an hour just because I'm sipping and re-refrigerating. But I've no reason to be in a hurry with those.

Tonight there may be a trip to the store to pick up some broth. Something non-sweet and hot would be nice. Plus, I can get another walk at a store in for my daily exercise.

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New Gut: Day 3

10.03.2013

I've had more people than I would have though ask about what I can eat now. I thought I would share that here, so that maybe I can keep my story straight.

The first 2 weeks after Sleeve surgery are the most restrictive because your stomach lining has to heal, and as such you want to minimize your stomach acid. My first two days at home I ate:

• Popsicles
• Jello
• Water

Because the size of my stomach has been reduced, I aim to take in no more than an ounce per 15 minutes. I can probably try to take in more, but this was the number stressed in all the documentation and diet class. More than anything I don't want to throw up, so I keep to that limit pretty well. I've been trying to mainly drink water to keep hydrated, while the popsicles and Jello were for those time I was feeling a little nausea. Because Jerry is counting his calories, I think I took in just under 70 calories over those two days.

Today I get to add protein shakes, pudding, broth, and yogurt. None of that can have chunks of fruit or extra stuff - it still has to be liquid, and it has to be sugar free/fat free. I'm a little shocked that yogurt is on the list as I would think the enzymes would stir up the stomach.

When I got up at 7:00 this morning I mixed up my protein shake. I've heard some people are lactose intolerant after surgery, so as I poured 8oz of skim milk into my shaker cup I was a little worried. Lots of sips and 45 minutes later I had drank roughly 1/3 of the shake and was feeling ok. Looks like I can keep on shaking!

I've been lucky with not suffering many side effects from surgery. I don't seem to have these gas bubbles of pain (although I was farting a lot Tuesday). My incision sites don't hurt too bad, and the 2 spots that hurt the most are the ones that are supposed to. There have been silly little things I've noticed - my right hand was where my IV was attached, and it was pretty swollen. Last night I was finally able to close my right hand into a fist, but this morning you can still see the swelling around the knuckles. I also can't properly play Grand Theft Auto as I tend to rest my hands and controller on my gut, which seems to be the key incision locations (I actually press into my stomach with my hands/controller when playing).

When I have to search for things like that to complain about, I must be doing pretty good.

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