Flu bug #1 Post OP

I have been battling my first flu/virus/head cold since surgery and it has been miserable!  I can’t take my go-to meds that usually work.  I always took Delsym cough syrup that worked like a charm, but it is not safe anymore.  I have been miserable all week with sinus and cough!

I have been taking the recommended Tylenol Cold meds which quite honestly do NOTHING!  I have never been a fan of Tylenol anything, but it appears this is one of the only drugs that is now safe for me to take.  I have been trying to keep my fluids up as always but this thing is seriously kicking my butt and not getting any better!  It started coming on Tuesday and has gotten worse each day.  I am on day 5 and feel worse today than all the days before combined.  If I am not feeling any improvement tomorrow, I am heading to the clinic to see if there is anything they can do because I can’t miss another day of work because of this.

Send some prayers my way everyone that this goes away quickly!

On the positive note–my 4 week check up last week went well and I am down 75 lbs total weight loss since this journey began. 22lbs since surgery.  On the right track there!

First Battle since surgery—GAS!

Ok, I am going to give everyone fair warning that this post is going to be a TMI one but I must share because hopefully it will help someone else in the future who might be going through this!

I have had little to no side effects so far since surgery! NONE!  Everyone I talk to seems really surprised by this. They ask, no nausea, vomiting?  I tell them, no nothing yet.  This ALL changed last week for me.  Phase 3 consists of cheese, beans, tuna, cheese, beans, tuna, did I mention CHEESE?  Well, we all know what happens when you eat too many beans and too much cheese!  It leads to GAS and no go!  I warned you!

I started having sharp pains in my lower abdomen every time I would stand up.  My tummy would gurgle all the time no matter if I was eating, drinking or sleeping.  I could only “go” every other day and little at that.  I was getting pretty uncomfortable and the pain I was having was worrying me as I know having this surgery puts you at risk for hernia.  I called the surgeon and he suggested I take something for gas and constipation to see if that could be the issue and if it got worse, to go to the ER.

$40 later at the drugstore, I had GasX, Miralax, Colace in hand. I already had a bottle of Milk of Magnesia so that was first as we needed to get things moving along and then the Miralax to keep it regular.  GasX has been my saving grace the past few days and the pain in my abdomen is now gone.

It turns out that this is very common post bypass surgery and is something that I very well could have to deal with from now on because of my restricted diet.  It is harder for me to get regular fiber and enough of it in my food to keep things “normal” so I will probably have to supplement with fiber and these meds to keep myself from getting miserable.

Tomorrow I start my vitamin/supplement regimen as I am 4 weeks out and can start on pills again!  No more crushing them in orange juice!  Can’t wait to not have to taste that terrible bitter stuff again!  Onto new challenges as I am terrible with pills, but phase 4 of my food starts so this opens up new food choices, fruit, lunchmeat, and more!  Another checkup on Wednesday this week!  We shall see what the scale says!

2 week Post Op–on the right track!

Today was my first follow-up appointment with my surgeon and nutritionist.  Stepping on the scale for the first time was both scary and exciting!  I am down 14 pounds since surgery day!  I was blown away!  I did not expect to see that kind of number on the scale today!  The doc said everything looked good and he would see me in 3 months!  I can start exercising in a couple more weeks.

I met with my nutritionist as well and my protein intake is right on target!  I need to keep it between 57-78g daily.  I have been averaging around 67 daily so that is perfect.  She said I need to increase my calories a little bit if possible until I get to the next food phase.  I may have to switch out some of the real low-fat options I have for normal options right now such as the low-fat string cheese and such and just go with regular versions that are a little higher in calories while in this phase.  She said this will keep my body from going into the starvation mode.

I went over some of the mild issues I have noticed such as the shakes/weakness in the morning and being cold all the time.  She said that this is probably because I am not getting enough calories in and my blood sugar is maybe dropping a bit low in the mornings.  I need to try to eat or drink some protein first thing in the morning to get that spike up a little.  It is just going to be a matter of altering my normal routine some from what I am used to.  Eat first, then shower!

I go back in 2 weeks for another follow-up to see how I am progressing on the new diet.  By then I will be on the next diet phase and hopefully able to swallow pills again and started exercising again on my treadmill.  Only 33 lbs to go until I hit UNDERLAND as they call it and it has been close to 20 years since I have seen it so that is going to be a day to celebrate!  Perhaps with a new outfit, shoes, car…who knows haha!

Real Food!

1/2 of a scrambled egg with shredded cheese and a 1/4th of a banana!  Oh Yeah!  My first “REAL” food since surgery!  I was very careful to take small bites and chew chew chew!  CHEWING!  What a novel idea after 2 weeks of sipping on everything!  You have no idea though how much you miss the simple act of biting and chewing your food until it is taken away from you!  So many new things have been added to my menu options today I am beyond excited!

I get to add fat free refried beans, peanut butter, apple sauce, cottage cheese (one of my favorites and super high in protein), tuna fish, canned chicken, mashed potatoes, scrambled egg, cheeses.  So many more flavors to my menu I actually look forward to my next meal now instead of dreading that next meal of strained soup and jell-o once again!  This phase is where I weed out the liquids in my meals and turn to solid foods only. It seems odd to not have anything to drink with my meal but you can’t spare that room when you need to fill it with protein!

My focus is on taking in higher protein foods as much as possible so I can drink less of those shakes between meals!  I can only seem to tolerate the Nectar Chocolate and Vanilla ones and they are starting to make me ill with the smell of them so can’t wait to be able to incorporate higher protein food in my meals so I can drink less of those!  I currently only seem to have to take about 12 ounces of the shakes now in order to meet my 60-70 grams of protein a day between my food, milk and shakes. Hoping to get that down further so that I can no longer have to do the protein powder and just maybe the milk between meals.

Tomorrow I head back to work and just hope to make it through the 2 days I have to work before I am off for another 5 days for the holiday!  9 hr work day is gonna be really tough so I will have to just pace myself and really take it easy and just do what I can and not overdo.  Luckily I have a desk job, although a stressful position, I don’t have a physical one, so that certainly helps me a great deal!

I am anxious to visit the doctor on Tuesday to see how I am doing.  I don’t own a scale, I have never believed in them, but I think I will probably have to break down and purchase a decent one soon.  I will be curious if I have lost any weight over the past 2 weeks.  Surely you would think I would have lost a few pounds considering the very small amount of calories being taken in each day but I also have not been super active during recovery.  I am giving myself a couple more weeks for incisions to finish healing and such before I hop back on the treadmill and start building back up to my walking regimen. I know this is going to be key to my success in the long run but I also do not want to push myself too fast too early and cause problems with my healing.

Have a great Sunday everyone! I will be enjoying my last day of vacation!

Today is a new day!

While this is the first official blog entry on this adventure, this journey began many months ago.  I started my transformation in March of 2014.  I had visited my doctor with elevated blood pressure, on the verge of a stroke, barely able to walk due to my knees hurting so bad all of the time.  I topped the scales at 300 lbs that day.  I know it wasn’t the heaviest I had ever weighed in at but it was close!  I knew it was time I did something for myself once and for all to take my health back and get things under control.  I made an appointment that day with Genesis Center for Weight Management.

That is the day my journey officially started.  I have been through battle after battle with losing weight over the past 20 years and have not been able to beat this horrible disease called obesity.  I knew it was going to take more than just a diet to regain my health once and for all.  I started following a dr. monitored 1200 calorie restricted diet, exercise program as well as the strict nutritional program through the center for several months.  Test after test, dr. after dr. but I was finally approved for my Roux En Y surgery in October 2014.

I had my surgery on December 15, 2014 laproscopic.  I weighed in the day of surgery at 243 which was a 57 lb weight loss!  I am very proud of that accomplishment!  Surgery went very well with no complications and very little pain to speak of.  I stayed in the hospital for 2 days and went home on December 17th that morning.  Other than being tired quite a bit and just slightly sore where my incisions were, I have had no other signs that I even had surgery to speak of!  I will say you get very sick of chicken broth very quickly and orange jell-o after eating it 3 times a day every day for a week!  I was very excited to make the switch to creamed soups and pudding!  Who would of thought!

The first week or so, I really never felt hunger.  All I did was concentrate on getting all of my protein in and try to get my liquids in.  That is a challenge as you have to decide between sleep and getting your fluids in sometimes.  After about a week, it did get easier to take in fluids and once I switched to cream soups, I could add my unflavored and chicken flavored protein powder to the soups to up my intake and not have to drink as much in shake form.  One can only drink so many of them before the smell starts to get to you. I make sure to keep my protein always about 60 g every day one way or another.  The recommended amount is 60-70 g daily.

I must admit I am really looking forward to the weekend when I move on to the next food phase and can start adding eggs, cheese, tuna, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, apple sauce and such into my meals.  It will give me several new options to incorporate into my meals and not have to eat the same 3 things every day for a week straight.  This phase will last at least 2 weeks so I will have to get creative with the meal plans on this one until the next phase starts.  I am looking forward to the day I eat actual food again and can try to eat with the family somewhat again.  It is hard watching them eat some of the foods I love while I sip on strained soup and am craving the ability to just chew something!  I know it is mind over matter at this point and with time that will get easier.

I go to my first 2 week follow up appointment on Tuesday next week.  I am going back to work on Monday for the first time since surgery.  Hoping I can make it through the 9 hour day and not pay too dearly for it!   I get tired very easily as I do not take in hardly any calories at this point and just do not have my strength back yet from surgery.  I think that will come with time.

I hope this blog will help others as they consider this journey.  The choice I made to have the Roux En Y surgery was not made easily and should be considered carefully as it is a permanent choice that comes with great risk and many possible complications.  I chose this option as it was my best chance for long term success for permanent weight loss as well as resolving the many health issues I have that simple weight loss was not clearing up.  Every step of the way has been closely monitored by my numerous doctors.