3-Week Post-Op Tidbits and Observations

• I rarely feel hungry - more like I eat because I'm supposed to, measure it, and eat how much I'm supposed to. On the flip side, I don't really feel full either. I do have "head hunger" quite often where I really want particular foods, though.

• I've found that water doesn't sit in my stomach very well, especially in the morning. By evening I can usually tolerate it. If I add any kind of flavor to it, though, I'm fine. Even sipping throughout the day, it's hard to get in my 64 oz. If I drink too fast, it hurts! It kind of feels like someone is stepping on my chest.

• Interestingly enough, I tolerate protein shakes better in the morning than I do in the evening.
  

• It's hard to get in 40-60 grams of protein when your total food intake for the day is only 3/4 of a cup! (40 is what my surgeon says, 60 is from the nutritionist)
  

• I've been dizzy a lot more since surgery. You know how when you stand up too fast you get dizzy for a minute? That happens to me almost every time I stand up now. Weird.

• My incisions look awesome. The lowest one is the worst, because my clothes rub against it. It's REALLY hard for me not to pick at them!

• For the most part, I feel as good as I did pre-op, energy wise. I still get tired a little bit easier, though. It seems like so long ago - it's hard to remember that I'm still just 3 weeks out!

• I have take Zantac (an antacid, to prevent acid in my stomach while it's still healing - this lasts for 30 days), Actigall (to prevent gallstones since they are often caused by rapid weight loss - this lasts for 6 months), chewable Flinstones Complete vitamins, and Viactiv for calcium each twice a day. The Actigall, vitamin, and viactiv all have to be taken at least 2 hours apart from each other. The Zantac can be taken with the vitamin or the viactiv, but not the Actigall. So basically every 2 hours I have to take some sort of pill. This is much harder than it seems to remember to do. In fact, right now I just realized I've missed one. *sigh* I put all 6 pills in a little baggie at the beginning of the day to help me keep track of what I've taken and what I haven't. I need a better system. Maybe a watch with an alarm?
  

I have to be honest here - this weekend at my parents, I ate things that I probably shouldn't have. I tolerated them pretty well, though. (On a side note, you may notice that I don't really post what I'm actually eating. That's because every surgeon and everyone's experience are so different. Any time I've been around a group of WLS patients - support groups, online, social gatherings - if someone mentions something they like to eat, someone else has a reason why that's not a good idea. This gets me confused and overwhelmed. So I have a strict rule of listening to my surgeon and ONLY my surgeon. I love blogs where WLS patients post recipes for things they're eating, but that's not going to be me.) Anyway, back to my weekend. Tolerating them and being supposed to eat them are two totally different things. I learned that I get frustrated when other people are eating and I can't, and it makes me want to eat things I shouldn't. Sometimes just to say ha-ha. So this is a problem I'm going to work on. Because I'm only 3 weeks out and that's a slippery slope to start on. I am determined that I will NOT be a person who makes a lot of excuses for things. So, I won't. I messed up this weekend, but I'm starting over.

Today, however, I have not felt so good. I can't imagine that it was leftover from this weekend, so I don't know what it is. I've felt nauseous and a little crampy most of the day. Not serious, call-the-doctor-sick, just yucky. In fact, I never ate lunch and I'm having problems getting my water in. That may be the problem. I had my shake at breakfast and that's all I've had today. I may just have another shake for dinner and go back to liquids until this passes. I also went back to the gym today (yay!) and swam laps. I swam a whole mile - it took me about 50 minutes - and that may have been too much. I felt fine while I was doing it, but when I got out I was definitely sore and exhausted. This heat probably has me run down, too.

With all those negatives, here's something that I have been doing well post-op - eating very slowly, taking very tiny bites, and chewing my food nearly to death. When I ate with my family, my little 1/4 cup (using those little white prep bowls I posted a picture of a few days ago) usually took me longer than it took them to eat their whole meal!

Alright now, be cute one and all!