Day 7: One Week Post-Op

Today marks day 14 since I started the pre-op liquid diet and day 7 since my surgery.  I keep seeking wood on which to knock, but I cannot imagine this going any better than it has.  I was definitely prepared for issues like pain and nausea, but neither have been worthy of mention, though I will mention them later in this blog.

As for the numbers, from my heaviest weight, 305.1 on December 17, 2019, I lost and gained and lost and gained and lost and gained and lost 11.6 pounds down to 293.5 on the day the pre-op liquid diet started on August 28, 2020.  In that pre-op week, I lost 9.2 pounds down to 284.3 on surgery date September 4, 2020.  I've since lost another 4.9 pounds post-op until today's weight of 279.4.  So, total lost from max is 25.7 and total lost since starting pre-op is 14.1.  

The picture shown is a few days ago.  I'm not always showered and combed when I write these blogs, so...  Anyway, I can definitely tell a difference in the way I look and feel, and my friends and family might say "You look fine," but under that 3XL T-shirt is quite a bit of unwanted fat that will be history, eventually.

I'm a patient patient, and it is rewarding to see the 0.2 - 0.7 pound loss happening every day.  I know at some point the rate of loss will slow, but that's OK.  This is a long game.  Check out this graph.  It looks like a stock market crash!

Numbers aside, here's my assessment of how this has gone for me:  I am convinced I have, so far, experienced the best case scenario for weight loss surgery.  For this I am very thankful.  My pain has been minimal and has declined since surgery day.  My only pain now is if I stretch too far a certain way, I may feel some incision pain. The steri-strips are still hanging on while my incisions heal, but they're starting to wear away. 

As for nausea and related issues, that was my main concern going into this.  Many people talked about their issues with nausea and vomiting.  As for me, one of my meds is for nausea, so I have not had those issues.  The exception has been the last few nights I've woken around 3am to pee.  Then when back in bed, I've felt a little nauseous.  The night before, I soon went back to sleep, and last night I took the med I'd forgotten to take at bedtime, and then went back to sleep.  No throwing up.

My one mistake so far was yesterday at lunch.  I prepared a bowl of tomato bisque soup.  This was the entire can of concentrate plus a can of milk to mix with it.  It was delicious and I devoured the whole bowl quickly - out of habit - which was about 2 cups of volume.  Well, I guess I did that too fast, because I felt pretty crappy the next few hours while that digested through my banana-sized stomach pouch.  In case you're wondering, the volume of a banana is about a cup at most.  So I overfilled myself by 2x.  As I write this, I just completed a 24 oz (3 cup) combination of coffee and caramel Premier Protein drink.  I think the difference is that I consumed the 3 cups over a period of an hour, whereas the soup was devoured in about 5 minutes.  Lesson learned.  I used to eat that large bowl of soup with crackers, 1 - 1.5 grilled cheese sandwiches, AND sometimes chips!  So I've come a long ways, baby!

People keep asking me what can I eat.  The first two weeks of the post-op diet is considered "full liquids."  It's getting a little boring but is considerably better than the 1 week pre-op diet.  Here's what I'm having throughout a typical day: 

• Breakfast:
• Option 1: 12 oz regular coffee w 2 tbs half & half; Premier protein drink (30g protein)
• Option 2: 12 oz regular coffee w 2 tbs half & half; Oikos yoghurt with no fruit chunks - just creamy yoghurt (15g protien)
• Morning Snack: 
• Small container of sugar free applesauce or sugar free jello pudding or (if I'm feeling naughty) regular Jello pudding, or sugar free Jello (the jiggly stuff)
• Lunch:
• Option 1: Bowl of some liquid soup, strained of vegetables & meat (5g protein)
• Option 2: Smoothie with 1 cup of fruit and either a protein drink or protein powder (30g protein)
• Afternoon Snack:
• Same as prior snack, but probably a different choice.
• Dinner:
• Same as lunch, but probably a different choice.
• I'll have a glass (2 cups) of Stevia-sweetened iced tea during the day, and water throughout the day otherwise
• No sodas and no beer yet.
• Total calories per day is around 850-975.
• Plus I'm walking over 2 miles on most days.
• I'm not particularly hungry though I do crave new flavors.
• I have sneaked in the following foods that are not on this liquid diet: One Oreo cookie, 1/2 cup of pureed vegetables from a can of Campbell's vegetable soup, 2 club crackers, one water chestnut from Luke's PF Chang's Orange Chicken entree I helped him cook.  No issues with any of the above, though I do think I heard my stomach say, ever so softly, "What. The. F. Is. This...?" on each occasion.

I'm hoping that when I have my follow-up appointment on Tuesday, they will advance me to phase 2 of the post-op diet a few days early.  

Since I have all my photos and weights digitized and saved, I can go back in time and see the last time I was this weight ~279 lbs.  And the answer is January 2018.  Here's my girl Roxie, who just passed away last month.  Wish she were still here.  

I've spent way too much time editing this blog post, so I guess I should get back to doing something productive with my last day off from work.  Until next time...