Man, time flies when you're having fun! Here I am, sleeved for almost two weeks already. It's really unbelievable that this came to fruition. I never thought it would and it sometimes still doesn't feel real but it did and it is.
Friday October 12th, I had to be in the hospital by 6AM. My husband and I got up around 4:30AM to shower/get ready and we were out the door by 5:15. We got to the hospital, went to admitting and waited for my name to be called. I had been feeling nervous but trying to just not think about it. I was called back around 6:30 to start prepping for surgery. They got me into a gown right away and I did the preliminary stuff. I couldn't believe how fast it was going because I waited so long before my lapband removal! The anesthesiologist came in and decided that since I'm a hard stick, she would try to get the IV in before going to the OR. Of course she had a hard time and IV needles hurt so much that my nerves finally spilled over and I started to cry. My husband was a rock though and made me feel a lot better during the whole ordeal.
Finally, once the IV was in, it was time to go into the OR. I kissed my husband goodbye, he told me not to be scared or nervous, hugged and I was on my way. I went under pretty quickly and from what I hear, surgery went well. Afterward, I didn't have the same bad reaction to the anesthesia as before because they loaded me up with anti-nausea medication before waking me up. However, I was still pretty out of it for a long period of time. They kept me in recovery for 5 hours, ugh. My poor husband was exhausted but he still stayed with me and I'm so grateful for it even thought I was pretty much unconscious. I was moved into a room around 5 in the afternoon.
I had a tube in my nose that ran down my throat to my stomach, a drain sticking out my side, and a catheter. Needless to say, I was pretty miserable. I had just gotten settled into my room when I started to gag on the damn tube down my throat. My heart rate went way up and the nurses started freaking out. I finally calmed down and was able to stop gagging but then I had to have an EKG. After all that excitement, I could finally hit the morphine pump and rest. That morphine pump would be my friend for the next two days. I had the nose tube and catheter taken out the next day in the hospital but the drain wouldn't come out until I left. Let me tell you, having a drain pulled out of you is nothing but weird. I wouldn't call it painful exactly but it certainly doesn't tickle and it is beyond weird feeling it being pulled out from your insides. I get the shivers thinking about it now.
After the hospital, my life has been pretty good. I stayed home from work for a week recovering, went to a wedding, and get to start mushy foods soon. I honestly don't have any pain, maybe a little discomfort at night but that's it, no nausea, no fevers, no bathroom problems...everything is good! I'm a little surprised and leary about it but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, I am 100% sick of being on liquids. If I never have to eat soup again it'll be too soon. I never liked soup much to begin with so it's been a challenge. Also, protein shakes are disgusting. I've tried several different types, kinds, flavors and none of them taste good at all. I'm pretty much only getting one shake in a day which is bad because I should be having three but it's all I can do. I intend to drop them from my diet Friday when I start mushies.
Other than that, I've had high energy and high hopes for this surgery type to work for me. I know I need to stick to plan and make it work for me so I hope I can make that change in myself. I know that my head hunger has been out of control lately but I think it's mostly because of the liquids. I hope it goes away in the mushie phase. Anyway, I've fondly nicknamed my sleeve, Sleevie Stevie and I do so hope we can be friends.
Til next time!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Pre-op diet from hell
In preparation of surgery, every WLS patient must succumb to the dreaded "pre-op" diet. This can consist of and be many things. Some people are on it for a month, two weeks, three days, or not at all. Sometimes it's all clear liquids or just reduced calories and fat. Regardless, it blows.
I'm fortunate enough that my doctor isn't one of the ones who requires a longer amount of time to be on the diet. Also, my diet plan allows some vegetables, thin soup, and protein drinks. I basically need to stay under 1,000 calories a day, absolutely no fat, and get 50g of protein in. No easy feat especially when protein shakes taste like butt and you can't add anything flavorful to them such as peanut butter (too much fat le sigh).
So I present to you the main staples of my pre-op diet of doom:
Carnation Instant Breakfast, SODIUM FREE chicken and beef broth, and sugar free jello. Guess what, they all taste terrible, ugh. I would also have a tomato-broth-vegetable type soup for lunch and eat a lot of cucumbers because it was one of the permitted vegetables that happen to be my favorite.
But, I've survived, much to my surprise, with minimal cheating. What? You didn't think I wouldn't cheat here or there? Granted, I cheated on egg whites. Such a badass, right? It was only the first day and I don't really have a good excuse but I felt really bad about myself afterward and tried to be the best I could be for the rest of the diet.
Which leads me to this conclusion: I think pre-op diets are bullshit. I get that the night before you should be on clear liquids but the pre-op diet varies so much from doctor to doctor, how can it really be beneficial? They claim this diet is to shrink the liver, can you really shrink the liver in a few days? Internet research (I know, I know, I can hear your groaning now) shows that no, it takes something more like 3 months to shrink your liver. But, I decided to be a good sport and just deal with it. However, my husband just made bacon and eggs for dinner and I think he's actually trying to kill me. My apartment smells like bacon and I'm ready to eat the damn couch.
Tomorrow is the big day for me. I am the first case of the day so I have to be at the hospital by 6AM which is good and yet sucky. I'm looking forward to being done with surgery and beginning this new journey. I will return to you a sleeved woman!
I'm fortunate enough that my doctor isn't one of the ones who requires a longer amount of time to be on the diet. Also, my diet plan allows some vegetables, thin soup, and protein drinks. I basically need to stay under 1,000 calories a day, absolutely no fat, and get 50g of protein in. No easy feat especially when protein shakes taste like butt and you can't add anything flavorful to them such as peanut butter (too much fat le sigh).
So I present to you the main staples of my pre-op diet of doom:
Carnation Instant Breakfast, SODIUM FREE chicken and beef broth, and sugar free jello. Guess what, they all taste terrible, ugh. I would also have a tomato-broth-vegetable type soup for lunch and eat a lot of cucumbers because it was one of the permitted vegetables that happen to be my favorite.
But, I've survived, much to my surprise, with minimal cheating. What? You didn't think I wouldn't cheat here or there? Granted, I cheated on egg whites. Such a badass, right? It was only the first day and I don't really have a good excuse but I felt really bad about myself afterward and tried to be the best I could be for the rest of the diet.
Which leads me to this conclusion: I think pre-op diets are bullshit. I get that the night before you should be on clear liquids but the pre-op diet varies so much from doctor to doctor, how can it really be beneficial? They claim this diet is to shrink the liver, can you really shrink the liver in a few days? Internet research (I know, I know, I can hear your groaning now) shows that no, it takes something more like 3 months to shrink your liver. But, I decided to be a good sport and just deal with it. However, my husband just made bacon and eggs for dinner and I think he's actually trying to kill me. My apartment smells like bacon and I'm ready to eat the damn couch.
Tomorrow is the big day for me. I am the first case of the day so I have to be at the hospital by 6AM which is good and yet sucky. I'm looking forward to being done with surgery and beginning this new journey. I will return to you a sleeved woman!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
What makes you gain weight?
September was a crazy month for me. I went to multiple pre-surgery doctor's appointments all for the sake of insurance approval.
One of these appointments was a psychological evaluation. Let me tell you about the psychological evaluation I had prior to my LapBand surgery. It consisted of this tiny, mouse of a man telling me I won't be comfortable with my new body because most women aren't after weight loss surgery and proceeded to show pictures of floppy pancake breasts. He made it quite clear that my breasts would look like this. I pretty much stared at him with my mouth agape like a fish out of water. Seriously.
Since that experience was pretty much awful, I didn't have high hopes for the psych evaluation this time around. My goal was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Now, is it just me or are most psychologists bullshit? I don't know, but I just feel like the questions they ask of me are really dumb. My psychologist was a very small, young-ish woman who looked like all she ate all her life were twigs and grass leaves. After telling her why I was there her first question was "So, what makes you gain weight?" I looked at her, laughed, and said "food". I mean, come on, you walked right into that one twig lady. But, I have to admit that once my defensive mechanism of humor ran out, I did seriously consider the question. What does make me gain weight? Well, for one thing I graze, a lot. I can't help it. I just eat snacks all day long and would gladly forgo mealtimes for snacks. It doesn't help that where I work there is always a plethora of candy and snacks laying around to enjoy. Do I eat out of boredom? Definitely.
Eating out of boredom or picking all day has had an affect on my mental state. I constantly feel hungry. Most WLS patients refer to this as "head hunger". Your brain is telling you "EAT FOOD NOW" when your stomach is actually quite content. I think it will be a real battle for me to get through that but I'm waiting until after surgery to really grapple with it.
Which, speaking of, I have a date! I'm due for surgery October 12th. I'm excited but beginning to get nervous and the feeling of being unprepared. I've been doing so much research for this surgery though, I think/hope I'll be ok.
Anyway, next update will probably be post-op!!!
One of these appointments was a psychological evaluation. Let me tell you about the psychological evaluation I had prior to my LapBand surgery. It consisted of this tiny, mouse of a man telling me I won't be comfortable with my new body because most women aren't after weight loss surgery and proceeded to show pictures of floppy pancake breasts. He made it quite clear that my breasts would look like this. I pretty much stared at him with my mouth agape like a fish out of water. Seriously.
Since that experience was pretty much awful, I didn't have high hopes for the psych evaluation this time around. My goal was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Now, is it just me or are most psychologists bullshit? I don't know, but I just feel like the questions they ask of me are really dumb. My psychologist was a very small, young-ish woman who looked like all she ate all her life were twigs and grass leaves. After telling her why I was there her first question was "So, what makes you gain weight?" I looked at her, laughed, and said "food". I mean, come on, you walked right into that one twig lady. But, I have to admit that once my defensive mechanism of humor ran out, I did seriously consider the question. What does make me gain weight? Well, for one thing I graze, a lot. I can't help it. I just eat snacks all day long and would gladly forgo mealtimes for snacks. It doesn't help that where I work there is always a plethora of candy and snacks laying around to enjoy. Do I eat out of boredom? Definitely.
Eating out of boredom or picking all day has had an affect on my mental state. I constantly feel hungry. Most WLS patients refer to this as "head hunger". Your brain is telling you "EAT FOOD NOW" when your stomach is actually quite content. I think it will be a real battle for me to get through that but I'm waiting until after surgery to really grapple with it.
Which, speaking of, I have a date! I'm due for surgery October 12th. I'm excited but beginning to get nervous and the feeling of being unprepared. I've been doing so much research for this surgery though, I think/hope I'll be ok.
Anyway, next update will probably be post-op!!!
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