by Me | Oct 4, 2018 | Food & Diet, Post-Surgery
2 weeks know since my surgery and I am feeling GREAT !!!
I have lost 8Kg since surgery and people have started to notice and comment…. Some have said that I am “looking a lot younger”… and I have even been called “boyish” !!!
I have survived my 2 week liquid diet…. It was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated…. I was not at any stage hungry – and had to actually remind myself to “eat” and drink.
I mostly ended up “eating” Up and Go (various flavours), Woolies Fresh Soups (Pea & Ham was my favourite), and Protein Water…. although towards the end I must admit I did sneak a few Jatz biscuits and BBQ Shapes (which I made sure that I chewed to a paste before swallowing).
I also had some fruit juices and blitzed up some fruit smoothies which made a nice change.
On just one occassion I think I ate too much and started to feel a bit uncomfortable… not even close to throwing up… but I did have some intestinal pain and diarrhoea…. I’m guessing this may be a little of what I need to watch out for when I start eating solids.
Now I get to start on “mush” – which actually isn’t quite as bad as it sounds, because I can have things like Scrambled or Poached eggs, and even mince (with lots of sauce)… I will do a more detailed post soon on what I get to eat for the next 2 weeks 🙂
by Me | Sep 28, 2018 | Weight Loss Surgery Research
In the lead up to surgery I looked into lots of medical research and studies that described weight loss surgery – and in particular examined at long term benefits and effects of Bariatric Surgery.
I also spoke with a number of people who had had different types of surgery.. and others that had considered it and chosen to try traditional weight loss strategies such as diet and exercise.
Not everyone had a good outcome from the surgery… or would recommend it to others… but the majority seem to have been happy.
I discovered that not many people in my own circle of friends had experienced weight loss surgery (or were comfortable talking about it), so I found myself broadening my scope to try and talk to a wider range of people who had had experience (or knew someone who had).
I would like to broaden this even further, and would LOVE to hear from anyone reading this who is happy to share your experiences.
So if you have had any experience with weight loss – good or bad – surgery based or not.. Please go to our Your Story page and fill in whatever details you are comfortable with (you can remain anonymous if you prefer).
by Me | Sep 28, 2018 | Post-Surgery
One week ago I was lying in my hospital “recovering” from surgery… I was feeling a bit woozy, a bit uncomfortable and a bit “out of control” because I was connected to drips, oxygen, monitors and air pumps… but I was calm, relaxed and not in any pain at all 🙂
Its been an interesting week… but has been much easier than I had expected, or even hoped.
I was discharged the day after surgery, so have been able to sleep better in my own bed (without machines, tubes, or nurses prodding and poking). I have not been in any pain, have had very little discomfort, have not needed any pain or diabetes medication, and am feeling GREAT.
I have been on a liquid diet all week, but have not been hungry at all, and have lost nearly another 7Kg (amazing what not eating anything can do for you). My biggest challenge has been reminding myself that I need regular hydration and Protein (to encourage healing).
by Me | Sep 26, 2018 | Food & Diet, Post-Surgery
Day 6 and everything still doing remarkably well…. Still no pain… Feeling completely normal (except I am not hungry)… Not struggling at all with the liquid diet… and no Diabetes medication since the day of surgery and my Blood Sugar Rocks !!!
I have been doing daily weigh-ins – and have lost 6Kg since the surgery 🙂
Another of my dressing came off in the shower this morning…. the incision is even smaller than the first one…. and I can probably take off the remaining dressings, but figured I would leave them for another day or so. The original incision (dressing came off day 2) is a little red, and has a little yellow bruising around it…. but appears to be healing very nicely.
Dietitian Consultation
I had the first follow up session with the Dietitian today (was a week early because she is away next week)…. Everything good… I get to stay on my liquid diet (lucky me) but can switch to mush pureed foods next Thursday (14 days after op).
2nd dietitian consult (and first follow up with the surgeon) scheduled for 3 weeks time. These follow up sessions cost no extra because it is included in the original surgery fee.
by Me | Sep 24, 2018 | Post-Surgery
Its now been 4 days since surgery and everything is going GREAT !! Way better than I had expected and even better than I had hoped.
After Surgery Pain ???
Still no real pain…. I’ve not had any painkillers since the day after surgery (and they were just a couple of precautionary Panadol going to bed). I am “conscious” that I have had an operation. and every now and then when I need to cough or sneeze, I brace myself in case it hurts – but no pain at all. I would rate my pain as a 1 on the pain scale below.
I feel a little tightness/discomfort sometimes in my stomach… but this mostly seems to be “gas” related… it feels a little bloated and gassy – particularly after I have just “eaten”… so I am guessing this may be the sensation I get if I eat too much (although the liquid diet I am on at the moment pretty much flows straight through). Yesterday particularly there were lots of gas displacement bubblings and grumblings in my stomach/intestine… but no worse than I would expect if I had skipped a meal or two.
The most “painful” thing I am having to deal with at the moment is watching all the food ads on TV !!!
Weight Loss
(not my body in case you were wondering)
I was only planning on weighing myself weekly… but I have some cool new bluetooth/app connected scales which are FUN…. so I have been doing daily (first thing in the morning) weigh ins. According to the new scales, I have lost 5Kgs since the day of surgery (although my old scales mysteriously died on the day of surgery, so there may be an initial discrepancy between scales).
According to the new scales I have so far been consistently losing 1Kg a day… which is more than I expected – certainly not sustainable – and probably not safe…. I may not be eating enough…
Diabetes Medication
I have not had any Diabetes medication since the day after surgery…. and my blood sugar is behaving very nicely. I am doing regular tests and it is pretty consistently 5s and 6s… although I have not been having any carbs or any “real’ Food so this is quite possibly the major factor here
Food !!!
I have not been hungry AT ALL… but am forcing myself to “eat” because I know protein is important for wound recovery. Although I suspect I am still not eating enough so will need to build this up.
I am on a liquid diet (and will be for probably 2 weeks before I can start having “mush”). At the moment, if I can’t have it through a straw than I cant have it at all (to minimise pressure in my stomach until the stitches start to heal). The types of things I have been drinking are – Up and Go, Protein water, Cuppa Soup, V8 Fruit/Vegetable Juice, etc… so a fair variety – but I am already missing “texture”.
At the moment I am only drinking a sip/mouthful at a time… so it takes me 10 minutes or so to take a full cup…. Could probably have more than this, but happy to take it easy for now.
Interestingly, research I have undertaken suggests that food preferences often change after Bariatric Surgery. I didn’t really believe this, but at the moment, the types of foods that I am eyeing up at the supermarket (planning for mush stage and beyond), tend to be healthy whole foods, veggies and salads, rather than Carbohydrate based foods which I would normally prefer.
Even though I am not feeling hungry, I am still “enjoying” some of the food smells when my son is cooking his dinner…. and am becoming more and more aware of just how may Food shows and Ads there are on TV
by Me | Sep 22, 2018 | Post-Surgery
Another pretty comfortable night (in my own bed), with a few odd dreams (I’m guessing a carry over from the General Anesthetic/Drip) .
Still no pain to speak of…. I did take a precautionary couple of Panadol before bed because I didn’t know what to expect, but I think this was probably unnecessary.
One of the 5 (tiny) dressings “fell off” in my morning shower… Well OK… it didn’t actually fall off… but the dressing did fill with water, which I didn’t think I should leave so I gave it a little encouragement… I was amazed at how small, neat and clean the incision was … unlikely to leave any scarring at all (there go my bragging rights).
Popped up for a cuppa and read of the paper at my local cafe… dropped over to Mums for a chat… did a bit of shopping (and bought a new set of scales as my old ones mysteriously stopped working all of a sudden – (at east I am pretty sure I haven’t put on 22kg since Thursday) – pretty much my standard Saturday morning.
My new set of scales (just $29) have BMI, Body Hydration, Body Fat, Muscle Mass and Bone Mass readings (which I doubt I will trust at all), but are also Bluetooth enabled and connect with a cool App to measure and record readings – aweseome !!
I had a cup of protein water for “breakfast” and was feeling a little light headed mid morning so thought I should also have a chocolate Up and Go (19g Protein) – after all I have had next to nothing to eat since Wednesday night. For “dinner” I had a pumpkin cuppa soup (slowly drinking over 1/2hr or so). I am not hungry at all and only eating because I think that I should.
Apart from Thursday night I’ve not had any Diabetes medications and so far Blood sugar has been good (pretty constant 6-6.5s).
by Me | Sep 22, 2018 | Surgery
I have now had a chance to revisit all of my scheduled “Day of Surgery” Posts and these have all been updated to compare my expectations with what actually happened 🙂
by Me | Sep 21, 2018 | Post-Surgery
I woke pretty early (about 5:30 AM) after a surprisingly comfortable evening – despite a bit of prodding and poking by the nursing staff, and a couple of trips to the loo.
Again mostly no pain and just a little discomfort from my gassy stomach/intestine. I had been drinking small amounts water since the surgery (but had really only managed a small cups worth in the previous 18 or so hours).
I was wheeled down to Xray and asked to take a few mouthfuls of an Iodine solution while they took Xrays – to check that there were “no leaks”… Very interesting process (wish I took my phone to take a photo of my new stomach/bypass). I was asked/able to drink about a cups worth of the liquid – which surprised me a bit… but was cool to see the xrays show how quickly (just a matter of seconds) it passed through my stomach and into the intestine.
I was wheeled back to my room and soon the surgeon appeared for a chat… he was Very Happy, I as Very Happy (and still pain free), so the hospital was Very Happy to discharge me.
I was discharged at 10:00.. popped past the pharmacy to get some drugs (pain. anti-nausea, and anti reflux), and was picked up by my son and home by 12:00… less than 24hrs since my operation.
I was feeling great… had a few mouthfuls of Protein Water for “lunch” (passionfruit flavour – Yum)… checked and responded to all my emails and went to bed for an afternoon nap.
Woke after a couple of hours had a few more mouthfuls of protein water for dinner, watched the NRL semi final (Great game Billy Slater) and went to bed 🙂
by Me | Sep 21, 2018 | Post-Surgery
They discharged me from hospital this morning at 10:00 and I made it home before 12:00 – less than 24hrs after the operation Woo Hoo !!!
I had hoped to be out today… but didn’t really expect it… I thought I’d be in another night to get my blood sugar under control, but it is behaving nicely.
I am in almost no pain, just a little discomfort (feels like my stomach is a little “gassy”).
They’ve given me some drugs (which I had to pay for actually – $94) to keep me going…
- An anti-nausea drug,
- a drug to minimise Gastric Reflux (which is a common side effect of bariatric surgery) and
- some strong pain killers (Oxycodon IR – which I have heard mixed things about and am actually not the keen to try unless I have to)…
Feeling a little zonked, and tired but otherwise remarkably good. 🙂  Nothing quite lik your own bed 🙂
by Me | Sep 20, 2018 | Surgery
Today is finally the day of my operation
The First Day of the Rest of My (hopefully extended) Life !!!
What I expected
By now the surgery should all be complete and I will have been back in my room for a few hours.
I don’t need to worry about any distractions like “hospital food” as I expect to be nil by mouth for the whole time I am here… All Nutrition and hydration will be via a drip.
What Actually Happened
The local endocrinologist popped in early evening to check my blood sugar levels which were (to me) surprisingly going up – when I had expected them to be going down as I hadn’t been eating anything. However, this was apparently a result of the anti-nausea medication, which is know to have this effect… so all good…
All in all a pretty good day… everything went relatively smoothly (apart form the Scarred Liver issue – which I didn’t find out about until later anyway) and reasonably closely matched my expectations.
Pain was nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated and all hospital staff have been awesome (as expected).
I dozed off and on until around 2100 (I think)… messaged various people with status updates… couldn’t be bothered getting out the laptop because sitting up with everything attached was a bit awkward… and settled in for a nights sleep…
