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 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 17, 2018 | Food & Diet, Post-Surgery
Just a few more days now until my Surgery… time now to start thinking about (and planning for) what I will need to “eat (and I do use the term loosely) when I get out of hospital.
The aim for the first month or so post-surgery is wound repair and recovery and the focus of diet is protein and fluid.
Liquid Diet
A fully liquid diet will allow for healing without placing stress on my newly formed stomach…. I will need to stay on fluids for 2-3 weeks following surgery. The consistency of the fluids I can drink should be about the consistency of milk.
Hydration and Protein
I will need to focus on keeping up hydration and obtaining enough protein to help with wound repair and recovery. For the first few days I will only be able to tolerate small amounts (20-30ml) at a time although this will gradually increase as I start to heal. After 2 weeks I may be able to slowly drink a whole cup (250ml) at a time (oh Joy:))
I will need to take a high protein drink (60-80g of protein) each day as well as a soluble multivitaim supplement.
I can contuinue to have OptiFast Shakes and Soups, for “meals” and have been recommended to try Protein Perfection Protein Water (who knew suxh a thing existed ???)Â and also take 2 x BN Multi Chewable Multivatimins each day.
Allowed & Not Allowed
Here are some examples of the types of liquids I can and can’t have :
Allowed
|
NOT Allowed
|
| Skim milk, soy milk, lactose free milk |
Porridge, Semolina, Weetbix |
Fruit Smoothies (strained), Fruit Juice,
Vegatable Juice (such as V8) |
Thickshakes, ice cream, custard, jelly |
| Up and Go, Sustagen |
Cheese, Cream Cheese |
| Optifast Shakes & Soups, Protein water |
|
| Thin smooth soups (e.g. pumpkin soup) |
Thock soups (thicker than milk) |
| Hydralyte, Powerade Zero, Diet Cordial |
Soft drinks |
| Tea, Coffee, Herbal Tyea, instant soup (strained) |
|
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 !!!
