Two Month Post-Op VSG

I'm two days late only two month post op update. So I'll do my two month and two day update. I did my measurements and have lost some decent inches. I am down 39.6 pounds - so close to 40. I feel like I've been losing b wet slowly. I went to torrid in a size 22 and bought size 18 purple skinny jeans - who am I? So weird, I haven't been an 18 in so long. I hope I keep losing at this pace. According to my app, happy scale, I will hit my goal of 145lbs in 7 months. Hopefully shortly after that I can try to get pregnant! That's the goal for all of this. 

8 Weeks Post-Op - It Doesn't Fit

Today is week 8 and I'm down 37.8 pounds. I'm pretty frustrated that my clothes still fit the same. I started out as a size 22 and I am still a 22. I start a new job tomorrow and tried on a size 20 and they fit the same way as before - which is barely. I went out to dinner for my anniversary and it's a place that I used to love and clean my plate every course. An entree comes with soup, salad, veggie, meat, and side. I had a couple sips of the cream of broccoli, a few bites of salad, a piece of the chicken picante, and picked at the mashed potatoes. I brought the rest home which I've been eating every day, every meal since. 

Overall, 37.8 pounds is good, but I wish I saw it. And I wish my clothes fit. 

7 Weeks Post-Op - Wedding, Drinking

This weekend I went to a wedding and dranik for the first time since surgery. When I woke up, I took my regular meds and was so sick I was throwing up. We had to drive an hour and a half to the hotel so I ate a peach and threw three dresses in the car. When we got to the hotel I tried on my three dresses and two of them were too SMALL. I just wore them last year… and then lost almost 40 pounds. I was pissed. I ended up wearing a purple dress. It wasa cute, me and my husband matched. I will insert a picture. We had a friend take the picture and when I looked back at it, I was shocked at how decent I looked! During cocktail hour, I had a glass of wine (watered down with ice) – but I only had half of it. Then for dinner it was a buffet so I had salad, the insides of a twice baked potato and one bite of my husbands prime rib. During the rest of dinner and dancing, I had a vodka lemonade. I thought it was going to hit me fast but it didn’t hit me at all. We danced a bit then they made brick oven pizza, and I had a little bite of my husband’s. After the reception, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the bar. I had water. We also got cheese curds because Milwaukee. The day after we drove home and I weighed myself. I lost .8 pounds for a total of 36 pounds.

 

 

 

 

6 Week Post-Op FOOD HAUL

I realized that at my 6 week post-op, I'm allowed to have fresh fruits and veggies! I went to the gym (ugh, felt like crap but did it anyways) and after I went to the grocery story. I got some reduced fat cheese-itz, apples, peaches (not shown), peanuts, cherry tomatoes, lettuce to make lettuce wraps, and lite mayo for said lettuce wraps. What are other yummy snacks that I can have??

6 Week Post-Op - acne?!

Today is 6 weeks post op! I am officially down 33.6 pounds. I will do measurements at my 2 month mark. This week I have been going hard at the gym and decided to go golfing Sunday. Bad idea. I was fine for the first hole then by the third hole I was throwing up. I'm not sure why. I also didn't realize that the constant bending over would take a toll on me. I took it easy Sunday. On Saturday I went to my friends house and hung out with her and her baby. I am way too anxious to have a baby. I want one so bad. I know I have to wait. 

In other news, I have been getting pretty bad acne lately. It could be because I started birth control again but I've never had this problem when I took this birth control last time. I was thinking it could be from sweat, but I'm not sure. At this point, I'll take acne instead of the 33.6 pounds I lost. 

Here is my video.

https://youtu.be/Cx4mXXEMlNo

Time For A Change

So I spontaneously decided to dye my hair. New me - starting with surgery and now red hair! 

 
 

Going To A Bar

On Friday, my husband and I went to his best friends bar's closing day. I'm so used to drinking there but I wasn't able to. This is a bar we would go to for most of our relationship. We would take the train 45 minutes from our house. I only really drank at this one bar and at weddings and some holidays (Christmas parties, New Years, wine on thanksgiving). I'm going to a wedding in two weeks and I'm thinking I will probably have a glass of wine. 

I don't NEED to drink, but I am more fun and I have more fun when I'm drinking. At weddings I only dance when I'm drinking because I don't care what people think. I'm also not telling anyone really about my surgery so if I'm not drinking they will just assume I'm pregnant. 

I know I'm not supposed to but we'll see. I think I know what I'm going to do..

5 Weeks Post-Op - Mall

Today is 5 weeks since surgery. I have lost 27.8 pounds. I went to the gym everyday since Thursday (when I was cleared to go) except Sunday. I have been consistently been doing 2-2.5 miles on a combination of treadmill, elliptical and/or bike. I used to be able to go 5 miles in an hour. Friday we went to a friends bar. On Sunday I went to the mall with my mom and I didn't get tired at all walking. I was able to wear pants that I currently have that are a size smaller. I was a 22 at the time of surgery and these pants were a 20. I went to Old Navy and tried on slacks in an 18 and wasn't able to get them up at all. I also tried on18 jeggings and the band wasn't tight at all. I guess I will hold off on buying new clothes for a while. 

One Month Post-Op Appointment

I had my one month post-op appointment with the nutritionist and surgeon yesterday, 7/28. I met with the nutritionist first and she said that I can move on to soft foods. I thought I was already on soft foods but I guess I was only on purees. I can have saltines with cheese, so that’s exciting that I can have something crunchy now! Anything I eat has to pass the “fork test” which means if a fork can break it, mush it, or pull it apart, I can eat it. I’m pretty much clear to eat most things except rice, pasta, bread, dense meat, and of course no deep fried, fatty foods. I was told about the 20/20/20 rule which means every bite needs to be 20 chews, wait 20 seconds between bites and then a meal should take 20 minutes. I am also taking calcium pills now too. I need to get 1000-1200mg every day so I can take 2 Viactiv per day. They actually taste pretty good, almost like tootsie rolls. She said I was doing very well. I am officially down 25 pounds according to their scale. According to mine at home I am 23.5 pounds down. I’ll take the extra weight loss. 

 

I also met with the surgeon and he looked at my scars and said they look great! The glue all came off and they are almost all the way healed. He cleared me to go back to the gym and any type of exercise. I can also golf again! 

 

After the appointment and after work I went to the gym by me and signed up again and did 2 miles on the elliptical in 26 minutes. I used to do 5 miles in an hour or less. I’m not super thrilled that I couldn’t get past 2 miles without feeling like death. I keep telling myself that I just had major surgery and will take time to get back into it. 

 

I also went to the grocery store and I got some essentials. I got Viactiv, Weight Watcher’s string cheese, chicken salad, ham salad (I didn’t like it), saltines, bananas, and some more stuff that I’m forgetting. For lunch at work I have been bringing some deli turkey slices and some 1/3 fat cream cheese rolled up. It’s super good. I was also cleared to have cheerios and milk. 

 

Overall, I’m happy with -25 pounds in a month. I go back on my 3 month surgiversary.  

 

My First NSV - My Wedding Rings Fit

Today I noticed that I got my first NSV (non scale victory). I used to not be able to get my wedding rings off most of the time. If I was lucky, I had to take them of one by one and by the time I got them off, my finger was bright red and stung like crazy. I just realized today that I can take them off with ease and all at once! Here is a picture of before surgery and one day shy of 1 month post-op.  I think I see a difference!

 

Puppy's Cone of Shame

My puppy had to go to the vet this week because he has been chewing his feet like crazy. He chewed them so much that his feet were bleeding and he ripped out all of the hair. They gave him antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds and a spray for his feet. I know I'm not supposed to be lifting more than 5-10 pounds by my puppy needed help getting in my car. He's 44.8 pounds. For a reference, here's a picture. He doesn't look like it, but he's heavy! 

4 Weeks Post-Op - What I Eat In A Day

Today I am four weeks post op! I finally kicked that stupid stall I've been in for the pat 6 days and had a 2.4 pound loss this week for a total of 22.4 pounds since surgery. I haven't really noticed any clothes fitting better or looser. On Saturday I had friends over and we ordered pizza so I had the toppings off a small square of plain cheese pizza. It was so good and went down smoothly. I wish it made me sick so I didn't want it. What hasn't been making me sick is watermelon. That stuff has been going down amazingly. Everyday for breakfast I have a premier protein shake, then for a snack I have a weight watchers string cheese. For lunch I have cottage cheese and a sugar free pudding cup. Then I have watermelon for dinner when I get home at 5:30pm. For dinner I usually have mashed potatoes with cheese or soup. At work someone got tacos so I had a bite of the inside of a pulled chicken taco and I didn't like it. I know I haven't been eating enough calories (200-400 per day) so I will be talking to the nutritionist about that. I go back for my 1 month post op visit with the nutritionist and surgeon on Thursday. 

The glue on my incisions are almost all gone! Only 1 and a half still have glue left. I have been laying on my stomach for like half an hour at a time at night, so sleeping has been more enjoyable. I mostly sleep on my side still with a pillow across my tummy for protection in case puppy decides to jump on me. 

I have lost 22.4 pounds since day of surgery and 21.3 inches total. 

First Support Group

Today was the support group. I’m so glad I went, I almost didn’t go because I was nervous. There were about 40 people there. 30 post-op, 5 pre-op, and 5 supporters. Online it said that 9:30-10:30am was an informational session for pre-op  and then 10:30-12pm was the support group. I got there at about 9:40am and watched the rest of the informational session presentation then the group started early at about 10. For the first hour we went around the room and introduced ourselves, where we are at in the journey, if post-op, how it’s going and then why we had the surgery we did. There were people who had bypass, Roux-EN-Y, and the sleeve. It took a long time because we took time to clap at least twice per person. I wish there were fewer people there so people could have their questions answered. It looked like I was the youngest one there besides two daughters who were there for support for their moms. Pretty much everyone had the surgery with the same doctors as I did, so that was interesting. Everyone was from everywhere. After the year long introductions, a psychologist from the area came to speak and answer questions. He asked a couple questions to get an idea about what he is going to talk about. I raised my hand to ask him to talk about deciphering between head hunger and actual hunger. He talked a lot about body image issues and about self love. Then he also talked about boundaries. How to set boundaries with family and friends. I don’t have a lot of people that know about my surgery so I was very interested to see what he was going to say about that but he didn’t really talk too much about it. We ran out of time. He did give some good advice about how to tell family why you aren’t taking leftovers, or eating dessert. He said to tell them that you are really watching what you’re eating. You are in charge of what you put in your mouth. I think I might start seeing him on a one on one basis. I've been thinking about seeing a therapist for a while and I think now is a good time to start going.

One person in the group brought her protein shake and she was able to find a new flavor, Caramel! She got it at Walmart so after the meeting I went to Walmart and got the caramel and the new bananas and cream. If I like It I’m getting more!

Overall, I’d definitely go back to another meeting next month.

After I got home, my husband and I took the dog out for a long walk. It was really refreshing to be able to walk as a family. He comes home very late so we don’t get to do that often. By the time he gets home, I’m already in my pajamas and tired. And lets face it, when the bra comes off after work, it’s not going back on until the next morning. AMIRITE?!

2 Weeks Post-Op - Pain, Poop, Free Protein?!

Today is my two weeks post op. I weighed myself this morning and am down 17.2 pounds since my heighest recorded weight (two weeks before surgery). I also am down 9.5". I measure my neck, waist, hips, biceps, forearm, wrist, thigh, calf, and ankle (right side only). I didn't count the left side in my 9.5", by I probably should. I was in a lot of pain in my biggest incision today because my puppy jumped on me this morning and then I sneezed for the first time since surgery this afternoon. Then I was laughing with people at work so it hurt more. I also had my first poop yesterday! It was pretty exciting, and quite painful. That's all about that. 

About a month or so ago, I signed up for free protein from some site. Then I forgot about it. Today, I got a huge package in the pain that I couldn't lift but it said InsireNutrition. When my husband came home from work he brought it in the house and we opened it to find FOUR full  size (18 bottles) cases of Premier Protein (two vanilla and two strawberry). Of course yesterday we went to Costco and got a case of Vanilla Premier Protein. In the box was also some Optisource vitamins. Pretty cool! The I read the slip and it says congratulations, this is the first of your monthly subscription. I didn't pay for it, I think it goes through insurance. 

 

10 DAYS POST-OP - Mushy foods

Yesterday, Thursday July 7^th I went to my 10 day post-op appointment. I got to the office and had to wait about 20 minutes. Usually I wouldn’t be pissed but I was on an hour break from work. The appointment was 4 minutes long. He basically looked at my incisions and said they look good. He also told me to pub some nail polish remover on my tummy where there are sticky remains from the monitors from the hospital. I was also approved to eat mushy foods so I went to the store right after to get the essentials. I got some potatoes to mash, normal yogurt (not Greek), cottage cheese, shredded cheese and some laughing cow cheese triangles. For dinner I made mashed potatoes and put them in little ½ cup containers to bring to work. It’s perfect. I was able to eat almost the entire ½ cup. I melted some shredded cheese on it (yes, allowed). To work on Friday I brought ½ cup of mashed potatoes and ½ cup of cottage cheese (low-fat, small curd). I was able to eat it all throughout the day. 

 

I also started wearing pants finally. I’ve just been wearing dresses. The location the pants hit on my stomach is right by incisions. Now that they’re less sore, I have been wearing loose pants. 

 

Also, I lost 16.2 pounds.

1 Week Post-Op - Food, Puppy

Today is the 4th of July and one week since my surgery. I have lost 10.6 pounds since day of surgery. According to my paperwork, I'm supposed to be on the soft food diet. But it also says don't move on to the next stage until doctor tells you. My one week post-op appointment is Thursday. I sort of cheated though, I had a tiny bit of a Laughing Cow triangle. My meals the past three days were:

Saturday:
Half of a Cookies and Cream Quest protein shake (couldn't finish the whole thing. made it with almond milk)
A small bite of sugar free strawberry jello (didn't sit well)
Half a sugar free chocolate pudding snack pack
4oz Peach Crystal Light

Sunday:
Bananas and Cream Quest protein shake (made it with water)
Sugar free popsicle

Monday:
Half a sugar free chocolate pudding snack pack
4oz Peach Crystal Light
Sugar Free popsicle
Tiny piece of laughing cow cheese triangle
*Going to try 1cup of cream of cheese soup

I'm not getting enough water or protein in. It's so hard at this point because I'm always full and my only food options are low-cal. This week I'm excited to get approval to have mashed potatoes and cottage cheese! I also hope to get approval to drive again. It hurts to wear a seat-belt and go over the bumps in the road.

My incisions are healing well. I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like, but it's not oozing or red or anything. I'm having a hard time wearing pants so I have been wearing dresses to work but I'm running out of dresses.

I'm excited to have my puppy back home! He has been staying with my mother-in-law, she loves having him and he loves being there. But I still miss my little baby boy! He's coming home tomorrow. I'm nervous because he's still a puppy and still jumps. If he jumps, his paws are right at my incision height, so hopefully he will be good.  Here's a picture of my handsome baby dog, Charley!

5 Days Post-Op

I went to work 9-2 today. It really wasn't bad at all. I realized that it hurts to wear pants so I had to wear a dress yesterday. I wore a maxi skirt that had a loose flap that felt nice against my stomach. My husband is still driving me to work until doctor gives me the okay to drive. While I was getting ready this morning I weighed myself and lost 5.8 pounds since day of surgery. 

I made a Cookies & Cream Quest shake with almond milk. It tastes pretty good. I made it for dinner last night but only had 4oz, then I had the rest 4oz today. I'm having a hard time getting all my liquid in. I tried isopure lemonade and something about it isn't the greatest. I also had a tablespoon of sugar free strawberry jello. It didn't feel great going down. I will try sugar free pudding and a sugar free Popsicle later. My coworker brought in lemon bars and I wasn't even a little tempted of had FOMO. 

4 Days Post-Op - Going Home!

4 Days Post-Op has been the best. I was woken up at 5am to get blood drawn. Besides that, there were no more needles at all today. IV and Drain came out the day before, so I was unattached to the hospital the days before I was released. I kept trying to go back to sleep because I wanted time to pass by faster but I kept having nurses and techs and nutritionists and physical therapists and hematologists and respiratory come in.  At about 9am, my surgeon came in and discharged me! The I had to wait about 3 hours for them to get all their ducks in a row before I could call Brian to come pick me up. I left at noon. 

When I got home, the first thing I wanted to do was brush my hair. I brushed out the 4 day old knot and took the best shower. Nothing stung or burned or anything. 

Originally, the plan was to come home Wednesday and go to work on Friday for the grand opening of my office. Since I didn't get discharged until noon Friday, after I took a shower at home, I had my husband drive me to work 2-5. It wasn't too bad! I will probably work tomorrow 9-1 then start full time Tuesday after the 4th of July. 

We were also going to go to my in-laws lake house like we always do for the fourth (and other holidays) but since I want to chill, I decided not to go. 

All in all, looks good, feels good.

End of Day 3

It's the end of day 3 and I really feel great. I don't have any pain. Since the drain amd IV have been out, I've been great. Oxygen is in the 93-97% range. It's about 11:30pm and I just got my last (second for the day) dose of meds. I'm on all oral meds do no need for the IV. Tomorrow my new life officially starts. Scary, but really exciting. I'm most nervous about going upstairs and then back down. I practiced a few stairs today and did fine. I can sleep downstairs, but the showers are both upstairs. I'm really nervous for my puppy to come back home from my In-laws house. He is still a puppy so it's hard to keep him off of me. He sleeps on my feet then stands on our stomachs to wake us up in the morning. 

Well, going to bed, hope my hospital room neighbor goes to sleep soon. She's shouting. 

Good thoughts for tomorrow. Good thoughts.

Day 2/3 Post-Op

Day 3, I'm still in the hospital. Yesterday my oxygen level was in the 60-70s so they had me in an emergency cat scan. Thank goodness it came back negative for blood clots. They think I have pneumonia. They took the drain out, so now I feel great. But the surgeon might keep me ANOTHER night to monitor The antibiotics and the blood thinners. I had a blood thinner shot in my stomach, so I thought that'll do, guess not. I'm not attached to anything except the heart monitors, so I'd love to home. Yesterday I asked for lemonade and the nurse said I can't have lemonade so brought me Apple juice. Then later another nurse said I can't have apple juice and need to have lemonade. What the hell?

End of rant. I want to go home.