I'll always remember the day I went in for surgery. I expected to be nervous, and to chicken out, I did neither. I think my father was more nervous then I was. I don't remember much after I went into pre-op and they started getting me ready to go under, which I assume is a good thing. I do remember waking up just barely after my surgery and hearing the nurses tell my father he could go home and they'd call him if they needed him, that I'd be in ICU for that night. I was really out of it. He kissed me and went home, and I went back to sleep and barely remember that night, till I started coming out of the anasthia around 4 or 5 am. I think that the first thing I thought, was wow, I made it. The second, was wow, I'm in pain!!! The pain wasn't as bad as I assumed it would be, as a matter of fact, the two c-sections I had, were worse than the gastric by-pass!
I was moved into a regular room the next morning, and did really well recovering. The first day, I slept most of the day, the second day I was sent downstairs, to do a swallow test to make sure everything was ok, so that they could take the tubes out of my nose and stuff. The surgery did fine, so they removed the tubes, and I started my clear liquid diet, which lasted two weeks. Nothing but ensure, chicken soup, jell-o, ice pops and things like that. To this day, I can not stand chicken soup, I'll be quiet glad if I never see another bowl of that stuff as long as I live!!
My liquid diet lasted two weeks, when I went in for my first check up and to have my staples removed. I know I followed the doctors orders and didn't stray from it, well not too much anyway ;). I was so scared going in and stepping on the scale, because I was imagining all sorts of horrible things, like not losing weight, gaining weight things like that. Well when I stepped on the scale, I closed my eyes, and what do you know???? I lost 34 pounds!! Needless to say, I was estatic. I couldn't believe it. So now I knew I was losing weight. The next thing was, will it continue? Will I keep losing the weight like this? I mean, I know I won't lose 34 pounds every two weeks, that'd be too much, but will I keep the weight coming off?
After two weeks of liquid dieting, I was ready to start soft food diets. This consisted of things like mashed potatoes, oatmeal, grits(Which I do not eat anyways) and of course clear liquid and ensure. There was also other stuff on the diet, and diets do very with the type of surgery you've had and the doctor you go to.
A week after I had the soft food diet, came adding in the different proteins and things. The fourth week of my diet, we added the fish, as long as it was broiled it was fine, or tuna mixed with lowfat mayo, things like that. The fifth week, we added in chicken. Now I'm going to tell you, even to this day, July 26, 2002, I still cannot tolerate chicken that well. But as long as its boneless skinless chicken breasts its ok. The sixth week after my surgery, i was able to start on the beef and pork. Something else I cannot tolerate all that well, the beef I can tolerate as long as there is not alot of fat on it. The pork, I can eat very sparingly. This is all good though, because before my surgery, I would pig out and eat and eat and eat and eat, and never be satisfied. Now after maybe five-ten bites, I can honestly say, I am full. The hardest thing for me, is getting in the protein in. It is so hard to eat enough protein, but I am trying.
I have also had to start exercising since my surgery. Most days, I can walk up to two miles a day. I have also started working out at the YMCA< doing the different bikes and weights to try and tone up my body. I am not goiing to sit here and say I do it every day, because I don't but I do try and get it in at least two or three times a week, if I can.