Surgery!! Days 15 and 16 (First day of liquid diet)

Thursday morning I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't fall back to sleep.  I was just so excited to get started! We made it to the hospital right at 6:00.  I was taken back to pre-op very quickly and changed into my gown.  And hair net!  Not a good look on anyone, really.  The last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist asking if I wanted some "happy juice" to relax.  Ummmm, YES please!

Someone suggested cute socks, so I couldn't resist!

The next memory I have is waking up in recovery.  I don't even remember going to surgery!  I think the surgery itself took about an hour, then another 1 1/2 hours in recovery.  Dan and Hunter were able to wait in my private room for me to get done, which was really nice.  I'm so glad I chose The Physician's Center over St. Joseph.  My nurse only had me and one other patient that night.  Plus, my day nurse actually had WLS so she was really a great inspiration for me and a good source of information.

I was able to get up and walk just a few hours after surgery.  I was very sore, of course, but not in a lot of pain.  Of course, it could have been the pain meds :-)  I really wanted to try and stay ahead of the pain the first few days, which I did.  The absolute worst part (which is what I had been expecting) was the dry mouth.  Oh boy!  I've never had that before and it's brutal.  Luckily, my nutrition class teacher had suggested bringing a wash cloth, wetting it and wiping my mouth with it periodically.  Man, it really helped so much!  Plus, I would brush my teeth and gargle every time I got up and that helped too.  I was able to walk the halls 4 times that first day, which definitely helped with getting rid of the gas.

The next morning, they took me for my barium test at 7:30 am.  It was pretty cool, actually.  They stand you in front of the x-ray machine and then hand you the drink and tell you to throw it back "like a shot".  The doctor then watches the fluid flow through your new stomach to make sure there's no leaks.  Good news for me!!!!  I was ready to start my liquid diet.  You may not think so, but I was SO happy to see this:

I got a little excited when I saw the blue cover, but it was just warm chicken broth. 

I started with the apple juice and got that down pretty easily.  I had a few sips of the broth, a few bites of jello, then I finished off the ice water.  I don't think anything has ever tasted so good.  I was able to go home around 10:00 am.  I spent the rest of the day in bed, with a heating pad on my tummy, sipping ice water and eating a few popsicles.  I also tried something Tricia's mom ate.....mixing about a tablespoon of reduced-fat cream of chicken soup with chicken broth. That made it taste SO good.  It never ceases to amaze me how good food can taste when you can't eat much. :-)

I made the mistake of weighing myself when I got home.  I told you I have a problem with weighing in.  Well, the scale said 281!!  The morning of my surgery I weighed 277 so I was super bummed.  I didn't understand how I could gain weight after no food for two days.  But Tricia made me feel better....she said the IV fluids and gas cause bloating and that her mom 'gained' 10 pounds, so that made me feel better.  I'm trying to be patient and not expect the weight to just fall off.  But it should, right??

7/11/13 Data:

Weight: 277
Exercise:  Walking the halls....does that count?
Food:  NONE!

7/12/13 Data: 

Weight:  281
Exercise:  Walking the halls and walking to the mailbox (we have a loooong driveway, so don't judge! :-)
Food/Drink:

Lots of water
Chicken broth with RF cream of chicken soup added in
2 SF popsicles