1 Month

It's actually been 1 1/2 months since my surgery. So far so good. No pictures - not brave enough to post those yet. Maybe when I hit my six month mark, I will post them. Maybe.

My thoughts so far...

1. The surgery wasn't near as painful as I thought it would be. Me and pain pills don't get along, so I thought it might be rough going. BUT - they found something that worked. Really, really good. Dilaudid (hydromorphone). Go figure - I'm allergic to codeine and vicodin, but bring out the morhpine, 'cause there's no problem here :) Except for the weird, very vivid dreams I had - the kind that feel so real it's a little scary. Especially when I am dreaming that I am a special ops officer in Afghanistan doing hand to hand combat (go ahead laugh). Not a good dream to have by the way. I learned very quickly to not skip the phenergan dose. It's supposed to help with nausea - but it also knocked me out enough that I don't remember my dreams. Now if I could only erase the special ops one, life would be better. Seriously, remembering how real it felt when a guy's neck broke in my hands, or warm blood - Creeped. Me. Out.

2. Anesthesia - now that's a different story. The few times I have had it before, there's never been a positive experience. When the Anesthesiologist came and ask questions right before my surgery, he asked what my reactions have been. I told him it made me really sick. So he loaded me up with some versed (happy juice that made me not care), fentanyl (to help counteract the pain I was about to incur), and zofran (to help with nausea). After the surgery, when I finally came out of it, I quickly realized that the zofran did jack. I warned the nurses that I was gonna hurl. And you know what they did? They shoved an aspirator tube thingy in my mouth. Ya, like that was going to catch anything. I hurled. Blood. Everywhere. I remember thinking not ever wanting to do that again - throwing up just after you had your stomach stapled is not a good feeling. Quite painful actually. If they tried to move me, I felt like throwing up again - so it took me a few more hours in recovery than what was considered "normal". So the kicker? The next day, as I was able to sort of get up and move around, I looked on the side of the bed where I had turned my head to hurl and made a discovery. Let's just say they didn't clean up very well. I blame it on the fact that it was a man nurse. Unfair? Maybe - but in my experience, men don't notice those details as much as women do. It is the same man nurse, his name is Mike by the way, that didn't believe me that my vein blew. I paged him THREE times, and he always sent his CNA with a warm blanket to wrap around the IV site. At change of shift, I showed the new nurse, Whitney, and she changed my IV. I wound up with a blood-clot (nothing bad, just super painful) thanks to that man nurse. Grrr.

3. Recovery - The Dr said plan on 4-6 weeks for recovery. After 2 weeks, I could start lifting things. So, I thought, I'm young - I should be able back no normal in no time flat. I've had 4 babies. Well I was wrong. The Dr knew what he was talking about (who knew?). Recovery was slow, and it took me about 3 weeks to be able to pick things up. I guess I had a bleed where one of the tools were, and I required lots of stitches that tugged and pulled inside. So the right side of my belly was really painful. I think at about a month, I started feeling much better. Good enough to start working out 6 days a week. And now (6weeks out), I have to say - I feel better than I did even before the surgery. I have energy (still need a little nap though) and I feel great when I am up and moving about.

4. Food. It hasn't been that bad, even through the holidays where people bring goody plates and have feasts. It wasn't that hard not to be able to eat what everyone else was. But now? I am missing bread. Bagels actually - the cinnamon raisin kind from Costco that my kids eat for breakfast. And popcorn - which I wasn't ever crazy about before, but I guess since I can't have it, my mind wants me to believe how great of a thing I am missing. I can't have grains, bread/carbs until I have lost 75% of my goal and popcorn...who knows. I went to the nutritionist at my 1 month check-up and she said I wasn't getting enough protein. So I have three small meals (protein with a few bites of fruit or veggies) and then a protein shake at night. I think I have perfected the protein shake. Protein powder either comes in chocolate or vanilla. So, I chose vanilla. It has such a strong taste and is a little too sweet for my liking. I tried mixing it with milk, greek yogurt (for more protein) and strawberries - but there was still the weird vanilla taste. I was complaining about to my brother Aaron and he recommended to try banana with it. It helps mask the vanilla protein flavor and helps with the texture. My brother is brilliant. I added about 1/4 of a banana to the mix and threw in 2 ice cubes and I have found something that tastes great - a real smoothie - that I can drink and get 15 - 20 grams of protein as well.

5. Weight? I lost 14 lbs in the first week. In the first month, I lost a total of 32 lbs. I am starting to see a difference. The other day, I fit into a shirt that I haven't worn in almost 4 years. And when I say "fit", I mean really fit - no tightness or pulling. You know what? It felt awesome. I am making progress. My weight-loss has slowed down quite a bit in the last 2 weeks. I am losing, but not as fast as I would like. I also have been working out. I have managed 6 times a week for the last two weeks. I haven't done that in a very long time. I am hoping the weight will start dropping a little faster now that my muscles are getting used to this new thing called exercise.

Overall - I feel great. I have a desire to exercise and eat right as well as read and do my hobbies. I feel a little bit more alive and in control. I like it.