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From my journal 9/28/21:
Three weeks post op: Only 3?? It seems forever. Good news, still losing a lb a day. My liquid bandages are starting to flake off and itch. Must … not… rip… them … off. The incisions are totally healed. I have no more pain. I’m so very, very, tired though. And I’m a night owl! So going to bed at 10 when I really need to is very weird for me. I wind up procrastinating until 11 or 12 and hit the bed like a rock.
I’m on soft foods now. Scrambled eggs, egg salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad are my go-to meals. I have a hard time getting in the two ounces per meal. One ounce is not quite enough, though, so I do my best not to push it. I’m trying new things later today and this week, In honor of Taco Tuesday I’m going to try some fat free refried beans with an ounce of melted cheese and a tbsp of sour cream.
I’ll know very quickly if that was a bad idea.
Getting in the water/fluids is hard too. I sip all day and still wind up being short. Mood wise, I’m better than last week. I can chalk up my crankiness to being tired. I survived watching my family eat New York Pizza and New York Chinese food without too much trouble.
I did get some egg drop soup. It was a little goopy for me, but with some soy sauce it was better. I’m still slacking off in the exercise department. Walking just doesn’t interest me so I have to force myself to do it. The treadmill helps, especially when it’s raining.
First weight goal is 9 lbs away. I could possibly go back to normal food on October 11th — it depends on what the nutritionist says. But for right now, my clothes are fitting looser, I’m walking without limping, and I can sleep fully on my side and stomach, so I think that’s a decent expectation met.
***
One of the hardest things I had to do was to figure out how to get the timing down on eating, drinking and taking the medications I needed to take to stay healthy. I had to wait two hours between taking my twice a day vitamin before I could have a calcium chew because the iron in the vitamin would cancel out the calcium if I didn’t wait long enough. Then I also had to make sure I waited a half hour before and after a meal before I could drink my water. It was challenging to remember all of that.
I put together this as a sample eating plan to keep me on track on stage three:
8;00 a.m. — 8 oz of water or tea. Take Prilosec before food.
8:30 a.m. — Breakfast: 2–3oz of protein (total ½ cup of food). Vitamin with iron, Ursodiol.
10:30 a.m. — Calcium chew, 500 grams (Shoot for 1800–2400 grams of calcium each day.)
11:30 a.m. — 8 oz of water, tea, Crystal Light
12:30 p.m. — Lunch: 2–3oz of protein (total ½ cup of food).
1:30 p.m. — Calcium chew, 500 grams
3:00 p.m. — Protein shake (30 grams of protein & 11 oz of liquid)
4:00 p.m. — 8 oz of water, tea, Crystal Light
5:00 p.m. — Dinner: 2–3oz of protein (total ½ cup of food).Take Ursodiol.
6:00 p.m. — 8 oz of water, tea, Crystal Light
7:30 p.m. — Calcium chew, 500 grams
8:30 p.m. — 8 oz of water, tea, Crystal Light
10:00 p.m. — Vitamin & blood pressure medication
If I wanted a snack and could fit it in my pouch, I had a few ounces of cottage cheese or yogurt. I was fortunate not to be lactose intolerant.
I was satisfied with my two ounces of pureed tuna fish and light mayo, chicken salad made with Greek yogurt, and egg salad with light mayo and a little bit of spicy mustard. A once in awhile treat was fat free refried beans heated up with a tablespoon of shredded cheese and topped with fat free sour cream. The trick was weighing it so it was two — three ounces only so I wouldn’t overload my pouch.
I wasn’t at all hungry, but it did feel strange during meal times to sit and watch my husband and son eat a full meal while me and my baby fork chewed the pureed paste thirty times before swallowing it.
I had purchased some baby food to eat in a pinch as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. All the good stuff like the fruits had too much sugar in them. No wonder we’re addicted to sugar. We literally get fed it a few months after birth. The meat, however, didn’t have any sugar in it. It just looked unappetizing, congealed fatty blobs of questionably smelling lumps. I rather have my ricotta bake or my little plastic containers of tuna, chicken or egg salad.
From my journal 10/5/21:
One month post op! In a surprise rescheduling I spoke to my nutritionist yesterday and she cleared me for normal foods. I still have to keep it within 2oz portions and gradually work up to 4, but the only thing that’s “forbidden” is sugar and simple carbs — yanno crap — tasty tasty crap, but “nutritionally void”. I have to keep adding in foods daily. My first meal was 2oz of chicken and 2oz of brocoli, softened in the pressure cooker. Next was turkey meatballs and mashed potato (flakes) with fat free gravy. Everything stayed down well, but I had to put aside 1/2 of the meatballs and mashed potatoes to have later. It’s such a relief not to worry that I’m going to eat something to screw up my healing stomach. Exercise is still a challenge. I’m dizzy and weak (I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow about that. It’s either dehydration or my blood pressure meds), but I try to do some walking every day. If I go somewhere, I park farther away to get in some walking and I go to stores just to walk around sometimes. I’ve lost 25lbs, since surgery; 1.5″ off my arms, 1″ off my waist. 2″ off my hips and 2″ off my thighs. Hopefully, I can keep this weight loss through the month of October and the food transition.
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