5 week update

[Guest guest]

Good morning everyone,

Time for an update from Lori B. Dr. Inabnet of Mt. Sinai performed my

lap surgery five weeks ago today. Dr. Inabnet said my surgery " couldn't

have gone better " and my recovery has gone well, too. I have had no

major complications and almost no minor ones.

Food: Initially, my stomach could hold only 1 or 2 T. of food, but now

I eat between 1/4 and 1/2 c. per meal. I can eat 3 oz. of meat or fish

as my entire meal if I work at it. Protein supplements made me vomit,

so I am working hard to get all my protein requirements from food. I

usually eat 4 or 5 times per day and make 2 of those " meals " straight

fish or meat. The other meals are mainly protein with a bite or two of

vegetables or carbs. Oh, breakfast is 1 oz. of cheese, nibbled in bed,

as I concentrate on NOT gagging.

This brings me to my most annoying problem of the moment. For the past

two weeks, I've had mild to moderate nausea/gagging/dry heaves to deal

with. (Strangely enough, I didn't have a bit of nausea during the first

three weeks as long as I stayed away from protein supplements.) For

now, some days are worse than others. The nausea is at its worst when I

haven't eaten for a few hours, including first thing in the morning.

The " cure " is to eat something pronto, thus my change to five meals a

day. Not so surprisingly, changing from a few tablespoons of food three

times a day to gradually increasing quantities five times a day

coincided with a huge slow-down in my weight loss -- at the end of three

weeks I'd lost 35 lbs. and it has taken the past two weeks to go down

five more. I admit I find this frustrating because I don't just go down

a pound and stay there for several days; instead, I go up and down day

by day with only a gradual, eventual loss. (Sorry if it annoys you to

read this, pre-ops -- I know most would be thrilled with a five pound

loss in two weeks -- I would have before surgery, too. It's amazing,

though, how fast one can become accustomed to losing 1-3 pounds EVERY

DAY like I did those first few weeks!!!)

Water: I have been able to drink water very well from the beginning. I

do use grape juice to swallow my vitamins; otherwise water is my

beverage of choice. I tried about four sips of regular Coke a few weeks

ago (I hate diet but loved Coke and Pepsi before surgery.) Blech! It

tasted sooo sweet -- I think it cured me of craving it, at least for the

time being. (Other sweets still taste good to me though -- happily, I'm

satisfied with just a bite or two.)

Supplements: I hated chewing vitamins in the beginning. I stood it for

about a week and then -- shhh! -- I started swallowing multi-vitamins

and the ADEKs. Dr. Inabnet gave me prescriptions at my three week

check-up for Vitamin A to be taken daily and Vitamin D to be taken once

a week in lieu of the ADEKs. He and Niccole Siegel (the nutritionist)

are following the advice of a Canadian practice who have had

" phenomenal " success with using these, along with a multi-vitamin for E

and K. I had no problem filling the script for the D, but my pharmacy

was told the Vitamin A was no longer being manufactured. I finally

heard from Niccole (those famous slow returned phone calls!) a couple of

days ago and she told me which company makes it. My pharmacist is

working on getting me some right now.

Bathroom habits: I have no complaints about this. From the time I

started moving my bowels (which was after I left the hospital, btw), I

have had one bm (very occasionally two) as soon as I get up in the

morning. It is soft, sometimes sort of formed and sometimes runny,

doesn't smell especially good (but no one's lost consciousness so far)

and that's it. A couple of times I've passed a little gas in the

evening, which also doesn't smell good, but overall, I've had far fewer

bms and less gas than pre-op. To add to the wiping discussion, I

couldn't reach to wipe after bms by myself for about 1 and 1/2 weeks

after surgery. I used a cheap pair of metal tongs and cottonelle

(except these were store brand) moist wipes. I can reach now, but I

still use the wipes because they seem to clean better and are very

gentle.

Energy: I tend to whine about this if I'm not careful. I can tell I'm

getting better week by week, but really, I still feel a bit exhausted

after I take a shower, put on make-up, and comb out my hair. I find

myself sitting in the chair in my bedroom for five minutes before I get

dressed, sort of recovering. At this point, I'm able to take my

homeschooled children to co-ops or meetings, but I'm relieved if I can

just drop them off and don't have to get out of the van and go inside.

The children are still taking care of most household tasks at this

point, with direction and some assistance from me. I do go to the

little local grocery for food, but the kids unload it and put it away.

I'm happiest sitting in the recliner going over their schoolwork with

them. I've watched more videos and TV in the past five weeks than I've

seen in the past year, I'm sure, and I'm doing a lot of reading. I

stopped taking a daily nap about a week ago, but now I'm falling asleep

on the sofa every night around ten o'clock. I do take short walks, but

nothing like 's blocks and blocks! I'm sooo happy I'm a SAHM -- I

can't imagine facing going back to a full-time job next week unless it

was extremely sedentary. As it is, I feel frustrated because there is

so much I want to do and just don't have the energy. Until a few months

before my surgery, I have always been a very busy person who

accomplished lots and lots. I'm very ready to get back to that way of

living.

What's good: Dh says my snoring has almost disappeared, people are

noticing my weight loss, the wheezing I'd begun to experience while

lying prone if I was the least bit congested has gone, clothes I was

growing out of fit well again, and my skin is much clearer. As of this

morning, I have lost 40 pounds, from 295 lbs. (BMI: 51?) to 255 lbs. I

am 5' 4 " and am 34 years old.

I know this is long, but I craved these sorts of reports when I was

pre-op. Like many of you, it helped me so much to have " profiles " of

different experiences with this surgery.

Love,

Lori B.