istytehcrawk

Moment of whining: I know this is totally head hunger, but I am missing pasta SO MUCH right now. Especially mac and cheese or chicken fettucine alfredo. Creamy, gooey, deliciousness.

I started taking Benefiber this morning (mixed it in with my Premier Protein shake), and within 15 minutes my body was going "Fiber? What's THAT?!?" 

I knew it would work, but I didn't realize it would work THAT quickly.

Moment of whining: I know this is totally head hunger, but I am missing pasta SO MUCH right now. Especially mac and cheese or chicken fettucine alfredo. Creamy, gooey, deliciousness.

It's taken two miserable days of Miralax, stool softeners, and reverting back to a liquid diet, but I am about 95% sure I've managed to stop a would-be bowel obstruction in its tracks.

A little annoyed that I'm up about two pounds since yesterday (weighed yesterday because it was my one-month anniversary and today before an appointment with my PCP so I could compare the difference between my scale and theirs), but my doctor says it is likely water retention because I've been spotting the last few days (I don't get true periods anymore because of the Nexplanon implant). I just hope it passes soon.

Exhaustion finally got the better of me and I took a long nap. Only problem with being that tired was I had a very lucid nightmare. The basic theme was all of my setbacks and failures over the past 15 years in brief and vivid snapshots. The most vivid of these snapshots was of my ex-girlfriend, the one I thought I would marry. We were doing karaoke night on a cruise and she sang Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl while looking right at me with an unforgettable sparkle in her eye.

Well, I woke up feeling predictably like garbage and then I vaguely remembered a few people posting about how fast weight loss can release hormones stored in fat. I don't know what prompted me to step on the scale but I did and lo and behold, I am down 6 pounds in only 5 days (maybe more because it is best to weigh at the beginning of the day.) This was a faster rate than I had ever lost before. Ironically, this did not make me feel any better. My hazy mind just said, "Okay, now time to shower and clean the incisions" Jaysus! I don't cry easily but the damn burst once the hot water hit me. A good cry is an underrated experience for feeling better. So I am now well along my journey and down 26 pounds from my heaviest last September.

Last night was my first night home and it wasn't an easy one. I have a low bed so getting into and out of it was unpleasant. Before I went to sleep, I forgot to take a dose of Tylenol and didn't want to get back up because of the discomfort. Well, that was probably not the best decision in the world. So, sleep wasn't the best and I awoke several times. Each time I awoke, I had to get to the bathroom to pee. Since I am really afraid of dehydration putting me back in the hospital, I didn't go back to bed. I went to the kitchen for an 8oz bottle of water. It takes me about 20 minutes to drink that water. But better to hydrate than to be at too much of a deficit by morning. 

My surgery lasted six hours because I developed a leak before they closed me up. Surgery was on a Thursday (Feb. 15, 2018) and I went home on that Saturday (Feb. 17). I had five incisions, plus a JP drain, which I went home with. I also had some sort of allergic reaction to the hospital's no-slip socks, which apparently runs in the family. 

Notable: So far, I have not had any nausea/vomiting. Sometimes I get air bubbles in my chest after taking a drink, no matter how small; usually they just feel weird, but sometimes can be painful. Attempted to drink from a water fountain three weeks post-op; that was a BAD idea because even with a tiny sip I took in way too much air, and it gave me a very painful air bubble, though it went away within a couple minutes.

Some post-surgery highlights:

• Feb. 18: bought a new mattress because my old one was so worn out it was too hard for me to get out of without help
• Feb. 22: post-op appointment; down 9.6 pounds (all weights per home scale for consistency); got drain out; started puree diet
• Feb. 23: switched from Norco to Tylenol, which helped more with the pain
• Feb. 24: slept on side for the first time
• Feb. 25: discontinued Tylenol; down 18.2 pounds
• Feb. 27: attempted to chew gum (OK per surgeon), but it gave me LOTS of air bubbles
• March 1: down 25.4 pounds; drove for first time since surgery
• March 4: was able to bend enough to get tennis shoes and socks on
• March 5: slept on stomach for the first time; scabs started to fall off incisions
• March 6: down 30 pounds; had hiccups for extended periods three times over the day
• March 8: started soft foods; tested (steep) steps up to my office at work (success); down 31.4 pounds