Arabesque

I used to describe my tummy as a fussy, petulant temper throwing 2 year old. Likes this, not that. Liked this yesterday but not today. Ate this much yesterday barely can eat half today. Your digestive system has gone through a lot in the surgery and it’s going to take some 8 weeks to heal. There’s something up to 12 inches of sutures & staples holding your tummy together. It’s going to be sensitive to certain flavours, textures (& smells for some). Think of that wound being on your arm & how it would be sensitive to different temperatures, different pressures, it may sting, cramp, spasm, etc. as you move about. Same with your tummy you just can’t see the wound. And sometimes your tummy simply isn’t ready to eat some foods yet even if your program says you can. Go slowly. If your tummy doesn’t tolerate something it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to eat it in the future. Your tummy may not like mayo now (too rich or acidic or sweet ??‍♀️) but in a couple of weeks it may be fine. It sometimes is challenging to find foods your tummy will tolerate at first. You may find you’re eating the same 2 or 3 things for a couple of weeks at a time. I ate a lot of yoghurt, runny instant rolled oats & runny scrambled eggs in the puree stage. Even had baby food twice to break the monotony. By solid food I was able to eat a lot of things.

Eggs have never been an issue until last year. Love omelettes and scrambled eggs were what i ordered if we went out for breakfast. Oh devilled eggs. Used to make them a lot in the 70s can’t believe they’re still so popular. Somethings just always taste good. I do like a fresh prawn salad with a Marie Rose sauce … a prawn cocktail in other words. ? $65 for a salad. Yikes! This is what I don’t like. How we get caught with paying a lot for food or alcohol we just can’t eat or drink anymore or subsidising others’ meals (bill splitting). Think I recently shared about wanting to get a single glass of champagne for myself but was forced to join the group purchase of a bottle. I didn’t even have one full glass while they had almost 2 glasses each. My share cost me 1.5 x the price of a single glass I wanted to order. While lovely it was as an expensive bottle. And the bun less halloumi burger I once ordered. Charged the same $18 price & got a slice of tomato, a small lettuce leaf & a slice of halloumi. Sigh!!

Yes, they do. Usually 5 incisions. Two each side & the one in the middle your belly button. The larger one on the right is where they pull out the part of your tummy they removed.

Could be residual blood but I still would call your surgeon and keep an eye on it to ensure there aren’t any other symptoms.

I can’t remember if i experienced it (too long ago) but I do know some people do. It’s like muscle spasms? Think it occurs simply because the tummy is a muscle & it spasms as a result of the surgery, being so sensitive & then the healing of the tummy muscle & the cut nerves. Some say it happens after drinking very cold or very hot drinks & others say it happens randomly.

I swear I’ve spoken about, read about, thought about or written about constipation more in the last 5 years since surgery than the 44 years of my life before surgery. Lol! In the beginning, it’s not unusual not to poop every day or your poop to be smaller. You’re not eating much and what you are eating/drinking is nutrient dense so not much to poop out. Add to it the protein shakes, iron tablets & opiod pain meds it’s a constipation nightmare. I tried to stay on top of it too. Benefibre in my shakes then my yoghurt/yoghurt drink. If I didn’t go on the third day I’d take a stool softener which usually got things moving again. I’d then take two tablets if there was still no action on the fourth day. Five years out, and things can still be erratic. Every day then nothing for two or three days. No rhyme nor reason I can work out just my life now. Now this may seem strange but try jumping up & down or sitting on the edge of a table & pumping your legs (maybe better his soon after surgery). Was told this by a woman whose granddaughter had cystic fibrosis (I think) & this is how they were advised to help her constipation. It does help. I’ll do 20 jumps 4 - 6 times across the afternoon & evening & usually the next morning success. Avoids popping pils every time. Good luck.

I’d probably give your surgeon a call. Is the area warm or red or more tender than your other wounds? What colour is the discharge? Could be an infection?

Your ‘frittata’ looks very much like what I called my ‘omelette’ @Starwarsandcupcakes. Eggs and whatever vegetables are on hand and cheese. I often made it for lunch. Still haven’t tested to see if my tummy likes eggs again. When i do, & if it does, I’ll be making it again - whatever it really is. ? Always so tasty.

Also, some people find it helpful to hold a pillow against their abdomen when coughing to offer a little support. Worth a try.

While I was losing I didn’t cheat. In saying that as I got close to my goal & then when trying to maintain, I stated developing a way of eating that would allow me to enjoy the foods I wanted to, enjoy my life & how I wanted to live it, and still maintain my weight. Actually I don’t like the word ‘cheating’ in regards to eating. Too negative much like the word ‘diet’. To me they mean failure, weakness & punishment. However or whatever you chose to eat now or in the future must be sustainable. It must complement your lifestyle and support your weight loss & long term maintenance. If you choose to eat in a restrictive way that means you can’t participate in social activities or makes you feel you’re missing out, it’s destined to fail. Especially if you are defining any diversions off that path as cheating. But if you adopt a way of eating that is flexible, means you can have pizza with your family or friends, or have birthday cake, or whatever & you accept this as just how you eat in your life, it will be sustainable and lead to long term success. You’ll have to consider portion size, frequency, alternative ingredients or cooking styles but it certainly isn’t cheating in my thinking. Well that’s what I believe.

The stress of the surgery, the weight loss, hormonal changes, etc. accelerates your natural hair loss cycle. So the hair you are losing would have fallen out at some time it’s just happening faster. As @vsgcriminal said it’s very common, it starts around month 4+/- & lasts 3 or 4 months. It’s common after times of high stress, pregnancy and other major surgeries. It’s also quite common to undergo a period of heavier hair shedding every 7 or so years. (Just had one which lasted four months with a similar loss to my post surgery loss.) Yes, it can be scary at first but it usually isn’t really noticeable except to you & your hairdresser. Many of us cut our hair shorter so it takes less time for your new growth to catch up to the length of your hair. (You’re still growing new hair just at its usual rate.) Plus shorter hair is always bouncier and therefore looks thicker. How much hair you lose is very much an individual thing like most things after. Remember though the hair on your head is already dead and was ‘scheduled’ to fall out. Any additional vitamins or hair growth supplements will only help strengthen new growth. (Fertiliser can’t save a dead plant ?.) And those who do take supplements find the hair loss still lasts 3-4 months. My hair grew back as thick as it was before surgery.

Orthostatic hypotension or postural low blood pressure. Your blood pressure drops on standing or sitting up because your blood pressure is low it takes longer for the blood to get back up to your head on changing position. Hence the dizziness & narrowing of your vision (if you get that too). I get it all the time. I can even get it if I stretch up to get something from a high shelf like at damn supermarkets. Keep hydrated, which you would be, get up slowly & then wait 10-20 seconds before moving. Some say pumping their legs or rotating their ankles before standing helps but it doesn’t for me. I was on a med for low blood pressure for a while but it didn’t help. I just live with it. Do try to grab for a table, chair, wall or even person if it happens just to ground me for those few seconds until everything stabilises. Sometimes I’ll bend over (head at waist level) so the blood gets back to my head faster. I always had a tendency for this (low blood pressure runs in the family) so the only surprise was the frequency of it since my weight loss.

They’re pretty strong. If they failed easily after surgery from simply straining while pooping or coughing they wouldn’t use them for any surgery. If they fail you’d have to have done something much more strenuous to your abdominal/upper digestive area or put a lot of strain on your tummy. If you follow the staged return to eating, not lift anything heavy before you’re allowed & don’t do any strenuous or jerking activities, you should be fine. Staple failures are very rare.

This all looks delicious. @GreenTealael your niece is very talented. And isn’t that always the way @Kris77. You put in all the effort to cater & present a most beautiful spread & then you spend all the time rushing about ‘hosting’ that you don’t get to really enjoy any of it. Congratulations to all the graduates. This was the dessert at my nieces recent elopment celebration. Was supposed to be a brownie - more a mud cake - with berries and a berry sorbet. You can see my little taste of the cake on the side. Did have a second taste & I had a little of the surgery. Rich but delicious.

Love that red dress on you @GreenTealael. Congratulations to your sister & daughter. What field did your sister study? Is your daughter looking at heading off to uni too next? I’m always the shortest in my family. Well actually not any more - my mum has shrunk almost 5 inches so is 2 inches shorter than me now. Yay!

Shakes, bone broths, broths, consommés, cream soups, protein water are really your only options. It’s essential to focus on your protein and to consume things that are thin enough not to irritate your poor swollen & healing tummy & digestive system. Have you tried straining (really well so no little bits of herbs, vegetables, etc. in it) won ton soup or ramen noodles so you only have the broth? It might help by changing up the flavours you’re sipping. Try blending milk & a little yoghurt though it can be a little thick/dense & therefore difficult to tolerate at this stage & better in purée.

Yes, because of the nerves that are cut during the surgery, messages about being full or having had enough, either don’t get through in the same way or are distorted. It takes about 8 weeks for hi to fully heal & therefore the messages to start getting through accurately. Also, liquids & purées go through your tummy more quickly & before you might feel full. Add in the small potions & sipping & eating slowly & you won’t feel full. It’s why it’s so important to stick to the portion size recommendations we are given. Once you start to eat a little more in regards to portion size and solid foods & you are more healed, you’ll start to feel when you’ve had enough and start to feel your restriction. PS - It takes at least 20 minutes for the full signal to get from your tummy to your head so by the time you register you are full, it’s easy to have eaten more than you actually need. Some of us take even longer to register we are full. Aim, not to feel full but to recognise when you’ve had enough. I still often ask myself do I need the next bite or just want it. Congrats on your surgery.

As the weeks & months pass we slowly but surely increase our intake so I wouldn’t think the low calories we consume is truely sustained as it’s continuously increasing. And it affects our metabolism in the way you’re thinking either. The recognised benefits of weight loss surgery include resetting your body’s set point, digestive hormones & metabolism. Of course the resetting is different for everyone but there is improvement fir everyone & I so love & appreciate how it did that for me. I spent years & years eating one meal a day or skipping lunch & only eating two meals a day. That is sustained low calorie in my thinking ( years not months) & yes it did wreck my metabolism. I could barely lose anything even following those 500 calorie a day diets (talking a couple of kilograms over 6 or more weeks). Similarity to @ms.sss, in the first weeks after surgery I was eating around 200 then 300 calories. By 6 months, at my goal I was barely consuming 900. My weight finally stabilised at 18 months when I was consuming around 1300. Now at 5 years post surgery, I eat about 1600 calories yet am still the same weight I was when I stabilised. And unlike @ms.sss, I’m not what anyone would describe as active. Just do a series of exercises using residence bands & stretches at varying times through out the day. I wouldn’t burn 30 calories. BMR calculators do give you an idea of what your caloric needs might be but as @ms.sss said the results are based on averages much like BMI & the calculators that suggest how much weight you may lose after surgery are. The averages only take into account some basic factors & don’t consuder your individual needs, medical & weight loss history, genetics, activity levels, muscle density, etc., etc. Actually, have you considered doing a dexa scan just to see where you are in regards to muscle & fat density now & repeating it in the future to see your progress? Weight loss can continue for 18 months to 2 years after surgery so don’t give up yet and you won’t actually know what your caloric needs are until your weight has stabilises for some time - months or a year. PS - My surgeon & dietician also didn’t advise to count calories. I just did it randomly out of my own interest & curiosity. Quality of the food I was consuming was more important.

Almost everyone slips up at some stage so don’t beat yourself up. Slipping again and again is when it becomes concerning. Remind yourself why you had the surgery & what you’re wanting to achieve. Remember the purpose of the staged return to eating (protect your healing tummy & not strain or stress it). It’s the beginning of your reflecting upon your relationship with food (the why, when, what & how you eat) too. Sometimes we just have to make the best choices we can in the situation we’re in. Maybe reflect on why you chose to slip this time. You can then use this for next time you’re in a similar situation. It will help you prepare ahead like maybe take your own food with you, review menus before going, eat before you go, etc. We do say there’s lots of head work to do along the way. Everyone’s experiences can be different. Like I didn’t have any real problem eating solid food after surgery (except for the temporary changes to my tastebuds making some foods taste awful). As to whether you have caused any problems this time, it sounds like you’re okay. Though remember all because you can (or did) doesn’t mean you should or should again. I’d tell my surgeon & dietician but also tell them why & what you’d do next time. Always best t be honest in all this. It will show you’re learning & growing. Ask them for tips too. All the best & congrats on your surgery.

Bruises will get bigger at first as the blood comes to the surface, then get smaller as the blood is transformed. Do you usually bruise easily? It may explain why they are larger. That or your surgeon was a bit rough or needed to be a little more forceful manipulating the devices. I agree with @ShoppGirl suggestion to email the images to your surgeon if you’re concerned. In the mean time try gentle rubbing some arnica or hirudoid cream on the bruises (avoid the wounds).

Your weight loss is not over until it’s over. Losing for 18 months to 2 years isn’t that uncommon. Your weight loss will naturally slow as you’re able to eat more (this is supposed to happen) & you get closer to your final weight (your new set point) & closer to consuming the number of calories your body needs to function effectively. When it happens to you depends upon those things & some other factors. I reached my goal at 6 months. Like @ms.sss, I too took a while to work out what my maintenance calories were & to be able to eat that much so also did not intentionally mean to lose more. I continued to lose for another 11 or so months. Definitely noticed slowing down at about 5 months (maybe a little before & it got slower & slower. I lost another 11kgs over those last 11 months & in the last of those months I was losing grams in a week and maybe half a kilo a month. So I lost for about 18 months in total but it was obviously where my body wanted me to be (my new set point). I ate a bare 900 calories at 6 months. Got to around 1300 at 18 months. I eat about 1600 calories a day now yet I still weigh the same as I did when my weight stabilised at 18 months.

Yes, agree too. As I said, it’s all about what works for you. No wrong way just the right way for you.

Actually after surgery & when the constipation begins you may appreciate some of the digestive issues - LOL!! After surgery I really struggled with the shakes - the taste & texture were awful. I powered through with one, diluted an extra 50%, in the morning & then had soups. Broths, consommés, cream soups, are all good. Bone broth is best though I found it too salty. Have you explored the possibility of making your own smoothie using a vegan milk & a vegan yoghurt (blend to very thin consistency with extra milk or water)? Not sure the protein content though. Do you know what it is in the whey free protein powders that cause the digestive issues like the guar gum or xanthan (insoluble fibre)? Can’t help with the amino acid supplements sorry.

Sounds like you may have got a little over confident. It’s easy to do when you finally start to feel better. Would you say the pain is muscular or something deeper (abdominal)? Think if you didn’t experience the pain while you were weeding or straight afterwards & you only really felt it today, it’s likely muscular. If the pain isn’t easing by tomorrow or you start to experience other symptoms I’d probably check with your local medical centre (hospital since it’s the weekend). All the best,

Asparagus, broccolini, green beans & sugar snap peas are my go tos then cauliflower, zucchini & cabbage. I usually microwave them. Also eat cucumber, tomato, carrot, mushrooms, celery, capsicum, onions, corn, peas, lettuce & legumes like lentils or beans depending upon what I’m eating/cooking like soup, casserole, mince dishes, etc. I just throw in as many vegetables as I can. Every now & then I’ll try a little potato, pumpkin or sweet potato but they still tend to sit heavily in my tummy. I tend to keep my fruit lower 1-2 serves a day. Though they have naturally occurring sugar which we don’t ’count’ it’s still a sugar which will be converted & stored as energy (fat) if we don’t use it.