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9 weeks post-op. I tried deli sliced turkey today, and it was dee-li-shus! I've been nervous about trying real meat too soon, and I'm glad that I waited. I've read a lot of stories about people vomiting after eating meat after surgery.

As far as that goes, I've actually not experienced foamies, vomiting, dumping or any other upper GI issues. A little pain if I drink too much water too fast. And constipation, but I figured out that was because I was eating too much dairy. Keeping it to one serving of dairy a day seems to be the key for my body.

Getting ready to go walk the dog, and then come home to go to bed. Y'all take care out there!

I met with the nutritionist and surgeon last week and have received a surgery date of December 27. It's about a month later than I thought it would be, but I'm trying to make the best of it and not be too disappointed. My doctor's office only does 2 days of liquids prior to surgery, so while it does mean I will be on liquids for Christmas, I will have Christmas Eve without any restrictions (which is our bigger celebration day anyway). And I still get the surgery done on this year's deductible, which will help a little financially. So until then I am just working on establishing an exercise routine and healthy eating, but I don't have an additional weight loss goal that I need to meet. I'm sure the time will fly, but it feels so far away when I had been crossing my fingers for mid-November.

9 weeks post-op. I tried deli sliced turkey today, and it was dee-li-shus! I've been nervous about trying real meat too soon, and I'm glad that I waited.

I've not experienced foamies, vomiting, dumping or any other upper GI issues. A little pain if I drink too much water too fast. And constipation, but I figured out it was because I was eating too much dairy. Keeping it to one serving of dairy a day seems to be the key for my body.

Getting ready to go walk the dog, and then come home to go to bed. Y'all take care!

Tomorrow will be 7 weeks since surgery. Yesterday i found that I was able to finally drink more than a sip at a time. I am SO grateful! I have always loved drinking water and it has been my primary beverage for most of my life; losing the ability to drink a lot of it was my first post-surgical regret. Being able to drink more than a tiny sip at a time makes me feel so much more normal.

I'm eating around 500-700 calories a day, and have hit my second stall. I have begun to only weigh myself once a week. I've made to the gym twice since surgery, but I've been walking my pup and walking at work up to 3 miles a day on average.

I've also been using resistance bands and stretching. I'm not quite ready for twisty yoga stuff yet. Or jogging. I did do a 10+ mile bicycle ride last weekend with a friend to a coffee shop where I had a cold decaf coffee with half and half. That was another activity that made me feel kinda normal.

I'm still drinking one protein drink a day, trying to hit my goal of at least 60 grams a day. Today I got 72 in thanks to a cold G Zero with 10 grams.

My abdomen is still a bit sore in general. The way I understand it, the inside is not fully healed until 3 months after surgery. That means sometime around November 1st. This is when I will go on the forever way of eating according to my provider's plan. I look forward to that day.

Oh! And I should mention that I learned about a chain restaurant that is in about 30 or so states. It is called Clean Eatz, and they have a menu that is friendly to we bariatric patients. My support group last night talked about getting pizza and flatbreads from there. I checked it out and it looks like it's both eat-in and takeaway. This is the first place I'm going when I feel ready to eat out again

I got a little bag of samples when I saw the nutritionist last week. Turns out I much prefer the Celebrate 45 Tropical Twist vitamins to the Bariatric Fusion orange flavor, so I've placed an order for those and the sweet treat assortment of calcium soft chews, which were almost dangerously tasty. The Unjury chicken soup was better than the other brand I tried, but not enough to buy it. And their vanilla shake was vile. I just can't do artificial sweeteners, and probably not vanilla unless I add something to it to mask the flavor. The aftertaste was so strong and I had a vague impression of drinking baby formula. So far the only ones I've really liked have been the orange and peach flavored Syntrax Nectar Naturals, so I'm going to get two vegan fruit flavored options in case I have trouble with whey after.

Today was my 1 month followup, 5 weeks post surgery. My dietician gave me a gold star review for my post op diet, and I graduated to Stage 4 of my program. Stage 5 should be approved in November, and that is the forever way of eating.

I had to go to a post op nutrition class as part of my appointment today. There was a young lady in there that had been eating WAY off diet, and she was not doing well... She had been eating fast food, but peeling the buns off, eating vegetables that were not well-cooked, and eating all kinds of foods that were not part of the detailed instruction that everyone in this program receives. We had SO many caveats from Day One to not try to jump ahead on the schedule for the foods that we eat. I was baffled that someone would decide to eat off program, especially so soon after surgery. She became tired of the liquids & soft foods, so she chose to eat ahead.

The result of her skipping ahead was that she had experienced a lot of vomiting & foamies, a lot of pain, and was unable to drink any fluids. She started feeling flushed and faint in class and had to be sent to the hospital to get some IV fluids.

The discipline that one needs for bariatric surgery cannot be overstated. We have to dig deep mentally and physically to get through surgery itself, learn new things, manage medications, and really lean into that crucial change of mindset and behavior. I hope that this young lady is able to get herself together to make the most of her surgery.

Today marks 4 weeks from my surgery date. My incisions are largely healed, and the surgical glue/scabs have fallen off. There is clearly more healing happening inside, where I can't see. My surgeon calls this 'surgical stuff'. The spot just under my left ribs is particularly tender. Is it my stomach? My hiatal hernia repair? It doesn't pain me too much.

My weight loss slowed down a bit the last 2 weeks, with the addition of purees. I've enjoyed things I never thought I would ever eat, such a dish I'm fondly calling 'tuna pudding'. Buffalo chicken dip with canned chicken is amazing. Surprisingly, ricotta bake was meh. Yogurt is still a staple. I've started experimenting with decaf tea. I would LOVE a cup of coffee, but no word yet on when I can have it. Soft foods are just around the corner, and all I can think of is tender, flaky white fish. And some soft asparagus. 

I haven't had a ton of energy. I have to sit a lot and my walks are short and slow. I'm hopeful that when I can eat a little more I'll feel more athletically inclined. Next week, I'll try the commute to my office two days a week, which involves a lot of walking, stairs, and carrying my laptop. We'll see how that goes.

I had an overnight trip this past week, and packed a small cooler with my pureed foods. It was hard to be around others eating delicious things while I slowly spooned down curry chicken salad puree. Fun fact, not drinking while you eat curry chicken salad puree is a fun game. Play with your friends. I resorted to serving it with a bit of greek yogurt on the side to cool my mouth down. Driving multiple hours without caffeine or road snacks is also a new thing. 

I've tried on some old shorts and work pants, to see if they fit yet. Some do, and some very nearly do, which is exciting. At least I won't need to source smaller clothes for a while. I'd saved all my favorite things down to about a size 14. Hopefully they are all still in style.

Thanks to the LPN at the office, who lost my testing/lab results and took over 6 weeks to let me know, even though I called to verify they got the paperwork, every week for six weeks to no avail. I am finally getting ready to be scheduled for surgery. Annoyingly, I have to get one more weigh-in due to her mistake and I can't get in to get weighed until Monday, plus my period started 10 days early and my weight is up by 2 lbs. I have struggled with weight loss that is why I am here, but never in my life, have I struggled so much to lose 5% of my original weight, until I started the bariatric program. Maybe it's the stress affecting me more than I realize. These 2 period pounds are putting me above the goal weight, even though last week I was 10 lbs below the goal weight. Honestly, I am pissed at this nurse screwing my stuff up and not informing me when I called over and over again. She has single-handedly affected my finances, my school scheduling, and my struggle to stay positive with her incompetence, not to mention she is cutting it really close to my surgery being at a time when it will be a struggle to get to the clinic that is 3 hours away up a mountain (not a hill), and the roads get super icy and snow covered. That is what is on my mind!

Over six weeks ago I had finished the testing my surgeon required pre-surgery.  I had my regular doctor fax the surgeon my results, and I called to verify the results were received per the instructions given to me by the surgery clinic. 

I called once a week for 6 weeks and never got a callback. The coordinator for the bariatric program under my insurance called to do a check-in with me, as she does every couple of months. I told her what had been going on, she emailed the clinic.

The next day I got a message from my scheduler, in myChart at the clinic informing me she had never seen my paperwork and results from the tests and to have them re-faxed. I thought it was funny she did not want to call me to tell me this. My doctor faxed the info right away and the scheduler told me she got the tests and sent them to the surgeon. I told her that this was really frustrating because I had tried many times to contact her and verify that she had received the paperwork per the clinic binder instructions and the clinic coordinator.  Honestly why ignore someone when you could take 2 seconds to call them back or send a myChart message?