Let me preface this story with the fact that I know that my current relationship with alcohol is and will be different than it was before surgery. What i'm basically saying is, "INB4 outrage & judgement"

Before surgery, I was an avid and enthusiastic party girl. I have an extremely stressful full-time, 24x7 boys'-club, mind-numbing soul-crushing (albeit high-paying) career, filled to the brim with heavy drinkers. More than once a week, I find myself out after work either enjoying cocktails with co-workers or going to vendor/customer dinners, where it's not uncommon to have drinks at the restaurant bar before, wine throughout dinner, scotch after, followed by drinks at the bar after to close the night.

I don't consider myself an alcoholic - for the 2 weeks in preparation to surgery and for the 2 weeks after, I haven't had a drink, and it's not like I got the DT's or anything. I have however been very concerned and curious about what was going to happen when I did have my first cocktail. I was worried I would be drunk after one sip, or my new stomach would reject it and I would vomit uncontrollably at the table, or worse - I would never be able to have a drink again... All kinds of horrific scenarios went through my head.

So I called my best and most trusted friend last night and told him that I was feeling back to normal (for the most part), and interested in testing the waters. We went to my local low-key boozer, sat at a booth. I responsibly ordered my low-calorie standby: Grey Goose & Soda (single tall), and sipped apprehensively while watching jealously as he took long pulls from his Heineken. (I was a beer drinker in my past life - I'm pretty sure it's responsible for 50 of the 100 lbs I'm trying to lose.)

My first cocktail went down very slowly - it took about 45 minutes to get it all the way down. I definitely felt it about halfway in, but i felt well within normal operating limits. I could feel my body processing it a little differently, but no big deal. Even though the drink includes soda Water, there is very little carbonation in the drink, so I felt good about my order, and didn't get the burps or anything.

Over the course of 3 hours, I had 3 cocktails and a glass of water. I got home feeling like a solid 4.5 out of 10. I finished my Protein drink and took a big bottle of evian to bed, and sipped on it while watching tv.

I woke up this morning feeling fine, a little bit of a headache and pretty thirsty, but other than that, I felt great. Although, I have to say, I am feeling my first pangs of hunger since before the surgery, so that's new... I'm not sure if that's related to drinking last night or if my stomach is just healing up properly. I'm going to go and make myself some grits!

I figured I'd post an update here -

I'm 40 lbs down, but I have hit a stall. I believe it to be nutrition-based though, because I slacked off on my Vitamin intake and exercise for the last week while I was on vacation, and that's about the length of my stall too.

As far as the surgery recovery itself - I feel like I'm back to normal for the most part, i just don't like eating any more.

When I do go out on the town, it's much less frequent than I did pre-surgery, and I don't drink the same things either. My stomach will not tolerate wine anymore (someone on these boards described their insides as a vat of boiling acid, and that's what wine does to me now), and I've sworn off beer, since I"m sure that's where a lot of my extra weight came from to begin with. I usually order a vodka soda w/ a splash of pineapple. I've noticed I also consume a lot less too - just a couple of cocktails instead of the several i'm used to. This isn't even really a conscious choice, it's just what happens naturally with me now.

It's satisfying, and doesn't seem to be a hindrance. I'm sure that without the calories of those couple of cocktails on those nights, I would be losing weight faster, but right now, i feel like i'm on pace, and I'm not missing out on this aspect of my social life.

Thank God I don't have that issue anymore!!! WOO HOO!!!