It's been 6 weeks...

Here I am 6 weeks after surgery and not too terribly worse for the wear. The surgery went fairly well. I was able to have it done laparoscopically which was of great relief to me. There was question as to if the Surgeon could get through my scar tissue formed from previous surgeries.

He managed to get through ok but it had to work for it which I so appreciated. What should have only taking 3 hours took 5. But to his credit he kept going versus cutting me wide open. The recovery time would have been so much longer.

I actually recovered so fast I was home 2 days later. I only spent one full day in the hospital. I went in Monday morning and was home Wednesday afternoon. I just looked as though I had been in a knife fight or something ... 5 little stab wounds.

That first week at home was a bit tender. Had to sit and lay down very gingerly. But, after that when I could finally get off my back and actually turn over it was wonderful. I am a side sleeper ... most definitely not a back sleeper.

As far as food goes I was on clear liquid for the first week then I started the pureed diet. That was to go for 4 weeks. The first week wasn't bad lots of jello, broth, mashed potatoes and soft cereals. But I couldn't get anything with protein down other than yogurt. If it had much of a texture even after being pureed just seemed to get stuck and I would lose everything. It just kept getting progressively worse after that. It was to the point I wasn't eating hardly anything at all .. just trying to drink protein drinks - which by the way are disgusting - and drinking lots of water. After seeing my Doctor he suspected I had what is called a stricture.

Now being one who never excelled at very much in my life ... I apparently excel in healing. So, what happened is since I healed so quickly the scar tissue formed too soon and too fast and was closing off my stomach opening. Which of course in turn wasn't allowing anything but very thin type fluids to pass. So it was back on clear liquids for me. I should have been able to eat soft foods by now. I was beginning to get pretty emotional. Everything I tried just kept coming back up. But, now that I had the answer that put my mind at ease and I just had to wait as to how this would be fixed. The only upside to all this is I feel no hunger and there is no pain. I found it ironic that I was now experiencing anorexic symptoms. I didn't eat hardly anything and when I did I would throw up.

That brings us to the beginning of April. On the 2nd I was back at the hospital for a procedure called an EGD. The Doc put a camera down my throat to see what was going on and sure enough it was just that .. a stricture. He then fed a tube down to my stomach and used a balloon type mechanism to expand the opening and break up the scar tissue. I was out at the time. When I woke up it felt like I had a good nap. But I was so thirsty. When I took that first drink of water it was wonderful. I could take a full mouthful. I had only been able to sip or I would get a lot of pressure due to it having trouble passing into my stomach.

My Doctor said it was pretty well sealed off and I was only getting a trickle of fluid through. He wants me to have it done again.

Since then I have been able to eat fairly normally ... in terms of how normal one can eat after bariatric surgery. It takes me nearly an hour to eat about a 1/2 cup of food - that breaks down to about one bite every 6 to 7 minutes. If I eat any faster than that everything will still come back up. I still don't do well with straight protein. It feels as though it just gets caught somewhere and doesn't want to go all the way down.

I am scheduled for the second EGD this coming Wednesday the 15th. The Doc thinks I will be good to go then. I sure hope so.


So at this point I am doing ok. My biggest issues are just getting enough water into me and then tackling the protein issue. My other issue is my energy level. I have next to none - Mostly due to lack of food lol

Since this all began back in December I have now lost 110 pounds. 83 prior to surgery and 27 more since the surgery.

I was a bit disappointed that I had only lost 27lbs since the surgery. Especially since there was 2 weeks of nothing but clear liquids. But, when I talked to my Doctor he said that is normal and I am right on track and not to let things discourage me. He said right now my body just doesn't know what to do. I have had the issues of not being able to eat .. then I can eat ... then I can't eat. He said my metabolism is way out of whack. He said as soon as I start being able to eat more regularly and my energy level starts picking back up things will start falling into place. In addition my abdominal area is still somewhat swollen from surgery and that could last a few more weeks before it goes down.

Are you still with me? I know this was a long one and I apologize for not updating sooner. I just haven't had the energy to sit here long enough and type.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has sent me well wishes too ... it was so appreciated.

I will try to update more regularly. I think that is about it for now *smile*