Mashables/Soft Foods Week⟫ Day 7
Time Since Surgery⟫ 4 Weeks
I decided to do a bit of a round up of things since the surgery. It’s a little more than four weeks post-op – more like 31 days.
When I went in for surgery, I weighed in at 164.4 kg and this morning I weighed in at 155.8 kg which means I’ve lost 8.6 kg since the operation. I have read about people losing more than that and am trying not to be too disappointed. In fact, I feel like I should be pleased but I also know that my head is a messed up place. I’ve lost 39.2 kg in 2024 which is pretty impressive since I didn’t have the surgery until the end of November.
Today for the first time I took a gabapentin and a duloxetine as a capsule and kept it down. This may be a bit of a game-changer for me as I have been struggling with taking the gabapentin dissolved in liquid – the taste stays in my mouth, makes me feel sick and makes it difficult to have anything else. I am also hopeful that I can get into a proper routine with my antidepressants now that it appears I can take them whole, which can only be helpful. I’m not going to try to do all of my medicines in solid form because I don’t think my stomach will handle that at the moment, but it is definitely a step forward.
Food-wise, I’m not quite where the bariatric bible says I should be. I’m doing a weird mix of puree and mashables – I had scrambled egg for breakfast but didn’t manage to eat all of it; smoothies don’t seem to be working for me at the moment; the chicken stew that Stripes made during puree week stays down and is good; things seem variable but I’m okay with that. I’m not expecting textbook, just progress. Drinking my water from my bottle with a straw does seem to mean that I am drinking more, and having put my protein water in there today I am feeling quite positive that I am going to finish at least 500 ml which is an achievement.
Sleep-wise, things are weird. Sleeping sitting up seems to be better for my stomach in terms of discomfort, but I definitely sleep better on my side lying down. I got some thermal socks because my feet felt like they were constantly freezing and that has definitely helped. The last couple of days, I’ve gone to bed around 2 am and slept through until 6 am when I need the bathroom, then I fall asleep again and don’t wake up again until sometime in the afternoon. The same sort of thing happened today but I woke up at 11 am, then crashed out until mid-afternoon. The thing is, I wake up feeling so weary! And if I’ve found my way off of the mountain of pillows to sleep on my side, my stomach feels like my insides have been through a tumble drier, which makes it harder to eat anything.
Stripes did make the point that Christmas is always a time of upheaval with bad sleeping, disruption, etc so I can’t fully blame the surgery for that. I think what I want to do is honour what my body is telling me – if it’s tired, then go to sleep even if it’s 11 am in the morning. I don’t have any appointments until 6th January so there’s plenty of time for me to ‘catch up’ on all the sleep I’ve missed. It doesn’t help that I still haven’t managed to kick this cold/sneezing thing.
I did some shopping at SimplyBe and ordered an oversized teddy bear fleece jumper dress. It’s lovely and soft, a gorgeous winter white colour but I may have overestimated the size. Book_grim fits into it with me and Stripes got a fabulous photo of the two of in it! I’m keeping it but will be sending back the fancy dress I ordered before Christmas as well as the cherry-red Mary Jane shoes. I was pleased that the size 9 fit me and seem comfortable but I have to be honest and admit I can’t think of where I would wear them. It makes more sense to send the back than to have the just cluttering up the place.
Once I get to six weeks post-op, I want to start using my resistance bands every other day but in the meantime I try to make sure I do a wander around the flat every now and then. Sometimes it feels like I’m dragging but other times I feel almost spritely. There have been a couple of times when I’ve got light-headed and felt like I’m going to pass out. That could be the lack of food or just the vertigo rearing it’s ugly head, so I shall keep an eye on that. I also want to start compiling a list of questions that I want to ask at my appointment on 6th, like when I should start taking the vitamins, when I should be able to return to all my medicines in solid form, that kind of thing.
There is a part of me that still can’t believe I actually did it – I underwent surgery and made it out the other side. The incisions are healing nicely, although there might be a bit of a keloid on a couple of them. And so far I haven’t done anything monumentally stupid in terms of forcing food or doing too much (after the initial few days when Stripes had to tell me off), so yeah me!
Tonight I think we’re going to try to watch the Gavin and Stacey Finale and maybe Wallace and Gromit. Tomorrow, Stripes has ED Counselling so she has spent today working through the stuff she was given; Book_grim is going for a sleep-study so will be sleeping at the hospital, and then on Tuesday night she’s working New Year’s Eve.
No comments:
Post a Comment