TW: Gnarly Incision Photos!

SW⟫ 207.7 | CW⟫ 159.4 |

Post Surgery Diet⟫ Week 2 of Liquids

Not sure what is was I ate yesterday that caused a reaction, but I have a rather upset stomach. Not quite liquid but kinda yellow in colour, which makes me think it has to be the pineapple that I’ve been blending into my yoghurt and milk. I think it might be time to get rid of that tin of fruit (it’s been open and used since Monday I think) and will move on to the mango. I have strawberry yoghurt but I think it might taste better with the coconut stuff I got in the shopping.

Jay suggested that I try adding my antidepressants to the yoghurt since they refuse to dissolve fully in water and that sounds like a a decent plan to me. She also recommended some protein yoghurts but I’m not sure how I feel about those. I tried Kvarge a while back and couldn’t handle the texture but my tastebuds have definitely changed since the surgery and it may turn out to be okay.

I’m meant to be having five small meals a day from Friday (a period of puree begins tomorrow) so today is the last fully liquid day. I read somewhere to try something new and then allow four hours to see how the body is going to react to it. I don’t think I want to start the day with a weetabix – for some reason, that feels like it might be too big a change from all liquids, so I think I’ll go with a slightly lumpier yoghurt! Wow, I make it sound so enticing!

And in further gross things that my body can do, a chunk of scab came off of one of my incisions. I’ll try to include a picture, but be warned, it’s not exactly pretty! I don’t even know when it came off – I went to moisturise the incisions and there it was, looking like an extra incision but not attached at all! If it helps, the image is taken by me looking down at my stomach, so you’re basically seeing down my torso. You can’t see the two incisions on the right side as (a) they’re hidden by my boob! And (b) they’re pretty much healed up now!

* white square is the incision that always looks like it’s one second away from exploding when I sneeze. It has a weirdly protruding bit that freaks me out and makes me panic every time!

* yellow square is the scab formed from glue, stitches, skin, etc which decided to detach itself! Gross yet fascinating!

* aqua square is the actual incision – still has some scabby bits on it, but generally speaking is pretty much healed.

* bright pink square is the biggest incision that was there – I imagine, this is where they tugged my stomach through (boak*) and now it kinda looks like an infinity symbol, although that might be me being fanciful!

The girls have likened them to my tattoo healing abilities – sometimes, within days my tattoos look like they’ve been there forever; other times, old tattoos can look like they never intend to heal fully. Based on the pictures of incisions and healing wounds I’ve seen on Reddit, etc, I think I’ve been quite lucky with how they look. I wouldn’t have said that a week ago, but time and hindsight definitely help!

My wool turned up, so today I think I’m going to work on my hat and maybe watch some TV, as well as doing some reading. The sneezing is aggravating and I hesitate to say that it’s getting better in case I implement Murphy’s Law, but rest is never a bad thing!

First Post-Op Shower

SW⟫ 207.7 | CW⟫ 159.6 |

Post Surgery Diet⟫ Liquids

Do you know what would be lovely? If an existential crisis was a one and done kind of thing. Instead, it just keeps on happening in dribs and drabs, catching you by surprise, and generally making it very difficult to remain on an even keel. Since meltdown Tuesday, I have found myself looking at my life through slightly different spectacles. I can see where I have utterly cocked things up, but I can also see where I have lain down and let myself be walked all over. It’s a strange feeling, realising just how much I’ve put up with over the years in the name of love and family.

Anyway, my main ‘tasks’ for today were to have a shower, dye my hair and (hopefully) feel a little less grebby. Stripes painted my head with a little help from Book_grim – I went for Crazy Colour soft lavender but when it was on my head, it looked a heck of a lot more like deep purple! I was meant to leave it on for 30 minutes, but the three of us were talking so it was on for over an hour. And the colour took – kinda? Some of my hair looks deep blue, some light pink, but definitely some lilac in there!

And I finally had a shower. I was really worried the whole time I was in there that I didn’t want the incisions to get too water-logged, and I tried not to rub or pull at any of the skin on my stomach. It is absolutely insane how covered in bruises I am – places that I cannot imagine just how I’ve bruised. My stomach feels weirdly empty/hollow – it’s all sagged in on itself. It’s not the most appetising thing to look at, that’s for sure.

I had a mushroom cup a soup with bone broth and made with skimmed milk and it was very tasty. I think it’s been my favourite cup-a-soup so far. It tasted really creamy but wasn’t heavy. 9/10, would definitely, happily have that again.

We’re all booked in for Tuesday for the wet room deep clean, so that’s another thing ticked off of the list. In the new year, I would like to get someone in to do the toilet in the hallway – literally scrub the sink, tiles and walls, make the actual toilet sparkle, and tidy up the storage in there. Actually, I wonder if it’s worth considering swapping the storage from the toilet to the bathroom – it might be worth it in terms of having more space in the bathroom? I shall mention it to the girls.

I decided to treat myself from the SimplyBe Black Friday sale. I’ve ordered the huge chocolate brown puffer coat I’ve been eyeing for a couple of months, some trousers, jimjams, tops/vests, some cycling shorts for when we resume using the resistance bands and an absolutely gorgeous navy/purple dress. I have NO idea where I might wear the dress, but I fell in love with it and just really, really wanted it! I’ve chosen a variety of sizes because I want to have something that fits me available all of the time. I remember from losing weight in the past that having all of your clothes just be too big can actually make you feel worse about how you look, but for the coat I went for the biggest size they did!

Book_grim is back to work tonight and Stripes has asked me to have a go at a piece of digital art manipulation, so it looks like we’re slowly getting back to normality! Works for me.

So weird to not realise just how badly I smelled until I’ve had a shower!