First off, I am officially two weeks out from my surgery, which means I am now eating REAL (not pureed, mashed, liquified, etc ) FOOD! I could not be happier. I was getting so sick of protein shakes and cottage cheese. Of course, it's not like I was having a lot of it. It blows my mind how much food it takes to fill me up. When I first got home from the hospital, I wasn't even able to eat more than 2 oz of cottage cheese. A few bites, and I was done. Before surgery, I probably would have had no problem downing 1/2 a container of cottage cheese. Crazy....
The other big thing that happened is that I have been back at school for a week now. Yup, I went back a week after surgery. I was very worried the Sunday beforehand. I wasn't sure I could do it. I was still having a LOT of gas pain. This was like stop what you're doing and brace yourself pain. It sucked. I did learn something, though. As soon as you can sleep lying down, you should do it! I think a big reason why I was having so much pain was I slept in a recliner the first few nights home. My grandma suggested I try sleeping lying down, and lo and behold, it helped a ton! I wasn't feeling perfect and peachy, but I was doing better than I had been. Of course, my anxiety was kicked into high gear, too, since I was freaking out about going back to school, so that didn't help either.
Thankfully, once Monday came around, I was doing well enough to get to classes, and with my mom dog sitting my emotional support dog, I didn't have to worry about her trying to dragging me across campus with my sore belly. I did have to rearrange my dorm a little bit (with my fiance's help, of course!) so that my bed was low enough to just get right into. I had it lofted so I could fit Bella's cage underneath it for the sake of saving space. There is no way I would have been able to get into bed if I had kept it the way it was.
The school has been doing pretty good with taking care of me. I explained to my professors that I had surgery over spring break, and they were all very good about respecting my privacy. None of them tried to get more details than that. They also let me know that if I needed anything or wasn't feeling good, just let them know. I didn't need to take any of them up on that offer, but it was good to know that they care. I had made arrangements with dining services at school so that I could have a special plate made for me in the cafeteria as well. Before surgery, they were preparing me my one allowed meal per day. The last week while I was back at school, the chef was preparing me pureed chicken in chicken broth, or pureed tuna salad. I was also able to get a car ride back to my dorm after my night classes were over from campus safety. I was comfortable walking to classes during the day, but I did not want to walk back at night by myself. The campus is near a city, so there's a lot that could happen. I'm usually not too worried since the campus is pretty good about safety, but I wouldn't be able to fight back or run if something happened. Plus, after being in class for four hours, I was pretty stiff.
I also had my one week followup with my surgeon. He said everything is healing well, so that is great. I also had to attend a one hour class about what steps I will be taking forward in the next couple months. In two more weeks, I get vegetables!!! It sounds weird, but I am actually excited to add them back into my diet. I think it is more for the sake of having some variety. For now, though, I'm still working on getting in my 60 grams of protein and all 64 oz of fluids daily. It is a struggle some days, but I usually manage to get it.
It's interesting to see how my appetite fluctuates. Most mornings, I can only eat maybe 2 oz of protein before I'm full. By lunch or dinner, I am getting in 3 or 3 and a half oz. It drives me crazy. It also drives me crazy having to wait to drink anything after I eat. I know I have to since it'll be uncomfortable if I don't, but it is always tempting. I set an alarm on my phone so I know the instant I can drink again. It's also hard for me to slow down when I'm drinking fluids. There are times, especially in the morning, when I want to just chug down a whole water bottle. There are times when I do take a bigger than I should gulp and pay for it. It does not feel good! I don't throw up, but it's uncomfortable. I really have to focus on sipping slowly. Eating is the same way. I have learned that I start burping when I'm full, though, so that helps gauge when I should stop. At least I have a handle on that. And thankfully I haven't had any nausea and I haven't thrown up at all. Everything I've eaten seems to sit well in my tummy.
Anyways, that's basically what's going on right now. I'm still getting left side pain, and there are days when I just feel achy or tired, but stress from school doesn't help :) I have been off of the pain meds since about Wednesday. I still take them if I need them. If I twist wrong or sleep the wrong way, I sometimes need to take it in the morning. Of course, I didn't expect to be fully healed yet. I'm still a newbie at this whole sleeve thing, and my body is still playing catch up. Thankfully, I get a lot of love and support from the people around me.
CW 267 SW 273.4 HW 310
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