Starting stage two also meant that I need to take things really slow. Meaning, you are suppose to take a half hour to eat 1/3 cup of food. Go ahead, try that. Go from eating 1/3 cup of food in one SWALLOW to taking a half hour to eat at ONE SITTING. Rough. So my first meal was cream of chicken soup and it took me around 10 to 15 minutes to finish. I basically tried to just Savor the flavor when I ate. Which, I guess is something we all should do, but I reeeeaaaalllly savored the flavor. Almost like Over exaggerated "eating" (more like slurping) my food. I tried to go slow, just for the fact that i wasn't sure how things were going to go. I wasn't sure if my new pouch was going to be pissed at me for cutting him up or not. I had no clue. So after 15 minutes, I was done and full. I didn't have any problems finishing it that "fast". I asked the group that I'm a part of and they said everyone is different and that once I get to eating "real" food, the half hour to an hour to eat applies more. Makes sense.
I'm thankful my tastes haven't changed all that much since the surgery. With Roux en y surgery, there is a possibility that your taste buds could change and some foods you once loved, now can't stand. The only thing I've found that tastes weird is milk and until recently, water. Milk has this god awful nasty after taste that I can't seem to shake. I use to love milk and was never bothered by the taste. I wonder if I'm lactose intolerant now because if I drink too much milk, it does a number on my system. That is another side effect from the surgery. you can become lactose intolerant. Could be coincidence. That could also be why the protein drinks I once loved, now sicken me to the core. I was excited to have them when I started stage two because you have to get at least 80 grams of protein a day. If you don't, you risk losing muscle mass and hair. I don't want to look like a bald bag of bones after all is said and done!! Ha! Ok, not really, but protein is important for a lot of things, so everyone should get an adequate amount in their diet. For gastric bypass patients, it's really important because we can't eat as much as others can. So we use the drinks to supplement. Well, I even tried switching brands and that didn't help the taste. The only thing I haven't tried is just taking a scoop of protein powder with water and mixing that up. I tried it before surgery and it about made me throw up. So I toughed it out and drank my drinks as best I could. I've found now, 3 months later if I take a half of a banana (thank you Gwen Stefani for helping me spell bananas), one scoop of protein powder, cup of milk and a cup of ice, blend until smooth, that's the only way I can drink my protein now.
After having surgery,(well for everyone really) it's important you get enough fluid in you or risk becoming dehydrated. They recommend you get at least 80 ounces a day. I now try and get a gallon of water a day. I say now because in the beginning, I didn't try hard enough and had a slight complication. To me, it's slight now, at the time I was scared shitless! After two weeks of being out of the hospital I was right back in it. Sunday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom and noticed my pee smelled really bad. Kinda like ammonia. I didn't think anything of it. About an hour later I felt like I had to pee again. Not normal to me. So I tried and during the whole time it burned as I was going. I only went a little bit and at the end, blood came out. I freaked out for a bit. I never peed blood in my life. Totally new to me. I thought maybe it was a fluke. So I left it at that. About another hour passed and the same thing happened only more came out. Finally after like an hour of deciding, I went to the ER. I just didn't want to be there and I didn't want to spend more money at a hospital. Those were my only two reasons why I didn't go sooner. Haha. So I get there, pee in a cup, sit and wait, only for them to tell me it might be an infection, might not. might be a kidney stone, might not. Sweet. So they gave my some antibiotics and off I went. I got home and realized I can't take pills whole because of the surgery. So I had to crush the pills up and put them in my cream of chicken soup. Big fricken mistake right there!! You ever tried crushed up pills that weren't meant to be crushed up?? The worst taste ever in your mouth. A taste that cream of chicken soup can't hide!!!! I did that once. After that I crushed them up and mixed it with an ounce of flavored water. Wasn't that bad because it was a quick shot compared to a long lasting meal. I only did that for 4 days out of the 10 i was suppose to do and stopped. Everything was better after the fourth day. Not that it was the right thing to do, but I couldn't handle the taste anymore. My doctor wanted me to go get a CT scan and do some other tests, but I didn't. This stuff wasn't cheap! Plus I felt a lot better, so I left it alone. I don't really know what happened. Either I had a bladder infection from the catheter during surgery and the antibiotics cleared it up or I had a kidney stone that was caused by not drinking enough fluid and I passed it. So ever since then, I try to get at least a gallon of water in me a day. I don't want to go through that again.
I went back to work after being off for a week and a half. It wasn't too bad, but the not bring able to lift 15lbs thing was killing me. Everything I use at work Is well over 15lbs. A case of pop/soda is 30lbs. My hand cart weighs at least 20lbs. So I was really limited on what I could do. Basically sit in the truck and stock the snack machines. I had to wait until my third week of being out of surgery was over before I could lift anything heavy. Going back to work wasn't bad. I felt ok. My energy was alright, but not great. I wasn't eating much and not taking vitamins yet, so that was to be expected. Even being next to the temptations(no, not the Motown group) wasn't that bad. I wasn't hungry, so I never had the feeling of wanting any of the snacks I work with. Which was great by the way! I was worried about that.
Thursday the 15th of November rolled around and I got the ok to go back to work at normal capacity. Which was a relief that I didn't have to worry about picking stuff up and it being too heavy anymore. When I got out of surgery I weighed 377lbs and stayed that weight for a whole week. When I weighed myself at the doctors office, I weighed 365lbs. So in 3 weeks I only lost 12lbs. I could deal with that. That wasn't too bad considering I haven't been able to work out the whole time. The only exercise I was doing was walking a mile a day. I was happy for the most part. I still had bouts of depression that I was dealing with. Overall, I felt good and was happy with my new life. After I got out of the doctors office, I was really happy. Reason being? Thanksgiving was only a week a way!! Oh yeah, I got cleared to eat real food!!!!! Hell yeah!! I'll tell you more next week. Thank you all again for the amazing support!! Truly humbling! Thank you!! I added a photo of me that I use to like. Not because I'm holding my daughter by her ankle, but because I thought I looked good compared to what I was before. That was taken in August of 2012. I weighed 415lbs then.
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