20 Days Post-Op!

Happy Tuesday, (yeah right!)! My weekend was not very exciting. I keep trying to get back into my work out routine but things just keep happening to get in the way. Thursday it was a horrible headache. Saturday I had to dog-sit because we thought my dog was pregnant and going to deliver this weekend. False alarm, she was not pregnant. But while we thought she was she couldn’t be left alone. Then Sunday I had a lot of work to make up from the rest of the week. So I just started back on Monday. It felt really good to start back. I thought I would have trouble but I really didn’t. I put the exercise bike on a lower setting thinking that almost three weeks off would have hurt my stamina but apparently it didn’t. I could have gone harder and longer then I did. So I’m glad about that.

Yesterday I had my follow-up appointment with my doctor. It was pretty quick. I lay down on the table and he pressed on my incisions. Wow did the belly button hurt! I practically flew off the table. But he says it’s healing. I felt an echo of that pain all day after that though. It was weird. I talked to the doctor and told him about my hospital stay. He was already aware that the nurses at the hospital don’t know anything about the surgery and he says they are working to get them educated so hopefully other people won’t have the same trouble I had with the nurses trying to get us to eat more then we should after surgery. But he was very upset when I told him about the x-ray tech that made me cry. He says that the x-ray was not supposed to be done laying down to begin with and then the fact that she was so rude to me upset him. He said he was going to talk to someone at the hospital about that.

My surgeon also told me something important. He said that from this point on, it’s all up to me. He said that with the amount of calories I am taking I can maintain my weight but if I want to lose I need to be working out and pushing myself. He said that if I really work at it he thinks I can lose the weight it in six months. That would be so exciting! So I have set a goal for myself. I have to go back to see him in four weeks. So I’m going to try to drop 12lbs before then. I think that is do-able. I think that I should be able to lose that much. I need to in order to lose all of the weight in six months. I go to the gym with Coach three days a week where I am doing weights and cardio. My doctor gave me the green light on lifting weights. I am also going to try to push myself to do a half hour on my wii fit every night that I am not at the gym. That should be good. Or I can ride my bike or walk the dog. I feel really motivated and excited.

Yesterday I also ran into Aunt Superficial. I love her because she is family but sometimes she bugs the crap out of me. She said that I looked like I have lost weight. I told her I have been dieting. I found out afterwards that Aunt Superficial knows about The Aunt’s surgery. My grandfather was in the hospital during the time that The Aunt had her surgery and was in the hospital. So Aunt Superficial was calling and getting frustrated that she couldn’t get a hold of The Aunt. Finally Mummy-dearest (with The Aunt’s permission) had to tell Aunt Superficial what was going on. I’m not thrilled. She didn’t seem judgmental and said that she wouldn’t tell anyone else but I don’t believe it. She always has to be better than everyone else and this is just one way she is better; she never struggled with her weight and still looks good. She is also a gossip and has to put others down to feel good about herself. So I am sure that she will at least tell her husband and her daughters. This attitude is what annoys me so much about her. Of all my family that part is the one I didn’t want to know about my surgery. Mummy-dearest asked what to do if Aunt Superficial puts two and two together and asks about my weight loss and if I had surgery. I don’t want to deal with it so I told Mummy-dearest to tell her that I am working with my doctor and am on a strict diet. I hope she doesn’t put everything together. She may be self absorbed but she is smart. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

I am a little worried about The Aunt. She is only six days out of surgery and she is trying to eat food already. I should have known better then to tell her I started adding in pureed foods at ten days because now she is adding in foods even earlier. I understand hating the shakes, I really do, but she needs to give her stomach time to heal. She had a bit of mac and cheese the other night and soup today. I hope she takes it slow. I just don’t want to see her get hurt. I know in some ways I’m the pot calling the kettle black but I just don’t want her to rush it. At six days I wouldn’t have imagined eating. I might have wanted to but my stomach was not ready. I plan to stick on pureed foods for the next two weeks and that will put me back on track to following the diet plan and starting with soft foods in two weeks. I probably could start them now but I want to be careful. I’m still afraid to drink coffee. I did have a couple of sips of a blended iced coffee drink the other day. I had a little gas but that was it. I am really going to move slowly with that one.

But so far I’m doing pretty well. I’m never hungry. I can only manage ½ cup of soup at a time but I’m glad for that. I don’t want my tiny tummy to stretch so the small amount doesn’t bother me. I do need to get into my head that I don’t need more food. I do sometimes look at my leftovers and think; I really should get more nutrition in to me. But really that’s not true. I really have to work not to take one more bit. I don’t want to make myself sick. I have to adjust my brain to this new reality that I need much less food now. It will be a challenge I think. But I will do it!