Random Sunday Morning Thoughts

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! It's been a bit rainy, but not so horrible all in all.

So, I'm now 12 days post-op, and healing nicely. Haven't had any pain at all in quite a while, and my incisions look decent. I'm still a little surprised at how big one of them is (2 inches), but it looks fine.
I'm getting soooo tired of full liquids, though - I mean, how many times can I eat broth or soup without going nuts?? Deep breath ... at least I get to move to mushies next week (adding purees, mashed potatoes). 2 weeks after that, I move to soft foods - cottage cheese, canned tuna, minced turkey ... it just seems so very far away.
I know I'm not getting enough protein in - I tried adding beneprotein to things, but I really hate the taste ... so I'm trying to get in at least a couple of protein shakes a day.
I need to have patience, right?

Went out for "dinner" last night kind of unexpectedly. We made plans to meet 2 other couples at the movie theatre, and discovered the show was sold out. Everyone decided we should get tickets for the later show, and go out for dinner in the meantime. Thank heavens most restaurants have soup - unfortunately, the only soup they had was a chunky chicken vegetable - so I ate the broth. It was a bit of a challenge sitting there for 2 hours while everyone had an appetizer and then a main course, but I just ignored the food part and enjoyed the company. It was a bit embarassing when the waiter was concerned I didn't like the soup (when he picked up my bowl, it was full of chicken and veggies, and looked like I hadn't really eaten any of it).

I see the nutritionist on Tuesday, and the doctor on Wednesday. I haven't seen a nutritionist yet, so I'm trying to come up with a list of questions, but I'm sort of drawing a blank. I suppose she'll know where to start :) Has anyone met Andrea Hamel? I've started logging what I'm eating in a food diary (www.myfitnesspal.com) - it's pretty cool, has a decent database of foods, and adds up the calories/proteins/fats/carbs. I'm thinking I should print out the diary and bring it, just for her opinion. They weren't really clear in the post-op diet document how many calories I should be aiming for per day, or how many grams of protein.

If you're still with me by now, sorry for all of the ramblings!

Happy Sunday everyone,
Liane

Top of the morning to you!

Please don't blame yourself for writing this post! Thoughts sharing is what this this board is for...Very glad to see that you're healing well. Liquid and mush phases definitely do seem endless but it's worth waiting. Real food is not that far away!

Bringing a food diary to your nut is a very good idea, I wish I had done that!

And again, feel free to post anything you wish to, and ask as many questions as you want.

Keep us posted!

Hi Liane, don't need to be sorry, we are all here to support each other... You should read my firsts posts... I really needed support for going through the first weeks and everyone was there to help me... so as post-op, I try to do the same thing...

The liquid and mushie phases are difficult and seem to last forever, but remember you were able to do 4 weeks of optifast, so after that, you can do anything!  It will pass very fast, you'll see. It is important to let heal your stomach, so you will not have problems later.

I remember the first time I went to a restaurant, like you I ordered the soup, saying I had some kind of stomach virus, but the waiter gave me a soup that has little broth, and many, many, many noodles and chicken! I think he was trying to please me as I ordered only that!!

Congrats on passing the test on your first dine-out! Yes, we do talk more than we eat!

Don't worry too much about the proteins, at first it is difficult to get all we need, but it becomes easier when we can add some "real" food like fish, eggs and tuna... I find that the post op follow up is a little deficient at Sacré-Coeur, they don't tell us about how many proteins, carbs, etc...we should eat. I have my FIRST appointment july 29 with the nut !!! Lucky I know a little bit about nutrition, and read a lot on the forums... All they said in the pre-op class was to eat the smallest portions of the Canadian food guide...  But don't know if it's the same for bandsters...

I was also using my fitnesspal, on my I phone... Not been so steady in the last weeks...

You are doing great, keep up the good work, and feel free to come here for support and encouragements. I know it helped me a lot !!!

I don't know if you are aware of a group meeting that is held every month at Laval. It's a french support group, called Choisis la renaissance. I go there every month. It's a friendly group of pre and post op and we talk about our life and the good and bad about surgery.  The next reunion is this tuesday night. Everyone is welcome. There is a bunch of bandster there too. I'll make another post for all the info.

((hugs))
Diane

Thanks everyone for letting me ramble - you guys are the best!

The support group sounds great, unfortunately my french is pretty limited. Maybe one day soon I'll get up the courage to come.

Went to the drugstore earlier to pick up the remainder of my syringes (yuck, it's the anti-clotting stuff that I need to inject in my stomach once a day), and picked up 4 of these Weider Pure Pro chocolate shakes. 170 calories, 35g protein, 1g fat and 7g carbs. I like the high protein content, we'll see how they taste!

x Liane

Hey Liane, great to read your post. Brought me back in time and also made me realize how far I have gotten. With this surgery,like anything else in life, we tend to get focused on the here and now and forget how far we've come. It is the same for you. This phase of your journey is tough and take alot of your energy hence you are tired alot of the time. It is hard to compensate with protein as you can't drink that much of it at this time. This will change and you'll feel so much better once you start eating foods with more texture. That phase will also have its ups and downs but as you lose the weight it helps you adjust along the way. For myself, I have been having continuous leg pains, somewhat like growing pains and no doctor seems to know why. My bloodwork is good. Potasium good,magnesium good. The theory is that my body is readjusting itself with this new frame and weight so it is doing so with some wee bit of protest. It is tiresome but manageable. So keep the chin up and write often for support. Don't worry too much food wise as it will get easier with time. Try to eat as much as you can and focus on healing and moving forward. You,ll get your protein in more and more with time. Add a multivit at this time to ensure you are getting all the micronutrients that your body needs.
I also want to commend you for going to the restaurant so early out. Not an easy thing to do. It takes practice in choosing off a restaurant menu. I've also learned to leave food on my plate. That was a tough one but now I have no issues with it. This too will become easier. Better food days are coming soon!