day 4 post op and fighting depression

I'm so glad I read this board and have been prepared for all these crazy emotions.  I feel like I look like a freak.  I think there might be an alien inside my stomach that is getting ready to burst out.  It really will look better once the swelling goes down...right?  Okay I know the answer to that but just need reassurance I guess.  I look huge.  And shouldn't have weighed but I did....175 lbs! YIKES!  I know, I know, the water retention. Still.....this is doing a numer on my mental state.

Okay just tell me I'm normal please.  Tell me that in each week that passes I will look noticably better.  

I'm switching to advil during the day today and do the Loratab at night.  I drank 44 oz of water so far this morning.  Protien bar and protien hot cocoa.

Looks like we are having identical journey's!!  I posted at about 5 days out that I looked in the mirror and thought I still looked FAT!!  I had a good cry and called my friends to ask them if I was mental.  

So - here's my thoughts a week later.  I feel better - my mood improves each day as I feel better and am able to do more.  I'm off all the pain meds - that helps my mood as well.  I am not as freaked out by the little weird things about my scars and my new tummy...it is starting to look more "normal" for me anyway.  I am more easily able to remember that, even if the scar is dark, or not totally and completely perfect, it sure as hell looks better than BEFORE!!

So, it will get better.

yes this is all normal, I get deperessed 3 days post-op lasts a couple of days and goes away. I m glad that I have had every procedure done
I recommend that you measure around your belly w/o the garment on and then u can start to see on the tape measurewhen it is starting to go down. there are days that i look in the mirror and see fat &then I measure around my hips and they are still 36, so then i know it is in my head. as each week goes by u will look & feel better & it is all so worth it
Good Luck to you
Susan

Thank you so much susan.  I know what you say is true but when you are in the middle of it, everything gets blurry and you start questioning what you have done.

Words can sometimes not be enough, but truly, what you are feeling/ going through is normal. You will look better- promise. They pumped a ton of fluids in you during your surgery, and that plus the post op swelling can look like the last thing you wanted. This, too, will pass. In the meantime, just focus on healing, getting in your protein, and staying on top of your pain.

Stay on this board and post any questions or even vents you have. It helps tremendously just to get it off your chest. You will be back at, running, cycling, all of it, and you will look back at this as an important step in the process.

Hang in there, girl!

Isn't it weird that a complete stranger (maybe not a stranger exactly I have seen you pics you know! LOL) can know exactly what to say when your friends and family don't?!  I needed to hear that.  I'm a pretty positive person and everyone around me doesn't quite know what to do when I am not the bubbly perky Amy.  I just need to know that I will eventually look normal and not be fat and not look like the bride of frankenstien...the pregnant bride of frankenstien that is.

Personally, this is one of the stages that I'm not looking forward to - that depression induced by chemicals and major surgery - yuck. Hopefully yours won't last too long and soon you'll be enjoying your new body.

As for water retention - be careful to keep your sodium intake low - it really makes a difference.