Minus drain, plus 6 pounds. heaven/hell

A couple things: 

1) My drain is GONE!! It got yanked today (at exactly 5 weeks) and holy heck it stung like the dickens! I had some bleeding afterwards but PS showed me where I had *blood vessels* and tissue growing into the holes of the drain inside me. I came home, was super sore for a while, popped a pain pill, and zonked out for the entire afternoon. 

2) Then I woke up and took some pics. I updated my TT album, the scars are really making progress. I sort of managed to get a belly button shot which shows the disgusting hole I'm trying to pretend doesn't exist. It looks infected but is not, there's white slough inside the wound which is part of the healing process. It's deeper than it looks but is slowly getting better. My PS said "This is gonna look fantastic, the slower they take to heal the better they turn out." and I wanted to take that man's head and sma**** into the wall. I have never heard that and it sounds like complete bull**** meant to pacify me. But whatever. 

3) Tried on my jeans, since I can wear them now that the drain is out. What's this, they don't fit? There must be some mistake. They're supposed to be looser, I lost all that skin. These are my size 10 jeans. They should fit. I step on the scale, I'm 6 pounds heavier than usual. I don't know if I can lay the blame on swelling or water retention because I'm 5 weeks out and I have been known to binge on ritz crackers late at night. And mashed potatoes. And penne a la vodka. And full-fat goat yogurt with honey and almonds. My hips aren't firmer and don't feel swollen. They're just fatter. Jigglier. 

I think I need to face the music and acknowledge that I have gained weight. And I can't make excuses for myself like "I get nauseous on the pills if I don't eat carbs" or "I need the calories for healing" or, my favorite, "Sugar is a natural anti-depressant". I'm not on narcotics anymore, carbs don't assist in healing (I should be binging on steak if anything), and when I eat sugar sure I feel momentarily happier but the depression that sets in when I can't fit into my jeans cancels that out a thousand times over. 

I can't work out for another week, and I am honestly thinking I don't want to go to the gym while I have an open wound for a bellybutton. Gyms are breeding grounds for every germ known to man and even if I kept it covered up, I could pick something up on my clothes or skin and infect my wound later. I think I'll just start bundling up and taking walks around the neighborhood. 

Heeeeeere we go again! 

YIPPEE FOR DRAIN REMOVAL!!!

You're brave because being that I too had a cracker and mashed potato problem I decided to not weigh until January 1st. I have not been released to exercise beyond walking and I just know the scale would bum me out... In addition I am a week late on my cycle (no I'm not pregnant) so I am for sure retaining some fluid because I am going through all the other sypmtoms of PMS!!!

I say stay off the scale and start to detox from the non nutritional carbs and you will be fine in a couple weeks.

Let's focus more on being drain free!!!

Doing the no-drain dance! We seriously need a new smiley guy having to do with drains! Anyway, I hear you on the eating thing. I'm shocked I'm not up several pounds. My late-night eating is going to be the death of me. I think the only thing that is saving me is that I'm still having some pretty significant restriction since the plastics. But carbs call to me in my sleep. I have a bag of miniature Reese's that I keep in a closet near my room for middle of the night noshing. It's almost sick. Who puts that kind of poison within reach?? Me, that's who. I definitely think there is some post-surgical physiological component that causes us to crave crap we don't need. Maybe our body's way of making sure we get the calories we need for healing. And we certainly crave that surge of feel-good hormones we get when we eat sugars just to get us through the post-operative stress and discomfort. Protein, schmotein--give me some carbs!! Okay, not helping. What I meant was, Lizzie, go purge your home of anything resembling a carb and fill it with jerky, chicken breasts, and protein drinks.

How are your bowels (no shame here on this board!!)? Any chance all that starchy carb stuff has you bound up? That'll not only get the scale moving the wrong way, but will also cause add size to your belly.

Well, I'm glad the drain is out. I'm sorry the scale and your jeans are screwing with you. Time to get rid of both and start new! LOL! It'll be gone as quickly as it came, I'm sure. I hear painful, post abdominoplasty ******s burn extra calories--just sayin'! ;)

Take care! 

You are too flippin hilarious. I wish we could be neighbors.  
Those miniature Reese's are laced with crack cocaine, I'm sure of it. Do you ever stuff yourself with something, get super full, then want to throw up just so you can eat it all over again? That's what I'm like with peanut butter and chocolate. And bread. And pasta. Ugggghhh!!!

I'm still having intermittent diarrhea, a lasting gift courtesy of the endless antibiotics, so I think my pipes are pretty clean. One more reason I should be losing weight! Curse this little fat demon sitting on my shoulder! 

And let me tell you a funny little story, I was up late one night a few weeks ago, high on pain pills, surfing the craigslist 'casual encounters' section (because hello, what else would you do, that's where all the truly weird stuff gets posted) and came across a picture of a man's torso and um... manpart... that was absolutely stunning. Totally gorgeous guy. And gorgeous ... tool. And I was like, I'm going to tell him how beautiful his tool is. So I did. I sent him an anonymous email, saying "I do not want to meet you but wanted you to know that your genitals are beautiful." He replied immediately, saying stuff like, I'm totally sane, low pressure, we should meet for coffee, I'm real and I promise I won't kill you and bury you under my floorboards, here look, I included some face shots to prove it. He did attach some additional pictures, and his face unfortunately was nowhere near as beautiful as the rest of him. He looked like a bulldog. And he sent me pictures of him posing with his KID! yeah, at his kid's birthday party. I think he thought it would put me at ease and want to meet him but it just skeezed me out completely. Not that I would have ever met anyone off craigslist anyway, because I really don't fancy being buried under anyone's floorboads and believe me it would happen.That's what you get when you listen to the voice in your pants instead of the voice in your brain! I wear 2 pairs of underwear now to muffle that voice. 

OMG Lizzie,
I'm sitting here at work literally laughing out loud!! I met my husband on line so I know where you're coming from.
PS...any guy posting pictures of his twigs and berries on line is NOT looking for a coffee date, he's looking to get laid...but then you already knew that from that muffled voice!!

Heidi

Neighbors--wouldn't that be a trip! I'm pretty sure the home owners association would file some sort of complaint for the boistrous laugther coming from our homes when we were together! And as far as the voice in your pants, it is definitely not muffled by your beautiful new vajayjay! That thing screams "LOOK AT ME!!' And you have a phenomenal figure. I am totally envious of your hips. I'm straight as a 10 year old boy. A 10 year old boy with nice tits, but a 10 year old boy nonetheless.

The craigslist stuff is funny isn't it? I love the missed connections stuff. And especially all the pissed people that rant about their interactions. And I also love that when you look at the men seeking women section (or so I've heard from my friends--I would never do that as a married woman!), they are all just  pictures of man meat. I mean really, are there lots of women out there saying, "Gosh, if I could just find a guy who puts pictures of his schlong up on craigslist, I'd be the happiest woman on earth!"?

Okay, I'm going to eat my pork loin with roasted potatoes to be chased with my new, incredibly delicious chocolate wine. I may just toss some peanut butter in their for good measure!

Cheers!

Darn Lizzy, I was wondering why you're wearing two pairs of panties in all your pics, except the nude ones of course!  Look out man world, now that your drains are all out!

 YAY for drain removal!!

I know EXACTLY what you mean about the jeans!  I wanted to put a pair on a few days ago and I had to go into my "donate" box to pull out a pair of 8's.  I normally wear a VERY comfortable size 6.  I was shocked!  I took out the measuring tape and HOLY CR@P I am 3.5" (almost 4") bigger now than I was before surgery!  DAMN swelling!!! 

I just checked out your pics.  You look so good. Congrats.

Congrats on your drain removal !! The Dr pulled mine out at 10 days because he said obviously I wasn't taking care of them. After taking them out I developed a seroma, necrosis and now have this huge open wound.

I'm here with you on the carb thing. I graze all day on crackers and chocolate or anything else sweet. Oh how I wish I dumped. I'm still eating those carbs but have been getting in some protein shakes and bars recently. I was up 6lbs after surgery and now I'm down 7 lbs. It all balances out. I really can't believe I lost weight with all the junk I'm eating. I'm sure not complaining though. Getting back on track is so hard but you can do this.