almost 3 weeks post op

Nov 10, 2011

The last two weeks have been interesting and honestly, kinda easy. Now I'm not going to boast or brag, because I dont want to end up jinxing it. But here's how it's been.
I came home from staying a few nights at my moms. It felt great to be home. I wasnt so worried about being home alone when my daughter was at school or at practice. I knew that many people were just a phone call away, and live very close.
I stuck to my liquid diet. Getting in 64oz of water is more difficult than I thought it'd be. I used to do that all the time. But when you have to sip, it's not so easy. I was also trying to get in the 60-80gms of protein, but that was difficult also.
Everything I "ate" seemed to be tolerated well by my new pouch. So that was good. I looked forward to my vitamin twice a day because it was something i could chew. Although, I did notice something, my sense of smell has gone crazy! It's super sensitive.  If I had jello or yogurt and put my cup on the table next to me after finishing it, with in 10 minutes the sweet smell seemed obnoxious! It was very offputting. Same with left over soups... the aftertaste and the smell of it when I am done is just.... ick. Not making me nauseous, just eww.

At about week 2, I started feeling a little pain behind one of my incision sites, kinda like a pulled muscle when I'd lean forward, sideways, or use my stomach muscles for any reason. But then I felt a hard bump behind it. It would hurt to the touch.  Kinda like a hot poker type of feeling... it'd burn like crazy! But it wasnt anything a couple tylenol wouldnt take care of.  I decided to call the surgeons office to make sure it wasnt something I need to be worried about it.   They decided to have me come in and take a peek at it.  My worst fear was that it was a hernia. But I was thinking of a pulled muscle.  The nurse practitioner said it felt like a hematoma or a blood clot to her, but since it was so painful to the touch, she went and asked the surgeon.  He said he'd be more than happy to come in and numb it and open it up a little to see if anything drained from it or we could wait to see if it got better.  I opted to wait. I have my official post op appointment on Monday the 14th.  
Then I asked the nurse if I could PLEASE be allowed to have more foods, because the soups were getting to be too much.  She did say that I could have refried beans and cheese with salsa, canned chicken or tuna with fat free mayo and stuff like that, but that Dr O'Rourke is very strict, that I need to take it slow. Only two or three bites every hour or two. That he doesnt want me to have a "full meal" and get full since my pouch is still healing. Just to try one thing at a time and see how it goes. And to make sure I chew it to smithereens, so much that it feels like it'd go thru a straw before I swallow it.   I was so excited, I went straight to the store to get fat free refried beans and light laughing cow cheese.  I thinned out the refried beans a little with some chicken broth, added 2 tsp of salsa, 1 wedge of lgiht laughing cow cheese and nuked it for a minute or two.  I was in heaven! It was so good! and my pouch didnt complain one bit!   I heated and reheated those beans until they were gone.  It took me 2 days to do it, but yum!

Yesterday I got a pouch of chunk light albacore tuna and finally found fat free mayo at the 3rd store I went to. I realized it wasnt going to be the tasty tuna salad I am used to. I couldnt find sugar free relish, only sugar free bread and butter pickles. But I havent been released to have those yet, so I didnt buy them. Then I saw the powdered ranch dip mixes. They're fat free and sugar free, and I'd only be using less than a half tsp of it, so I got a couple different flavors of it to add to the mayo to give it some extra flavor. It was quite good. I chewed and chewed and chewed that tuna and had no complaints from my pouch with that either.
I'm working up the nerve to try cottage cheese. I think it'll be just fine.
oh, and last night I made up some sugar free fat free butterscotch pudding. But instead of fat free milk, I used fat free half and half. It gave it a thicker texture, like store bought pudding with out the extra fat. I could have went crazy, but after a few bites, my pouch said "better stop" cause it wasnt flowing thru like the soups and well chewed beans and tuna.  So I stopped and wondered how I forgot for so many years how much I love butterscotch pudding ! LOL 

I also ordered some Click espresso protein powder on Amazon.  It's quite good.  Only 14 gms of protein in 2 scoops and you only need to add water to it. But I tried making it with mostly water and adding a little fat free half and half. That made it perfect. And it added 5 more grams of protein, so I'm happy with having my coffee and getting 20gms of protein for breakfast.

I think the worst part of all this is... the head hunger and missing the actual act of eating, like the chewing and the tastes and textures and variety. The tv commercials are bad, but not as bad as smelling the food my daughter makes for herself, like grilled cheese sandwiches... and my mom making the rest of the family homemade mac and cheese.  Oh and last night I cooked up some taco seasoned chicken for my daughter so she could have chicken tacos... I was ok until I saw her taking a bite of her taco. Hearing the crunch of the taco shell, seeing the shredded cheese and salsa and the dollop of sour cream on top.  I suppose I could puree some chicken, salsa, cheese, beans and sour cream to get the flavors, but it's not the same as eating the taco itself.  Makes my mouth water just thinking of it. But I know, I'll be able to eat "normal" again soon.  A friend told me that before I know it, this will all seem so insignificant and just a short amount of time, while I heal.
So I'm keeping my frame of mind straight on what I can have and not on what I cant.   With Thanksgiving coming up, Thats exactly how I'm thinking of it.  I know I will be able to have some moist turkey breast with fat free gravy and a bite or two of mashed potatoes, and we're going to make some sugar free desserts that I know I will be able to have too. I'm not thinking about what I cant have and being excited about what I can... and thats NOT soup! LOL

Well, time to take my vitamins and see about some tuna or cottage cheese for lunch.  I'll update after I see the surgeon and nutritionist on Monday.

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