keep on truckin'

Dec 11, 2010

Well tomorrow marks a week since I had RNY. Still keepin' on! :)

I have learned a few things in the first few days.....

My pouch will probably always wake me up early in the morning to let me know I haven't had a sip of water in a few hours. It gets cranky with me. So, I get up...take a bathroom break....sip on some water and take my nexium pill for the day. Then.....relief....and all is quiet on the tummy front. It's like I build up stomach acid when I sleep for several hours without drinking anything. If I take my med after sipping on some liquid, I'm good until the next day at 4 a.m.  :o)

When I gulp air, or swallow too much liquid at once, I'm gonna feel pressure and a weird sensation at the top right of my chest. Every time. That's my pouch saying "HEY, that was too damn much at once, and watch that air woman!" Then almost exactly 10 seconds after that sensation, I'm gonna burp like crazy. Sometimes when I don't feel that I've swallowed any air, I burp like crazy. I'm just thankful my pouch sends me the air back, and doesn't make me throw up. lol. I will accept the bad table manners on my part, plus nod and smile at my husband's giggles about my affliction......I can handle burping. :) It makes my 6 year old smile. :) 

New foods need to be tried one at a time because sometime what seems like a good choice is going to 1. taste like caca or 2. just not sit right.  Egg drop soup is one of my favorite things, and I had a family member bring me some home. :)  I can't stand the smell of the stuff direct from the container. The strong egg smell is horrible for me now. But, if I mix it with some chicken broth and hold my breath while pouring it into the bowl......it tastes awesome! I have to eat slowly since it does have bits of egg in it, but a few spoonfuls are a good tummy filler.  Then I tried mixing some sugar free pudding mix in with some plain yogurt and a bit of sweetner......it was GROSS. The pudding powder to me has a nasty fake sweetner aftertaste and the plain yogurt just tasted like gack.  So.....tummy votes NO on chocolate sf pudding and plain yogurt is nasty. I will wait a day and then try some sugar free fruit flavored yogurt and see what my tummy thinks of that. I'm definitely sticking with the Jello premade sugar free pudding from now on. The powdered stuff just tastes incredibly fake. ugh. 

I had two very small bites of mashed potato last night. I was just so sick of soup, so I watered the potatoes down a bit with a small amount of low fat gravy and tried a bite or two. My stomach is still satisfied several hours later. when I eat soup, I can easily eat 1/2 a cup or more and still want to drink water. With potatoes, I had maybe 2 teaspoons and I had no urge to take in anything else at all. Done. Full. Finished. And at 4 a.m. when I woke up, I still had no urge to eat anything. I was thirsty, but no urge for food at all. So.....I see that semi-solid or pureed foods give my pouch a different reaction than soup or more liquid foods. And the full sensation is totally different. I could tell at 2 half-bites to STOP.....there is no mistaking FULL with a pouch.  And this also shows me why you don't mix solid foods with liquid at meals. Without drinking water, two bites of potatoes was enough to satisfy me for HOURS. If I had drank with my meal, I imagine my food would have washed down just like my soup does, and I would have wanted to eat more, and I definitely wouldn't have woken up at 4 a.m. without needing to eat anything.  So, I'm going to stick with  my dr's directions and not drink anything with meals. There is a reason for it....and I've had a pouch-moment showing me what that reason is. For the sake of my weight loss results, I'm going to follow directions and do what I've been told to do. 

Which brings me to the fact that I have discovered on a public message board, the block function is necessary. I'm a recovered food addict. I know what my triggers are, and I know that I have to avoid situations and people that start poking, or making me think about those triggers. So.....I've blocked some people. It's not because I have a problem with them personally at all......it's because what they have to say, or their opinions, are just not what I need to be hearing to stay on track with my weight loss journey....or because I just have no personal interest in what they are saying. I've got 250 pounds to lose over the span of 2-3 years. I have to toe the line and stay focused. So those who pretty much do what they want and say they don't follow their surgeon's directions, or don't go to follow up appointments.....I'm probably going to block them so I don't even see their posts. What isn't common sense to me, might be awesome for someone else....I'm not saying their posts have no value at all. They just have no value to ME. And those who post stuff just purposefully to fan the flames of dissention on the board.....oh yeah....blocked baby! lol But most of the time, I believe those are people who just want attention and they will get it any way they can, even if it means posting things they know are going to cause a few individuals to go into attack mode. I'm equally annoyed by the whiner and the attackers. Come on -- don't feed the trolls. lol. All public message boards are pretty much like this.....this one just focuses on WLS, and those with weight problems come with their own particular brand of drama/whining/hang-ups. I know -- I AM one! 

So far, no real complications....just some minor things.

Having the same problem on the post-op liquids as I did on the pre-op liquids. I can't #2 on a liquid diet. So, I took miralax last night. hopefully that helps. And those 2 bites of mashed potato I put in there....maybe that will help. I can't wait to go on pureed foods....then I can put some fiber in there like beans and broccoli and see if that gets things moving appropriately. 

I have to make sure that I drink water/crystal light pretty much constantly. If I don't get in enough liquids during the day, I start to drag and get really tired. Plus, it makes me feel sick. So......I always cart around my 19 oz cup I got from the hospital. Even to church and I sip, sip, sip pretty much all day. It takes me HOURS to empty that cup...whereas before surgery I would have downed it in 20 minutes or less. I have to remain mindful of my fluids or I pay for it!!!

I have to avoid doing too much. When my body tells me it's time for a nap, I need to have some down time, or I will be taking my liquid pain medication. Gotta listen to the body, and do what it says!! I can handle outings for about an hour or so....any longer than that, and I'm dying. I need to relax and give things time to heal, or my body is going to let me know I'm out of line.

Other than that....smooth sailing so far. Hope it stays that way! But if it doesn't, I will handle problems as they arise.

I have not stepped on the scale since I came home from the hospital. I came home with one arm swollen from IV fluids.....and I just knew stepping on the scale would be a mistake. I think I'll wait until my checkup apppointment to see what my weight is. I don't want to become scale obsessed....or upset if it doesn't show some miraculous number right off the bat.

TTFN!! :)

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