Woman's WLS Journey

Sunday 9th July 2017 8 weeks and a few days post op. Life post op is getting easier all the time as my brain gets used to the dietary changes. It's not just the dietary intake that changes though, it's the portion sizes, hormonal changes, habits, changing your attitude to food and exercise, feeling the cold more. I used to place a lot of importance on exercise, too much. My appetite was running so red hot all the time I thought that I needed to exercise to counteract all that I was eating. I wasn't looking at what food I was putting into my mouth in the first place. But I wasn't looking at what I was putting into my mouth in the first place because I was feeling so tired and stressed out by life all the time I just wanted to eat for comfort. It became a vicious cycle. A good friend of mine once commented that she had noticed I had put on a significant amount of weight around the time that I first moved to Kew. There were a lot of changes for me around that ti...

Sunday 18th June 2017 I attended another social event today. This will make it the fourth social event that I have attended since my surgery. I attended one of them while I was still in the fluid stage. My friend was hosting a BBQ at home and was preparing all this nice food to eat. Still being in the fluid stage I couldn't eat anything and I sipped on my protein drink and an orange juice. It was a weird feeling not been able to eat anything, plus I was feeling very tired since I had only had the surgery almost a week ago at that stage. I was eyeing off the bread and meat a lot wishing that I could eat it. It was a bit difficult being there. I attended my nephews 4th birthday while I was in the puree stage. I remember drinking a lot of protein drinks that day and eyeing off the food. Again I couldn't eat anything on offer there but I had brought with me a small container of pureed pumpkin soup to have for dinner later that day. My friends birthday in 5 degree weath...

Monday 12th June 2017 There are some things re: WLS that I am still adjusting too. For the first few weeks post surgery I was still drinking water with my meals out of habit. In the puree stage I was taking sips of water between ingesting teaspoons of pureed foods. Now that I'm on soft foods I'm getting myself into the habit of either drinking or eating, not both at the same time. When I'm eating I set aside my water and when I have finished eating I try to wait 20-30 minutes before drinking again as per instructions. It takes a while for the body/brain to establish different eating/drinking habits. Pre surgery I would drink water anytime I wanted and not have to worry about it - now it's different. I know that I am still drinking enough as I still have to wake up at 2am to visit the loo. For the first 2 weeks post op I didn't wake up to go to the loo at 2am because I wasn't able to drink enough. There are other things to get used to. I went out to a...

Saturday 10th June 2017 I'm now 3 weeks and 2 days post op. I started on soft foods 2 days ago - I feel like time is going by really fast. I read online about other people's accounts of their post op food stages and some people's stages last a lot longer than mine. I assume that is because they got the bypass, not the sleeve and also because different surgeons prescribe different diets to their patients. This is my food stage schedule: Bariatric free fluids = for one week (Wk 1) Puree foods = for 2 weeks (Wk 2 & 3) Soft foods = for one week (Wk 4) Normal foods = from week 5 on wards. I've coped well with each progressive food stage. Some people have trouble tolerating fluids and food post surgery. Thank goodness my mum came with me to my last surgeons appointment pre surgery as she convinced my surgeon that the gastric sleeve would be better for me then the gastric bypass. Because my ovaries don't function I take the pill every day as a form of H...

Tuesday 5th June 2017 I am 12 days post op today. And as of now I am a regular fit bit wearer. I was discharged from the hospital early - I stayed 2 nights there. I was happy to go home because I knew that I would sleep much better at home with my own pillows and less light and noise disrupting my sleep at night time. And I was so right about that one. They took the IV out a few hours before I left the hospital and my hand had swollen up to double it's size, it looked freaky. I got my stomach staples removed last week. I only felt a slight twinge as the first one came out and the rest were painless. I have 6 incision sites. I see the dietitian in a couple of weeks. I cooked spaghetti bologna for dinner today from the gastric surgery cook book. Tomorrow I will make potato and leek soup. I have to puree all of my meals but it's great to be eating/chewing food again after a week on fluids. I was feeling pretty weak living on fluids for that first week, weak but not ...

Friday 19th May 2017 24 hours post surgery. I originally thought that my surgery was going to be on the 8th May, but it was down in the books for the 18th. This meant that I had an extra 10 days on the Optifast diet. I did sway a bit on the diet only because, (only because...just a flimsy excuse), I had developed a nasty head cold and chest infection 9 days before my surgery date. I'm still coughing up a bit of gunk now but my head feels clear now. I was starting to feel better 3 days before the surgery and I had a word to the anaesthetist before surgery and he asked me a few questions about my symptoms. Sometimes people who are sick can't proceed with their surgery but the anaesthetist seemed happy to proceed with my surgery. So how have I fared in the last 24 hours? I had a bit of nausea and vomiting in the first 12 hours after surgery that lasted late into the night. Then this morning I had another bout of nausea but I didn't throw up - I like to think that I ...