Full Liquids

I'm (officially) on FULL liquids. Crazy how that opens up all kinds of menu options when you've been mostly on clear liquids. I had some Cream of Wheat this morning with my tea. I was able to eat about 1/8 of a serving, thinned out a lot with extra milk. But it was really good.

Last night I adapted an idea from LBT and blended lowfat cottage cheese (allowed on full liquids) into a V8 roasted red pepper soup and then thinned it out a bit with some chicken stock. Result: DELICIOUS, creamy, protein-filled soup. Highly recommend it.

This morning I was awakened at 6.10 am by DS2, who in his four and a half years has virtually never wavered on his wakeup time. The kid has an unbelievable body clock, and almost always wakes up between 5.30 and 6 am, no matter when he goes to bed. As soon as he could identify numbers, we put a clock in his room and told him he couldn't come get us until SIX-OH-OH. He was a tad late this morning because he had to get dressed first.

So I've already gotten through my mug of tea and a few bites of Cream of Wheat.

Have a skinny day everyone, and good luck to Vanessa for her first day back at work!

Buh-BYE, Twenty Pounds!

It's official: I've lost 20 pounds from my highest weight at my surgical consult in October.

YAYYYYYYY!

I'm so happy about that. My clothes are a little looser, and my foot pain has gotten much, much better. My plantar fasciitis had become a real problem, I limped every time I stood up and getting out of bed in the morning was brutal. I'm thrilled it's so much better, and I'm sure it's mostly because I've lost those pounds. (BTW, I've lost 7 pounds since surgery on Monday, so most of the weight was before surgery.)

This afternoon I cleaned out my closet. All my maternity clothes are packed up and ready to donate, and all the clothes that were too beat up are in the garbage. Now I know what's in my closet - some of it fits, most of it doesn't. I am looking forward to getting back into the lovely things I've grown out of over the last several years.

My mom and husband left for Florida and San Francisco earlier today. I was sad to say goodbye. I felt so cared for and so loved when they were here taking care of me. The hubs will be back on Thursday, but I won't see my mom until April. I just hope the next time I see her she'll really be able to tell that I've lost some weight. My mom and sister are both very, very slim (neither weighs more than 110 pounds) and they have been my biggest cheerleaders. They're the BEST!

One more week of liquids...

QUESTION FOR VETERANS: What was your favorite full liquid?

Recovery Continues

I'm feeling better every day, just working on stamina now. I've focused on getting as much sleep as possible this week to keep the healing moving along. Just like Vanessa over at Dinnerland , I still have intermittent left shoulder pain, and my port incision is sore particularly when I bend over or twist in certain ways. It also tends to hurt when my baby kicks it. Go figure.

I spent a lot of time yesterday reading Sally's blog, which is a FANTASTIC resource for anyone who wants a comprehensive view of a successful lap-band experience. (Thanks Cara for pointing me there.) There are so many great blogs from people who share their experiences, and Sally's is excellent.

Reading about everyone's experiences has been an important part of my recovery from surgery. When I am sooooo tired of broth or thin soup it's great to hear about the delicious meals everyone is enjoying. It helps me remember that the liquids phase isn't forever. I love hearing that banders often don't miss the foods they don't have anymore, it's comforting when I'm craving a burger even though I'm not physically hungry.

The scale continues to move in the right direction, for which I am grateful. Sally strongly recommended daily journaling, which is sort of what I've been using this blog for. But I haven't been using the journal as a food diary, so I guess I should get moving on that.

I start full liquids tomorrow, although truth be told I've had a few in the last few days. Protein shakes are more palatable to me than the clear Isopure drinks, and the nutritionist gave me the OK on those. Last night for dinner I had V8 roasted red pepper soup that I thinned out a bit with some chicken stock.

I'm in a decent routine now - I have a mug of decaf Twinings Lady Grey tea when I wake up, followed by a protein shake an hour or so later. Lunch is some kind of soup (yesterday it was the broth from matzo ball soup at a diner with my mom and all three kids), another protein shake midafternoon and soup for dinner. Then maybe some jello, and sips of water through the day.

My mom heads back to Florida in a few hours, and the hubs leaves later this afternoon for a business trip to San Francisco. I'll have some help here but it won't be the luxuriousness I had this week. Ah well, I enjoyed it while it lasted!

Tomorrow night I'm going to the hospital's bariatric support group. Hoping it'll be helpful, I'll let you know.

QUESTION FOR VETERANS: What was your favorite full liquid? And does Cream of Wheat count? I emailed my nutritionist but haven't heard back yet.

Hope you're all well!

I WANT A PIECE OF TOAST.

That is all.

Veteran Bandsters, What Can't You Eat?

As I mentally review the meals I routinely make for dinner, I'm wondering which ones I'll have to take out of the rotation. Salad? Risotto? Which meats do you have trouble with, or not?

I can't have regular solids till Feb. 1st, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm thinking about this now. Maybe it's because I can't have solids till Feb. 1st!

As far as recovery, I find that I'm tiring very easily. I did two errands today and needed an hour-long nap when I got home. My left-shoulder pain seems to come back anytime I'm active - showering and getting dressed, doing errands, carrying the baby. I'm hoping it dissipates soon, but I seem to remember Catherine saying her pain came back intermittently for a few months at least. And I only have three Toradol left! AHHH.

The nutritionist told me if clear liquids were driving me nuts I could go to full, thin liquids. So for lunch today I thinned out some potato leek soup with chicken stock and it was delicious! So far, I've had a cup of decaf tea in the morning, a protein shake, some water, about 1/2 c. of thinned soup and am now on my second (and final) protein shake of the day. Some kind of thinned soup for dinner tonight, I'm sure.

It's funny, even though I've lost 16.5 pounds since my surgery consult in October, my jeans aren't loose at my waist. In the legs and butt (hallelujah for that, my butt is ginormous) they're bigger but not the waist. I guess I'm still swollen in the abdomen from my surgery? Ah well, all in good time.

I haven't taken formal "before" pictures yet, so I'll be doing that tonight. Not sure when I'll have the courage to post them, though.

And I have 23 followers now! That just makes me grin. Thanks for joining me on this crazy journey.

Day 3 Post-Op: Feeling Better

GOOD MORNING, BLOGGERS!! And blog readers, of course. ;)

Things seem to be normalizing here; I slept pretty well without waking up for pain medication. My sons were up at 5.30 am (whaaa???) but I stayed in bed and let my husband handle that, bless him. I felt well enough to put my baby to bed last night, which is a milestone since she weighs 18 pounds and getting her into and out of the crib requires me to bend over the rail.

My mom is leaving in a couple days, which is sad because we've all so enjoyed having her here. I'm getting lots of rest and sleep now because next week I fly solo with the household and kids, school pickups and dropoffs and making dinners, etc. I'm desperately banking my sleep!

I ended up having a shake yesterday (with permission from my surgeon's nutritionist), which bumped my protein intake up and freed me from the dreaded Isopure drinks. Last night I strained a can of Campbell's French Onion soup and had about 1/3 c. for dinner (while everyone else at the table tucked into pasta, meatballs, garlic bread and salad).

Today I'm planning to go out and tackle some errands. Oh, but before that I'm going to weigh in. I'm trying to be all Zen about this, but frankly my dear if I don't lose some el-bees during this hellish clear liquids phase, someone's got some 'splaining to do.

**UPDATE**
Scale says I've lost 3.5 pounds since morning of the surgery, for a total of 16.5 pounds down since my surgery consult in early October. Still a long way to go, but ... YAYYYYY!

A Reprieve!

The nutritionist tells me I can add protein shakes and milk to the clear liquid diet, which makes me feel a lot better. Now I can get some protein in from something other than the super-sweet Isopure drinks. I bought a shake mix that has 24 grams of protein in one scoop, plus the 8 grams in the cup of skim milk I mixed it with. That will make getting enough protein much easier.

I walked at the mall (too cold and icy to walk outside here) for about an hour this morning. It was nice to be out and about again, and I think getting back to my usual routine will help put the dietary restrictions out of my mind a bit.

My husband is going to be out of town all next week, so I am hiring a high school student to come help out for the crazed dinner/homework/cleanup/bedtime/fussy baby part of the day. It's a relief to know I won't be flying solo for that.

I hope you're all staying warm!

Clear Liquids for a Week?

Greetings from the land of hunger headaches and growling tummies!

I really did resolve not to whine about this surgery, since I'm the one who got myself into this mess. I never thought this would be a piece of cake (ha), but my doctor requires a week of clear liquids after the surgery, which seems like cruel and unusual punishment. According to his schedule, no full liquids for me until Monday, Jan. 11th.

On Tuesday I took in three low-carb Isopure drinks (total 45g protein, 180 calories), some sugar-free Jell-O, about 1/4 c. of broth from miso soup, sips of water and pain medication. I have a horrendous hunger headache that the medicine isn't touching and can't sleep because of it.

Is this normal?

Free Food!

Well, this is kind of funny. I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, but last night we had groceries delivered. It wasn't until we were unloading everything that my husband asked me why I ordered so much meat and we realized we'd gotten an extra couple of grocery bags. I guess the delivery guy got confused. I called Peapod and the customer service rep said we should keep it - a pot roast, chicken, hamburger meat, roast beef deli meat and American cheese, tortillas, organic eggs and organic milk.

How's that for ironic? I'm sitting here sipping protein drinks and Jell-O as our fridge is bursting with food.

My mom is using the chicken tonight for a stir fry and we are distributing the rest of the meat among family and friends.

Timing is everything.

Big Gulps

I set my alarm for 1.45 am to take my pain medicine overnight, and without thinking took a big gulp of water with it. As soon as I swallowed I realized what I had done, and oh my goodness was I nervous everything including the pill would come shooting back out.

It didn't, but I could hear and feel the glug-glug-glug of it gradually going through the pouch. And then I thought oh my god, what the hell have I done? I can't even take a big sip of water! This is crazy.

I know this feeling is fairly normal and I'm trying to stay positive and remember that I will feel normal again and I will be able to eat meals with my family and drink a whole glass of water at one sitting at some point. But for now it feels so strange. And I'm not loving it.

I also am a lot more sore today, which is to be expected since I don't have the benefit of the anesthesia and IV morphine that I had yesterday. The second day after surgery is usually the worst for me, so I will stay on top of the meds today, make sure I get as much of that godawful Isopure as I need to keep protein levels up, walk and take a nap later. And hope the day passes as quickly as possible.

I'll also try to remember all the positives: My mom and sister are here handling the household and children, my husband has been in and out whenever I need him and I got a good night's sleep last night. Oh, and I am finally banded! So the journey begins toward a healthier life.