The Real Test To Begin

There would have been nothing much to report this week, but for a bug that took me out on Wednesday, 9/20.  It brought me chills, a low grade temperature and kept me in bed through 5pm.  It continued to sap my energy through Thursday.  I tested negative for COVID.  On Friday and through the weekend, I had jolts of energy that would wane by the pm. 

I had my first visit to a restaurant, where I ordered from the children's menu, with no shame.  I was able to get two portions from that one  plate.  I will be saving food $$$ during this journey.

Tomorrow, 9/26 I will transition to “normal,” my new normal that is.  I will be bringing back foods I haven’t eaten in six weeks, including fruits and vegetables.  The goal is to bring them back slowly, with intention, remembering the size of my new stomach, where I can hurt myself by what I eat and the quantity.  I have to continue to chew my foods and not bite and swallow, which was my practice of old.  I must drink fluids a half hour after each meal.  

It will all be a challenge, but I am up to it.  

             Before and after photos below show how well my scars are healing

 

Intention

 The good news is that I am down 17 pounds, having weighed in at the hospital, one month after surgery on Thursday, September 14th.

I sabotage my healing, not intentionally, but intentionally because if I were more intentional, I would not have painful episodes.  Take for instance, that same Thursday, the 14th. I attended my first event where I will have lunch and in my mind, I will have the usual hotel fare - chicken.  But it wasn't that kind of meal.  Instead we had offerings of pinwheel sandwiches, turkey and beef.  I don’t eat turkey, so without thinking I choose the beef, unwrapping the pin wheel and eating just the roast beef.  That was insanity!  I am only allowed soft meats and no matter how thin that beef was and how I chewed each bite 20 plus times, it went down as saw dust, with sprinkling of splinters.  

Did I have choices?  Yes.  I could have ordered in, could have gone to the bar and ordered a meal from there.  I could have left to find food elsewhere.  Not eating was not an option.  I have been down that road before, but it would have been a better option than the beef.

Now even if I had reached the next phase where I reintroduce foods I have not eaten in a while, I have been warned that beef should be the last thing to be brought back.  That beef tore up my stomach that day, the evening into the next morning!  Friday evening, my stomach started to spasm.  I have talked about agony in prior posts, however, nothing compared to this.  I told my daughter, who was visiting, that if the pain and spasm didn’t subside in a half hour (this is after two hours) she would have to take me to the emergency room.  Somehow my bowels almost always hear my desperate cries, because shortly after, I received relief, not as a sonic boom this time, but like a water burst.

I am on a mission to being kind to myself, by intention.  

And still I have no regrets!

I have changed up the dress for comparison going forward.  This dress is an XL, imagine that!  It looks like it fits, but pay attention to the side view and pocket.  It will be a true fit when the pockets no longer show.

45 Years Ago Today

Today, I am taking a break from my bariatric journey to celebrate my daughter.

 

I Survived Phase 2

For those of you reading my story who may be considering weight loss surgery, please remember that this is my story.  Yours may be different.  

After my last post, things went downhill.  I thought my body would process the lactose-free protein drink as it did before surgery.  Wrong!  My stomach and the whole body cavity went into a spiral spin, with the milk coagulating in my bottom belly (my assessment) and the gas working its way aroung the top lining and making the top body cavity so sore.  I was in agony.  So what do I do??!!  Go back to sipping on clear fluids.  No protein!  No nutrients! And I got weak and lethargic, along with everything else.  I had to add meat protein:  mashed up tuna, eggs, chicken, salmon and take multivitamins and B12 to regain my strength.  Jamaican chicken soup became my gas saviour,  moving the gas around and giving me the bowel movement I needed, a sonic boon.  TMI, you say.  You can't read me if you don't want the truth, nothing but the truth... LOL  

My pea, literally pea-sized stomach can only hold 3 ounces of food.  I have been good about it, with the exception of this one day, I drank my non dairy protein shake which I had thickened with avocado and fruit, and had more than the stomach could hold.  I had the most excruciating pain and nausea, and each time there was peristalsis (opening and closing of the digestive tract, one of the only things I remember in biology), it got worse.  It was almost like labor pain.  It solidified to me that 3 ounce is 3 ounce.

I survived Phase 2 and am now on to Phase 3, Soft Foods, for which I have had practice in Phase 2.  I expect it to be the homestretch to my new normal, for which I am ready.

I am off my blood pressure medication and have no backache.  

Though Phase 2 tried me, it didn't knock me out.  I am still here with:

No Regrets!

Photos from the past two weeks show that I am getting a waist line and my hip and stomach are slimming some.  You may have noticed I have not posted my weight loss.  On Thursday, a month since my surgery, I will weigh-in at the hospital and post my before and after weight. 

Phase 2

This phase started out as problematic.  It calls for a high protein intake, with 90% of the recommended foods being dairy and beans, both for which I have a high intolerance.  My race, ethnicity and age came into play. 

“Lactose intolerance is most common in people of African, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian descent.”  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lactose-intolerance/symptoms-causes/syc-20374232

“Approximately 75 percent of the African-American population is lactose intolerant..”  https://blackdoctor.org/african-americans-lactose-intolerance/

I am at the top of that 75%. 

I don’t have the statistics for older people and intolerance for beans, but I have stories going way back to my childhood to present, where seniors describe flatulence and bloating caused by the intake of beans. It is also my story. There are many ways to remove the gas from beans, however, for me, I have a higher than usual intolerance, even when these methods are used. 

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/degassing-beans/#:~:text=This%20is%20by%20far%20the,and%20rinsing%20every%20three%20hours.

My protein shake is lactose-free, however, used in combination (not together, but during the day) with other dairy products, yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, was too much.  I think I am not just lactose intolerant, I am dairy intolerant. I didn’t dare add beans.  

Thursday through Saturday, I had my worst days yet, suffering through the discomfort of bloating, heaviness, gas pain, low energy and a general feeling of malaise.  Friday evening through Saturday, I decided to stop the dairy and cleanse my system by going back to fluids.  By Saturday evening, I received relief and enjoyed my best day since surgery, even going to a reggae concert and standing and rocking to the music.  

I decided to take things into my own hands.  I puréed fish and chicken separately with broth and while the taste was good, the look was insipid and the smell too strong that they made me nauseous.  I eat with my senses, so this option does not work for me.  

I have introduced avocado.  I rationalized that the reason given was that avocado was too heavy, I could make it lighter than the yogurt on the list.  I  also brought back the lactose-free protein drink as the only dairy I will have.  (The only non dairy milk on my approved food list is soy.  For someone bean intolerant, soy milk does not work). The avocado and protein drink make a delicious combination (2 ounces protein drink and 1/4 avocado give the 3 ounces I am allowed per meal).   

I have eight more days to go on puréed foods and know that I cannot be sustained by avocado alone, so today, I am going to cook and crush salmon down to pate-like and try that.  I am researching other foods to give me the 60 grams of protein I need daily.  Next up for me will be a booklet/insert on what to include in foods for the lactose, dairy and bean intolerant and/or The Black Guide to Bariatric Surgery and The Old Fart Guide to Bariatric Surgery, which will have one entry, "No Beans."

This experience was not supposed to be a walk in the park.  I stubbed my toe, fell on this walk, got up and kept moving… 

With no regrets.

I have been looking at the belly and butt as measurements, but I have to remember that I am bloated. I look wider because of the closeness of the after photos.  The butt has fallen, and the bump in the middle that contributed to my lower back pain is gone.  The weight loss is showing more in the profile.  Notice the arms and face.  

The shrinking face