Lessons learned...

     So,  I am now 19 days post-op, and as of this morning I am 28.3 pounds down since surgery (62 pounds down since starting this journey last July). I have learned a few things over the last few weeks.

As I had mentioned in my last post I had graduated to a new diet phase consisting of one ounce every 2 hours of  5 'real' foods, those being re-fried beans, nonfat yogurt (preferably Greek), low fat or non fat cottage cheese, egg whites or egg beaters, and pudding, I am also drinking an ounce an hour of protein shake and 64 ounces a day of water.  I had mentioned how my first bite of re-fried beans was an amazing experience since it had been about 2 weeks without food.  My opinion of re-fried beans has definitely changed over the last 10 days and I am nearing the point of never wanting to eat them again (same for the rest of the five foods).

I have however found that four of the five foods  can be combined in some decent ways.  I went and bought a small 3" frying pan and have become fairly adept at making really small omelets, which are pretty good when you add a little bit of re-fried beans or cottage cheese.  have also found re-fried beans with a little bit of cottage cheese or plain Greek yogurt is pretty good. I haven't really tried combining the pudding with anything else just doesn't sound pleasant.

I found out pretty quick that even with the small quantity I feel full really quick, to the point that I have to wait a few minutes after eating to drink anything or I start feeling sick and bloated.

Yesterday I decided to try an experiment.  We brought home a small box of a strawberry protein shake from the hospital. It was slightly thicker than milk and not very high in protein so I decided to add some vanilla protein powder to it to supercharge it.  While it tasted really good it turned out really thick, sort of like cake batter and when I drank it it just got sort of stuck in my pouch and took about 20 minutes for it to finally drain.  I was miserable, it hurt a little but more than that it was a constant bloated feeling and some stomach cramping.  I will not be doing that again, ever.

I still have one tube stuck in me (and am really sick of it) but I have an appointment Wednesday and it will be pulled then.  I will also be moving on to the next phase of the diet where I can eat more soft food and puree some harder food to make it edible.  I also get to increase to 2 ounces assuming I don't feel full first.

I know most of of this post has been on the negative side but the truth is I am doing great and am really happy with my decision. My incisions are healing nicely,  I am hardly ever in any pain.  I am also NEVER hungry, even with the small amount I am eating.  One interesting change that has happened is that my body is metabolizing so much less food and generating so much less energy that I am frequently cold but I can always cover up more. I have done some research and this is actually normal after this surgery and while my food intake will increase some causing me to burn more calories and generate more heat I am also losing a really great insulator as I loose weight so. I am thinking we are gonna have to start keeping the house a little warmer now but that is ok because we were going to have to do that anyway with Evren coming in May.

Speaking of Evren, We had an appointment for him yesterday and he seems to be doing great, all the measurements seem to be spot on and his heart rate is absolutely dead center average for how far along he is.  April on the other hand has developed Bursitis in both of her hips and is in quite a bit of pain, but she is seeing a physical and massage therapist and it is getting slowly better.

So, I have hit the next 20 pound milestone so as promised I have posted some new pictures showing my progress.  I also did a side by side closeup of my face just since surgery two and a half weeks ago, I think the change is pretty dramatic.  It occurs to me I never put any other recent pictures from Evren's last ultrasound so I will throw a couple of those out there as well.

As always thanks again for reading and checking out the pictures, I hope you like them.  Once again of course thanks for the thoughts and especially for all the prayers.