And then it was surgery day...

First let me say, I admire all of you ladies who diligently update your blogs, inspiring those like me!  My surgery was Monday (Jan 31st) and I'm JUST NOW getting a chance to sit down and give a status update!  Kudos to you all!

And it was surgery day...I was surprisingly calm considering what I was about to endure.  I did have a slight meltdown the day before.  Being a single mother of two, you can't help but have a fear that something might happen that would take you away from your precious babies!  Luckily the meltdown was short lived!  As far as the surgery goes, everything went as smooth as I could have hoped for.  Going into it, I had hoped to lose 13 lbs on my 2 week liquid diet, but ended up only losing 8 (according to my scales).  HOWEVER, there was a 5 lb difference between my scale and the one at the hospital.  I was so happy that I think I skipped to the room they were going to prep me in!

All of the staff in CMC-Mercy (Charlotte, NC) was wonderful.  It didn't take long for them to get me ready and everyone seemed so supportive of the surgery.  I can't remember if I've posted this before, but I had dual surgeries - an ovary removed as well as the lap band.  I was a little nervous about doing them together, but I got opinions from anyone and everyone that had MD following their name and they all agreed that it was better to do it together than have back to back surgeries.  The procedure to remove the ovary was performed before the lap band.

I remember very little about the operating room.  The surgical nurse told me in the prep room that she had some medicine that would relax me and block any memory I had.  I have to say it worked!  I remember being wheeled in there - still as calm as I could be.  I recall moving over to the operating table and putting my arms out to the side.  I looked up and thought "what a pretty light that is...." and then there is nothing after that until they woke me up.  Recovery was actually harder than the surgical part.  It took a LONG time for my bladder to start working.  My family kidded me that it took 2 hours to do 2 surgeries, but 4.5 hours for me to pee!  They ended up giving me lasix to "help" things along.  It didn't take long after that.  Problem was...I couldn't make it the 45 minutes home without stopping somewhere to pee.  I'm actually sort of glad they gave the lasix because I think it helped me get rid of the excess fluid faster.

I had read on other blogs that I shouldn't check my weight when I came home because I would weigh more with all of the fluids they pumped in, but I just couldn't resist.  So I'm here to say...they all were right.  I weighed 10 lbs more.  Its a little depressing even though I knew it was temporary.  So take it from me...just don't even look!

Okay...now on to recovery.  I've been a little confused (concerned) that maybe I was misunderstanding my post op diet.  The diet I was given is clear liquids on the day of surgery, full liquids day 1 to 3, puree/soft diet for 2 weeks.  All of the banded bloggers talk about another 2 weeks of liquid diet.  I'm thrilled that I don't have to do that, but it just seems odd that the diet can differ so drastically between doctors.  I was nervous eating yesterday, but the egg salad I had went down fine and it tasted soo good!

Pain control....there definitely is pain involved, but its been very tolerable.  My stomach feels like I overworked my abs doing sit ups.  It hurts to stand up or roll over, but again nothing I couldn't manage.  Gas has been an issue, but luckily I was prepared for it.  Had I not been, I probably would have called 911 because the pain was in my chest, neck and across my back - just like heart attack symptoms for women, per Dr. Oz!  Luckily, I had my gas-ex strips and they really did help.  Moving around also helped....A LOT.

What am I eating....well, that's been tough.  I'm not the primary cook in my household and I've never been creative when it comes to food.  On post op day 2 thru 3, I just stuck to the standard soups.  I will admit that I've not done very well getting the protein in, but its improving now that I'm on mushies.  The mushy stage has been egg and chicken salad, scrambled eggs, grits and salmon patties.  I'm trying my best to make them healthier.  I used lite mayo for the salads and used FiberOne cereal instead of crackers to make the salmon patties.  Oh...and I took a few potatoes from my potato soup and mixed it with some Greek yogurt.  It tasted like a baked potato with sour cream.  So far, I haven't had any problems eating.  Just keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to be that way.  I do hope I can get a little more creative with my food as I move forward.

All in all it has been a great experience.  I have a hard time believing its done.  Everyone at the hospital kept congratulating me on my "new life".  Its really exciting to think about what the future holds.  I turn 40 this year so I'm really hoping to make the next 40 better than the first!

Sorry this was so long, but I felt like I needed to talk about all of this in one posting.  I'll work on being more timely with my posts.