What a rollercoaster! Ups and downs since I came home, but mainly getting better every day. Given this I am hopeful next 10 days will bring me to a stage where I'll be confident to go back to work (albeit a desk job working from home) without major issues/tireness!
Just a little recap here first... When I started this blog was the end of August and I was 134kg. I tried to eat more healthy and when I started the LRD diet I was 129. The day of the surgery I was 125kg, and now I'm 122kg. I cannot complain at all.
The first few days
The pain was really strong the first few days, I was given first paracetamol via IV, then Oxicontin in the Clinic. I was sent home with 4 tablets of Oxicontin to take twice a day, and advised to continue on soluble paracetamol until the pain subsided, which happened yesterday - first day without painkillers.
For the first few days at home I was eating almost nothing: the limit I was given for the first week was 3 tablespoon of puree lunch and dinner, but was eating way less than that. Plus I could not tolerate puree chicken, nor tuna, and resorted to lentils and vegetable soup and beans soup (recipe below in case you're going through this yourself and want to have an idea of what may work for you).
I had a soy milk protein shake for two days, which gave me 25gr protein each portion, but then could not stomach that either any longer.
The following couple of days
I tried a soy milk latte with 1 teaspoon of coffee and half a small tablet of sweetener, but it gave me dumping almost immediately ("dumping" is a bariatric term that refers to the feeling of strong nausea, feeling bloated, and diarreha) - I'm not sure if it was the soy milk or the sweetener really. I tried again chicken puree' (with vegetables) and tuna puree (with peas and potatoes) but I could not master more than 1 teaspoon, then I found them disgusting and feelt nausea creeping in.
One day I was really happy as I could eat 2 scrambled eggs without many issues, however when I tried again the following day I just could not mater more than 1.
I had been in regular contact with the dietitian who wanted to know everything I was experiencing, including how did the stitches behave, etc. She told me to lay off the egg and the chicken for a couple of weeks, so back to eating the beans and veggie soup again. Oh, and porrige, I can eat porrige - the full 3 tablespoons. Twice even with a third of a smashed banana. I need to be careful and eat some carbohidrates as well ad protein, so I'm trying to mix some potato mash in the soup at dinner.
I'm also eating high protein soy greek yoghurt mid-afternoon or for supper.
What's most difficult?
Timing of the water alternating with food - you see, you cannot drink 30 minutes before any meal, nor 30 minutes after the meal, yet you must drink the equivalent of 1.5 or 2 liters of liquid per day. Try and do that when you also need a nap in the afternoon and your weaking hours are shortened, it's really difficult.
Also, taking the tablets. Oh man, I really struggle there. The timing there is also complicated: the tyroid ones first thing in the morning and without any other medication for at least an hour. The stomach protector tablet on an empty stomach and 30 - 60 minutes before food. Then the vitamins (they come in a very big tablet, difficult to swallow for now, so I bought the liquid form and, man!, it's incredibly disgusting).
Then calcium supplement, also to take far from any other vitamins or supplement. Oh, and also Eparin injections in the stomach every day at the same time (for 3 weeks).
Basically it's a full time job. I have my phone full of "meaningful" alarms, and it goes off constantly for one thing or another!
Today I tried the protein water, positively so sweet to be disgusting. But it gives me 10gr of protein per portion so I guess I need to take it every day to eat my target. (30gr for the first week home, then 60gr thereafter as a minimum).
Ups and downs
LIterally: days in which I'm losing 400gr, 300gr, 200gr, 1kg in a day, and then today when I regained 300gr - how on earth is this possible is beyond me! I still lost 3kg since surgery, but today looking at the regain I felt quite disheartened.
And the surgery is such a change that you really cannot comfort-eat like when you give up on any other diet - you just cannot do that. That's the safety net that this surgery gives you: you are not even able to give up!
Beans and veg soup - totally delicious!
I made it up, of course, and it would have been fantastic even before surgery: it's so good my boyfriend adores it!
Ingredients:
1 tin of red kidney beans, drained
200gr frozen mix vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, peas)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 and 1/2 tin (rinsing the tomato tin directly in the pot) of water
1 big onion in pieces
5-6 medium garlic cloves in thick slices
1 vegetable stock cube (full salt, you need your sodium intake)
3 pinches of dried rosemary, 3 pinches of dried sage, 3 pinches of dried parsley, 2 pinches of ground black pepper, 2 pinches of coarse salt.
Method:
Note that there is no fat whatsoever: you don't stir fry your garlic and onions! Bring everything to the boil then simmer for 40 minutes or more, until the carrots are tender.
Mix it very well to a pulp with your immersion mixer.
Serve with aboundant grated parmesan.
Enjoy!
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