Pretty Flowers and Purple Bruises... Oh My!

Flowers from Tina
received in the hospital

Checking in again at 5 days post-op!  I am amazed that I'm up and moving around well.  Hospital stay was the worst of it - I ended up having 2 nights in the hospital because they wanted to make sure my pain was well-managed before sending me home on my own.

Day one at home I was relieved to be able to shower and snuggle with my cat!  Sleeping in my own bed and not being poked and prodded at regular intervals by well-meaning hospital staff was really, really nice.  I woke up on Thursday feeling like a real person!

I felt so good, in fact, that mom and I went out shopping for a few hours.  I hadn't even started thinking about Christmas, and thought I'd use mom being here to shop for my sisters and their families.  We had a productive outing to Target and Marshalls, but I was exhausted at the end.

Sunflowers from
Robin and Cari

Then my friends came over for dinner - it was our normal Girls Night Out evening so instead of going out, we did Girls Night In.  They brought Asian food so I could have miso soup and everyone got to inspect my incisions and bruises.  The incisions are pretty amazing - just 5 little holes that are healing without any issue and don't even have band-aids on them!  It's the places where they shot me with heparin, the blood thinner, that looked like someone was trying to break out from my abdomen.  Man, those bruises are purple and pretty amazing (I will spare you the gory evidence).

Friday, we decided to take it easy and went out to the movies in the afternoon.  (My Week with Marilyn, for those who are curious, and I liked it!)  I found it a little difficult to stay seated for nearly 2 hours - the gas is still an issue and causes discomfort if I'm in one position too long.

Today I am resting - hey!  I have an over-achieving rep to protect! - and hoping that I can force myself to NOT work for a couple more days.  I know once I allow myself to start doing more than just occasionally looking at email, it will all be over.   I'm trying to give myself more time to concentrate on the new ways that I have to eat and move.

Violet planters from Tammy

For instance, I have found that if I sit in one position too long, I feel more pain.  So I need to move around a bit and not get too complacent there.

Last night was the first night I felt "peckish."  I wouldn't say I have felt hungry in the slightest, but I was more bored watching television and felt the need to pick and snack.  Of course, there's nothing I can really snack on since right now my diet is limited to water, diluted juice, broth, sugar free jello and sugar free Popsicles.  So I had a Popsicle and extra cup of broth.

Susan is coming by on Sunday to teach me to crochet, and I think that having a new thing to do with my hands - other than eat or play on my phone - will be good when coming up with new habits.

More purple flowers
from Kristen

I know that everyone is curious, so here's a quick log of my weight loss...

• 2-week liquid diet:  12 pounds lost
• 5 days post-op:  6 pounds lost

That's what eating nothing but liquids will do for you!  I am trying really had not to weigh myself every day, but it's tempting to see if the scale is moving.

I am really looking forward to next week's foods, tho.  Starting Monday I can add:

• Low-fat yogurt
• Protein shakes
• Cream of Wheat (thinned)
• Sugar free pudding

Week three I will start to add pureed foods and things like mashed potatoes and soft foods.  I think by then, my stomach will be healed enough to process more than liquids.

Quick shout out to all the friends who sent me flowers this week!  I really appreciated the thoughts, prayers and good wishes.  (And if I can't eat, the cats should have something to munch on!)