What They Don't Tell You

I am officially six weeks out of surgery and down 24 lbs since the day of the surgery and 43lbs in total since the start of the liquid diet. If you have never had the surgery please don’t think this came easy, there is nothing easy about it.

There are a lot of things they don’t tell you, to quote my doctor, “It was have made you more nervous had I told you. Would you have still gone through with it?” My response, “I don’t know because you took my right to make an informative decision away.” They tell you about the potential nausea, constipation, gas, reflux and hair falling out but they leave out other things. For those with chronic back pain, only after the fact did I find out it is common for you to have intense pain, worse than your usual back pain after the surgery. I will come back to this.

On the day of the surgery I started having doubts. I cried and when they put me on the table I was about to say I don’t want to do this but by the time that happened I woke up in agony and it was all ready done. I was so nauseous and the pain was so intense, my mouth felt like a cotton desert and nobody would even give me an ice chip. They had no room available for me and I had to stay in the recovery room until the late evening when they found one for me. The doctors say before the surgery it is very important to bring your medications with you as the hospital does not necessarily have them to provide. I did, I brought my birth control and back medication, however, when I was finally placed in a room I was told my belongings are locked up until the next day. Despite my doctor’s warnings not to miss my pills especially my birth control even if I had it with me, the nurses and doctors after the surgery were not going to allow me to take it because they weren’t letting me swallow anything. Even with the morphine drip, my back was in agony. I was experiencing pain in my back I hadn’t previously experienced. Due to the pain I was out of my very uncomfortable bed which was broken in less than the recommended six hours. I spent my first night walking around and not sleeping. I couldn’t sleep the pain in my back and stomach was too intense and instead of giving me the medication I use for my back they insisted on giving me Vicodan which does nothing for my nerve pain. I didn’t eat(drink broth/whatever that other liquid poison was)  anything the entire time I was in the hospital, everything burned the back of my throat, I only drank water and tea. Despite my back doctor’s warnings the hospital bariatric doctor’s took me off my back meds causing a painful downward spiral in my lower back. By day three of my hospital stay I was ready to get out of there, my back was in agony and that trumped any stomach pain I had. Upon discharge they told me not to take my back meds and sent me home with more damn Vicodan. I was unable to get in touch with my back doctor until the following Monday and she was not happy that I was taken off my meds and after a discussion with the bariatric doctors (which I’m sure she yelled at them because she is all about the well-being of her patients) she informed me to stop the Vicodan and continue the back medication. I was walking on a cane and barely able to get out of bed things were so bad. In addition to he surgery weakening your core (keep in mind you cannot do any core activities for six weeks) it is common for the surgery to pinch nerves in your back because you are on a table for many hours and then in the hospital bed, then lying on your back when you are home. Had I known it was going to make my back worse I might have made some different arrangements or at least made my house a little more comfortable for my condition.

Another important thing to remember is to bring loose fitting clothes and don’t plan on wearing a bra home. I was so swollen that I could barely fit in my sneakers. Bring the most comfortable loose fitting things you own.

At home, I had to make sure I was getting in my three protein shakes a day which even up until the end of the four weeks of the post op liquid diet was a struggle. I have to get up at five to seven A.M. to have my first shake just so I can drink the other two shakes throughout the day plus water. I also had pretty bad nausea starting the second week, I have come to the conclusion that my body no longer wants anything to do with high protein chocolate Boost (maybe it is the sugar) so I just stuck to whey protein, One of the things I found helped me with nausea was V8. I recommend asking your doctor before you try it, V8 is very acidic and my doctors were afraid of reflux but it has not bothered me. I have been getting additional protein by mixing K02 (A Special K drink mix similar to Crystal Light except it has 5 grams of protein) in my whey protein, combined with half water and half soy milk. Despite that, my hair is still falling out. The doctors lied when they said if you get enough protein your hair won’t fall out. Now they told me no matter what I will loose some hair, how much varies and it won’t stop until my weight settles. As I keep losing pounds I will keep losing hair.

Despite all of this, I am now on the pureed portion of the diet. The diet doesn’t bother me, just fitting food in is what does. My daily diet consist of an early morning shake for breakfast, less than a cup of Fage 0 greek yogurt for lunch and a puree I made for dinner. The first week was a broccoli puree, the last week and a half has been an excellent bean puree.

So, this is where I am with everything. A little angry at the doctors and little happy with my progress and excited that my six weeks have passed and now I can go to physical therapy to do some core strengthening to help make my back happy again.

I also want to thank my readers, I know you are out there I see the blog hits. You are a quiet bunch but don’t be afraid to ask questions or tell your story, You don’t have to come out of the fatty closet but you can make your voice heard here. I will be back with updates as often as possible.