Six months after surgery

Another three months have past: today it's exactly six months since I had my gastric bypass surgery.

Sometimes I don't realize how much weight I have lost: there are days that I still feel fat, as if I haven't lost a single pound. Then there are days when I see my reflection in a window and I think: Wow, my legs are skinny compared to before. 

Left you see me on vacation in Barcelona (Spain) in August 2012. Right you see me in Tossa de Mar (Spain), this picture was taken last Thursday (September 12th, 2013). I have now lost 37,3 kilos.

Three months after surgery

Left you see me before surgery, on the right is me yesterday. So far I've lost a total of 25 kilos since surgery!

Yesterday it was exactly three months since my surgery, time has flown by. I'm feeling absolutely great: no more daily backpains or daily headaches, in fact I can wear heels again without getting backpains!! The migraines have gotten fewer too, so overall I've experienced a great improvement in my health.

There are a couple of things I can't eat: bread for example. But I don't really miss it anyways. I can eat boiled eggs, but not fried eggs or omelets. Also I can't eat the salads at work: not sure what they put in them, but they cause terrible stomach cramps... :S Other than that I can basically eat anything and everything. I do,however, seem to have lost my sweet tooth.... So now I mostly drink water, milk, buttermilk and herbal teas. Ow, and some freshly squeezed orange juice every now and then. Anything else is too sweet!

One week into my new life

One week ago my new life began. Exactly one week ago today I had my keyhole gastric bypass surgery. I thought the moment would never come, but suddenly it was there. I had no doubts or tension on surgery day or the days leading up to surgery. In fact, I was feeling good about it and totally ready as you can see in the picture below. Don't I look cute in my surgery outfit? ;)

 

 

Surgery went well, I was discharged from the hospital the next day at 5.30 pm. My night at the hospital was looooong: I slept from 10.00 pm till midnight and after that I practically was awake all night. I had to use the toilet every hour and because I was still connected to the machine to check my heartbeat, oxygen level and blood pressure the night nurse had to come and unhook me every hour and then hook me up again after my visit to the bathroom. So I guess she had a busy night :)

 

I was happy to be home again, to be able to sleep in my own bed. This week has been all about recovery and taking it slow. I took painkillers untill Sunday evening, I felt I could handle it on Monday. I ate pureed food, soup, milk and yoghurt for the first 5 days I was at home and started adding unpureed food to my diet after that.

 

Up untill yesterday my belly felt as if I had had a tummy tuck, except I still had a fat tummy. The only discomfort I have now are the staples the surgeon used to close up the incisions he made for the keyhole surgery: they itch!!

Pre-Operative Screening

On Tuesday January 22nd I was scheduled for my pre-operative screening at the hospital and I had to be there at 7:30 am and my mom would go along for the ride. It was suppossed to snow the night before, so I made sure to pick up my mom at her house extra early. Turns out this wasn’t necessary, so we arrived at the hotel at 6:45 am!

At 7:30 am we were all given a card with a number: I got number 18. On the back of the card was my schedule for the day:
8:00-8:45 bloodwork
9:00 – 10:00 information meeting about the operation
11:30 appointment with morbid obesity nurse
11:45 appointment with surgeon
13:55 appointment with pharmacist
14:15 appointment with anaesthetist

All the appointments were on time, no delays whatsoever.  At the bloodwork they took 7 small tubes of blood and I was weighed (119,4 kilos). My blood was tested on a lot of things: bloodtype, glucose, sodium/potassium, creatinine, bilirubin, protein, vitamin B12, folic acid, TSH, fT4, parathyroid hormone and vitamine D.

The information meeting was hosted by a surgeon, anaesthesist and morbid obesity nurse. They all went into details on certain parts of the surgery: the surgeon explained both the gastric sleeve and the gastric bypass, the morbid obesity nurse elaborated on the preparation for surgery and recovery after surgery and the anaesthesist told us how the anaesthetic worked.

At my appointment with the morbid obesity nurse I finally found out why I was rejected by the NOK (they thought my weight was too low) and why the hospital made a different call: the surgeon had decided that I was a good candidate due to my thyroid problem and lower back problems. The nurse asked me which surgery I preferred and both she and the surgeon agreed with me that the gastric bypass would be the best choice for me since I have major sweet tooth and already suffer from heartburn almost daily.

The appointment with the pharmacist was basically to let them know what prescriptions I had, for the meeting with the anaesthesist my blood pressure was checked (perfect), I had to show her how wide I could open my mouth for the respirator and the anaesthesist asked me several questions. She finally gave me my final okay for surgery and I found out that my provisional surgery date is March 15th! That's in less than 7 weeks!!! Can I start freaking out now???