SINCE BEING HOME

Hello,
Well it took some adjusting to get back into the real world when I got home.  I was very tired and weak and didn't really want to do a whole lot of anything. Tomorrow will be a month since surgery and although I feel better everyday, I am not 100%.  I still do not have a lot of energy and I attribute that to not getting in enough fluids or protein, although I am trying my best.

As we had an eating plan to follow when we got home, I tried to stick to that, although it was not spelled out for me as I like, (and why would it be, everybody is different), so I had to try and figure out what I should be eating.   I knew I needed to have up to 70 grams of protein a day and at least 8 -8 ounce glasses of water a day.   I had bought two different protein shakes from Shaklee before I left so that at least I could drink those for my protein when I got home.   I was on full fluids for the week we got back and for the last two weeks could have anything that we could eat if we had no teeth.   So pureed anything.

So off to the store and bought myself regular yogurt, cottage cheese, drinkable yogurts, thick soup and my husband made this awesome soup with stew beef, barley, onions, carrots, potatoes and garlic of which I pureed.

As each week progressed, I realized that I was not getting near the water in I should, I would be lucky if I got 3 glasses a day and maybe 25-30 grams of protein a day.  My stomach was becoming more unsettled, full-feeling, and I was burping constantly.  Last week I was so frustrated because I was eating less and less and seemed like the minute I put anything into my mouth I was full and didn't want to eat another thing.  I had gone to the doctor for my check up and told him what was happening and he prescribed Maxeran a medication that helps empty the stomach quicker.  I thought okay this will be good.

I had been talking to some other ladies at this time who had had surgery and I think they were perplexed as I was as most were eating normally,  within the guidelines and doing well.  I though okay it must have been because of the inflamed stomach I had to stay an extra day for in hospital.  I was just taking longer than the others to recoup.

Finally after spending about 4 of the seven days last week in total frustration and not wanting to eat anything; to being so uncomfortable to the point of pain, I decided I had to do something.  So I stopped everything that I had been eating before including the protein shakes and introduced one food at a time.

Well, low and behold, I got better!  These are the items I know I can not have right now:  ALL DAIRY products or stuff with dairy in it.  No chicken, beef or pork.  No soy or whey protein shakes.  No orange juice or anything acidic,  no spice or anything from a can or box.  The items I have tried and can tolerate right now are:  fish of any kind, fried or boiled eggs(tried scrambled, no good).  Yams, tried a tiny bit of t-bone steak and was okay.  Cantalope and grapes.  Potatoes, no skins yet and veggies.

So I have to be vigilante in my eating ways for a little while longer until my stomach is completely healed and settled.    Oh yes I forgot to mention that I stopped the Maxeran as well and also the water we had at home.  I hardly ever drank the tap water, but we do have a water cooler that we always buy either distilled or reverse osmosis water.  I can't drink it, it tastes chemically on my tongue and gives me the same full feeling and burps that I felt with all the food I couldn't eat.  So have been drinking Evian water and it seems fine.

I know that this won't last forever and it will settle down once everything is healed. So I just carry on day-by-day knowing that this trouble will be over soon and I can get to the business of looking like the image I have in my head of myself skinny.

Tomorrow I have an important post that I want to put up, so stay tuned.  Until tomorrow.  Pay It Forward!            

Ange.