Bariatric Surgery for Media

Pete and I just had bariatric surgery (for weight loss) a couple weeks ago. It was, and still is, an interesting journey. Since Pete and I had surgery on the same day, with the same surgeon, back to back, the hospital staff were all very amused. It's not every day that they see a couple doing this together. It just made sense to us. We get to heal together, have the same diet, and support each other while knowing exactly what each other feels like.

We went in at the god awful hour of 5 am, which meant that since we live about two hours from the hospital we decided to just not sleep that night. That was easier for Pete, since he was scheduled for surgery first. That meant I was checking in quite early, which tended to confuse the waiting room attendant and prep nurses until we explained that I was their next patient. Then they all just seemed to find it entertaining. It also reduced the amount of info that they needed to double up on, since they could just explain things to both of us at the same time. That was very good, because by the time I was ready for my prep I was getting extremely tired.

After the surgery they gave us rooms next door to each other. We were hoping for a shared room, but next door was nice too. We were able to go for walks with each other, gaining strange looks from staff who didn't know that we were married. Meet cute at the hospital? Nope, just a middle aged married couple going on a weight loss adventure together. The craziest thing was we were able and encouraged to walk the hallways the same day as the surgery. I have 7 incisions across my abdomen and none of them hurt except for a bit of discomfort. My pain management has been almost exclusively acetaminophen throughout the entire recovery process. That just blows my mind. My previous surgery (spine) left me unable to get up for at least a week and I had to use a walker for a while. Sure, different muscles were affected, but I expected far more pain. I was even worried about being given opiates (I have a lot of addicts in my extended family, and addiction has always been a fear of mine). Our hospital stay was only one night, and we probably could have gone home same day.

Week one, we were able to only 'eat' clear liquids and protein shakes. We had quite a bit of sugar free Jell-O and I discovered I can't drink broth; my throat just closes up and I can't do it. It was so weird, we simply weren't hungry. We were taking in less than 200 calories a day that first week, but felt fine. Week two and three are full liquids. We're at the end of week 2 right now. The first time we had tomato soup, our taste buds almost exploded. It was absolutely delicious. It was just a basic Campbell's tomato soup. Nothing special, but holy shit was it fantastic. We're just starting to get our appetites again and taking in more calories. Protein shakes are getting boring, but at least we can have soup. It surprised me how much sweet stuff we're having after the surgery. It's all sugar-free fake sweetener stuff, since too much sugar can cause something called dumping syndrome, which sounds extremely unpleasant, so we're being careful. Since I couldn't do straight broth, it was hard to get enough protein. Adding broth to our second serving of soup helped (one can of tomato soup prepared as directed gave us a little more than 4 servings).

You know what's annoying? There is a deficit of soups without bits in it. Even cream of mushroom needs to be strained before we can eat it. Our options have been tomato soup, cream of mushroom, strained, cheese and broccoli, strained (the Bear Creek ones in the bag) and broth. I can't wait for the pureed stage. We can start to have real food, just all mushy. Mashed potatoes sound divine.

I took three weeks off from work for the recovery. The hospital gave us permission for two weeks, and I'm doing one PTO. I'm glad I took that extra week. I don't feel ready to go back to work yet. The recovery triggers my fibro and this cold, rainy weather hasn't been helping my joints. Just having the only thing I need to be focusing on be healing has let me relax overall. I'm starting to be able to do chores I haven't been able to do for a very long time. My house has been in a deep depression for over a year, since the death of my brother-in-law. Having the whole Clearview Works team help clean my kitchen before the surgery has really helped my executive dysfunction. The first time I washed a sink of dishes, I almost did a happy dance. It felt euphoric to realize that the depression can lift, and we can be functional adults again.

We're healing, in more ways than one, and these tiny wins mean so much. It helps me remember that things can get better; we can get better. Sometimes we just need a little help from friends. Sometimes we need to go through a procedure that unintentionally helps us realize that we can heal not only physically but mentally and emotionally. This was, by far, the best consensual stabbing and organ theft (they needed to remove my gall bladder, since it had stones) I've ever had. I'm still amazed by the lack of pain, and come to think about it, the lack of hunger. We're having two protein shakes (when I remember to have my second one) and one or two cans of soup, shared and we're not feeling like we're starving. Walking through the grocery store is more anticipatory than envious. We marvel at the lack of wanting all the crap we used to eat. Chips sound painfully crunchy. I'm not craving candy, though I've been drinking chocolate protein shakes and eating Jell-O, so I'm not lacking sweet in my diet. Sage, our daughter, got a cheese pizza from Costco the other day that we were envious of, but in a teasing way. More 'how dare you eat delicious solid food in front of us' in a very sarcastic manner than any real burning need to have some.

We are thinking a lot about food, but I think that's because what we are able to have is so limited. We're looking forward to expanding our diet a bit at a time. Our worry right now is getting enough calories and protein throughout the day. That, and we have to have a drink of water or other hydrating liquid every 15 minutes. We had to put reminders on our phones. It's getting pretty Pavlovian around here with the notification beep so often. We have to take one drink every 15 minutes, not one glass, or even a decently sized chug. One one to two ounce drink. Every. 15. Minutes. Exhausting. Boring even. But very important.

I'll try to keep y'all posted about our recovery and weight loss. I'm not exactly looking forward to getting to the semi deflated balloon saggy skin phase, but even that will be interesting. I don't know what a healthy weight will look like on us. I didn't mind how I looked pre surgery. I was just extremely unhealthy and I would have ended up with diabetes sooner rather than later. I did this not for vanity. Not to be skinny. I did it so I can live the rest of my life with less pain. I'm very unaware of my body cues. I don't know how to stop eating until I'm over-full. With the surgery, I'm starting to understand my body's more subtle cues. It's going to be interesting to see how that awareness progresses.

Anyway, it's getting late here and I've already totally messed up my sleep schedule not having to get up at any particular time. I am a night owl forced to be awake at a 'civilized' time usually. I need to get to bed. Sleep is a great healer. Especially when it involves cat cuddles.

Good night, y'all.