Time for a Diet Upgrade & Weigh-In

Wed. was the beginning of my new diet, "Full Fluids".  This one will, once again, last two weeks but it is the final 2week diet after this I will go through a series of 1 week diets as I adjust my body to accepting solid foods again.  This diet basically adds just a few new items to what I am already eating but they are big ticket items that make me feel like I'm actually "eating" again.

I can now have hot cereal such as oatmeal or cream of wheat, made very thin; low fat, artificial sweetened yogourt with no chunks in it; and low fat, cream soups made with skim (0%) milk, strained.  I can also have low fat artificial sweetened puddings if I want but I never used to eat them so I don't see the point in eating them now just for the sake of it.  I've also stopped eating the jello, too, now, since I don't like it.  I must continue with the three Boosts a day and of course, the vitamin supplements which are for life.  In case you've forgotten I'm taking Calcium +D, twice a day and a pre-natal supplement once a day (this is because they have twice as many nutrients than a regular one a day multi-vitamin.  Even men who've had the operation take the pre-natal for life.)

Of course, I'm in heaven with the new food!  I love cream of wheat and am glad to have real fibre back in my diet.  Yogourt is one of my favourite foods and the cream soups are a hot meal, finally!  Suitable ones I can eat are hard to find though.  Tomato soup is fine.  But others even when they say low fat often have the milk products already added, in the canned versions. So I can't have these since they are made with cream (not skim milk).  So far we've only found Knorr packaged soups which you add your own milk to and only in Cream of Broccoli.  But we'll keep looking around and try some health food stores too because this is definitely a food I want to eat for life.

Other good news!  I did a weigh in on Tuesday in preparation for the new diet and have now lost 43lbs but more important than the numbers I have also gone down 2 clothes sizes.  Clothes I was wearing before I started the Opti-Fast (Oct. 8) are all too big for me now!  I'm reaching to the back (well middle) of my closet and wearing clothes I haven't worn in years.  I'm losing it all in my abdomen and my friend says you can see it in my face.  I can see my toes when I look down!  That's a new sensation.  But even more importantly my mobility has improved exponentially.  I can bend over, touch the ground, tie my shoes, put on my pants, generally move around with so much ease now where before I started this program I had serious mobility issues that were just getting worse.  I feel healthier.

As far as surgery recuperation: all my incisions are now exposed and healing nicely.  Some have little scabs, a few are already healed.  I'm still tender on the outside and a somewhat sore on the inside.  Sleeping is still an issue but nowhere near as painful as before.  I can sleep on my side now, once I slowly get into position but still wake a few times a night.  But as I said it is nowhere near as bad so I'm just grateful it is improving and figure another week should do it.

Walking is going fine.  I'm back to going to Daily Mass, so I walk to church and back every morning plus I walk downtown whenever I need to.  I'm walking wherever I have to go, if possible and we are parking at the back of parking lots, trying to just make life naturally more active.  Plus several times a week, I'm going out for a walk around the neighbourhood going a little further when I feel I can.  I feel I'm doing fine at this stage.  I'm still slow because my insides are sore but I can walk, just not fast.

Be back again either in 2 weeks when the diet changes to "Pureed Foods" or after Dec. 6, my one month check up at the clinic, whichever comes first.  You do the math, too early in the morning for me and I have to go get ready for church.

Last Pre-Op Update!

Well, it's been pretty hectic around here this week.  But I figure  better get down what's happened with the weight loss program before I go in for the surgery.  I got home on Tuesday and had my Pre-Op Assessment Appointment waiting for me on Wed. morning.  So we drove to the city and I was warned beforehand to be prepared to be there 3 hours.  I ended up being there 2 hours and 50 mins. but they had me moving from here to there all the time so it went very fast.

First, I sat in line to be registered, handed in my forms I had filled out at home, asked a bunch of questions, then was sent to an area where two chairs waited.  A nurse quickly came along and took me to a station where she weighed and measured me, then took my height.  Then I was sat back in a long line of chairs again but this time we just waited for our names to be called.  I was called, went in to see a nurse who asked me a bunch of questions, most of them the same as before and what was on the forms I'd filled out.  She mostly gave me instructions on what to do when I came to the hospital.  Then she took me to the seats again but quickly decided I'd go off for the ECG now instead of waiting there.

 So off I went to another room where I waited until called, changed into a gown and had an ECG done.  Got dressed and was sent back to where I'd come from.  I was now in line to see the pharmacist who simply asked for my meds, which I'd been asked to bring with me.  I handed him the gallon Ziploc baggy full of my meds and a few vitamins where he simply wrote down the list and asked me how I took each one.  (This list is in my records about a dozen times.  I can't understand why they keep re-writing the same info over and over again.)  Anyway, that was it for him.  I asked him a question and he said the anaesthetist would answer my questions; he was done with me. 

Back to the line of waiting chairs, waiting for my name to be called by the anaesthetist.  Here is where we finally got down to business.  He discussed my medical history with me.  Asked new and different questions.  Told me what pills I couldn't take the morning of the operation. (Just the blood pressure pill which they are taking me off, since I shouldn't need it anymore.  But of course will be monitored in the future).  All along the way I was given papers and pamphlets about my hospital stay and instructions on when to arrive, what to bring, what not to bring, etc. and when he was done with me he said I was finished and could go home.  *Whew*

Then on Friday I finished my liver shrinking diet and said goodbye to the opti-fast shakes I've been taking.  Boy, am I ever sick of vanilla!  Today, I took my second and last shot of liquid Vitamin K in a bit of orange juice and started Phase 2 which consists of 2 days of clear liquids.  This is going to be tough!!  But I'm trying to have something "special" at each mealtime so that it feels like I'm having meals.  I'm allowed to have apple or cranberry juice now.  So along with drinking my (at least ) 2L of water a day, today for breakfast I had decaf green tea with several spoons of artificial sweetener, for lunch I had a small glass of apple juice, for supper I am going to have beef broth (this is something I actually hate, I don't like broth soups of any kind really, but I'm hoping the taste sensation will be enough for me to enjoy it).  And before I go to bed I'm going to have a cup of Egyptian Licorice herbal tea that a friend gave me the other day, which is absolutely delish.

Tomorrow will be more of the same and then at midnight I'm on *nothing* to eat or drink and this includes even chewing gum.  Thank God I will be asleep during this period and my operation is first thing Monday morning so this will be no struggle.

I haven't weighed myself since I've been home but I will do so in the morning before I leave for the hospital.  One other thing I should mention is that I have followed my various diets strictly to a "T" but did let them know that since I'm Catholic I would be partaking in Communion and they said fine to that.  So I've had several communion wafers during this period but refrained from drinking the wine.

If the hospital has free wi-fi, I'll blog from there, otherwise I'll be in for 2-3 days and will be back around then with my next update.  Surgery here we come!

Update

Just a quick update.  I'm leaving in the morning at the crack of dawn to head back home from this visit with my sister and her family.  A final weigh-in this morning brings my total weight loss while here to 13 pounds.  I'm feeling good.  Had a few more rough days but mostly I'm used to this liquid diet and it's filling me up.  I just have to keep myself entertained so I don't think about food.  I'm kind of wanting my husband to notice a difference when he sees me come off the plane, but in reality, I don't think he will since I don't really see it, even though I can feel it and clothes are getting looser and fitting better.  Today I also took my first shot of liquid Vitamin K.  This I had to mix with a bit of orange juice and I have another to take 2 days before surgery.  The K is to help improve blood clotting, so there won't be any unnecessary bleeding during the operation.  So one more week to go on this Liver Shrinking Diet and then it's time for the operation!