Can't wait until Saturday

This week just sucks. How's that for a positive attitude?

Was rather emotional after my appointment with my surgeon today, so I ended up taking the day off. I think I'm just all messed up with not eating. I cannot WAIT until Saturday when I can eat at least mush. This thin liquids diet is killing me.

It's not temptation or anything, it's mostly just how i feel. At first i was high energy before the surgery but I feel like I need some sustenance to feel better. arg.

Can I just sleep until Saturday? That'd be ideal.

I've already been thinking about what I can eat this weekend. Hummus, egg salad, Greek yogurt, pudding, and more. That's just off the top of my head. I can eat anything that I can put in the food processor and make into a smooth texture.

I'll still be good calorie-wise, but I'm definitely going to be experimenting!

More on my appointment with my surgeon in another post...

Post Op Recovery has been a series of TV Marathons

I rented a handful of movies, but instead post op recovery has been a series of TV marathons. First Monk, then In Plain Sight (which i hadn't watched before, but like), NCIS, and now Law & Order Criminal Intent. Looks like we've basically just stayed put on the USA network.

The TV is fine and I'm not overly tempted by the food commercials as I don't have much of an appetite, but I must admit I'm bored. (I've been at home for five days!) And being bored does make me want to munch, out of lack of anything to do rather than anything else. What I'd really love are some nuts or popcorn or chips.

Mom left this morning, I slept half the day, and I'm back to the computer and TV.

Physically, I feel fine even without any of the hydrocodone they prescribed me. I've surprised myself that I do get tired when we went on walks with the dogs this weekend. So my stamina isn't back yet, but I'm not in pain at all. The gas pretty much was gone after the first day (That was worst in the hospital). I had some soreness into day two and since then the only bother has been a little bit of heartburn. I have a twinge here and there at the incision site if I overdo it but otherwise I'm all good. Just waiting for my full on energy to come back.

Tomorrow I have my daily commute which involves a walk and stairs on both ends on the subway, so we'll see how that goes. Definitely taking the local train rather than the express so that I can be sure and get a seat, plus, less stairs.

What I ate today...

In case anyone out there is curious about the realities of the pre-op diet, here's a breakdown of what I ate today...

8:00 a.m.
1/2 Chocolate Ensure Shake
100 calories

9:00 a.m.
Coffee with creamer, a splash of skim milk, and Splenda
25 calories

10:30 a.m.
1 Chocolate Ensure Shake
200 calories

12:30 p.m.
1 Chocolate Ensure Shake
1 packet Lipton vegetable broth
245 calories

2:30 p.m.
1 Chocolate Ensure Shake
1 packet Lipton vegetable broth
245 calories

4:30 p.m.
1 Chocolate Ensure Shake
1 packet Lipton soup
245 calories

7:00 p.m.
1/2 chocolate Ensure shake
Steamed green beans and grilled veggies
(mushrooms, red pepper, zucchini)
175 calories

TOTAL
1235 calories

I wouldn't usually have to have as much soup broth (3 servings), but because I didn't have any vegetables at lunch, I was pretty starving most of the day.

Fridge Purge

After being inspired by this previous post about completely clearing out the fridge, I decided to do just that tonight before I start my liquid diet. It really is symbolic of clearing all the crap out of my diet and life.

Since Alex won't be on a liquid diet, I did leave him his eggs and a few other things! And for guests, I've left some alcohol and sodas we never drink anyway. As for the condiments, for now they stay. We'll see what happens to them.

However, once all of my protein shakes from amazon arrive and once I go vegetable shopping, it'll be a lot less bare. For now, I'll get to keep trying some of the new protein shakes we got at GNC and at the neighborhood drug stores. Supposedly the myoplex is terrible according to Alex. I haven't tried it myself yet. But there are lots of other brands here too, just to provide some variety.

I'm quite happy that I don't have to ditch my morning coffee either.

My liquid diet starts tomorrow!

My liquid diet starts tomorrow, and I'm actually excited about it!

I definitely overdid it this weekend which actually just made me feel kind've gross and ready for the liquid fast. There are a few things I can have however, beyond the protein shakes. I'm listing them here. I'm sure I'll be reviewing this list when I'm starving and scrambling for what I can eat!

• Sugar free drinks
• Diet, caffiene-free soda
• Sugar free ices (up to 30 calories/day)
• Sugar-free Jello
• Low sodium broth
• Up to 2 caffeinated drinks/day with skim milk and artificial sweetner
• Up to 2 cups of vegetables (no corn, peas, potatoes, or beans)

Empty Fridge

I had a weird thought last night when I went to get a shake from the fridge. I actually can't wait to have an empty fridge. With nothing in it except shakes and maybe some veg and water. For the liquid fast part of the diet (since they do let us have 2 cups of veg a day).

Somehow that just seems to be symbolic of purging all the crap and starting new.

Will definitely have to plan on a good clean out of both the fridge and the cabinet. It feels rather liberating. (I say that now!)

Glucerna Shakes

So for two weeks before my surgery, I'll have to be on a liquid diet. The one exception is that I can eat certain vegetables as well -- plain of course, but steamed or raw is fine.

I don't have my surgery scheduled yet, but I did meet with the nutritionist, and she walked me through the options for weight loss shakes. The goal is to make my liver less fatty, and hence smaller, to make the laproscopic surgery easier.

Post surgery, I then have to fast for 20 days -- 10 days of a thin liquid diet followed by 10 days of a pureed food diet. All in all, at least 5 weeks without solid food.

Given that, I decided I would try out the different shake options and start out slow beforehand in order to adjust. So for now, I'm going to replace one meal a day. Today I've replaced dinner, and supplemented the Glucerna shake with some raw cucumbers and carrots so I had something to munch on. I'll also have to give up caffeine and soda at a certain point, so I'll need to transition to that as well.

So tonight, so far so good. The Glucerna tastes good. In fact, I'd like another one. They cost $2 each and are 200 calories each. Of the list of shake options, I chose to start with Glucerna because of the low sugar content, only 6g (it's made for diabetics). I also prefer that they come in resealable plastic bottles rather than the cans.

Mostly the shakes are higher in sugar than I prefer. Up to thirty-something grams of sugar each which is way too high for me. I can just see myself crashing after that and wanting to eat.

I'll be trying the other shakes this week too, so more to come on that.