Six Days Out
Hi Everyone,
I’ve posted from time to time when I was scared, confused, or
frustrated about something I encountered on my path toward surgery.
I had my RNY on Wed. Feb. 25. The process of going through surgery
was a bit rougher than I had anticipated, probably because I really
have never had major surgery. The truth is, though, that my pain
went down very quickly and each day I felt 100% better than I did
before. I was in the hospital a couple days longer than I had
expected because of a complication–not huge or untreatable. When
the surgeon said that I could stay another night or go home, I jumped
on the chance to get home, where I could rest more comfortably and
walk without an IV pole. I have no idea how much weight I have lost
so far because I haven’t checked. My focus right now is on simply
resting up, healing, and following my surgeon’s dietary instructions–
clear liquids until I get the drain out tomorrow. After that I’ll
switch to the full liquids for a few weeks. I’m really just rambling
here. I’ve had some VERY strange dreams, probably from the
anesthesia that’s still in my body. I am watching quite a bit of TV
and am noticing, really noticing,how many vivid food commercials
there are–especially for crap. They don’t bother me exactly,
because I’m pretty detached from food and eating right now. It’s just
weird to become aware of it right now. Well, that’s about it. Just
thought I’d record my particular early post-op experience.
Kerry
December 30th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Congratulations on being on the “other side”! I hope your recovery
goes smoothly and comfortably.
I remember well what you mean about food commercials.
Unfortunately, the detachment from food and eating doesn’t last;
many of us find that once our appetites and capacity return that
we’re still subject to the visual power of food and food marketing,
and it takes a lot of conscious work to resist. It’s worth trying
to combat, though, it since there’s probably no getting away from
these images in modern American life. I try to counterbalance it by
doing a lot reading about healthy nutrition, the politics of junk
food marketing, that sort of thing.
I absolutely agree that there’s something bizarre about viewing this
stuff when you’re recovering from surgery. I remember watching a
Food Network special on the Coney Island hot dog eating contest when
I was a week or two out of surgery. It felt incredibly weird.
Celia