Shots Fired at the Intersection of Tummy and Intestines.

I am not a huge fan of TMI moments, but things are about to get TMI-ish for a second if only to briefly go into the kind of things that you can expect out of this process… and it is a PROCESS.

My experience is not typical. I have not vomited at all, not once, and I hadn’t had to deal with constipation either. The lack of constipation has a lot to do with the fact that I am CONSTANTLY drinking something whether it’s a protein shake (because I was serious when I said I didn’t want to lose my hair,) or some watered down juice or pure water in all of its SPLENDID GLORY! (You will remember that last Friday was hellish in that all my body wanted WAS water and I had no room for it.) Today, however, I experienced the most painful gas ever on the way to work. I seriously thought that I was going to combust and I immediately went to the restroom as soon as I got into work. /TMI (Sorry)

I have also not had any bad reactions to foods. So far, I have added turkey slices (from the deli) and Colby cheese. Because neither of those are soft/mushy and I was still supposed to be weeks away from it, I chew it VERY well… it’s both soft and mushy by the time I get finished masticating it. I have done the same thing with the fish taco and the tamale. I have just chewed THE hell out of things. I have also eaten red beans and rice from Popeye’s.

Now, I have been feeling extremely guilty about the way that I have deviated from the program, so I brought it up with my therapist (the same therapist I began to see when I had my pre-op psych eval,) and she didn’t see any cause for alarm. She encouraged me to do what seems right for me and stressed that I not exceed suggested portions. I’m trying to make sure that I get all of my necessary protein and I just didn’t feel like I was going to be able to do that eating only oatmeal and an egg…and no one thought that I’d be able to either, let’s just clear that all the way up. I STOP eating once I feel full or even approach full and, for example, with the red beans and rice, I only ate 2 ounces of that because rice expands.

My incisions are continuing to heal and another scab came off on its own this morning. (YAY!) They are barely visible too! In fact, I was telling my therapist that I actually freaking love these scars! Coworkers have been commenting that my face appears slimmer and my confidence has started to skyrocket. I haven’t even lost that much weight, yet. I think that I’m seeing the promise of things to come and that has me realizing my inherent power. I shared with my therapist some important thoughts that I had going into and during the two weeks after surgery; they were the realizations that I went into my last relationship extremely confident. In fact, I went into it telling him how lucky he was to be with me and that he should act on it instead of sitting on the sidelines and letting the prize that is me pass him by. Needless to say, he liked my confidence and the rest is history. Somewhere along the line I lost my confidence, or rather, he stole it from me; instead of him feeling lucky that he was with me, I started feeling lucky that I had him and he started to feel like he could have any woman he wanted. Cue the weight gain. So I made up my mind that it would never happen again. Ever.

As I get my confidence back, that will kick start my desire to exercise more than I have been. I have my two-week follow up appointment in an hour and I’m anxious to be cleared for activity because I want to swim and I want to hit the treadmill like a mad woman.