A New Year

Well hello!

These last few months have been a whirlwind of activity. I've worked, eaten, slept, watched endless hours of TV, slept some more, avoided people, and worked. I've been a sad little crab, content only in the shell she'd been living in for 3 years.

Oh...and I had gastric bypass surgery.

This was a fairly recent event. I went in on the morning of December 14th, awoke from the anesthesia in pain, slept until the next morning, and woke up feeling pretty ducky. It just felt like I'd come out of a three-hour ab class, sore from too many sit-ups.

My dad stayed with me that week, and my recovery went perfectly. The surgeon said I was the first patient he considered releasing on the day after surgery. The only issue was that I couldn't pee on my own after they removed the catheter. I didn't pee for 24 hours - until the morning of the 16th - then they said I was free to go.

The day after surgery, my dad and I walked laps around my hospital floor. This was so easy, we worked out 2 full miles throughout the day, and I went FAST! The only thing that held me back was the IV cart I had to drag around with me. The nurses were pretty stunned by my progress. The next day I did 2 more miles before I peed and was released, then dad and I walked around Michigan Avenue and the Apple Store before getting a bus home. It was pretty punk rock. That is, they didn't make me leave in a wheelchair, and we didn't go straight home to rest. I guess that's about as punk rock as you can get after surgery.

Dad and I did 3+ miles of walking and browsing the next day. After he left on Friday I did more of the same. My sister and nephew came up on Sunday, and we spent a few days together before driving home to Indiana on the 22nd. I had a follow up appointment that day - I dropped 7 lbs since surgery, and I was moved from liquid diet to soft foods. Lunchmeat, bitches!

I got back to Chicago on the 28th, and since then I've been experimenting with new ways to get protein into my diet. I have to eat 60-80 grams of protein everyday, and drink at least 64 oz of water. I've had no pain, no stuck food; I haven't overeaten. I can drink water like a mofo. I don't miss food; what I eat is limited to what I need. My whole day is an uncomplicated equation. I love it.

The last few nights I haven't been able to fall asleep until 1 or 2 am, only to wake up at 8 the next morning. That kind of sucks. And I've been grinding my teeth - that's not new, I hold stress in my jaw. I'll be sure to address that at my next dentist appointment in a couple weeks. I'm tired, but still active.

As of 12/28, I'm down 20 lbs since before surgery. I haven't seen "288" on the scale in probably 3.5 years. What's amazing is that I'll never have to see it again.

To say that I'm looking forward to what's ahead is an understatement. Never in my life have I been normal, and I know I never will be. It'll be interesting to see how I'm both looked at - and overlooked - as a thinner person. As usual, I'm not going to have high expectations about it. I just want to take it one day at a time and chew through this new life as slowly and completely as I have to with every bite of food.

So there's that,

Laura