3 months Post op

I had my total gastrectomy 3 months ago today.  Before surgery, I had basically set myself up to be sick for 3 months.  Well, those 3 months are over and while I'm not 100%, I have done so much better than I ever anticipated.  I really only had a couple of days after I got out of the hospital that were pretty bad.  I've been able to do lots of things that I didn't expect to be able to do so soon, whether eating out, attending a KU basketball game, attending a Royals baseball game, attending graduation parties...it's all been good.

I am starting to get up a little earlier, but that means I'm getting up at 9:00 instead of 10:00 or 10:30.  I'm very aware most people wouldn't call that early.  I get to work around 10:30 and then come home for lunch and then work till 4:30 or 5:00.  So I'm still only getting about 5 hours in a day.  At that point, I'm tired and ready to come home and still have little energy for any evening activities.

Eating is going pretty well.  There are still things that I don't eat and some things that have worked one day, but not worked another, but overall things are good.  For the first two months, breakfast was usually a scrambled egg and a toasted mini bagel or english muffin.  I really didn't like eggs every day and was looking for some different options, but wanted something with protein.  I finally found Special K Protein Cereal and it has done pretty good.  It's high in protein, but low in sugar.  Too many cereals are too high in sugar.  I sometimes add banana slices to it (about 1/3 of a banana) to add more nutrients.  Having a little variety is nice.  Since I'm still eating breakfast pretty late, I don't have a snack before lunch  For lunch, I usually come home and fix something quickly.  That may be warming up leftovers from a previous meal, grilling chicken breast or fish and microwaving a small potato or something else simple.  For an afternoon snack I may have cheese and crackers, string cheese and pretzels, a protein bar, greek yogurt or a smoothie (with protein).  Then supper is usually a more traditional meal whether at home or a restaurant.  It usually includes meat, potato and vegetable, but it varies  Sometimes it looks a lot like lunch.  Depending what time I eat supper, I may or may not have a snack in the evening.  I don't like to eat too late.  I do often do a smoothie in the evening.  Originally, it was almost every not, but it's not any more.  As I eat more at supper, I have reduced how often I have something in the evening.

I have started eating sweets.  I limit myself to just 2 or 3 bites of cake or cookie or whatever it is.  Likewise, I'll have just a small piece of candy.  A had a fun-size Babe Ruth candy bar a week ago and it was wonderful!

As far as beverages, I drink quite a bit of water and iced tea.  I was a big tea drinker before surgery and still am.  You can only have a small amount while eating, so need to drink more between meals.  I've heard some people say they have trouble with water or tea.  I have not had any troubles.  Some people say they have to drink them at room temperature.  I have always liked my drinks ice cold and continue to drink them that way with no problem.  I don't know what the difference is.  I have never been a diet soda drinker, but enjoy regular Coke.  I have had two Cokes since surgery.  Each time I had about half of a can and drank it over 2-3 hours.  It was fine and nice for a change, but in general terms, I'll stick to my tea which doesn't have sugar.

As far as alcohol, the only drink I've tried so far is a fuzzy navel (peach Schnapps and orange juice).  I've done fine with it and sometimes enjoy it for a change in the evening.

I'm making progress.  Still a long way to go, but getting there!

10 Weeks Post Op - Update on return to work

It's been 10 weeks since my surgery and over 2 weeks since I posted an update.  I keep thinking I need to post, but then not doing it.  This is my 5th week back at work.  I'm still part-time, but gradually moving up to more hours.  I started working about 3 hours per day.  Because I find mornings more difficult and have been sleeping late ever since surgery, I opted for working afternoons.  I started going into the office around 1:00 or 1:30 and working till 4:00-4:30.  I try to listen to my body and not overdo it.  One day I might only work 2 1/2 hours and then another day work 4. After the first 3 weeks, I was frustrated because it felt like I wasn't working any more hours at the end of the 3 weeks then I had at the beginning of the 3 weeks.  I checked my time sheet and found that I had actually increased my hours during those 3 weeks.  Averaging the number of hours worked each day, I found the first week I had averaged 3 hours 10 minutes, the second week 3 hours 25 minutes and the third week 3 hours 40 minutes.  Not a giant increase, but I was working about 15 minutes more each week.  I felt better, but still wondered how long it was going to take me to build to full-time.  At this pace, it would be August before I was doing 8 hour days.

I also found that I had no energy in the evening after work (part of the reason I haven't done a good job of updating this blog).  Before I went back to work, I had more energy to go for a walk or do other activities in the evening.  Since I returned to work, I was done for the day when I got home.  If there was something I wanted to do in the evening, I had to make a point of getting home earlier, so I would have a couple of hours of down time before trying to go out.

Last week, I continued my 15 minute increase and started the week at 4 hours a day.  Because of some special circumstances, I forced myself to work a little over 5 hours on Thursday and did OK with it, so I tried 5 hours again on Friday.  Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment so only got in 4 hours and got home about 4:00.  But the good news is I had more energy in the evening and was actually able to go for a walk with my husband.  Today I put in closer to 5 hours and had some family over for dinner tonight to see a friend that was in town.  I didn't get home early enough to have enough of a break before going to the grocery store and cooking dinner, so I'm tired.

But I am starting to think that full-time may get here within the next month or so.  We'll see.....