The Report

How in the WORLD can I still be so flippin' tired?!  I'm too tired to keep my house together, so I do a few tasks before the dizziness and exhaustion take over and I have to sit for awhile.  Being up for about 4 hours at a time is my limit.  

Adequate protein is key...and I'm getting most of mine from shakes, though at this stage I am able to move on to soft foods and crunchy things.  No doughy things like soft bread or pasta or rice, as they will get stuck in the stomach pouch.  I'm so tired tonight I have order some sashimi, edamame and miso soup from my favorite Japanese restaurant.  Hope it all goes down well.  We'll see.

I'm taking my vitamins, and a B12 every day and that should be helping.  

I tell ya, my surgeon would be over here kicking my ass if he knew how I'm behaving.  But what to do when every fiber of your body tells you to LIE DOWN?

It's no joke that right now my JOB is to get protein and fluids down the hatch.  Even if I don't feel like it AT ALL.  I have a support group on line, and I share this info with them.

This lethargy, this absolutely exhaustion, has got to end soon.  It's essential for my success.  I set my alarm for 8 a.m. today, determined that I would get up.  But I had insomnia last night and didn't get to sleep until 4 a.m.  Did I get up?  No.  I slept until noon.  

My daughter said that the surgery was the hard part.  Hardly.  THIS post op stuff is the hard part.  Hopefully I will be able to look back and laugh.  In the meantime, send me all your energy prayers, please.

Oh, by the way, 22 lbs. down.

The Longest Journey Begins

 

Surgery went well and I've been home a week now.   Lots of protein drinks, water, flavored broths, sugar free popsicles and jello.  Some days I feel moderately energetic, most days not.  I'll get there. No hunger at all, which is the major benefit at the moment.

I'm having dreams of riding bikes with friends, over the hills near San Francisco, looking out to the Golden Gate bridge on a windy day and laughing loudly into that wind.  Thinking, "I never thought I'd feel this way again."  Grand exuberance.

So many years ago I was very active with back packing, biking, hiking.  No need for a gymnasium then.  It was all youthful energy and swagger, pounding my chest as the first of the group to make it to a mountain top.  

Age and health have had their way with that. That's just the way of life, and I'm glad I did those things that bring me joy when I remember them.

My goal, my dream, is that this surgery will help bring back all available energy and enthusiasm for getting out and doing whatever I can.  It won't be the body of my teens and twenties for sure, and I'm okay with that.  I have reasonable expectations.  They are a lot more than what I have now.