No Energy

Today is officially "post op day 9." With bariatric surgery they number all of your days up to day 66. It technically has been 10 days since surgery - but they don't count the day of surgery as a day. The number of day I am on tells me which stage of food progression I am in.

Post Op Day 1 - Stage 1 - clear liquids only (i did this in the hospital)
Post Op days 2-15 - Stage 2 - Liquid only - protein shakes - I am currently in this stage
Post Op days 16-37 - Stage 3 - Toddler Diet - smooth, pureed, diced foods
Post Op days 38-65 - Stage 4 - reduced calorie solids (really everything except salad)
Post Op days 66 and on - Stage 5 - Ongoing diet (I can have salad now!)

I am getting excited to move onto stage 3. I am getting pretty sick of protein shakes. I'm still not really hungry - but I do think I might feel better if I could eat real food. I also get to begin my multi vitamin and calcium at this stage - so I think in all I will have more energy and begin to feel more normal.

I've had a rough couple of days. Beginning Sunday afternoon is when I first began to feel kinda blah. I would go through phases of nausea and hot flashes and breaking out in sweats. Then I would be cold or just feel fine. Monday I woke up feeling much better. I felt up to going to the store to buy a birthday card and small gift for Kathleen's birthday. I took a shower, went to the store and then Dad took me to Kathleen's work (my former place of employment) to bring her gift to her. She stepped out of her meeting for a little bit and we stood in the lobby and chatted. I ran into some friends I worked with I hadn't seen in a while so that was nice. I popped my head into the daycare before I left and said hi to Nolan and Calleigh (kathleen's kids) before we left. I did a lot of standing and walking. While we were really only out of the house for 45 - 60 minutes I was really tired when I got home. By dinner time, I felt like crap. The majority of pain that I had been feeling up until now was mainly muscle pain - it is only when I move quickly or switch positions sleeping that I feel pulling and tugging. But tonight I began to feel a different, non-muscular, pain. The only way to describe it is as a burning pain. It's not excruciating - just constant. So I took my pain meds and went to bed, hoping a really good night of sleep would make me feel much better by morning. Yesterday I still felt very blah - so blah that I really didn't even want to talk on the phone to anyone. I had absolutely no energy. I woke up around 9 and by 9:30 I was back asleep. I spent all day lounging in the recliner only getting up to go to the bathroom or get a drink. I can't really explain the blah feeling - just not myself. I had a really hard time sleeping last night. I fell asleep finally around midnight, but woke up at 2 AM just not able to get in a comfortable position and in some pain. So I got up and took pain meds and moved to the recliner to see if that helped. I finally fell asleep around 3 AM and slept until 9:30 this morning. I am still not feeling quite right. I am beginning to think it has to do with the diet I am on. As my stomach heals enough to begin to process food next week, I only can take in protein - I have no other nutrients that my body is receiving. I am working extra hard today to get all of my protein and all of my other fluids in and see if that helps make me feel better. Next Wednesday can't come soon enough!