Blech

I hate needles. With a passion. Actually, not with a passion. I just hate needles. I cringe and quiver at the very sight of them, even animated and on television. Yes, I dislike them that much. And yet, as I think I've said, I have to inject myself every day with a blood thinner. Well, it is over tomorrow, but that doesn't make the journey to this point any easier. Ick.

Anyway - I get my one wound taken care of today. When they did the surgery they left a Penrose drain in me to help prevent infection and all that jazz. It comes out today. I'd take a picture, but seriously folks, this is ugly. They glued all my other wounds (I have 5 total, 4 glued), but the one with the drain has staples. So, yeah. They get to take those out. And if you thought I hate needles (see, there was a reason I put that first) I hate stitches and staples even more. Nothing like feeling them tug on your skin. Ick.

Good news is, I'm doing well on my protein intake. I'm typically at or above the 75g per day they recommend for men, I'm getting all my calcium in, and I am not "hungry" when i eat or don't eat. Well, I am. I can feel my body requesting glucose and all that jazz, but to be quite honest I don't get the feeling of hunger. I do get abdominal cramps to some degree, and if I drink too much I pay for it in that it is very uncomfortable to move/breathe (not as bad as when I got out of surgery, but it is not a good feeling). After (perhaps before?) I get my drain and staples removed I am going to see a dietitian on site and they are going to go over what I've been eating and whatnot, and hopefully they'll be as pleased with it as I am. I hope that by the fact that I haven't really had a problem eating so far that I haven't somehow accidentally stretched anything out, or that they didn't leave the pouch bigger than they meant to. Both would mean that down the road I'd be capable of eating more, and half the point of the surgery was to limit my quantities forcefully.

Oh, and for those who may be wondering (probably not) the weight loss is since I've been home. Up until then I did not know my daily weight. However, before starting my liquid pre-op diet on August 2nd I weighed (in the doctors office on the 29th of july) 402. So, Since the 29th (less than a month ago) I've lost a whopping 31 lbs. I know that the weight loss won't continue like this forever, but is nice to drop all that weight at once. And no, it isn't water weight. I drink 64 oz of fluids every day and currently I'm not even exercising due to the wounds and pain. So I'm not losing water weight. However, my liver and other organs are possibly shrinking and I'm sure I'm losing some muscle and some fat. I will concede, however that since fat cells are mostly made up of water, it is in a way, water-ish weight.

Yesterday's weight: 373
Current weight: 371
Weight Lost: 2 lbs
Total Weight Lost: 11 lbs