3 weeks post-op

Well I am now at 3 weeks post-op. I had my followup with the doctor and also had a visit with the nutritionist.

Let's start out with the stats. I am as of the doctor's scale down 33 lbs. This is with my phone, keys, money clip everything in my pockets. According to the scale at home I am down 35 lbs. I'll take either one!

The visit with the doctor was good. I am going to backtrack a little to Monday when I had a followup appointment with my nephrologist (kidney doctor). I had blood work done last week for this appointment and the doctor was thrilled with the results. The last time I was in there in March I was showing as being diabetic. That is no longer the case! All of the rest of the tests were in a good state. My blood pressure was also low. So low that she has decided to cut back my blood pressure medication to a lower dose. Technically I don't have high blood pressure, but blood pressure has a direct effect on the kidneys causing them to deteriorate faster, and since I have one that wouldn't be a good thing.

So now to the visit with the WLS doctor. Both last visit and this visit I met with the nurse practitioner Carmen. She is happy with how I am progressing and has cleared me to start trying the stage 4 diet, which means I get to have MEAT! I am so happy!!!  After that visit I also saw the nutritionist. All she did was go over the nutrition guide, ask me how long it took me to eat, etc.  She did also correct me as far as when I should be taking my vitamins. I was doing it all wrong. I also talked to her about my protein intake. I asked if I should be shooting for the recommended protein for my height, which is 90-100g a day. She said yes. This is kind of hard to do since I can only eat such a small amount. She advised me that I will need to start supplementing with a protein powder that I can add to foods as I eat. I will have to start researching that. I know from reading posts in the facebook groups I belong to there are many out there. The most popular that everyone seems to like is called Unjury. They make several different flavors, including chicken soup, and they even have an unflavored that you can add to other foods. Definitely will be looking to order some of that.

Getting back to the meat thing. Evan had a soccer game last night in Los Banos, which is about an hour and a half away from here. Since the game was at 6pm, and we had to be there at least a 1/2 hour before, that meant leaving at 4. Dinner had to be eaten out. Since I was cleared to start trying the stage 4 foods we decided to go to the kids' favorite place, Subway.  I ordered a 6" meatball sub, minus the bread. Both Heather and I thought it might be a weird request but the girl behind the counter acted like it is very common. Oh the meatballs, as I said to Heather, almost better than sex! They were good and they were sitting fine in my stomach so we had success there. Today for lunch I had some pastrami lunch meat and provolone cheese (3oz total) and dipped them into mustard. Again it sat well with me and it was delicious!

My next followup appointment is not until July. I will try and update the blog once a week, but it may turn into once a month. I know after a month I will do a photo comparison from pre-surgery to 1 month out.