Healing

I am almost a week out from surgery, and feeling better every day. I have been trying to settle into my new life. Sorry I haven’t posted until now, but I have had some vision problems preventing me from using the computer too much.

After surgery, I noticed that my left eye was crossing, making it hard to see and causing bad headaches. I had eye surgery when I was a baby due to crossing eyes. My left eye has never been that strong, and I don’t see very well out of it anyways. Contacts help, but if I get really tired, my eye will cross.

I decided to go to the doctor today, because it seemed to be getting worse. Apparently, the anesthesia relaxed my eye muscles a little too much and my eye isn't strong enough to fix itself. I have to wear a big pirate patch over my eye for the next week. There is a chance the patch won’t help. If it doesn’t, I may have to start wearing glasses or have another eye surgery. The doctor thinks this probably would have happened eventually, but much more slowly.

I’m very frustrated, because my healing has been going quite well. It seems every time I have something done, there is some random complication. Sometimes I wish things would just go normally.

In other surgery-related news…

I am happy to say I am eating solid food again. I get full really easily and stay that way for a long time. A 4 once chicken breast and some broccoli can make me feel like I just celebrated Thanksgiving. I am really not exaggerating. I have to learn what being hungry and full feel like, which is way more difficult than it sounds. I’m so used to eating until I feel satisfied, which is way different than being full. I tend to eat at 8 a.m., noon and around 7 p.m. So far, I haven’t felt the need to have snacks between meals.

I have to drink a lot of water, which is tricky because I can only sip it. I literally sit around with a water bottle in my hands and sip it all the time. I can tell when I haven’t had enough and I start to feel gross. My body needs all the nutrients it can get, so I have to work hard to not deprive myself of necessities like water and vitamins.

I haven’t gotten sick once. Apparently, this is quite an accomplishment. I almost lost that battle today. I had some steamed broccoli and carrots for lunch. After I was done, I had this pain in my chest like I had swallowed a tortilla chip with sharp edges. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and kept getting waves of nausea. I thought I had really messed up. I was even sitting next to the toilet. I took really small sips of water, and it passed about ten minutes later. My stomach opening is about the size of a pencil. I have to take very small bites, chew carefully and eat slowly. I’m not sure which rule I broke, but it was not fun. Did I mention if I do get sick I have to go back to liquids for two days?

I haven’t weighed myself in days, because I am supposed to be healing and getting used to my new way of eating. I also will not start working out until tomorrow. By work out, I mean walking. No lifting and anything too strenuous for the first few weeks.

I am ready to get the weight loss going, but know it’s important to heal properly. Patience is a virtue I wasn’t blessed with too much of, but I’m learning.