Alligatorob's Diary

[alligatorob]

Today was a better day, at least a little better. Had a hard time for a while and did take one pain pill, but its slowly getting better. Will try sleeping tonight without the ice packs, that would be more comfortable, assuming its pain free. I did eat a little more than usual, but not a lot and right now just feeling able to eat it without problems was kind of good.

Did your relatives know about your hernia problems before you planned surgery?

Good point, they might not have told me about theirs. However I have been telling folks since I figured out that I have the problem and so far no family has volunteered that they also have them. A lot of my friends however have, makes me realize hernias are relatively common.

 

[Llama]

Yay for painfree food intake!

 

[Cate]

I’m glad your day was a little better, Rob.

 

[alligatorob]

Feeling a little better every day, I am hoping to be over the worst of it by the end of the week.

I have decided to make some changes, I will let my calories go up a bit, staying under 2,000 will be my goal for a while, and I am getting back to more normal eating. Solid food, including some veggies seems to be working for me now, so I will slowly go back to it. For now I will mostly stay with the nutritionist's diet but will start to test things like diary and a little artificial sweetener soon. I do think I will stay with the low carb and no diet drinks or refined sugar, and will keep the artificial sweeteners to a minimum. I know that upping the calories now, while I am not able to do much exercise, may lead to a bit of weight gain, so I will keep an eye on it. However since I began "maintenance" about 8 months ago I lost about 20 pounds. So I am pretty sure that I am still in a calorie deficit. And I am at a weight below any goal I ever set, so I have a little leeway, going back up 5 or 10 of those pounds would not hurt me. We'll see how it goes, I do still plan to track and post things just the same.

Yay for painfree food intake!

Yes, it is better, even better than before the surgery. Just getting my intestines back where they belonged seems to have helped...

I’m glad your day was a little better

Thanks Cate, I still have some pain, discomfort, and general tiredness, but every day is a little better, probably the best I can hope for.

 

[Cate]

It takes me about 6 weeks to recover from general anaesthetic. Feeling a bit better each day sounds good to me.
I’m glad you have decided to up your calories a little.

 

[Llama]

Mooore fooooooood!

 

[alligatorob]

Today was a little better than yesterday, best I can hope for I guess. No exercise, did not feel up to it, but I stayed on my calorie track and recorded all I ate. I think I can feel digestive improvements from the surgery already!

I have not decided if I should return to the nutritionist again. I am pretty skeptical about the supplements and even more so about the blood and other tests she is trying to sell me. I am about out of the supplements, will see what going off them does to me. I think I will also start eating some diary based yogurt, I like it a lot better than the non-diary version I have been on. I do think some of the things the nutritionist had me do help,
stopping the diet drinks, and reducing carbs are are couple of them. But I know that now, don't need to go back for that...

It takes me about 6 weeks to recover from general anaesthetic

I did not know that, but after doing a little research I can see you are right. Recovery is supposed to be slow... So I guess I am doing fine.

Mooore fooooooood!

Yes, but it still feels a big odd, easy to do but harder to feel good about at the end of the day. I do think you and Cate are right, its probably the best thing to do.

 

[Llama]

Yes, but it still feels a big odd, easy to do but harder to feel good about at the end of the day.

Struggling with the same thing here... It's a weird feeling.

 

[alligatorob]

Yesterday was a good day, felt a little better than the day before. No exercise, but I did think about it. Today is 7 days postop and according to what I read the worst should be past. Although its clear Cate was right I need to give this about 6 weeks for full recovery.

I had a calorie count struggle, I have been eating Louisiana dried shrimp, very low calorie and the calories that are there are virtually all protein. The shells and heads are still on the very small shrimp, so much, if not most of the weight is just shell. Problem is in an effort to find lower cost shirmp I bought a 3 ouch pack that came from Bangladesh, not labeled in English, except for some of the nutrition. Problem is it said 100 calories per ounce, the Louisiana variety is 20 calories per ounce. The protein is the same in both, and the fat virtually non-existent and no carbs... They look and taste the same. I have found several sources for the 20 calories in the Louisiana variety, and no sources consistent with the Bangladesh label. So I just assumed Bangladesh was too high, but to be kind of conservative I ate all 3 ounces Bangladesh, but recorded it as 7 ounces of Louisiana. Don't really know how right or wrong that was. Will buy no more of the Bangladesh shrimp, so it will be a one time problem. Funny how we (me anyway) can obsess over what is really a kind of trivial thing. Calorie counts have become important to me.

Struggling with the same thing here... It's a weird feeling.

Yes, and kind of interesting how different folks in different parts of the world can share so many feelings about food. Guess its the nature of the beast.

 

[Llama]

If the protein, fat, and carbs are on the packaging you can check the calories, right? 4 calories per gram of protein and carbs, 9 for fat. It's not perfect (because imperfect numbers and fiber and all that) but it should help you distinguish between 20 and 100!

 

[Err2]

Did the packaged shrimp come with a dipping sauce that might have accounted for the extra 80 calories? Still funny that the macros were the same though...

 

[Cate]

Maybe they meant 100 cals for the 3 oz pack & it got confused in the translation.
You may not take as long to recover from general anaesthetic as I did. I have been told that I won't be able to have it again as the last time I had an asthma attack in the middle of the op & they had to intubate me. Nobody told me this until the next time I needed an op
I'm glad you are taking care, Rob. You'll get there.

 

[alligatorob]

Yesterday was a good day, I walked for about 45 minutes, slowly but my first postop exercise. It felt fine, got a little tired, but not bad. I am a bit frustrated that I can't do more, but I'm sure I will slowly improve. My carbs are rising a bit, mostly due to eating more veggies and a little more fruit. Not sure there is anything wrong with that. I have decided to try and eat some diary based yogurt and see how that goes. My digestion sure feels better, not 100%, but better. Don't want to do anything to change that.

LaMa, Err, and Cate, I think that Cate's guess sounds best to me, it probably was the calories for the whole package, not just one ounce. That works out more logically with the micros. And no Err, no sauce and no difference in taste from the regular dried shrimp. Oh well, I probably won't get that product again, I have found a lower salt version that I like as well and it is more properly labeled. I do like the dried shrimp, I have to order them online they are not sold locally here. I got some when in Louisiana and was reminded that I like them, and learned they are pretty low calorie.

You may not take as long to recover from general anaesthetic as I did. I have been told that I won't be able to have it again as the last time I had an asthma attack in the middle of the op & they had to intubate me. Nobody told me this until the next time I needed an op

Interesting, I awoke with a very sore throat that lasted a day or so, and a kind of pain in my chest that lasted a little longer. Maybe I was intubated too? Will ask the Dr about it. The Dr said to expect it to take 4 weeks to fully recover, but so far his predictions have proven a bit optimistic. The sooner the better for me! I am slowly feeling a bit better and stronger every day, too slowly but getting there.

 

[Llama]

Fingers crossed the changes won't overwhelm your digestion. It's early days yet!

 

[Err2]

Great news that you're feeling better and starting to reintroduce some exercise! Do you plan to incorporate anything from the nutritionist or are you going to experiment for yourself?

 

[Cate]

I had a sore throat for about a week or so. Maybe you were intubated.
Glad you had a walk, Rob

 

[alligatorob]

It was a good day, still slowly feeling better. I had planned a walk, but ended up doing a lot of work around the house, a little yard work, but mostly reorganized my office and some other areas, lots of moving things around and cleaning. Grandkids helped with the heavier furniture moving the Dr tells me I can't do for a while. Normally I would probably not count this as exercise, but for me today it really was so I am going to claim it. It was harder work and for longer than yesterday's walk. Ate well, and stayed on the calorie plan. All is well.

Fingers crossed the changes won't overwhelm your digestion. It's early days yet!

I am trying not to change too much all at once, so that if I have a set back I may know why. Yesterday I had about 8 cups of veggies total, maybe too much, today I reduced it to about 6. There were days a couple of months ago when I would have twice that and more. Less is better I think, still a lot but not quite so excessive. My new thing today was to eat some diary based yogurt, first time in about 6 weeks for any diary things. So far so good, I hope it works out I like yogurt and the diary based a lot better than the fake stuff, and its cheaper and available in a lot more variety.

Do you plan to incorporate anything from the nutritionist or are you going to experiment for yourself?

I think I need to keep some of the common sense stuff, like cutting the diet drinks out. Otherwise I will test things slowly. Ran out of supplements today, get to see if that makes any difference, I kind of think it will not.

I had a sore throat for about a week or so. Maybe you were intubated.

Yes, I had not thought about it until I read your post. I will ask the Dr in my next appointment, next Friday I think.

 

[misty22]

Hi Rob, just checking in, saw in another thread that you had a surgery? Hopefully you're recovering ok?

 

[Cate]

I hope you didn't overdo it, Rob

 

[alligatorob]

Happy Easter y'all. I always celebrate by watching Jesus Christ Superstar, one of my favorite scenes:

. Hope no one is offended, none meant.

Yesterday was another day of slow but good recovery, I am getting a bit impatient but that's probably a good sign. Recovery from this one seems slower than my first surgery.

The Dr told me that it was supposed to be less traumatic and at some level maybe it has been but it hurts more. That may have more to do with where the cutting and hacking took place, more nerve endings or something. I have three incisions, one right at the belly button and two more below. As uncomfortable and embarrassing as it was the first was done through my urinary track, with no surface incisions. I am learning more about medicine than I ever wanted to know.

Anyway, less pain every day and more physical activity every day, yesterday I did a lot more work around the house, including more moving and reorganizing of things, again the grandkids were there for the heavy lifting but I still got pretty tired. I also ate well. Grandkids stayed over and were in my computer room last night so am posting this morning.

Hi Rob, just checking in, saw in another thread that you had a surgery? Hopefully you're recovering ok?

Hey Misty, good to hear from you! Yes I had hernia surgery, 9 days ago now, and I am recovering, slowly but ok.

I hope you didn't overdo it, Rob

I don't think I did, I really did let the grandkids do the heavy lifting, and that is what the Dr tells me would be the worst thing for me. And when I felt tied I just sat or laid down. Amazing how much the 12 year old granddaughter can lift, she is a strong and helpful kid.