4 Months Today!

That's when I had my life-changing surgery! The first of every month is a milestone for me, and a reminder of what my life used to be like...

Everything is going really well, so I just have a couple of things I just want to mention on this monthiversary :).

First, I'm still losing weight, although whether it is still from the surgery or whether it is from the low-carb/high-fat diet that I follow is hard to say. Due to my constant digestive issues pre-op I didn't adhere as closely to this healthy eating plan as I had the first few years I'd been on it (it will be 7 years tomorrow), and there were many times I was too ill to cook and I just ate whatever someone else made for me. But I do know that I had lost much of my passion for creating and serving wonderful "cheap'n'easy" low carb meals, when I was in so much pain it was hard to be passionate about anything. I was just trying to get through every day the best that I could. But my passion is back, I'm shopping and cooking myself once again, and that could be a reason for my continuing loss. I do know that the clothes I was wearing pre-surgery are now baggy on me, although I haven't stopped at the doctor's office for a weigh-in in a couple of months. But my health is more important to me than my weight, and I'm enjoying that a lot!

Second, I posted something on the nissen fundoplication group on Facebook a few days ago in response to someone else's post, and I felt I should copy/paste it here as well. Probably THE most important thing I had to do after my surgery was to relearn, and listen to, my body's signals. They were different than before, and in so doing I have had to relearn how to eat. Here is what I wrote (with minor changes to protect the other person's privacy):
"...from the first sip I took after my surgery I have been paying very close attention to my body's signals. The first few weeks were hard because the signals felt different than they did for the first 53 years of my life, but I'm getting used to it now. The 2nd thing I had to retrain myself to do was to stop eating at the first sign of fullness. After a lifetime of continuing to eat even after I was no longer hungry (just because I enjoyed it so much) it has been hard to do. I don't want to stretch or in any way threaten the integrity of my wrap, and risk having issues later that other people have had; that's the big picture, and it is always on my mind when I am tempted to eat more even after my belly tells me it has had enough. It is a matter of listening and obeying the signals I get...probably the thing that has been working best for me is to not do anything else (watch TV, engage in conversation, etc) but to think about my eating: chewing very well, swallowing only small bits at a time, concentrating on how it feels going down and how my stomach is accepting it and if it is done eating or not (even if I still want more!)..."

So all is well after 4 months! No digestive issues of any kind, not even a hint of heartburn, and life is good :).