It sounded so easy...

Ya know, when I started this journey, it all sounded so easy. Just make your way through the surgery, have some protein, drink your water and everything will be a-okay. WELL, that's just because you just want it really bad so...in your head...you make it easy - hear what you want, see what you want, toss the rest.

In REALITY, it's a rather time-consuming process. "Don't stress," they told me on Tuesday at my last appointment. Don't stress? DON'T STRESS??? How can I not stress? If I don't eat enough protein, I don't lose weight, and I don't get to stay healthy. But, I can't eat enough food yet to get my daily protein. So...I have to use protein supplements. Truth be told, most protein supplements taste NASTY! At least they do post surgery (you're tastes change, I'll explain more of that later on down the blog). So, you and up gagging and choking down stuff that you can hardly stomach. The better the product tastes, the more expensive it is.
The short of it...don't fool yourself into thinking this is an easy process. It's not. It's difficult and frustrating and, sometimes downright depressing.

Do I regret it? Absolutely NOT! I know I spend a lot of time complaining, but it's not because I regret this decision. It's because I fooled myself into thinking it'd be a breeze.

Now, the story with taste changes...here's my theory: pre-surgery, I loved sweets. Chocolage was one of my best friends. Post-surgery, I'm not liking sweets so much. Chocolate and I don't get along AT ALL. Now, when you have gastric bypass surgery, they not only bypass most of the stomach, they also bypass the top part of the small intestine (check out this website. It shows you a picture of what I'm talking about...now you know what I look like on the inside. :) http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/surgery/weightloss/services.html). This part of the intestine digests sugars, carbs, and fats to some extent. My theory is that, since your body now knows it can't digest these foods - at least not well - it sends signals to the brain saying "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Don't eat these foods." To keep you from eating these foods the brain convinces your tongue that you don't like them anymore.

I don't think this will be the case forever since many people (including the nurse) say that eventually you can go back to eating almost anything (the only thing my nurse can't eat is ice cream. However, I'll take it for as long as it lasts 'cause it'll keep me from eating the wrong things). In the end, the problem becomes, how does a bypass patient supplement protein when they no longer like/tolerate sweet (although sugar free) foods when the majority of protein supplements are sweet?

Well, I think that's a GREAT question. First answer, well, not everyone has the same reaction post surgery. The interesting thing (at least one of them) about bypass surgery is that every patient seems to have different reactions. There is no way to gauge or judge what might change for a person post-surgery or even how long those changes will last. Something you can tolerate one day, you won't the next. Something you couldn't tolerate, you suddenly find you can.
Two examples: 1. I made a tomato soup. It had little hard bits in it from the seeds. I couldn't stand the soup because of the seeds. I also made yogurt with blueberries. Blueberries also had seeds. They didn't bother me at all. 2. A week ago, I could deal with acai flavored protein shooters. They're gross, but I could deal. As of 3 days ago, they started making me gag.

Ok, this is long. I have more to say, but I'll stop here. I'll write the rest in a new post to give you all a break.

One more thing, thank you! Many of you have told me that you're reading my blog. THANK YOU! I really appreciate that you're keeping tabs on me and this isn't all for naught!