Week 3 and 4 Post Op // Back to Work

I thoroughly enjoyed my 3rd week off from work.  I had so much activity on Monday that Tuesday I stayed home to rest.  By Wednesday I felt well enough to go and run errands and actually do some household chores.  When I woke up that morning I didn't feel any pain.  I felt normal.  I went to car wash, returned something at the mall, the grocery store and dropped off a package.  When I got home I unloaded the dishwasher and I made dinner that night.  I was the first time attempting household stuff and I was FEELING it!  My belly swelled up and told me that I was not as recovered as I thought I was.   I had random shooting pains.  Thank goodness I didn't try to go back after 2 weeks.  I really could have used 4 weeks or even 5 off after seeing how I felt after 3.  I feel like this week was a bit of a setback so I really took it easy for the rest of the week.  Back to the couch.  On Saturday we went to Red Lobster for dinner and I relaxed all day on Sunday to gear up for work.

It was just as busy as I expected it to be.  First it was playing catch up and then the work poured in and it didn't stop until Friday.  Monday was hard.  By 11am I was in pain and if it didn't get better I was going to have to go home.   It was just constant hurt and pressure in my stomach area.  I was sitting there with a swollen painful belly so I took my belt off, then undid my button an then the zipper came down by the end of the day.  I also didn't sleep well.  I was used to staying up as late as I wanted until I was really tired but on Sunday I had to get to bed before 10pm so I could get up.  The rest of the week I took hydrocodone to sleep and I could still justify it since I was still hurting.  That stuff is good.  I felt waves of relaxation through my body before I dropped off into a deep sleep.  I don't want to get addicted.  I got some over the counter stuff for next week.

On Wednesday I went to Old Navy on my lunch break and got a bunch of dresses that I can wear with leggings and boots until my belly stops swelling up.  I bought 5 dresses then I got an e mail that they were having an online 40% off sale so I bought them all online plus one.  I'll return the first set.  I bought some more leggings today so I think I'm set.  So Tuesday seemed to be better then Monday but Wednesday I felt worse.  And it was a really long day because I had my hair appointment after work.  I felt so relieved to have made it through my first week.  I did some errands today but I'm resting over the weekend and hopefully next week will be better.

So this week the muscle spasms in my stomach stopped.  I was getting them every morning when I started to wake up and move around in bed since the surgery.  It wasn't super painful but just uncomfortable especially in the days right after my surgery.  Also, my left steri strip fell off today.  My incision is so tiny and it's barely visible.  My belly button is still scabbing but it's starting to look a little bit more normal.  Modern medicine is amazing.  I'm still having aches and pains here and there and my belly still swells up when I do anything but stay in the house resting.  I was starting to get frustrated last week because I'm not fully better but now I'm just trying to be patient.  Full recovery won't come for at least 4-6 weeks and it could be longer so I just have to take it easy when I'm not working and wait it out.  I can't wait until I can sleep on my stomach again.

My goal since surgery was basically not to gain weight.  I knew I'd be laying around and not exercising so I've continued to watch my eating and try to stick with 25/50/25 for Fat, Carbs and Proteins.  This morning I was excited to see 125.4 which is the lowest that I've seen since I got back from Hawaii in December.  I've consistently been weighing just a little bit less while I have raised my calorie budget from 1,200 to 1,500 to 1,600 just last week.  I'm probably going to gain tomorrow because I had 18 oz of coffee in the morning and I'm on my 2nd 24 oz water bottle since 10am.  It's 4:15pm and I still have not peed.  That probably means I'm retaining which is annoying although for the most part I've been doing really well with that.  I was so worried that I would sit at home and retain water for weeks on end like I was doing on the weekends but I was fine.  I've been having and regular BM's too.  I even went 3 days in a row once which is unheard of but it's typically been every other day.  I don't reach 1500-1600 every day but I'm eating more then I have ever eaten before, not exercising and I haven't topped 130 so I will consider it a win.