Salt is My Friend Today?????

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013

I've been battling low blood pressure these past couple of days after being on high blood pressure medicine for probably the past twenty years.  I have absolutely no energy.  Today I went to see my internist for my post-op appointment and brought him my blood pressure readings.  When I was scared Friday & Saturday when my blood pressure was higher and I kept taking medicine - he said that was nothing.  He did change my medication - no longer on my main high blood pressure medication.  Because I have heart disease, I'm still on Plavix, Simvastatin, and Metropropol (which does affect my blood pressure).  I'll wait to add the daily aspirin until I'm on full foods.

What shocked me was when he told me that I needed some salt (today) in my diet and to get some carb calories in for energy.  Since I just started pureed foods at one week out, I'm still scared to eat much.  Yesterday I pulverized some chicken with some chicken broth and ate a 1/4 cup.  Pretty gross.  Had some cream of wheat - no taste and really no nutritional value.  I'm getting my protein in from shakes and greek yogurt.  So I went to our local Luby's and got a LuAnn plate with baked fish and mashed potatoes - no roll.  I tried to eat maybe an ounce of the fish mashed (none of the toppings) and 1/4 cup of mashed potatoes with salt! Got almost all of that in until I started to feel a little uncomfortable - I'm new at this sleeve business so I don't know how much I can really eat yet.  Yes - those mashed potatoes tasted wonderful - in MY Fitness Pal they were 69 calories 6.3 carbs and 1.4 grams of protein.  Ok - fat was 4.6 grams.  I'm having the same for dinner - with SALT !

I know I won't be eating salt for long as my blood pressure stabilizes but it really made me feel better.  So strange to hear a doctor tell a fat person to eat salt!!!  Oh - I had lost 10 pounds since my visit to see him the week before surgery!!  Yeah!!!

Hopefully my energy will come back this week so I can get some exercise in - more than walking around my house each hour!  What a journey this is!!

Day of VSG Surgery finally here!

My surgery date was Monday, February 25th.  My surgeon actually called me on Sunday to tell me to eat light that day, nothing after 5 pm but clear liquids and nothing after midnight. He also wanted to go over my medications and any questions I had - wow - the call was unexpected and so nice!

My surgery was the night before the Academy Awards!  Thank goodness I love the Oscars as that helped keep my mind occupied instead of being too nervous about the surgery.  My friends and I were texting back and forth about the dresses, awards, etc. that made the night fun as it could be!  I did get some sleep that night.

I had to be at the hospital at 8 am for a 10:15 surgery.  As soon as I got back into the room to change into a hospital gown, they were already calling for me in pre-op.  I quickly told my husband goodbye - thought I was going to be way ahead of schedule - but oh no - I spent 45 minutes to an hour in the pre-op waiting dock.  They gave me some headphones to listen to music - I would rather have had valium but no anxiety meds until I met with anesthesiologist.  I told the anesthesiologist how I had been nausated with all past surgeries so to give me all the good drugs he could.  The surgeon came by and talked to me also.

Last thing I remembered was being taken back to the operating room and transferring to the operating table - nothing after that - no counting backwards etc.  When I woke up - no nausea - YEAH! - they asked me about pain - I told them a 5 - started getting pain meds- was moved to a room a couple of hours later.  (I think).

I was shocked about the pain levels - more soreness than actual hurting.  I've had two C-sections to compare this to - I was just uncomfortable.  I was given a pump to control my pain - I thought I was hitting the button pretty often because I like to stay ahead of the pain - but the surgeon said I didn't really use a whole lot of pain medication.

Later that day I got ice chips, sat in a chair, walked around the nurses station a few times and went to the bathroom.  I sent my husband home around 6:30 that night cause I knew I was just going to sleep. A successful day that will hopefully get me on a healthy path of life!!! Not as bad as I anticipated!