One, Two, Three, Four, Five...

(Think to the turn of the song in Sesame Street)

Day  5 post op.  Doing well.  Most of the gas is gone.  None of it was ever painful, just darn annoying.  My incisions aren't painful either, just a bit tender when a cat jumps on me, and my abs (such as they are) are starting to not be sore too.   The worst bit now is my hand!  I've always been a difficult stick when getting blood drawn. I pretty much ask for a butterfly needle right off the bat.  It's a family thing.  My mom and her dad are the same way.   For surgery they initially tried to put the IV in my left hand,  and complained about my rolling veins.  My response, "that's just how I roll".  At least I made them laugh.  After that still in the left hand she got a nerve.  OMG weirdest feeling ever.  It was a shooting almost pain followed by tingly in my ring and pinky fingers.   And still so far if i bend my left hand too far those two fingers get tingly.  I'm hoping it's just cause the area is still bruised and swollen, so movement pushes down on the damaged nerve and that it will go away soon.  It's grrrr.

As for "food" .. I had/have a dilemma.  My doctors discharge notes said "2 weeks of clear liquids (broth/water/isopure/tea etc) then transition to the directions Kaiser gave you"  The directions Kaiser gave me had me starting out right after surgery with 2 weeks of "full liquids" (pudding, protien shakes, cream of ___ soups  etc. ) skipping clear liquids all-together.  So I called the Doc to clarify and he said I could just follow Kaisers plan and that he tends to be "conservative"..  of course during class Kaiser said "other people might eat __ but we're conservative".  I LOL-ed.   The first day after I had my mom and my hubby forcing me to eat pudding and soup and stuff, and I was very "meh" about it.  After that I decided to split the difference and do a week of clear liquids, and them move on to the full liquids.  And it's still confusing 'cause if you search around there sooooo many different doctor approved plans.  I've seen some with maybe 4 weeks of liquids before moving on to mushy/pureed?  I dunno.  after my week of full liquids I move on to "soft and moist" .. seems like I get to skip pureeing anything.  I think that's it for now, I've rambled a bit.  Have a good day everyone!

<3 Sam