I am doing normal. That is pretty much the results of my follow-up appointment yesterday. Everyone is pleased with my results (except me).
We went over my food intake. I had taken my tablet in with me so I could access myfitnesspal.com and show her exactly what I had been eating. I log food into that website religiously. She said it looked like I was doing great. This is good news.
We discussed any issues that might occur such as dizziness, burping, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting. Which led me to telling her about my Day 2. She said it sounds like my intestines had not woken back up after they were paralyzed for surgery. There was enough room for my clear liquids to go down from Day 1, but once I moved onto thicker liquids, they just couldn't handle it. So when I got over full, it came back up. Then later in the day when they finally woke up, that is why I had so much cramping and pain in my abdomen as the intestines were moving what was in them down all at once. She said if I had a build up of scar tissue, or any other surgery complication, I would still be having pain. I am not. More good news.
We discussed my weight loss. She said they expect patients to lose between 3-7% of their excess weight by the one week appointment. I am at 3%. I went on to say I didn't understand how I would get to losing 44 lbs by one month when I was losing so slowly. She did the calculation herself and saw that yes, a 25% loss for me would be 44 lbs. Then she said that they expect patients to be a 25% loss by their 6 week follow-up appointment. (Clearly in contradiction to what was given me by the doctor.) So I just let it go, realizing that she had no answers for me.
After that I was taken to an examine room to see the doctor's Physician's Assistant. The nurse took my vitals, reviewed what medications I was on. I asked if if I took the leftover cough syrup with codeine in it to sleep at night if it would be okay. She said she could not recommend it, but it would not interact badly with my surgery or any of the medications I was currently taking. She said I could not take it if I was still on pain medication, but I am not. She went on to recommend taking Claritin daily and Benedryl nightly until the Claritin took effect. She said it was much more effective at clearing up post nasal drip than what I had been taking. I asked her when I could expect to be healed enough to go back and see the chiropractor. She told me to skip one visit and then continue on as before. So that is good news.
They the PA came in. He asked me some of the same things. He told me that I could resume swimming after week three. He examined my incision sites commenting on the huge bruise on my lower belly. It is as big as a baseball. I told him it was where I got one of the Lovenox injections, that's the blood thinner. He said all the incisions looked great and to not pick at the tape covering them. He said as I produce new skin the tape will come off naturally. If edges start popping up, I could have someone I trust take a small, sharp pair of scissors and trim them. He said the reason I should not pick at the tape is because if the tape comes away before it is ready, it may take the scab from the incision with it. So all in all that was good news too.
I was given my lab work order to be completed a week before my six week appointment and sent on my way.
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