Ok, so here I sit 10 days post gallbaldder removal and I can not believe the difference in how I feel from before. I have more energy, no more icky feeling all day simply because I ate anything, no more fear of horrid pain, and no more heartburn medicine for something that wasn't heartburn. Seriously, the recovery has been a breeze. I started on Tuesday barely able to go around the block. Wednesday I went around the mobile home park. Thursday I walked up on the bluffs and back on a short hike of 2.5mi.
I talked to the surgeon on Thursday for my follow-up and he cleared me for most things. I was told to hold off a little longer on jumping and falling at KSW and to wait the full month for weight lifting and eating fried/greasy foods.
So I celebrated by starting Turbo Jam. Yeah, yeah, I know. It doesn't sound like much of a celebration but it felt good to get some serious moving going again. I can't do Tony Horton until I can start weight lifting again because my normal weight amounts are higher than what it is recommended. I may start a little sooner than that if I'm getting bored with TJ but I know there is still stuff healing inside where I can't see and I don't want to push it.
Friday I took another 2.5mi hike and then Saturday morning I biked into town with Jon to drop him off at the Haunted House for the Pumpkin Festival. I can tell you for a fact, you use your abdominal muscles when you bike. I was so sore and achy after that trip since it was 13.5mi and my first time back on a bike since the surgery. Today I took it easy and just did a 3.5mi hike.
So the answer is yes, I'm feeling much better and healed enough to get back on track with life. I do find that I tire a little more easily still so I do know when I overdo it so I'm trying hard to push a little bit to see continued improvement but not so hard as to cause set-backs. Getting more sleep at night might help with this as well. Pretty sure they told me to get more than 5hrs a night but that's what I'm back to. *sigh* Really need to figure out how to get more.
In all tho, a good procedure with successful recovery and I'm a much happier camper!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Recovery update
So I'm on day 4 without a gallbaldder. So far, it's not too bad. I don't feel icky and bleh every time I eat which is nice. I'm still eating super lowfat so not sure how things are going to be once I reintroduce higher fat foods but I'm going to take it easy getting those back in the diet. It's not like I need them anyway, just like being able to have them occasionally.
I'm off the vidcodin now and just using ibuprofen to deal with the pain so I can get up and move around as much as possible. Hoping to be able to start doing little walks by the end of this week and just slowly build up from there. Just going to listen to my body which is currently saying that walking around the house and spending lots of time sitting completely upright is quite enough, thank you very much.
I plan to start tracking my food again starting tomorrow. Not sure I'm going to try hard to stay in a certain calorie range as I need to make sure I'm getting enough nutrients to help my body heal but more that I want to just start back on the habit and making sure I'm not sure mindlessly noshing but rather keeping it to 5-6 small meals a day like they recommend, make sure I'm getting enough fiber, stuff like that.
But in all, I'm glad I did this. I really do think I'll feel much better in the long run.
Tomorrow Mark heads back to work and I'll have to deal with things around the house by myself. (yet another reason to get off the vicodin) Between him, my MIL, and a couple of friends, I have rides lined up so the boys can get to all their activities. So thankful for that extra help as otherwise we would have had to cancel everything for a week because I don't think I should be pushing to drive yet. Still need to talk to Mark and figure out how we are going to handle meals. I'm doing better but I'm not too keen on standing up for 30+ min to get dinner prepared. I'm thinking our crockpot maybe getting a workout this week. The big thing is to make sure it's either something lowfat so I can eat it or that I have an alternative. I want to feel a little more healed before I start putting too much fat back into my diet. Besides, just maybe this means my body will metabolize the fat I already have if I keep it on the super low side. Hey, a girl can hope!
I'm off the vidcodin now and just using ibuprofen to deal with the pain so I can get up and move around as much as possible. Hoping to be able to start doing little walks by the end of this week and just slowly build up from there. Just going to listen to my body which is currently saying that walking around the house and spending lots of time sitting completely upright is quite enough, thank you very much.
I plan to start tracking my food again starting tomorrow. Not sure I'm going to try hard to stay in a certain calorie range as I need to make sure I'm getting enough nutrients to help my body heal but more that I want to just start back on the habit and making sure I'm not sure mindlessly noshing but rather keeping it to 5-6 small meals a day like they recommend, make sure I'm getting enough fiber, stuff like that.
But in all, I'm glad I did this. I really do think I'll feel much better in the long run.
Tomorrow Mark heads back to work and I'll have to deal with things around the house by myself. (yet another reason to get off the vicodin) Between him, my MIL, and a couple of friends, I have rides lined up so the boys can get to all their activities. So thankful for that extra help as otherwise we would have had to cancel everything for a week because I don't think I should be pushing to drive yet. Still need to talk to Mark and figure out how we are going to handle meals. I'm doing better but I'm not too keen on standing up for 30+ min to get dinner prepared. I'm thinking our crockpot maybe getting a workout this week. The big thing is to make sure it's either something lowfat so I can eat it or that I have an alternative. I want to feel a little more healed before I start putting too much fat back into my diet. Besides, just maybe this means my body will metabolize the fat I already have if I keep it on the super low side. Hey, a girl can hope!
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Good-Bye Gallbladder!
Yep, it's another doctor post. I'm just going to start off by saying this once...my current "personal physician" is an incompetent ass! I have continued to have attacks of severe pain on and off since the first one almost 2mos ago. The prilosec doesn't help. I've been following the SparkPeople recommendations on fat intake figuring that was probably what was considered low-fat since my stupid doctor gave me zero helpful information. Apparently that doesn't matter tho and my gallbladder simply doesn't like even lean cuts of beef or pork and every time I eat either, I end up with another attack. If I eat high-fat even one day, I pay for it. Even avoiding those foods for the rest of my life and sticking to a very low-fat diet was not going to cure this. There is no cure for gallstones except removal of the gallbladder and most especially, losing weight wasn't going to do a darn thing for it.
I ended up having 2 bad attacks last week and a couple of minor ones. At Chris's birthday party (still need to do the write-up on that!), I had another mild attack but couldn't tell if it was going to be a bad one or not so I had my mom drive me to the ER. We got in there and I made sure everyone knew that this had been going on for a while even tho this attack had passed, the results of my u/s, and my "doctor's" advice. I was told immediately upon examination by the ER Dr. that it could indeed be my gallbladder causing these problems and after palpitating, she sent for the surgeon to do a consult with me.
The nurses came in to check on me and let me know that the surgeon on call was one of the best and I was lucky to get in with him. He came to talk to me and had a good bedside manner although I'm pretty sure he thought I was completely nuts wanting to know how quickly I could get back to my exercise and KSW training. *shrug* He agreed that the gallbladder needed to come out and stated again that losing weight was never going to fix this, surgery was the only cure. He didn't want to have to do surgery right then if the pain had passed (it had before we even reached the hospital but I wanted to be seen as soon after an episode as possible). The good news is that my liver is still functioning totally normally and that if I keep to a very bland and low-fat diet and avoid trigger foods, he was confident I could stay out of pain until the surgery to remove it.
When is that?
Thursday!
Yep, he didn't want to wait long to do the procedure because even being cautious it can still be problematic and as I have been figuring out, there are a whole host of foods (pretty much everything) that will cause me some icky feelings even if they don't lead to a full on attack. It's likely the reason I've spent the last couple of years feeling off and icky in the stomach much of the time. This just means that yes, we are doing the right thing and I'm totally comfortable with the decision. After having done research when the pain first started, I had realized it was likely the gallbladder and when I found out yes, mine was filled with stones and I researched that and saw that the only treatment was surgery to remove it, I knew it was in my future.
So the end result is that I'm spending these last couple of days with my gallbladder eating really bland, boring food and trying to get things in order before the surgery. It is outpatient and it all goes well, I'll be home the same day.
I ended up having 2 bad attacks last week and a couple of minor ones. At Chris's birthday party (still need to do the write-up on that!), I had another mild attack but couldn't tell if it was going to be a bad one or not so I had my mom drive me to the ER. We got in there and I made sure everyone knew that this had been going on for a while even tho this attack had passed, the results of my u/s, and my "doctor's" advice. I was told immediately upon examination by the ER Dr. that it could indeed be my gallbladder causing these problems and after palpitating, she sent for the surgeon to do a consult with me.
The nurses came in to check on me and let me know that the surgeon on call was one of the best and I was lucky to get in with him. He came to talk to me and had a good bedside manner although I'm pretty sure he thought I was completely nuts wanting to know how quickly I could get back to my exercise and KSW training. *shrug* He agreed that the gallbladder needed to come out and stated again that losing weight was never going to fix this, surgery was the only cure. He didn't want to have to do surgery right then if the pain had passed (it had before we even reached the hospital but I wanted to be seen as soon after an episode as possible). The good news is that my liver is still functioning totally normally and that if I keep to a very bland and low-fat diet and avoid trigger foods, he was confident I could stay out of pain until the surgery to remove it.
When is that?
Thursday!
Yep, he didn't want to wait long to do the procedure because even being cautious it can still be problematic and as I have been figuring out, there are a whole host of foods (pretty much everything) that will cause me some icky feelings even if they don't lead to a full on attack. It's likely the reason I've spent the last couple of years feeling off and icky in the stomach much of the time. This just means that yes, we are doing the right thing and I'm totally comfortable with the decision. After having done research when the pain first started, I had realized it was likely the gallbladder and when I found out yes, mine was filled with stones and I researched that and saw that the only treatment was surgery to remove it, I knew it was in my future.
So the end result is that I'm spending these last couple of days with my gallbladder eating really bland, boring food and trying to get things in order before the surgery. It is outpatient and it all goes well, I'll be home the same day.
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