Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Not much to update... I still suck at blogging...

So, the surgeon didn't know why I'm still in so much pain.  He thinks it could be due to frankenstomach/intestinal ulcerations.  Now I'm on Prevacid Sol-Tabs that cost me $150 for a 30 day supply... that's WITH insurance.  The generic was pulled from the shelves, so I'm forced to buy the brand name.  This is the final option in a long line of acid blockers I have tried.  I do seem to tolerate them much better than the other ones, so at least they stay down most of the time.

I have another EGD scheduled for 4/13 to check and see if this has healed anything, or more likely, if it has began healing things.  I still may need a surgery to remove the permanent stitching.  The surgeon believes that the stitching may be causing some of the ulcer problems I've been having.

I'm still mainly on a soft diet... mostly protein shakes and chili (very mild, I can't see to eat anything spicy), cheese, and sugarfree pudding.  I get adventurous now and then and try to eat something a bit more solid, but my frankenstomach usually just sends it back up.

On the positive side, I'm down over 140 lbs and looking into buying some size 14 jeans... I still have trouble seeing it.  I get a little freaked out by the mirror sometimes.  Just waiting for my brain to catch up, I guess.  I read in a blog long ago that surgery is the easy part, the hard part is working with your non-modified brain.  Brain modification is difficult.

So, almost 11 months after my first surgery, I'm still never hungry.  I have to remind myself to eat by watching the clock.  Every 3 hours or so, I have to eat something or I tend to get light-headed.  Getting fluids in isn't too bad most days, but eating is still really difficult for me.  My relationship with food has changed sooo much.  It used to be a friend... a comfort.  Now I must eat to live.  Food is fuel.  It's a necessary evil in my daily routine.  Sometimes, food isn't too bad.  Some days, I hate food.  Seriously hate it.  Now when I'm angry or sad or depressed I have to face and deal with it.  It was so much easier to just bury myself in a pint of ice cream or a bag of cookies.  I no longer have that option.  It has taught me a lot about my emotions and my reactions to them.  Taking food out of the equation has completely changed my coping mechanisms.  It makes dealing with teenagers that much harder.  But I have to.  So I'm trying to learn as I go.  What else can I do...?

So, I'm just trucking along... waiting to stop vomiting.  Once I stop vomiting so much, I can go back to work.  I miss work.  I don't necessarily miss my job, per se, but I miss being a productive member of society.  Some days I feel useless.  I have deemed myself CouchLump on those days.  I think a lot of the anger and depression will go away as soon as I can get back to some semblance of "normal" in my day to day.  Until then, I deal...

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