Well, I stopped the pain meds yesterday. I hate to let good pain medicine go to waste but the fact is it makes me sweat (it’s been 80 degrees here) and it makes me too drowsy and lazy to do my walking.

I am walking a little every day. I heard over and over that they won’t let you out of the hospital until you fart. Well, I didn’t and they still let me go. Nurse Felly told me that means I need to walk more, and she was right. I overdid the walking on Saturday. I walked 20 minutes but had to stop halfway for 2 minutes because I got debilitating gas pains. On the way back, I had to walk very slowly like a 100-year old woman. Once I got home, I finally passed gas from the other end.

Thank goodness, the pipeline is finally working!

The main problem I was having since I got home is I couldn’t drink anything without burping immediately after. I don’t know if that is related to the gas they blow your stomach up with or my body getting used to my new anatomy. After drinking a few minutes, I also have what feels like a bad gas pain in my lower left side. Eventually it comes out one end or the other, especially if I get up after drinking.

I’m a person who never ever belches or passes gas in public, so thank goodness no one else has to put up with my gas attacks…LOL!

I’m having no nausea and no difficulty tolerating protein shakes. I’m not saying they taste good, but I don’t gag on them. So far I’ve been able to get all my 80 gm of protein in, thanks to the Isopure Zero Carb protein shake with a monster 50 gm of protein per serving. But I got sick of drinking vanilla shakes and bought some Atkins chocolate and strawberry shakes. I still have another 4 days of this clear liquid diet, so I need more variety. My water has been a little harder to get in. I’ve been drinking 6-7 glasses so far and hope to get in the full 8 today.

I love sugar-free popsicles! I don’t normally eat popsicles but they are my savior. It kind of feels like cheating but they’re only 15 calories a pop and they don’t even taste sugar-free. Plus it’s good that they count towards your water intake.

I finally lost all my hospital fluid weight and lost 2 pounds of real weight. Woohoo! I guess it’s time to take my Before pictures. I hate taking pictures so I’ve been dragging my butt about doing that. Hopefully I’ll have them up by later today. I’m feeling better every day. That’s it for now.