Well, it looks like the upholstered belly is going to undergo some rennovation soon, as I'm on for illeocecectomy (they remove the stricture between my colon and small intestine and sew/staple the ends together) on June 5 at Virginia Mason Hospital.
I tried to run the idea of having the surgeon, Dr T, do a little liposuctin while he was in there, just about 15 pounds or so off the omentum, but no, he said 'nice try' and left it at that. Sigh.
Dr T is taking out my appendix at the same time, though, and said that I should plan on being in the hospital for 3-4 days, so I am not going to be shuffled home too quickly, and I will probably have at least 4 weeks of recovery, not something I'm looking forward to, as I had 6 weeks of recovery after my c-section and I was ready to go back to work after 4 weeks.
But I do know that I've got 2 years of exercise, weight training and two boot camps behind me, so I won't have to start over when I finally do go back to classes at WIO.
Because I won't be eating anything for two weeks after surgery (just drinking clear liquids after the first week of IV only) I imagine the 6 pounds I gained due to cortisone, required to reduce inflammation after my obstruction, will come back off posthaste. I am planning on losing at least 15 pounds, if not more while I recover, so there is one advantage to having your guts torn out.
I also have a lovely stack of 16 books that I can read through while I wait for my belly to heal. I'm looking forward to the eyestrain.
I must say that since I've been off the carb rotation diet I've been happy to eat soft, bland foods, but not thrilled to have to pass by any raw fruits or vegetables, beef, pork and no hot dogs. I love hot dogs, and I miss them. I look forward to having one on the 4th of July this year, when hopefully my gut will be healed enough to allow me to eat protein in a tube again. I also plan to down quantities of watermelon and perhaps even a hamburger with extra pickles, if I am feeling daring.
Wish me luck.
