Two Weeks Post Op

Two weeks post op and 20 pounds down! I am feeling almost 100% back to normal. I have two issues….. I thought this whole shoulder pain after surgery only was supposed to happen within the first week after surgery but I was WAY wrong. I didn’t have any shoulder pain from the gas they blow up your stomach with before surgery during the first week and I thought I was one of the lucky ones that didn’t have to experience it. Week two comes around and BAM crazy shoulder pain in my left shoulder. It seems to be the worst when I get up from laying or sitting down. Walking is supposed to help get it all out faster but I will tell you what walking makes the pain more intense. The second issue I have is that after sitting for a long period of time when I stand up I feel like it is the day after I did a major stomach crunch workout. All of my muscles in my stomach cramp up and feel all tight. There is really no way to get around this one. I sit almost all day for my job on conference calls so I do my best to try and stand up every once in awhile.
The only sore spot I have is where my port is located. It is not an unbearable soreness just kind of a throbbing pain sometimes. I am told that this pain takes a little longer to go away. The liquid diet sucks! I am craving every type of food especially red meat. I am even craving stuff I don’t even like which is really weird. The other day someone brought Mexican food into my office area and I literally thought I was going to start crying at my desk. I had a moment on Mother’s Day where I had a few wheat thin crackers with spinach dip and a small piece of cheesecake. I was very careful to chew everything to a liquefied stage before swallowing and I didn’t have any problems. I get very frustrated that just like the pre-op diet the post-op diet varies by doctor. I should just stop reading blogs and websites because I just get so frustrated that there is such a difference. My Dr says that you are on liquids for the first three weeks. These liquids can be anything you can get through a straw so water, protein drinks, sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, sugar free popsicles, yogurt, and broth soup. When you get to the second phase you get to eat pureed foods like mashed potatoes, soft cooked eggs, anything you can put into a blender, applesauce. This stage is two weeks and then you can transition into soft foods and eventually regular foods. Most people look at the liquid diet and think great it is like getting your tonsils out. People this is NOT FUN. One can only have so much pudding and yogurt in a day before you just can’t take it anymore. The mental part of this is really difficult. I just keep taking it one day at a time. I have learned from other diets the more you deprive yourself of the things you want the worse off you are because I end up binging on those foods. I know that I need to stick to what the Dr says and for the most part I am but I also know that I would be worse off denying myself a small bite of something and binging on a bunch stuff later. I am so ready to get back into the gym and workout. I never thought that I would say that but I really do miss it. I meet with the Dr next Thursday so hopefully he will give me the go ahead to start working out again.