The road less travelled......
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” - Lao Tzu
Befitting to the above quote has been my journey in the last past month post my surgery. I know its been long awaited but I wanted to complete 1 month post op before I write about this journey that I have undertaken. As said in my last blog, my surgery was on 5th May 2015 @ Saifee Hospital. Let me take you through my journey over the last 30 days....
Day 1 - 3 : This had to be the toughest stage post op, where there has been a significant change in your anatomy and your body is still trying to understand the change and adapt accordingly. This is the stage where the pain is at its maximum and they recommend to stay off the pain killer’s, so this is where your mettle is tested. But trust me, 3 days of pain against a lifetime of health is worth it.
Day 4 : Post my check ups and being cleared I was discharged and sent back home. This is where things start improving and you start feeling much better. There is pain but not as bad. However, the tough part is another 15 days of nothing but only liquid.
Day 4 - 15 : For all those who know me, obviously know my love for food and now imagine ME of all the people on nothing but liquids. The luxurious and lavish options in front of me to spoil myself with were Water, Coconut Water, Clear Soups, Dal Water, Thinned down protein shake and any other kind of liquid you could imagine. The plus point was that my intake was not more than 45 ml at one go. This reminded of my days when 45 ml translated into a standard peg measure for me and that went down in a matter of minutes. And then here was me, struggling to finish 45 ml of liquid in over 30 minutes.
Day 16 - 30 : 21 days of liquid diet ( 7 days pre and 15 days post op) is stage 1. You survive this and graduate to stage 2, no nothing to be happy because stage 2 is pureed food. Yes, you read it right. So here I was starting with all kinds of pureed food. The saving grace was they allowed me to have well cooked fish and chicken but in very small quantities and that too spacing yourself out so as to not stuff yourself too early. One golden rule here that they stressed on was to ensure that I did not drink water 15 minutes before my meal and 30 minutes post my meal. This ensures that the tiny stomach can hold more of food thus ensuring I have the requisite amount of nutrition to make it through the day.
Day 31 onwards : This is where I am at as I write this blog. I am finally on Stage 3 which is NORMAL FOOD. Yes, I am finally able to eat normal food like a normal human being. But again the amount is restricted and in terms of quantity for a better understanding, I am able to have no more than half an idli at one time and that is my threshold, the point where I feel full.
Now there would still be a lot of you wondering what on earth have they done with my stomach to reduce my eating capacity. Let me show it to you in the form of an image for better understanding. What you will see below is a pictorial representation of what exactly has been done with my stomach.
I presume this will now become clearer to all those who had questions on the procedure. The good thing about this is that the overall anatomy of how the food travels from top to bottom has not really been changed. It’s only the size of the stomach that has changed and I can live with that.
Now it’s time to answer the one question everyone has been asking me. The ROI (Return on Investment) of the whole procedure. Let me stress on the fact that this is only the beginning and that its the first step towards the weight loss. There is still a lot to do and over the next year is where I can really show you guys the difference, but in terms of numbers for a month or 30 days I have been able to shed 16kgs which if you ask me is not a bad start.
This has been an extremely long post and I apologize for the same but there was a lot to write about and I look forward to sharing more about my journey with you guys in the coming months.
Thank you all once again for your immense support, love and understanding.
God Bless!