The Flu & Getting My Vitamins
Before you panic - no it isn't the Swine Flu (much as people like to make fun of us overweight folk).
My enitre family is down with the flu; me, my husband, daughter (she's been out of school for an entire week, and my youngest son.) OK - not my entire family. My oldest son is not sick. He neve gets the flu. It is so strange! Michael has Asperger's, it is on the the spectrum of Autistic disorders for those of you not familiar. He's very high functioning. But he has the most amazing immune system. He has never had the flu - and he has been on antibiotics, like 5 or 6 times in his whole life (he just turned 18). One of those times was when his appendix burst! It is like God said. "OK, your son is going to be Autistic, but to make up for it - I'll make sure he never catches the Flu." Weird, huh? I'm not complaining. But for the rest of us the week has been pretty miserable.
For me in particular, it is almost dangerous. It is for anyone who has had WLS - especially the Roux-en-Y. I have not felt like eating anything, and what little I have been able to eat has just made me extremely nauseous. This is not a stomach flu, but my head hurting and spinning and the high fever have just kept me feeling really ill. Also, I have felt more like sleeping than drinking - so I have gotten a little (maybe more than a little) dehydrated. Which is really dumb when you consider how much I've been pushing gatorade, water, and chicken soup on my kids. But I fell into Mommy mode of taking care of them and kind of forgot about me.
This IS one of the dangers of gastric bypass; you don't feel hungry. Which makes it great for losing weight, but on weeks like this past week when i could have really used the hunger pangs reminder - well, it wasn't there. And since I have been back on the gastric bypass diet, it really wasn't there. I wasn't even starving at night by the time my husband got home from work. All I wanted to do was to collapse into bed and sleep and let him take over nursing duties.
So, do be careful when you get sick. Your body needs nutrients more than ever so that it can heal, but depending on where you are in your post-op recovery, you may not feel the urge to eat. And you especially need fluids. This was my biggest mistake.
Now on to the vitamins and supplements issue.
Last week, before any of this Flu stuff came up, I had my annual physical with my doctor - full blood work, EKG, the works. He was very pleased to see me back on my diet and that my weight was already coming down.
Well, I got the call yesterday that my Potassium level was too low. I completely forgot about the fact that when you start eating the way you are supposed to on the GBS diet, that you do not get all the vitamins you need - so that you do need to take supplements. So my doc wants me to start eating foods high in K (like bananas - but those are high in sugar, so I'm going to go do some looking up today) and he prescribed me a supplement, because he said what I could gete over the counter is not high enough.
My husband picked up this prescription for me last night and had this srange look when he handed it to me. OMG! I have never seen a pill this big. Hve any of you ever seen "The Matrix" ? (If not we need to have a serious talk.) These pills are about the size of that thing they put in his stomach. I'm not sure I could have swallowed one of these before my surgery. But I gamely attempted. uh-uh, no way - I threw it up. To make things even worse, there is no coating on this thing to make is slip down easier (who are these manufacturers, sadists?) Cutting it in half is just as bad, because it has jagged little edges. I'm going to have to talk with my doc about some other alternative - 'cause these ain't happening!
This experience did remind me that I need to pick up some vitamin supplements; a multi-vitamin, calcium, B-12, and for me (obviously) a K.
But guys, I am excited! I was in a size 20 jeans that are now too big, so I went and picked up a size 18. I didn't try them on in the store, and when I put them on at hom - they were baggy! So went back and proudly exchanged them for a 16. Of course these are Gloria Vanderbilt stretch Women's jeans, so they are a little more forgiving than say Juicy Couture - but they say 16 on them so I don't care!!!! 
9/19/09
212 lbs.