Day: January 19, 2011

I’ve been reading about fasting.

Don’t worry, I’m not developing an eating disorder and though I’d like to lose about thirty more pounds, I’m not leaning toward fasting to obtain that goal, either.

No, I think fasting would be a good thing for me to do, once in a while, to give my intestines a rest.

Before we go any further, I’m fine. In fact, I’m more than fine, I’m feeling pretty great, quite honestly. I’m so excited to have regular BM’s again that I proudly tell my family whenever it happens because I’m so overjoyed with getting back to normal. (Though funny at first, my family is getting quite sick of my little “announcements”. I’ll have to celebrate on my own in the future, I think).

I even lost weight from this whole ordeal, which is a nice little side perk from having my guts surgically removed from my bloated body. A few days before I finally threw in the white towel and went to the emergency room, I weighed myself.

I never weigh myself. One, it’s useless. I’m a big woman and I have some poundage under the best circumstances and two, I keep track of my body mass by how tight my clothes are fitting. But something felt off … I was bloated, my fingers were sausages, my face looked like someone stuffed walnuts into my cheeks. The thing was, I wasn’t eating. I felt too full/bloated/uncomfortable to eat anything and yet, my body kept expanding.

Out of curiosity, I weighed myself. And nearly had a heart attack. The number was NOT flattering. In fact, it was quite shocking.

Of course NOW I know that that was largely due to the fact that I was carrying an extra three feet of intestine inside my body and had weeks worth of fecal matter impacted in my intestinal walls.

A few weeks after my surgery (can you believe it’ll be a MONTH since my surgery on Thursday??), after the swelling had gone down and my poochy belly wasn’t so poochy, I weighed myself again.

I had to get my glasses because I was convinced I wasn’t reading it correctly.

I had lost FIFTEEN POUNDS!!

Wow. (By the way, I would NOT recommend having your guts removed as a weight loss option. Just saying).

So … NICE. Fifteen pounds lighter. I’ll take it. In fact, I was able to finally fit into a pair of jeans that I couldn’t even button shortly after my surgery. They’re still tight, but not to the point where I can’t breathe.

I wore them the past few days and I felt GOOD about myself. I plan on keeping that poundage off so I can continue to wear them. (Remember? Don’t buy bigger clothes – that just gets you into trouble).

However, last night, I started feeling … weird. My insides were sore and tender. They’re still a bit on the tender side today, but not as bad. And I think that’s because I wore my tight jeans the past few days and the pressure just squeezed them too much. I’m giving them a little more breathing room today.

Also, my insides have started grumbling again. Not like they were before my surgery, but like they were waaay back before any of this became an issue (about five years ago).

So I’m wondering, is this normal? I’m guessing it’s trapped gas – I’m passing gas, so I’m not worried about that, but the rumbling is happening in different areas, deeper areas.

Some of that grumbling could be because I”m hungry. I’ve been trying not to eat as much as I have been, mainly because I figured it’s easier for my body to process and then dump, but it’s got me thinking …

What if my problem comes back? I mean, don’t laugh, but what if I start growing extra intestine again? Which begs the question, how the heck did that extra intestine even get there to begin with? (A question I plan on asking my doctor when I go back and see him in a couple of weeks). I mean, I was born with it, so my doctor says. Did it grow with me? I mean, if I’ve had it my entire life, why hasn’t it given me problems before now? Or, did my body just produce extra intestine over time and … is it possible for that to happen again??

I know it sounds bizarre, but the fact is, I had three feet of extra intestine … this is not usual. I even tried Googling it and came up empty. Now, if the Internet doesn’t even acknowledge a person having extra intestine then you KNOW it must be something weird and out of the ordinary.

I guess I’m wondering … is the grumbling I’m having causing my intestine to stretch and grow? I know this sounds a bit alien-ish, but honestly, we’re in science fiction territory here: I don’t have an alien in my body, but I DO have extra organs.

Tell me that’s not weird.

At any rate, I’m relearning my body once again. I’ve been paying close attention to how it’s working and I’ve been eating all of the foods that I avoided before all of this craziness even began. I’ve been eating fruits, peanuts, ice cream, brans, oats and so far … everything seems to be working just fine, though I do wonder if some of these foods are causing me excess gas, which would explain the grumbling.

I’m also thinking about scar tissue … a lot.

I was reading a blog the other day, and the gal had had to go to the hospital because her small intestine stopped working. They suggested she not eat anything for a few days and walk. (Walking encourages your bowels to move) and to my knowledge, that did the trick.

The doctors suggested she fast because doing so gives your intestines a break. Things quieten down in there and they have a chance to naturally discharge anything that’s built up – they have a chance to “catch up”, if you will.

When you’re in the hospital, they will often put patients on NPO (nothing by mouth) to give your body a rest and make sure your stomach is empty before surgery, etc.

So I’m wondering, should I be fasting once in a while to help heal my intestines? Will that help prevent build-ups around my incision and will that prevent future problems? I’m thinking, what can it hurt?

I mentioned that I’ve been reading about fasting and wow. There are of course, all sorts of fads and weird rituals you can supposedly do to cleanse your colon, but I don’t want to jump on any fad wagon, I just want to cleanse my body as naturally as possible.

The question is, how? And for how long? I’m still doing some research, I’ll let you know what I end up doing and how it goes. But I feel like I should try this if for no other reason than to give my body a rest and hopefully prevent any future complications from developing from scar tissue.

My steri-strips have nearly all fallen off. My scar has been itching like crazy, which is a good sign, I guess, it’s healing. I’m still not supposed to do any sort of exercising for another two weeks (save for walking), but other than that, I seem to be getting back to normal. I wasn’t able to walk very fast for a few weeks (whenever Kevin and I went shopping, he would have to slow down to wait for me to catch up. It’s funny, our situations are completely reversed than what they were when he was recovering from his motorcycle accident), and coughing and sneezing nearly killed me. But now, none of that stuff bothers me anymore and I’m back to waiting for Kevin to catch up with me. I still have some pretty significant pressure and pain if I push too much, so I’m taking it easy in that regard, but otherwise, things are getting back to normal.

I FEEL normal again. Now I’m on a mission to keep it that way. I don’t want to obsess about having scar tissue complications down the road, but it’s hard not to think about it when it’s a very real concern.

Updated: So, I spoke too soon, apparently. I’m feeling uncomfortable today, but I don’t know if it’s gas, tenderness or what. I also have what looks like a blister around my incision. Of course I Googled it and incisional hernia came up. I don’t think that’s what this is, I think it’s a blister as the area is precisely under where the zipper of my jeans would rub. I’ve put some gauze on it to protect it and I will definitely keep an eye on it, but I don’t think there is anything to worry about at this point. It’s so weird, I felt fine until today. But like I said, I’ve been eating foods I’ve been avoiding up to this point so it might be a gassy reaction from something I ate. But again, I’ll pay close attention and bring it to my doctor’s attention when I see him in a few weeks. Don’t worry (mom). 🙂