Reflux, seromas & a lost port (not nearly as horrific as it sounds!)

Woooo ... it's been four tumultous days.

I have lost well over 3kgs in as many days.

The price I paid for this pearly weight loss was a severe episode of gastric reflux which meant I could not consume any food or fluid thicker than water and was not able to sleep for three nights for fear of choking and meeting my demise.

Aaah! The joy of an overfill and some gastric swelling.

Yesterday morning it became apparent that things were not getting any better. A call to my surgeon resulted in the conclusion that some saline should be removed asap. I was given an appointment for 4pm - the 7 1/2 hrs wait crawled by. By 1pm after only being able to drink yet another litre of powerade, I began to feel light headed and was unable to put a sensible sentence together. I had a vice like headache. Oh god! Why would anyone want to starve themselves - the disgusting side effects of not nourishing and caring for your body is horrific.

I knew that the removal of the fluid was going to be painful; naturally the surgeon was going to have to palpate my abdominal area which had undergone surgical trauma only days before hand. I was quite unprepared for the event of the needle missing it's target and ending up in the seroma surrounding my port. Aargh! I am really not good with seeing my own blood *gasp* - so watching the surgeon aspirate the bloody fluid out of the seroma made me hot and with that all familiar fainty feeling! But I live to tell the tale.

I had 0.3ml removed. Which means I have ... well, no one really knows how much fluid I have in my system now. When flayed open on the surgical table, the surgeon noticed I had an excess amount of tubing in my abdomen which was a result of a decent weight loss. He removed well over 6 inches of this redundant tubing. Only problem was, as he went to clamp the tube to trim it, the fluid gushed out. He had not yet extracted the full amount out of the system, so was then at a loss as to how much was in there! So he admits to having to 'guess' how much fluid to put back in at the end of the op!

I made a decision to have a little more removed today as a little reflux persisted last night. I had another 0.25ml removed today. Not quite as traumatic but I do have a tender spot from being stuck two days in a row!

At a guess, I am getting around with about 5ml in a 10ml band.

I found out where my port was yesterday too! I had requested that my port be relocated. Over the weekend I found myself gingerly digging around it find it to no avail! You see, the surgeon in Belguim seemed to think attaching a bloody hard lump of plastic to my waist line was a magical idea. This location drove me nuts as the port frequently got in the way and could be easily irritated by certain pieces of clothing or positions my body was in (like bending over straight legged). My new surgeon relocated the port and attached it to my lower abdominal muscles - well out of the way of anything and where there will always be a bit of padding covering it.

After essentially fasting for three days, I was able to manage food today. My excitement was paramount! I broke the famine with a fresh carrot, apple and ginger juice (small). Lunch consisted of 3 pieces of shaved roast beef (NOT slices!), 2 olives and a slice of avocado. Dinner was a small slice of frittata (pancetta, pumpkin, cheese and eggs) & a wee scoop of vanilla ice cream to chase it down (sometime later though!). It felt so good to eat - to chew - to savour - to feed my poor wretched body.

But I'm now repaired, re-adjusted and ready to become Australia's Next Top Model!