Wow, today marks 1 week post surgery – and what a difference a week has made in my life. Okay, I know that I am a bit behind in updating my journey and I will do my best to get caught up but today is probably the first day that I have actually felt up to doing anything aside from sleep or lie down. I had no complications or problems during my surgery and my doctor said that it went great but since then I have had a few setbacks which I’ll talk about on future posts. I am so happy to report that for the first time in a very long time I was able to walk for more than 5 minutes without being bent over in pain. My son, Justin, took me to one of my favorite stores, Bed Bath and Beyond today. I walked the entire store, up and down the aisles and not once did I have cramping in my back or pain in my knees. I did walk a bit slow and at one point I did start to overheat and get sweaty but I made it and I truly enjoyed myself. I broke down in tears a few times, happy to be getting my independance back and sad for all the time I have spent confined to my house. I will say that I am catching up on lost sleep, I can almost sleep on my tummy and I no longer have the pain associated with the anesthesia. I am still a bit tender in a few areas, I get gas build-up after I eat or drink so I burp often and I need to be near a potty within 10-15 minutes after “meals” (if you call jello or broth a meal). I still crave my old favorites like burgers, steak, grilled cheese, spagetthi and stuff like that but oddly enough I don’t miss the sugary stuff like I thought I would and believe me, I loved my sweets!!! I look forward to adding other things to my diet and can’t wait till I can have something that actually requires me to CHEW!!! I’m now into the second half of my Phase II diet which means I can add cottage cheese and cream soups – yippee!! I drink Pink Lemonade Crystal Light and a lot of Smart Water, I love it because of the added electrolytes which helps when you have, pardon the expression, montezuma’s revenge! I have one or two popsicles and servings of jello and pudding every day. I also like instant mashed potatoes but they have to be very thin. I had 2 saltine crackers and kept them down no problem but the second time I had them I also had a sip of water – – – big no no!! I forgot to wait 15 minutes and when the water hit the chewed up crackers, it made a ball of dough and the most excruciating pain I have ever had in my life. Worse than labor, believe me, it also lasted almost 6 hours, so suffice to say I will NEVER make that mistake again. Well, I’m gonna go for now, I’m just a tad bit sleepy. I have my first follow-up visit on Monday so I will post my updated stats and pictures then. Take care, God Bless.