That's what I get for opening my big mouth.

So earlier in the week I was commenting to my MIL that "wow, I'm really surprised at how well this is all going, I'm not having any problems at all!" I was able to get 4 oz of protein down at a time, and was drinking about 16 oz a day in my first week. 60 oz of water a day, minimum, and it's actually easier for me to drink iced.

Of course, the next day, my words bit me in the butt. I was having increasing pain in my left side all day long, and I thought it was just the incision. We took the kids to the Science Center in the afternoon and had a great time, but I needed to take more Tylenol even though I had just taken some a few hours earlier. When we got home I went to sit down and it was like something twisted in my left side, and it was agony. Nearly sent me into tears. By that time I had been off the Lortab for three days, but it was enough to make me take the Lortab again, and it still didn't touch the pain.

The next day I woke up mostly better, but within 20 minutes the pain was back with a vengeance. I called Dr. G's office and spoke with his nurse. She said that I had likely pulled the stitch in my left side, but to come in just in case. Unfortunately they weren't seeing patients on Thursday, so I had to go in first thing yesterday morning. I spent all day Thursday just sitting on the back porch reading, the only time I wasn't in pain was if I was completely still.

Went in yesterday and Doc G felt around the incision site, and it didn't hurt a bit. When he moved down a few inches lower it hurt like hell. So it definitely wasn't the stitch. He said because of the location and the fact that it's where they pulled the colon out to work on it, it could be diverticulitis or just an inflamed colon. Either way, he sent me for a CT to take a better look.

The CT tech that got me started was a flaming idiot. He brought out a 32 oz container of contrast liquid for me to drink and handed me a straw. I handed the straw back and told him I couldn't use it and he stood there and argued with me. I'm not sure what part of "I just had gastric bypass surgery, I'm not allowed to use straws because they allow too much to be swallowed at once and put air into my brand new thumb sized stomach pouch" he didn't understand, but he seriously expected me to drink the full 32 oz. I told him I'd do my best, but I was only able to get down 16. Not bad, considering I had to forgo the straw and it tasted awful.

Finally got the CT done, then went home to wait for results. One of the nurses called in the afternoon and said that the CT still wasn't clear if it was diverticulitis or just inflammation, but Doc wanted to treat it as diverticulitis, so he was going to put me on antibiotics. She called in a scrip for me and I picked it up last night. Hardcore! He's got me on Cipro 2x's a day for 7 days.

Anyway, I finally earned a sticker last night and was able to have a bowel movement (it always comes back to the poop, doesn't it?) and holy cow, the relief was almost instantaneous. My side still ached, but it was nothing like before. This morning, I'm pretty much all better. I'll still take the Cipro because it looks like it was diverticulitis after all, with a good side of constipation, but I haven't had to take ANYTHING for pain today. Not even a Tylenol, yay!

After all this, though, it's come to the point that I can't stand my protein drinks. I can get them down OK, but I gag and choke the whole time. I think it's just the fact that I'm so sick of them, I'm sick of all the sweet. THREE MORE DAYS UNTIL EGGS, COTTAGE CHEESE, AND REFRIED BEANS. Thankfully I'm still good on my water. I drink either Crystal Light or water all day, and there's no ick factor.

All in all, I'm down 22 lbs from my start weight.