THREE MONTHS POST TOTAL GASTRECTOMY

It has been THREE months TODAY since I had my total gastrectomy (complete removal of my entire stomach). It sure doesn't feel like three months....feels closer to 6 or 8 months and that's a good thing! I feel like I have recovered so well and so quick, it's amazing. Talking with my doctors at Mayo, they say I'm an A+ student. I can't take all the credit, though! Without my incredible team of doctors at Mayo and my primary doctor here, I don't think I'd be doing this well! Plus, having the HUGE amount of support I do, keeps me going!!!

I read SO many stories of people who have such a hard time after surgery...they get strictures and have to go back in and have their tube blown up with a balloon, people who are constantly getting food stuck, people who are constantly getting sick (whether vomiting or diarrhea), people who don't sleep well at night because of reflux, people who had to be off from work for 6 months (not weeks), people who need a j-tube (similar to a feeding tube), etc. I just sit back and think, "WOW...I am so lucky and so blessed for SO many reasons!"

The one thing that isn't weighing me down is the one and only complication I have had....fat malabsorption. It doesn't bother me, we are testing for it the 2nd week of December, and there's a quick easy fix.

Also, as weird as it may sound...I'm so thankful I gained extra-extra weight before surgery! I have lost 55lbs and had I not gained the extra-extra weight, I fear a j-tube would have been in my future and I am not one to be held back by a j-tube/feeding tube!

All in all, I feel SO good...mentally, emotionally, and physically (for the most part...that will come even more with time) and every day I wake up thinking about how blessed I am! Blessed to have the option to be preventative, blessed to wake up another day, blessed to have all the people I do in my life. I am one lucky lady!!!