So the first few weeks after my hernia surgery I was freaking out about losing so much weight because I had a rough first few weeks after. I wasn’t eating much and was losing like 2 lbs a day which for my current weight wasn’t a good thing. I’ve since been able to pick up the eating and am leveled off. I am holding steady at 115 which is a bit thinner than I want to be so I’m trying to put some back on and not really loving the process. I’ve added in more carb type foods which generally upset my tummy but are mostly absorbed so I pretty much have a tummy ache all the time; not a terrible one but enough to annoy. I am feeling and looking better though. The 1st week back to work (9 days out of surgery) I can’t tell you how many shocked faces and comments I got on my appearance and all negative. “You look so gaunt” and “OMG, what happened to you?”. Funny thing though is that I’ve only put on a few pounds and people are like you look so much better like I was 20 lbs lighter or something. I think it had to do with how dehydrated I was and my skin had that tired texture and sagged and the yellow tone that comes with exhaustion and sickness. So now I have color and stuff back and my skin has puckered back up with the hydration.
Overall I’m feeling better. Working on adding energy each day and also taking a supplement called Eleuthero that has really, really helped with that. The only lingering issue is the slight pulling in the incision area when I sit for long periods and then stand and stretch it out. That will take some getting used to. Also, I’ve been trying to rub Vitamin E oil on my incision and massage it a bit because I can feel lumps of scar tissue forming underneath. Other than that though going pretty good. The stitches are all on the inside so no strange railroad dots this time! Woo hoo!
Side Note: while I’m here I might as well give a quick iron update. After my last infusion in August I went from a ferritin level of 4 or so to just over 100. Dr. L said he wants it in the 200′s at least so I just finished my 2nd round. This time though I did the Fereheme (sp?) instead of the Venofur. This kind you do 1 round each week for 2 weeks compared to 5 days in a row. Plus, it’s like an IV push so it’s super fast; it’s not a drip like the other one. I’ll get my iron checked again in December for my 1 year DS surgeriversary but I suspect things will be good. I’m still taking the prescription iron , Ferrax, which will keep my levels normally ranged hopefully.
No other news to report. Feeling and doing well. Tired but working on it; that’s what you get for having 3 major surgeries in 2 years time. 
Take care of yourselves and talk soon.
Mandy
