Yet again I’ve neglected to update my blog in some time!  I have perfectly good excuses as I do every other time that I have had this struggle but the main one is the holidays have just seized their grip on me and I haven’t been able to find a spare moment to sit down and write.  In my last blog entry I started explaining about some difficulties I was facing in getting my surgery booked but to make a long story short everything finally got sorted out and I am scheduled for January 25th at 11am.

In the Ontario program OHIP requires that patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery go on a pre-surgical diet designed to shrink their liver and lucky me I get to do this diet starting today!  While on this diet you are required to drink 4 Optifast (Chocolate or Vanilla) shakes per day and can have as much 10 cal per serving soup broth, jello, or sugar-free popscicles as your little heart desires.  In addition to this you can drink unlimited amounts of water and can also have straight up coffee, tea, and diet beverages such as pop or crystal light.

This morning was Day 1 for me on Optifast and it certainly had its ups and downs.   I had an opportunity to sample the Optfiast shakes at my Nutrition Class and it made me dry heave so it’s fair to say my anxiety levels were really high when I had to finally start the liquid diet.  The first shake of the morning went in very easily (It was chocolate) and I felt like I could totally do this!  Later in the afternoon I had another Chocolate shake and then some chicken broth which also went in perfectly well!  It wasn’t until around dinner time that I really started encountering a problem….VANILLA!  Ick…that stuff just does not settle well in my stomach at all!  I tried it first blended with ice and extra water as I had been doing with the chocolate but the taste was just too overwhelming and my gag reflex started battling against the drink.  I decided to follow some of the advice of friends from the Obesity Help community and added some Crystal Light to it but still no-go!  I only got about two-thirds of the way through it before I knew that if I didn’t stop that shake would be coming back up! So, I dumped the shake and had some more broth…later that night I had some beef broth and went to bed.

Overall at the end of my first day of Optifast I think I’m doing ok, not fantastic, but not terrible either.  I feel a little tired, a little hungry, and have a small headache happening but nothing that isn’t too terrible at this point.  I’ve heard that the first 3-5 days are the hardest and I imagine I am going to have some harder days than day 1 but for now I am just trying to be optimistic and look forward towards my surgical day.