Bariatric support group

I went to Alta Bates' bariatric support group this weekend. It was really helpful to sit with people who get what it's like to have your guts rearranged. If I had to assign numbers to how I feel right now, I'd say it's about 85 percent positive and 15 percent difficult. There have been minor meltdowns and a little bit of tears over frustration -- can't eat things I want to eat, can't have alcohol, that sort of thing. I really have to be mindful about what I eat, which I think is a great thing, but again, frustrating.

One of the weird parts of bariatric surgery is that you can't eat and drink at the same time. You have to wait 30 minutes both before and after you eat before you can drink. That's so that the fluid doesn't wash the food out of your stomach and leave you hungry. You're supposed to eat every three hours (obviously, with the exception of sleeping) and get a ton of fluids in at the same time. It was really, really hard when I first left the hospital, but I think I'm doing okay.

I'm not going to say much about this, but certain family members have been extremely remiss in getting in touch to see how I'm doing. They're going to hear about it.