It’s been a little over week since you guys heard from me and since then there’s been a few hiccups but I gotta say everything is going well and every day gets better and better. Since the day of the surgery, up until a few days ago, the most solid food I had eaten was sugar free popsicles. A lot of them. I mean A LOT of them. Something I learned when I was a small child from my dearest Grandpa George is that my tolerance for delicious sugar free treats is very low. You see, Grandpa George was a diabetic. He always had yummy sugar free cookies and delicious sugar free candies scattered about the house. Of course, I was a small child and I had to do what small children do at their grandparent’s house. I would stuff my self full of these scrumptious delights and then pay for it dearly. My parents always warned me that too much candy would cause a tummy ache, but they never warned me about the side effects of artificial sweeteners. (What does this have to do with a surgery update? Just keep reading.)

You see, all those times I heard a rumbly in my tumbly at Grandmom and Grandpa’s house, it wasn’t the candy! It was the copious amounts of artificial sweeteners I had shoved into my body that were making me spend entirely too long on the potty. At last I learned the truth. Artificial sweeteners and I just simply do not get along. For those of you who can’t seem to read in between the lines, let me just say that this is about to get REAL personal and REAL disgusting, REALLY fast. So if you don’t want to hear about it, now would be the perfect time to close this window. Here’s a nice picture of my Grandpa George and me when I was a cute little sprout. I’m warning you… turn back now if you don’t want to hear it.

Well, you’re still reading so I’m assuming you want to hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly. So about those popsicles that I had been eating… I already told you guys that they were sugar-free because that’s the only thing that the doctor approved other than nasty ass sugar-free jello or some other nasty cream of chicken soup crap. The popsicles were so delicious. My husband brought home a bunch of different brands and flavors and we went to town. Well, they are also very full of artificial sweeteners which of course I knew! Obviously, I knew… I’m not oblivious. The reason I was eating so many was that I hadn’t pooped in 9 days. I wasn’t worried about the “laxative effects” that the artificial sweeteners would have on me. Remember in my last update how I told you guys I was trying to burp and fart as much as I could because releasing the pressure was practically the only relief I could find? Yep. So my mom was over at the house spending some time with me. She would laugh every time I released the gas. It was wonderful and amazing until it happened. She was sitting across the room from me and I was about to get up and go to the kitchen and I went to let one rip. Immediately my face fell and I froze. My mom, God bless her soul, knew exactly what had happened.

I learned something that day. Purple popsicles give you purple runs and orange popsicles give you orange runs. There was laundry to do and a lesson to be learned. Turns out, even if you haven’t eaten anything solid in well over a week, you can certainly get the runs.

By the way, these are seriously the BEST sugar-free popsicles on the planet. YUM!

Now. The main question here is, “Why on earth would you tell the entire world that you shit yourself?” Well, here’s the answer to that question. Keep in mind that my stomach is still very swollen from being cut on. The size of my new belly at the time of this whole incident was about the size of a large marble. It didn’t hold much and keeping up with my water intake was a little hard to do. Imagine taking your entire day to fill a marble full of water. 64 oz of water that marble needs. Not too much of hard task, until you add in the fact that I also had severe diarrhea. We all know that diarrhea will dehydrate a body faster than most things. Needless to say, I was extremely dehydrated and the weakness of trying to heal and also not having any calories other than just a few spoonfuls of soup was making it super hard to even move. All I did was sleep for a few days until we decided that the dehydration was just a bit severe. I’m uber thankful for my husband begging me to take care of myself even when I could barely find the strength.

After I started feeling a bit better and knocked out all of the artificial sweeteners I was getting ready for bed the following night and I did what I’m so used to doing. I poured my daily medications in my hand, I took a big gulp of water, I threw the pills in my mouth and swallowed. Time for bed!

I was washing my face and brushing my teeth and all of a sudden it hit me. I was hot. Not hot like a normal hot, no. This was like fever breaking, body trembling, nauseous feeling, sweat pouring from every single pore on my body kind of hot. Then I started cramping again. Dammit! More diarrhea?! I thought we were past this. I headed towards the potty and quickly decided it wasn’t happening from the backend. Nope. Not at all. I sat with my head in the toilet dry heaving for 15 minutes. I was in tears from the pain of heaving time after time after time after only having stomach surgery a week prior. It was excruciating. I finally got the strength to pull myself up off the floor and run to get my husband’s help. I was hoping that he could get me one of those magical nausea pills and maybe just maybe it would solve my problem. While I was running from one room to the other hollering for help, I couldn’t find the kitchen trash can fast enough. Before I knew it I was on the kitchen floor heaving again. Thank goodness Keenan was there to grab me a magical pill and some water so that I could swallow it down. After 45 minutes of pain and torture, I finally was able to relax and get to bed. What a night. I slept the entire next day, however, I did manage to call my surgeon’s office to find out what the hell I had done to myself to cause this insane mess of heaving.

After I explained what I had done a few hours before the episode, it was clear that I had completely overfilled my belly with water and medication. The water had gone right through me and the pills were stuck in my very swollen belly. Clearly, I wasn’t aware that I needed to take my pills one at a time with at least 15 minutes in between. Hmmm. Who would have thunk it?

Guys… this is why I’m sharing my story. So many of you have reached out to me on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook to tell me either that you’ve had the surgery already or that you are wanting it so badly but you’re too scared because you simply don’t know what to expect! I’m sharing my wins and loses with you guys in hopes that if some of you do decide to make this wonderful life-changing decision to have weight-loss surgery, that you’ll know what to expect. Unquestionably, my journey will be much different than anyone else’s. Everyone has their own story to tell. My husband, for instance, was fine and dandy within 3 days as if nothing ever happened. A friend of mine was in the hospital for a few weeks after hers because of some terrible complications. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! Here’s the important thing to know though, even though I’ve had some struggles and some pain and things are taking a bit to get used to, I wouldn’t change my decision if given the chance. I’d do it all over again in an instant.

All of this is temporary. The pain is completely gone now. I’m able to eat mushy veggies and noodles! I had Minestrone soup today and I’m fairly certain for a brief moment I traveled to heaven. Biting into something solid(ish) was the most wonderful thing that has happened since February 13th. I’m finally starting to notice little things changing with my body. I went to the store and actually read the label of the food I was buying! What?! The old Meighan didn’t give a flying fuck what the labels said. Not one. I might have looked at the serving size on a few things once or twice but that’s really about it. I didn’t care about sugars or carbs or fiber.

Things are changing in the Knight household. My husband weighs his food and logs everything he eats to ensure he meets his macros. He is currently trying to convince me that I need to be walking around the block with him every night. Shocking! (Also – slow down turbo. I’m not even 2 weeks post-op yet! Baby steps!)

We have set a goal to complete our first 5k together by the end of the year and I have high hopes that we can reach that goal together. I feel like I finally have a partner in this whole weight-loss game and it’s so great. I just know we are going to win this time. Together.

Alright. Sorry for the long post but I promised I’d be real and share the good and the bad. I hope sharing my story will help some of you who are the fence about making this decision jump!

To those of you who have contacted me saying that you’re too ashamed to admit you’ve had weight loss surgery, I want you to know that I hear you loud and clear. I understand completely how hard it is to admit to people that you need help. Some people go to rehab and never tell a soul. It is so hard to be open about these types of things because you never know who is going to judge you or try to make you change your mind. I didn’t want to tell anyone for a few years. I finally opened up about it last year because I realized that I was killing myself. I was taking years off of my life and I needed help. I could no longer do this alone. So to you guys, I just have to say that I am so so proud of you. You made the decision to save your life and look at you now! Please don’t be ashamed of your past. Be proud of who you have become! Be proud of making the decision to take your life back and gain your health!!

I’ll end this on a happy note! 2 weeks ago Keenan tried on a suit that he hadn’t worn in a while. It didn’t quite fit so we hung it back in the closet and found another option for him. He has another interview tomorrow and he tried the same suit on tonight. Guess who’s wearing a nice and spiffy suit to his interview?? It’s so great to see him get excited over this. He’s lost nearly 15 pounds in 2 weeks and seeing him talk about it is so thrilling to me because there’s this light in his eyes. You can tell that he’s truly proud of himself and excited to keep going.

Good night my sweet human souls.