So it begins...

Today is the first day of my low-calorie, clear-liquid diet. My doctor wants me to be on it for 7 days before my surgery because it will shrink my liver. This is important because they will be lifting my liver during surgery, and if it's too big/ heavy it will be more difficult to move. Not all doctors require their patients to do a pre-op diet for this surgery, and I'm willing to be my liver is ok the way it is, but I'm not going to go against my doctor's orders. Ok, I did cheat once today but that's only because I wanted one *last* latte and I couldn't get one yesterday. It may be my last one for a long time (possibly ever?) because I've heard that caffeine can irritate your "wrap" (in this surgery they wrap your stomach around your esophagus.)

Here is what my official diet handout says (things I can't/ don't eat are crossed out):

*

Consume these items in moderation. They contain large amounts of sugar.

- 2 cups or less per day:

     * Gatorade, Powerade, juice (orange, apple, grapefruit)

 - 3 or less per day:

     * Regular popscicles, Jell-O, sugar-free fudgsicles

- 3 or less per day (any combination):

     * 1 cup of lowfat milk (skim, 1%, 2%, or lactaid)

     * 8oz light yogurt

     * 1/2 cup cottage cheese

- 1-2 per day:

     * Atkins shakes

     * Carb Solutions shakes

     * DO NOT consume SlimFast, Ensure, or Boost (these will be allowed on your post-op diet)

Consume these sugar-free items in any quantity:

- Sugar-free drinks like Crystal Light, sugar-free Kool Aid, diet soda, diet tea, black coffee, water

- Broth from soups (any flavor, no chunks)

- Sugar-free Jell-O

- Sugar-free popscicles

*

Now I suppose is a good time to tell you that I react very, very poorly to any kind of artificial sweetener so all that "sugar-free" stuff is a no-go. I gave an Atkins shake the ol' college try today and not only did it taste like milk flavored water (it was "french vanilla" "flavored") it made me feel even sicker than I was already feeling.

Right now it's only been 24 hours on this diet (and I even cheated with a latte) and I already feel like I'm going to fall over dead. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to make some bone broth and pick up a bottle of liquid vitamins. If I can manage to drive a car that is.

I wouldn't mind fast-forwarding to the end of the year right now.

Oh, and R did this the other night:

It's not like it's taken her her whole entire life to grow her bangs past her chin when the rest of her hair is halfway down her back. After living with bangs for the first 12 years of my life, I made a solemn vow when I found out I was having a girl that I would never give her bangs. Funny how the universe works sometimes.