Day One

Today I may or may not have had the Toga procedure...I am #5 or #6 in a double blind study and have not yet figured out if I received the device or not. I started the liquid diet 2 days prior to my scheduled surgery date, Feb 11th, 2009. The first day of the liquid diet was absolute HELL....I scoured the Internet looking for anything that I could chew that still was considered a clear liquid. There is nothing! The following day was much easier. (hint: strain soups...has more flavor than plain broth).

Day of surgery...arrived at 5:30 am (yikes) and was ushered into prep. The staff was efficient and friendly. All very curious about this promising new procedure. I entered the surgical room and don't remember anything until I woke up in another room with a very sore throat! I begged for water but was only given a small pink sponge soaked in water...arghhhh! I fell in and out of sleep for about 2 hours and was finally transported to my room. As the anesthesia wore off, I became very excited! Did I have it??? I really felt nothing except a sore, very sore throat!

As the staff came in to check on me, I was relentless in my pursuit to find out if any of them know if I did indeed have it done. NO ONE WOULD EVEN GIVE ME A CLUE (c'mon, blink once for "yes")...they said it was double blinded and that the only people who knew were the people performing the surgery. OK, I can deal with this. I will find out eventually, right?

I was released around 12:00 today and felt great until around 8:00 or so. My muscles in my abdomen felt like I had done 100 crunches, my neck was stiff, my throat was kind of burning and I felt very chilled. Was this a good sign? Maybe I did have the procedure. I thought I would find out for myself so I made some oatmeal (runny...and not yet allowed) I ate it and didn't feel much (shit...I didn't get the procedure). Now this oatmeal is the first thing I have actually had that wasn't a true clear liquid in 4 days...I wanted to know if it would make me feel full because it seemed that the broths and juices just go right through me and I feel empty, not hungry, just empty. I also drank a liter of water over the course of 10 hours and I did begin to feel very full

(hmmm...maybe I did get the procedure?). I am going to go to bed now and start tomorrow following the strict guidelines of the diet plan and see where that gets me. I plan on posting my daily experiences to share with others in the study and I would welcome the sharing of info, tips and thoughts on this process.