5 YEARS and still going strong

If you want to read about my actual surgery, FOLLOW THIS LINK!If you want to read about the day(s) right after, FOLLOW THIS LINK!

So, what is it like 5 years after a successful surgery? I am sure everyone's story would be a little different, but here is a quick summary of where I am at these days:

• 99.9% of the time, I don't think about or remember I am without a gallbladder. There are times when I do think about it, which I will try to break out down below in this list, but even those things are typically fleeting thoughts that last but a few minutes.
• In terms of scars and such, no one really ever notices I had surgery unless I point it out, and point my finger at the almost unrecognizable little scars. Can't ask for much more than that!
• I will always have my incisions. Let's face it, someone cut through my abdominal wall muscles with a blade. Fortunately this was laparoscopic, and the incisions were small, but they are there nonetheless. This means scar tissue. How does this impact me? Well, when I try to do intensive abdominal exercises, there are times where I feel pain in those spots. I find that if I exercise my abs regularly and strengthen all the muscles, this can go away. But more often, I am in and out of working out, and when more out of shape these incisions can be a bit of a pain. From time to time an ab muscle may cramp around that area as a result. I tend to try not to go too crazy on my abs for that reason.
• My #2 is a little more liquid than it was before my surgery. If my diet is clean, it's not so bad, but I would say that on a 1-10 firmness scale, before the surgery I was in the 5-9 range, depending on my diet. Years after the surgery, it's more like the 3-7 range. I guess this can be expected somewhat with the constant bile drip. Long periods of fasting (like skipping breakfast but just having a black coffee) can result in a 1-3 range urgent trip. It's just something I have gotten used to and have learned ways to manage it. On a typical day though, we're talking 5-7 ish.
• Eating heavy junk food (deep dish pizza, Bloomin Onions, etc) can sometimes lead to digestive discomfort (slow digestion, aches in the gut). This makes total sense without a gallbladder to push out extra bile to help digest the fats. It is what it is - again, I learn to live with it. I also tend to make sure that I am not eating those kind of meals back to back, and often try to eat very clean the day after a super fatty processed food meal.
• Satiety: Can't say for sure if this is age, but ever since my Gallbladder was removed, my hunger pangs were never as strong as they once were (not a bad thing), and I felt full earlier than I used to. For example, Thanksgiving for me used to be where I would eat 2-3 large plates of food. These days, I feel completely full after one large plate. Because it's a holiday, I still go back and have a second plate, and then some dessert, and then I feel painfully stuffed. But even on normal days, I don't have that ability to double down on large plates. Again, this isn't a bad thing, it's just more a sense of not feeling like my old self. As I mentioned, this could just be age (in my early 40s now versus 20s and 30s).
• Although a Bloomin' Onion might cause me some discomfort later, for the most part I have no food restrictions of any kind, which is in itself a blessing.

Keep eating clean, and keep your chin up!