The Thing

I have a new, better attitude about swelly belly. A couple of days ago I started to go upstairs to my bedroom to do my hour in the afternoon of being horizontal to avoid fluid build-up. Then I realized I had forgotten to get an ice pack. I put my hands on my abdomen and said to my mom "I have to get ice to put on this thing." Now, that's how I'm thinking of it: The Thing. It feels as if it's some huge water balloon connected to me more than it feels as if it's part of me, so why not? I'm not allowed to do ab crunches or sit-ups or anything like that yet because the swelling means I'm not healed inside yet and intense exercise would only make it worse. But I am allowed to do isometric exercises, which I have been doing, and I can feel the muscles getting tighter. It gives me hope that when The Thing goes away, I'll have a flat stomach again.

It is starting to go down a little. I can regularly wear my pre-surgery jeans now. Yesterday, I wore a pre-surgery skirt, and not the loose, flowing ones I've been wearing. My abdomen stuck out a little bit in it but, I didn't really care. It just proved to me that it's fluid retention, not fat, because the skirt fits the same, if not better, in every other place.

It's weird that swelly belly bothers me so much. It's not the worst thing about recovery but, aside from being tired, it is the most frustrating. I guess that's because I worked so hard to loose all the weight I lost and now there's nothing I can do about The Thing except wait. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There really is. I'm just thankful I'm able to see it.