15 Things I wish I had known before surgery, and some I DID know but didn't really think about.

1. I was going to be constipated (REALLY constipated) for the first time in my life...and it was going to REALLY suck!
2. I was going to become a completely crazy slave to my hormones.
3. After having oily skin my entire life I was going to have to start using 3 different moisturizers and creams to keep my face from flaking. 
4. That I wasn't going to miss macaroni and cheese, or pizza, or breakfast burritos.  OK...maybe I miss breakfast burritos a little.
5. That my diabetes was going to be POOF! Gone!
6. That it would be so hard to accept help after surgery, even when I really needed it.
7. That ketosis is a smelly situation and that toothpaste does not get rid of the constant meat breath smell.
8. That for the first time in my life I would feel/be 100% in control of my eating...and that the memory of how out of control I used to be would have the power to bring me to tears.
9. That while I was in the hospital I would not be able to wipe my own backside.
10. That the people close to me were going to be as supportive as they are. 
11. That I feel shame about eating half of a homemade chocolate chip cookie.
12. ^^^^^ That I would get over it, and be able to shake it off without excusing it or justifying it.
13. That I would feel so much pride about my wise eating choices (aside from the one time I had half a cookie, lol). 
14. That after years of feeling like I had lost myself I would find myself again. I know who I am again.
15. That nothing you read on the internet, see on television, or hear from friends will ever fully prepare you for your new life after surgery. To fully understand it you have to live it.

Bonus:  16.  That I would meet so many amazing people on my journey, and that those people and their stories would change my life in so many ways.