Today marks the two year anniversary of my total prophylactic gastrectomy. It’s been a journey, I think about food differently now, but I’m so happy with where I am today. I sat down for lunch on Monday of this week with a table full of people completely unaware of my gastric reconfiguration. I remember just smiling thinking how far I’ve come. Two years ago, I’d had my stomach removed and couldn’t eat more than 500 calories a day. Now, I can eat with folks who just think “Oh, she has really good self-control around her portion size at meals.” Oh, little do they know!!

So what do you do on the weekend two years post-gastrectomy? Pretty much whatever you want. Hopefully the journey to get here serves as a reminder to savor the moments and love life. We did just that today! The weather is hot and the pools are warm, so you have to soak up the sun. Early in the morning we played a little top golf. After that, we took a short break at home before hitting the neighborhood pools: my son really loves the diving board and then the other pool has a beach as well! This basically meant we spent 4 hours out in the hot sun swimming and enjoying family time together. And tonight we got to attend a friend’s birthday party. Adults got to chat; kids got to play. It was great!

What did I eat today?
Started out with a tortilla with peanut butter, also a coffee with cream
Then some beef stew
Had a grilled cheese at the pool, along with some watermelon
Started getting a little shaky given all the energy output swimming, so I ate some pirate booty and a slice of cheese in the afternoon.
In true Texas form, the birthday dinner had BBQ. So I enjoyed some turkey and sausage, along with some potato salad.
Over the course of the evening, I was able to have a slice of cake and peanut butter M&Ms. I also had chips and hummus.
All that, along with some drinks.

When I type up a list of all the food I shoveled into my body today, I have to say it was pretty awesome. Good thing I’ve kept up my running habit because otherwise I’d probably be gaining a lot of weight at this pace. It’s crazy to compare my food log today with what it looked like 2 years ago. Thank God for the feeding tube that helped me hold my weight the first 7 weeks after surgery!! The pair of pants I bought post-gastrectomy when my weight was at its lowest is now too small for me. Nice to be stomachless and have pair of pants that’s too small on you!

Over the past two years, as I’ve shared my story with others, I’ve been amazed at just how many people are impacted either by stomach cancer or stomach/gastric issues. It’s amazing how many people have a relative who has passed away from or battled with stomach cancer. Others have undiagnosed stomach issues that they’re going from doctor to doctor about. You can’t be part of this community and not recognize that you are your own best advocate.

I call this #stomachlessrunner …

Keep it up my stomachless friends!