A New Relationship With Food

I had my RNY gastric bypass on 2/20/20. From about 2 weeks post-op to some extended period of time after that (at least 3 months out), I was basically in tears at the drop of the hat because I couldn’t have some food item that I was desperately craving. I was not one of the patients who ever regretted my decision. It was just SO much more difficult than I imagined. I could not be in the same room with people eating regular food. Shoot, I was forced to feed my 3 year old because I wasn’t going to let her starve but it was challenging!

Now, a little over 8 months out and my relationship with food is a new story. While I’m a little bitter with the fact that Covid is preventing me from having a traditional trick or treating experience with my 3 year old, my neighborhood has all agreed to engage in a modified version to minimize risk some for those of us willing to accept the lesser risk. We are pre-packaging bags of candy and placing them separated from one another for kids to come by (socially distanced), grab a bag, and move to the next house.

So, the point is that during those first couple/few months, I was bitter about my inability to eat what I wanted (despite the fact that I kept my eye on the prize). Today, however, we need to package a bunch of candy in bags. I should say that last Halloween (as was pretty common), I ate my fair share of candy. A couple of hours ago, my husband separated all of this out and said, “Ummm, babe . . . I’m going to need some help bagging some of this.” As you can see, it was hard to disagree (we live in a neighborhood that gets hit pretty hard by trick or treaters). He actually took the kiddo upstairs for a nap at that point and inadvertently fell asleep himself. So, I packaged all the candy. There were no tears or frustration at all. In fact, I didn’t feel like I was being cheated out of anything. I was just preparing for what I hope will be a safe trick or treating experience for my entire neighborhood (including my child and family!).