Protein/Fluid Problem? Not A Problem.

In more "OMG I had mini gastric bypass surgery" news... this stuff is going to save my life.  It's... amazeballs.

I'm now six weeks out from surgery, thirty pounds thinner (yes, 30, three-oh, my surgeon's awesome knows no bounds), and wearing perfectly normal sized clothes. At this point in my progress, I'm a happy imp - but I've had a few bumps in the road that needed handling.

Bump one - estrogen. Look away, boys. Women of child-bearing age who have weight loss surgery, or who lose weight very quickly for other reasons, can run into a hormone problem that makes PMS look like a walk in the park. Estrogen is stored in the fat cells. When you melt off a metric crap-ton of fat cells, what happens to all those girl hormones? Down the tubes. The closest approximation is post-partum depression, and we have all read the news stories about what happens when that doesn't get treated.

Fortunately, Dr. Hargroder The Awesome warned me about this in advance. All I had to do was sob at the wonderful Tonya in his office, and she moved heaven and earth on her own time to get me this cute little transparent patch that makes me feel better. It's a low dose, but it's enough. The patches are pricey, but it's a worthy expense to get the name brand (Climara) rather than the generics, because they stay on for a week at a time.  This solved bump number one, and I began to feel much better within 24 hours.

Bump two - protein and fluids. I need 64-90 ounces of fluids and 60+ grams of protein per day. My stomach is four ounces. I have a six-foot bypass in my small intestine. Hence all the weight loss. The problem with this is that I have never been a grazer. I eat once, maybe twice a day. I can't slug down a bottle of water or Gatorade - it'll hit my guts too fast and make me feel like I've been stabbed, or it'll simply come back up. Not attractive. Not fun.

I've been on several post-surgery forums and found that people rave about Click protein shakes. I'd tried a couple of protein drinks and just, ew. Whey and I, we do not appreciate each other. Add my post-surgery lactose and gluten intolerance into the mix, and it's hard to find things that work for me. So I ordered a sample of Click Espresso Mocha and one of the Vanilla Latte.  Yeah, I know, I'm not supposed to have caffeine, sue me. The decaf version is now available. But I ordered the Espresso because I miss coffee with a passion.  You try going from a pot a day to zilch and see how nice you are.

The samples arrived yesterday, and today I threw some water, some ice, and the Espresso Mocha packet into the blender. OMG. HEAVEN.  I am not even kidding.  There is no protein aftertaste. There is no "oh my stomach hates this" feeling for me. It's delicious. It's amazeballs. It's 15 grams of protein per serving. I can drink one of these a day, easy.  Frankly, I could drink four of these a day and never eat, but that's not healthy.  I may settle for two. Quite literally, I. Could. Live. On. Click. Forever.

Get you some. If you're feeling generous (hi Click people), get me some.