bottoms up

so i was cleared to try alcohol in advance of my sister's wedding last weekend. it's supposed to be a year from the surgery, but i asked for special dispensation about three weeks shy of the one year mark. dr. b and sophie (his PA) granted me permission, warning me to go slow and that i would get drunk fast. they suggested one drink. partly, it's because gastric bypass patients tend to have a lower tolerance for alcohol post-surgically. that's partially because we absorb ethanol at a faster rate because the tiny stomach dumps the alcohol directly into the jejunum which has a large surface and absorbs the alcohol quickly. also,  we a) weigh less and b)haven't had a drink in sooo long.

drinking presents challenges - no sugar, no carbonation. so there goes wine and champagne, my two drinks of choice before (really only sad to see champagne go...). so vodka seemed the answer. can't mix it with tonic or soda, or juice...diet snapple it is. so last wednesday night, i tried a half of a shot of vodka mixed with some diet snapple. i definitely got that initial taste of tipsiness on the fast side, but it didn't escalate quickly at all. i felt fine. and it was fun!

so for the festivities surrounding molly's wedding, i sipped vodka. i didn't have diet snapple handy, so i mixed it with a little crystal light and water one night (that was good!) and with water and fresh lemon juice the rest of the time. i actually think it's probably a good thing to mix it with water and lemon juice because it sort of goes down slower than something that tastes like candy. 

mitchell was a little nervous and watching what i drank pretty carefully, but overall, i enjoyed having a couple drinks, and i look forward to doing it again on appropriate occasions :) 

i didn't feel like i got particularly drunk, and it didn't make me want to eat a lot or the wrong things, which i'm very pleased about. i will be very sure, though, to manage my drinking habits...i am well aware that so many weight loss surgery patients experience cross - addiction and addiction transfer, and i have to be mindful about my susceptibility to that. if i find myself looking forward to a drink in the middle of the day, i have to be committed to getting off that train.

i also have to manage my tendency from long ago to want more and more of what's making me feel good (as in: pizza, lo mein, sandwiches, cigarettes, coffee, alcohol...can't i feel that way about the gym?) i need to get used to enjoying the feeling of being a little buzzed and not wanting to feed it with more alcohol that will make me uncomfortably, and perhaps dangerously, intoxicated. i guess i'll be working on it at the same time as i get used to tasting a little bit of something and having that be enough. they're more than a little connected.

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