Leaderboard

I'm coming up on 12 weeks and am just barely making 700-800 calories a day. I've read so many folks here mentioning calorie suggestions in there plan at certain stages but it was never a part of mine. I finally asked my NP at my last appointment this past Wednesday. She said not to worry about anything more than protein and water intake. Otherwise just listen to your body, if your full don't eat, if your hungry go for it.

My late husband kept mixing up Moot and Mute. After hearing this for the eleventeeth time, I snapped. I said if " it were really mute, you would have shut about it before now!"

The temperature has a lot to do with what I drink. I have no problems with shakes but water I feel resistance right after the 1st sip and it just I have to learn how to listen to my tool so half sips and I don’t swallow all of it at once and 5 weeks out I finally had a day with out causing myself pain. It’s a process for sure but we can do it.

Today marks my 5 month surgiversary!! As of this morning, I am down 156 lbs from my high weight and 130 lbs from surgery. I am blessed that I’ve had little complications through the process. Still have a long way to go. A big THANK YOU to all that have supported me throughout the journey. It’s one of the best desicions I’ve made in life.

My surgery was Wednesday, and already, on Sunday, I'm feeling mostly human. I count myself very lucky! I have been taking the nausea pills I was prescribed ("as needed" is what the bottle says) every morning, and I think that has helped me get closer and closer to my fluid goals. A pill is only good for 8 hours, though, so it isn't doing anything for me in the evenings, when I am still drinking fluids. Maybe I'll try to go without it tomorrow and see if I can. Anyway, I'll hit 64 ounces for the first time today, my third full day home. I'm on track for 56 grams of protein, 57 if I go for Jello instead of popsicles, which obviously I'm going to do, now that I've said that. With more distance, I'm able to report on something I've kind of glossed over in my other statuses ... I had some really rocky time while I was in the hospital. There were at least two hours in recovery where nobody checked on me, and my IV stopped--I felt very sick and dehydrated when they finally fixed it. (I was stuck in recovery through a shift change, and they wouldn't let my spouse back with me for something like 4 hours, because people's assigned rooms weren't ready yet, and not letting spouses join inpatient people in recovery is policy. That was terrible. My spouse complained to the nursing supervisors when he found out how I'd been (not) treated, and he never does that!) Once I was in my room and had a working IV again, everything progressed OK. They didn't let me walk as quickly as I'd expected; I woke up the first time around 4pm, was in my room by 8pm, and didn't get to walk until around noon the next day, with the exception of trips to the in-room bathroom. The pain meds wrecked me almost as much as I expected (I feel like they added to queasiness, but I can't be sure; they definitely forced me to sleep, instead of really taking care of the pain, though, as I'd thought they might ... happily, the pain has been pretty manageable without them). Home has been better. I've been pacing the main floor of the house roughly every hour. Once it cools off this evening, Spouse and I are going for a walk part of the way around the block, to see how that goes. (80+ degrees in October, ugh.) I feel a little lightheaded sometimes when I'm walking around, and I'm not sure what that's about. It felt enough like a sugar low, yesterday, that I dropped a single sugar cube into my tea (which my plan allows). That did seem to help. I haven't had to do it again today, happily. Looking forward from here, I'm not forcing myself to go to class (3 hours, a half hour drive away) tomorrow or Tuesday night. The professor was nice, saying "you're the sort of person who would try, even if you feel bad and even though you're ahead on the material, so I am telling you to stay home." I feel like, if I keep on recovering at this pace, going to class the following week should be no problem for me, plus I should be able to work that Thursday and/or Friday. (I might ease in and try just Friday. Nothing I do at work is time-sensitive. I have a very unimportant job.) I know from reading these forums, though, not to get too overconfident. So I'm still taking it pretty easy and focusing all of my energy on healing.

Yeah, I think it was the potato in there. I wasn't supposed to have any potato for another couple of weeks. It definitely hurt for like 12 hours, but that was Friday afternoon to night. All day yesterday and now today I feel like it's just not going down. I am urinating throughout the day 4-5 times so I'm sure you are right in that some of it is getting down. But it's super uncomfortable still. Before the soup on Friday, I felt 100%. I was having no issues getting my protein shakes, water, coffee, pudding, etc. And now it's like I've hit this huge roadblock. Like I've got 25% opening.

@Russ D I think that's a myth, maybe... Brad Pilon has researched this and written pretty extensively about protein metabolism. But IMHO, 56g of protein in a shake is overkill, especially at the point where the OP is in post surgery...But I'm just a schmoe on the internet and know nothing, so it's probably even more likely that I'm wrong! 🤣

Many experience problems drinking protein shakes. I hated them. But in the beginning I drank them, three 16-ounce protein shakes a day, in order to meet my protein requirements. You do not have to like protein shakes only tolerate them. There are many varieties of protein shakes available today. Experiment until you can find one you can tolerate. I used Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) powder blended with water and a half a banana. That worked for me. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, you might try premixed Isopure. If you tried all the various varieties and still are unsuccessfully, then there is the fallback of fortified milk. 32 ounces of 1% milk fortified by adding 1 cup of dried milk provides 56 grams of protein. It also takes a dent out of meeting the fluid requirements. Mix up a pitcher and drink a little throughout the day. Without sufficient protein, your body will scavenge protein from other areas of your body, such as your muscles. Protein is extremely important after surgery as its job in the body is to build and maintain tissues including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein caloric malnutrition. Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, hair loss and muscle wasting. Immediate post op, protein promotes healing of the staple line and incisions.

My eating plan is: real food, not processed eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm not lay off the booze. I can only remember three rules at a time...seems to be working quite well! 😊

Hi Philip, Congratulations on your surgery and 19 pounds down! I'm excited for all the positive things coming your way. I bet you can't wait for your next food progression. take care of yourself. I hope you bounce back from surgery quickly. Jenn