MarshaC

I had surgery on July 9th and have been on full liquid diet for a week plus 1 day. I can't wait to graduate to soft foods on Monday!! I miss chewing .

This has been a challenging stage for me. I'm not the type to prepare my meals the night before. Breakfast is easy cream of rice cereal. I prepare a batch and spoon out my 1/2 cup serving. Lunch has been more challenging. I started with prepared cream of chicken soup, but wanted something different so I started taking chicken/mash potato puree to work for lunch. I found myself preparing this in the morning a few times. Running late for work, not good. I've tried rotisserie chicken with a little baby first stage squash for dinner. It went down ok but I had a little discomfort so I'll hold off on that until next week. We had shepard pie for dinner tonight so I tried a little of that and it went down much better. Next Friday I start stage 4 diet. More protein from lean meat and less protein drink. Can't wait. Still miss bread, steak, rice and pasta. I just have to be patient. :-)

... regarding telling people. I told my close friends and a few people at work. This is NOT an easy way out. As I've already described my past year. But at the end of the year I was ready for the surgery physically and mentally. You're doing this for you not co-workers, friends or family, right? Keep that in mind. Good luck.

Essenses171, If you have access to pre-op support group, attend. I found themvery helpful. I started my journey September 2011 and just had my surgery Monday. It was a long process of life change classes, support group meetings and exercise/diet to lose weight loss before surgery. Take it one step at a time. Listen to your doctor/support team. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise; it will help with recovery. You can do it.

Did they send you home with incentive spirometry (IS)? I'm 5 days post-op. I also had a low grade fever in the hospital and as I continue to use the IS hourly at home, my fever lowered. If not, keep moving. Get up and walk around. It's really humid here so my honey drives the the mall and we walk around there. When at home I try to walk around the house every hour. I hope this helps.