Julie_JJ

I have a Fitbit and the Aria scale and LOVE it. It was my surgery gift to myself. I love that everything syncs between the scale and the Fitbit app (and other apps, but I just use the Fitbit one), and I love seeing my progress over time without having to manually log everything.

The NP in my surgeon's office told me warm liquids, NOT cold liquids, when I had tightness in my chest from the stomach swelling the week after surgery. And when I go in for a fill, they have us drink room temperature Water rather than cold water immediately after the fill to make sure it's passing through.

I couldn't stand the protein shakes, so I made my own drinks - Crystal Light (fruit punch is my fave) and a scoop of unflavored whey protein isolate (no carbs at all). One "drink" is about 25g of protein, and I don't taste the powder at all.

Our doctor gave us a card, but it's less for eating out (although you can use it for that) and more for notifying medical staff if you're unconscious or incapacitated so they don't try to stick something down your esophagus and into your stomach without knowing what's going on. Eating out, I typically get an appetizer. We don't go to buffets typically - too hard to keep track of portions and I've got heebie jeebies about food sitting out under heat lamps. My own little paranoia.

I use the Isopure version (unflavored whey protein isolate) and LOVE it. I add it to Crystal Light instead of making protein shakes (I don't like the milky taste), and I can't detect any additional flavor, just a slight thickening. I also add it soups (after cooking and letting them cool a bit), yogurt or pudding, mashed potatoes... it's been awesome.

I didn't have to do purees for the mushy phase - as long as the meat was soft and moist and I chewed it well, it was allowed. In this phase, our surgeon also allows a bit of low-fat mayo to help the meat stay moist, if needed. Laughing Cow light cheese wedges were also great; I'd mash them with a bit of unflavored protein powder to give them a boost. Egg beaters, refried beans, yogurt, cottage cheese.... I also added the unflavored protein powder to whipped potatoes - because of band tightness in the morning, I needed something warm and don't always have time to make eggs, so the potatoes were nice because I could just nuke a couple tablespoons. The potatoes aren't great for my solid diet, but my surgeon is okay with them now (especially with the protein).

Mine is one week liquids, three days "pre-selects" (certain soft foods that are high in protein and well-tolerated by most people), two weeks of all softs, and then solids.

I got liquid everything - liquid Tylenol, liquid multi, liquid calcium, liquid Omega-3. I'm paranoid something's going to get stuck, so for the time being it's a "better safe than sorry" policy. I also bought one-ounce cups with lids on Amazon (like the kind used to make Jell-O shots) so I could measure out portions of certain things and have them ready to go. Broths, Jell-O, Crystal Light... I couldn't do the shakes very well after surgery (tasted too "milky" to me) so I would make up a single-serve Crystal Light (about 16 oz) and dump a scoop of Isopure's unflavored whey isolate in it. Much easier to tolerate and a good amount of protein. I also dump the isolate into broths and other liquids that already have a flavor (so, not plain water). It thickens them slightly, but doesn't really affect the taste. And when I needed a little more flavor than broth could offer, I made chicken noodle soup and strained out the noodles. Popsicles and Jell-O are also great when I wanted something with a texture other than "sippable."

My surgeon actually recommends cottage cheese (and refried beans and yogurt and a few other things) in the stage after liquids but before mushies. He calls them "pre-select" foods, and they're easy to digest and have a good amount of protein. We stay on "pre-selects" for three days to make sure we're tolerating them, and then we move on to all mushies. So, short version - cottage cheese isn't off limits for everyone.

So you're probably looking forward to the weekend, weekend?

I don't have any fluid in there, so there's nothing to remove yet.

I haven't had a ton of pain, which is great - the worst part is the gas, and I'm managing it. I've urinated, I've had a bowel movement (TMI, right?), everything seems on track. But I can't manage to get in the water and protein I'm supposed to. After a couple sips, I have a tightness under my sternum. I can breathe fine, and it's only marginally uncomfortable, but... is that my band? And how long before it loosens up? Also, I feel like I've got phlegm in my mouth sometimes that needs to be swallowed - what's causing this? I haven't had any nausea since the first day, but I also think I'm maybe playing it *too* safe because I'm scared of vomiting and slippage, and I haven't figured out what little twinges are the band or my stomach, and which ones are related to surgery and my incisions. Help!

Do you have any fill? My surgeon said to come in immediately and get the band unfilled completely if I'm sick with something like the flu in case I throw up and the band slips.

Mine started two or three hours after surgery, after I'd had my upper GI and once I started walking around.

The hospital sent me home with a bottle of Isopure, and I've been nursing that today. Tomorrow, I'll mix up some of the shake mix I bought (Designer whey strawberry). I've also got Isopure's unflavored protein isolate to sprinkle on foods when I can start to eat them.