Jen11

I'm post op day 10 and am on full liquids. I love milk. Now when I try to drink milk it tastes rotten in my mouth and I can hardly stand to drink it. Has anyone else had a change in their taste buds this early?

This is my first post and I'm a new member today. My date for my surgery is January 18th. I began this journey last summer and started with the 6 counseling sessions that BCBS requires. When I was on my 3rd visit I found out that my husbands insurance was changing in 2011 and gastric bypass was no longer going to be covered. I was only going to be able to complete 4 of the 6 dietician visits so they would not approve the surgery. On the same day I found out that my own companies insurance was changing and taking out the surgery for 2011. I cried a lot that day. After a lot of soul searching and taking with my husband, I have decided to go ahead with the surgery and pay for it out of pocket. I'm worried about spending my families money and possibly failing. On the other hand, I want to become healthier for myself and family so the money doesn't matter. I've been overweight my whole adult life. I've done a lot of the diets and can lose weight but don't really change my habits so I gain it all back and more. I need a healthy lifestyle change that will last a lifetime.

Well it's 4 days post surgery and it's my first day home. I was released yesterday afternoon. The surgery went great .. no complications . One thing I wasn't ready for it the amount of air bubbles floating around inside me and the pain that came with that. After my x-ray (day 2) they told me that the opening between my throat and stomach opening was swollen and liquids were pooling there before going into my stomach. That causes a huge stabbing sharp pain. It's better today (day 4) but still there. That makes drinking my 64 ounces of liquids today a little hard knowing I'm going to get a sharp pain. The dr. says it ranges with everyone on how long the swelling takes to go down. Sometimes a few days to a week. My first day home I didn't sleep hardly at all and I'm not sure why because I was totally exhausted. My best sleep was the 2 hours after my husband left for work. I would like to go on record that I have the greatest mom ever !!! I'm 42 years old and still wanted my mom to stay overnight in the hospital with me. She stayed and was a great help. Having her help me get up in the night and pee or walk around. I didn't have to wait for the nurse. My husband has been great also but we have a 12 year old that had to be taken care of in the evenings. Last night when we went to bed (I was totally exhausted) I tried to lay on my side and my husband told me he was very proud of me. That meant a lot to me. He doesn't always express his feelings. He has been a great support. He is doing a lot of research about the before/after surgery. He is ready to cook whatever I feel like and is planning for week 2-3 full liquids. Anyway.. day 4 and doing good.

I actually like the Alpine Punch Isopure liquid. I mix either the whole bottle or 1/2 bottle with water and 1 packet of Crystal light Strawberry. I was unable to drink milk after my surgery so I needed the protein drink. I'm 9 weeks out and still drink 1/2 to 1 bottle a day to make sure I make my protein for the day. Good Luck.

I take the Isopure fruit punch and add some water to make it about 32 ounces of liquid and then mix a wild strawberry crystal light and it doesn't taste bad and it's 40 grams of protein. I couldn't stand milk after my surgery (it tasted rotten in my mouth) so I had to find something else. Good Luck.

I'm actually 2 weeks post op today also. My doctor is having me on 2 weeks of full liquids (after the first week of clear liquids) and not on pureed until next week. I've been eating yogurt and all sorts of different kinds of Soup. I definitely would NOT go to solids yet. Your stomach is not healed enough to eat solids yet. You would run the risk of doing damage to the suture stitching in your stomach and then could have leakage. The best advice my doctor and dietician gave me was to not advance to soon. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Mine too. What my nurse told me was that they use some special solution on your skin around the incisions to make the steri-strips stick better. I had a terrible reaction to it... red, puffy, and OMG itchy. I've been using some Lotrimin and Hyrdo-cortisone cream. I'm 1 1/2 weeks after surgery and the puffy is gone but the itch is still really bad. This is probably the worst thing so far for me of the whole experience.

Thanks for the blog. My surgery is tomorrow so i'll keep the 'must sip water' to be able to go home.

I'm on day 8 of 10 day liquid protein diet. Surprising I'm doing really good mentally with it. It hasn't bothered me like I thought it would. I'm really proud of myself. I went to my normal dr. yesterday morning for my pre-op checkup and he did some blood work to check a few things. When I got home from work I had a message to call in. My blood work showed that I was dehydrated. I need to drink lots of extra fluids this weekend and go back in on Monday to have it re-checked. How can I be dehydrated when I'm only drinking all day long? I guess that might explain why some mornings I feel a little light headed and strange. Anyone else have this issue before the surgery?

Thanks for the reply. Besides being dehydrated and not really knowing it, I was doing good. I'm down 13 pounds in 8 days. Good Luck to you and keep it up !!

Hi NikkiRose - I think our surgery dates are one day apart. I'm on day 8 of 10 of the liquid protein diet and I'm finding that it was not as difficult as I thought. I'm guess I'm trying to look at this journey in stages. That I can get through anything if I look at it in chunks (10 day liquid diet, surgery, 1 week clear liquids, 2 week full liquids, etc.). I had quit drinking the diet sode a week before this liquid diet so I had already gone through the caffeine withdrawls. I've been drinking a milk with carnation mix for breakfast with my vitamins, etc. and my stomach doesn't get upset. Then I drink 2-3 more glasses of milk during the day at work and then a protein shake in the evening. Mixing in water/crystal light and jello and sugar free popsicles. I went in yesterday for my pre-op dr. visit and he did some blood work and when I got home from work that night I had a message. My bloodwork showed I was dehydrated. I was a little surprised since I've only been drinking. So this weekend I'm drowning in water and need to go back Monday to have blood work rechecked before surgery on Tuesday. Today my husband made onion soup and I'm just eating the broth and it is delicious. Good luck with the remaining amount of time you have.

Does anyone have good advice on how to tell your kids about your surgery? My date is Jan 18th and I start my 10 day liquid protein on Saturday and still haven't told my 12 year old daughter. I'm not sure what I'm afraid of but I'm nervous.

Hi Nikki - Thanks for the comments. Good Luck with your surgery. Are you nervous about doing the 10 day liquid protein diet? Where are you from?