terry1118

If you can't find a support group perhaps your surgeon can put you in touch with other people who've also had the surgery. Getting together and talking with someone might help. Maybe you could even start your own group!

Thanks. That is good advice! I took soup yesterday. I have been a little too adventurous with my food choices. After that experience I am going to stick with yogurt and soup for quite some time, at least at work. It's 'safe'. :-)

PB2 is awesome! All the flavor, none of the sugar and fat. Great product and a perfect way to get the flavor (and protein boost) you want without the things you don't want. If your local stores don't have it try a health food store or dietary supplement store. I'm sure you could even buy it online.

Also, at two weeks I was experiencing pain when I swallowed liquids (at that time I was just finishing my full-liquid stage). I asked my surgeon about it and he said there could still be a little swelling as I was still healing inside. As you heal and swelling goes down the discomfort goes away.

I'm five weeks post op, too. I was finally allowed to swallow whole pills this week and I'm noticing mild discomfort when I take them. It is like they are getting stuck. I take them with plenty of liquid and I won't eat anything for at least an hour afterward. I had a bad food experience this week (dry food got stuck) and I'm so afraid of it happening again. Are any of your pills crushable? I was crushing mine and mixing with a teaspoon of applesauce to get it down. Or even if you could cut them into smaller pieces it could help...

I just say I'm on a 'Dr supervised diet'. Who is going to argue with a doctor? Essentially it's true, too. We have had surgery (no one needs to know if you don't want to share), and our team has given us guidelines and restrictions that we need to follow while we are healing, and to avoid getting sick. It IS medically supervised and we are taught how to get all the things we need that are vital to our recovery and good health. It's not a fad diet, a starvation diet, or an eating disorder. :-)

What an ego boost! :-)

We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. I got a grilled tilapia burrito minus the burrito part. Basically I got grilled tilapia w/black beans and salsa. I ate a little for lunch, a little for dinner, and tossed out the rest. I feels decadent to throw out food but I'm doing it a lot now. The clean-plate club has lost a member... :-)

Self esteem boost. In my mind I'm doing something positive so it's affecting how I feel about myself, even though I haven't lost a lot yet. I feel proud of myself for taking this step. I feel anticipation rather than dread for my future. I feel satisfaction (tinged with surprise) that I am already feeling the benefit of losing 19 pounds. I feel delight at the clothes I outgrew beginning to fit me again. All these things make me feel a sense of self-worth and contentment. When I started this whole thing my goal was to feel better about myself and start to live my life. It's already beginning to happen... :-)

It's true for me. Thinking of food relationships as abusive helps me to stay away from things that aren't good for me. And I feel that comparing my relationship to food with any other bad relationship keeps it in perspective. :-)

Mine are raised and three of the six have lumps. They seem to be going down as they heal. Occasionally I get sharp little twinges of pain in those areas. My wls manual says this is due to nerves healing. If I wear slacks that are too tight near my incisions I get mildly painful twinges. I am four weeks, there days post op.

And possibly liver failure (a fact my team feels they can't stress enough).

Small price to pay indeed. :-) If anyone told me I would lose weight if I shaved my head bald, I wouldn't have even hesitated. I'd have said "Hand me the clippers". :-) :-) :-)

You look awesome! :-)

I had grilled tilapia with a few canned green beans (still on soft foods). Tilapia is my favorite, before and after surgery! Living near the ocean is a blessing - no shortage of fresh seafood! Tomorrow I'll be having lunch with a friend I haven't seen in a while. We'll be going to an authentic Mexican restaurant. I figure I'll try a taco (and only eat the filling) and/or refried beans. We shall see. So far I'm having no trouble eating out no matter where I go - soup is always an option if there is nothing I can have. :-)

I also feel energetic. After the first week ( which I took pretty slow and easy) I was cutting grass and shopping. The only vomiting I have done was with liquid Tylenol - I can't seem to tolerate it. The only problem I had was a rash I developed that seemed to be an allergic reaction to something (no one could figure out what - I saw four doctors in four days). I had an itchy rash all over my lower belly, lower back, arms and legs. It gradually faded away. If not for that my second week out of work would've seemed more like a vacation than recovery time! :-) Going back to work was no problem, I made it through the first full workweek without feeling tired or uncomfortable in any way. Really I have been pleasantly surprised at how good I felt in so short a period of time following the surgery. :-) My surgery itself was uneventful. No complications, pain tolerable the first couple days and almost nonexistent after 5-6 days. No catheter, no drain, one night hospital stay. The worst part of that time was gas pains that set in the third day, but they eased up after a few days. If there was a fly in the ointment it was that the weather was miserable (I had envisioned spending my recovery sitting on my deck and reading in the sun). :-) Everyone's different and all experiences will be different. And it is a lifestyle change that also requires a Vitamin regimen for the rest of your life. You need to be very sure that it is what you want to do. If you have doubts, don't do it. Only you know what is best for you... :-)

I read that hair loss is called by stresses to your body. These stresses can be events like major surgery, extreme weight loss, severe illness, or even high stress factors in your life. With rny, we have experienced at least two of these factors. Not everyone will lose hair, and of those who do not everyone will lose the same amount. If it's going to fall out it'll start 3-6 months after the stress occurred, continue for a while, and then stop. It is strictly temporary and your hair WILL grow again. If you experience hair loss there is nothing you can do to stop it, because the trigger is already months in the past. It has to run it's course. I started taking Biotin a month before surgery (which may or may not help) and I try to get all my Protein each day. I use a gentle shampoo and conditioner. If you start losing hair, it might be time to choose a new hairstyle that camouflages the hair loss until things reverse. Will I lose my hair? Maybe, maybe not. We shall see. But if I do I will TRY not to freak out and tell myself "this is only temporary".

The quantity I can eat depends on the density of the food. I can sometimes eat an entire Greek yogurt (5oz). Soup is the same. Chili I can eat about a third of a cup. Refried beans I can only eat an oz or two. Same with ground meats like turkey or beef. And chicken is the hardest for me to eat unless I moisten it well with gravy or sauce. Even then I have to be very careful to eat super-slow. There is a very fine line between 'satisfied' and 'suffering'. :-) Today at work they ordered Chinese for lunch. I ate some food off a friends meal. I had one scallop, one medium shrimp, one bite of chicken, and a few bean sprouts. I also ate the middle out of one crab Rangoon. After that I was done. Not too much, not too little. Got me through to dinnertime.

That sounds good. I have bananas and I have natural Peanut Butter - and I'm hungry. Hmmmmmm... :-)

Everyone is different. I was fine at two weeks, I went back to work 19 days after. Absolutely no problems.