Trinn

Re the "melon", my surgeon mentioned a couple of times that some surgeons don't carefully check the stomach is flat before they do the staple/cut thing. If they are not careful, then a little extra stomach can be hidden on the back side, and they end up creating more of a ball shaped pouch than the one they're supposed to make. He explained that he's very careful to lift the stomach up and check the back to make sure it's flat to prevent that. But otherwise, I'll tell you that even on mushy chicken/tuna, I didn't feel very full, and I thought maybe they hadn't done the surgery -- but as soon as I started eating more solid things, WOW, yes, I felt the restriction. If your duodenum is "loose", you may pass soft foods fairly easily, and not feel much constriction, but with solid foods, you may. Either way, as others have said, it's a tool. You CAN eat more, and you CAN stretch it out, and you CAN overcome any level of volume restriction. One has to decide to make not doing that a habit.

Is your Water flavored, or plain? Does it happen if you have flavored water? I mean, with Mio drops, or sugar free Torani syrups or whatever. I am on a PPI too, but I have similar symptoms -- my tummy sometimes feels "growly" a while after eating, as if I'm hungry again. So, I don't think of it as much as heartburn, but as ...well, healing. Because I know that when I have wounds or injuries, they go through a period of feeling achy. If you are bruised, the bruise can take a while to heal, and when it's doing that, it can feel sore. And also, I know when I'm healing from a wound (like the incisions) sometimes it itches. So, I sometimes think, "Wow, that feels like hunger, but it might just be the feeling of healing." My surgery was the day after yours, so I'm in about the same stage of healing. And yes, I sometimes feel discomfort. When I do, I think of it like using a muscle too soon after an injury, and I give it something more gentle for the next meal. A Protein shake instead of some chicken breast, for example. I hope this helps a little.

I am all about checking menus out before we go. I also just order a la carte, not worrying about the menu. "I'd love just a chicken breast, please, no sides." The other day I was out with friends for the first time and the restaurant we were at was a sports bar. There was exactly ONE thing on the menu that I could eat -- grilled chicken tenders (no breading) as an appetizer. Well, I just ate one of them, slowly, over the course of the whole time everyone else was eating. I offered the rest to others. When some people I don't know joined us and commented, I said, "Oh, I ate earlier." Which is true, but my earlier was 4 hours before that. :-) But you know, "I'm recovering from tummy problems, I am being very careful about what I eat," has worked well when I'm at school and they're serving pizza and whatnot.

I'm a Sept 1 surgery person, so yesterday was 5 weeks for me. :-) These days about half the days I have 2 liquid Protein meals, and one solid, and half the days I do 2 solid and one liquid. I simply cannot take in enough protein in a solid "meal" to be able to meet my protein goals otherwise. My typical meals are chicken breast shredded, or scrambled eggs with cheese or diced smoked turkey. Yesterday I had 3 (!) Ikea meatballs when we were out at dinner time, so about 6g protein, but very filling. So, later that evening I had a Syntrax nectar Lemon Tea to help top that off. I've lost about 20 lbs since the day of surgery, but I had lost over 30 in the three months before surgery, so all my "Water weight" was already gone. :-)

I have hated the "taste" of Water my whole life -- long before bariatric surgery. I've therefore spent decades being nauseous when drinking plain water. If it's room temperature especially, well, it makes me think of trying to drink a cup of spit. However, there are zillions of ways to flavor water -- Mio drops, Torani sugar free, citrus wedges, herbal tea -- so I am able to drink water with flavoring. However, I refuse to take crap for not liking the taste of water -- I simply find it disgusting and always have, since I was a child.

No, I don't think it's wrong to ask your SO/spouse to not tell others. Even if you do plan to tell someone, I'm one of those people who think it should be *your* time and *your* decision. I pretty much had a melt down and got very angry at my partner last week over this. Over a month ago, I had told him that he did not have my permission to disclose my surgery to ANYONE without my explicit consent. I explained he could tell his boss/coworkers I was having surgery (because he took off work) "for digestive issues" if he wanted, but no other details. I *specifically* told him not to tell his mother, because she's just been really unpleasant to me. It's difficult. She's mostly an okay woman, in her 80's, but it's very clear that she thinks her son has chosen poorly because of my weight. Lately she's made it part of our interactions whenever I see her. So, for example, a couple of months ago, she gave me diet cook books, and quizzed us about how much we out, because she thinks that eating out is a problem. Last December I went to Christmas dinner with his family, and that was the *worst* it's been -- first, my sweetie told his mother I don't eat blue cheese, so she wasn't going to put the dressing on the salad, but then she DUMPED a giant container of blue cheese crumbles on the salad. When I later politely declined a serving, she got upset at me. My sweetie said "She doesn't like blue cheese..." and his mother denied putting any in it. We couldn't tell if she had forgotten or what. But the final stroke was that most of the foods on the table were bad for me (carby) or just disgusting -- her salad, gross stuffing with giblets -- so I ended up with small portions of the bone dry turkey, macaroni and cheese, and bread I'd made. His mother leaned over the second time I refused her salad and said, "Well, look at your plate -- you won't eat the salad but you'll eat all that? That's why you're fat!" I cried half the way home in the car, because I had put up with that, and because of that, I have NO interest in that woman knowing about my surgery. So when my sweetie said, last week, "Oh, I told my mother you had surgery and she hopes you get well soon..." I was FURIOUS. I am not interested in that mean-spirited woman thinking she somehow influenced me, when in fact the opposite was true -- every time she did stuff like that to me, it made me sure I would NEVER have WLS. Well, gosh--- that's been a bit of an off topic theraputic rant. But anyway, my point is, I support you having privacy. :-)

We packed extra pillows in the car, but my hospital had provided so many pillows I certainly didn't need my own. I had two under my head, one under each arm, and one under my feet. They asked me if I wanted more. :-) So, I didn't need to bring my own pillow into that space. :-)

I live *damned* well. I mean, I live so well that it's embarrassing. But my living well doesn't have to include having this or that particular food. Y'know, during my pre-surgery period, I went to an awesome wedding. I had two shakes over the course of the day -- at one point, I even stepped out of the reception to have one -- and then at the dinner, I had some of the meat entree, and a little piece of the vegan-gluten-free carrot cake they had as the wedding cake. But there's the thing. If you ask me about that wedding, I'm not going to tell you what I ate, or how much I enjoyed having the food. I'm going to tell you that we danced to awesome ridiculous 80's hair band music because the bride's family is from new Jersey, and *I* was dancing too because I had already lost 20 pounds from my pre-surgical diet. I will tell you that I found the citrus theme colors and citrus tables hilarious. I will talk about the amazing pictures or just how beautiful a wedding ceremony it was because it was focused on the bride and groom's roles in local activism for marriage equality. I will say the bridal FEZ was amazing. But what I'm going to remember, 20 years from now, is not the food. Honestly. So, do I love great food? I do. But the central part of my well-lived amazing awesome life (and it's pretty fricking awesome right now, seriously) is not food. It's not gonna be food. I'm okay having food be the background, and not the centerpiece. Last weekend, 3 days after surgery, I spent the day at a friend's 15th anniversary puzzle hunt and vow renewal and party. We raced all over downtown San Jose solving clues. (I just raced a little slower...) Afterwards, people had great Mexican food (but I had a tiny Syntrax nectar shake) and we did silly costuming things and the memories now are again, amazing -- even though I didn't get to eat anything at the event. :-) Three months ago, it would have been much harder for me to do that. I want to have *those* memories. I'm not really worried about eating pizza or ice cream, if I can be there with the people and do all the great things. :-)

(And I had a conversation about this with my NUT I think at some point -- she mentioned having a patient say they "weren't getting in their 64 ounces of water" every day, and being really upset about it. It turns out the patient was getting plenty of herbal tea, protein drinks, flavored water, sugar free juice,etc -- but also thought they had to be drinking 64 ounces of plain water a day, which they were having problems doing. I can't get through a freaking cup of plain water -- I hate the taste -- so I can imagine that must have been hell. :-) The point of the story is that any approved liquid counts for me, and I am welcome to get my 64 ounces or whatever drinking tea and sugar free cranberry juice. :-)

I mean, objectively, factually, Fluid is fluid, and as long as the fluid doesn't contain something that is a diuretic (makes you pee out MORE), then it *should* count. Milk, for example, is mostly Water, and therefore, from a *factual* standpoint, drinking 64 oz of milk is very close to drinking 64 oz of water. However, it's clear that some nutritionists (and a few doctors) want to put plain water in a separate category. Okay, whatever. That's not fact, it's not science, but in that case, they're creating a category -- 64 ounces of WATER -- and saying that 64 ounces of WATER can only be reached using water. (And let's not even get started on how the 8 glasses/64 ounces is an arbitrary number that became enshrined in traditional nutrition...) So, I personally think it would be more correct of NUTs with that opinion to say, "I would like you to drink 64 ounces of water *in addition to* any other fluids you are taking in, just to be extra sure you're good and hydrated." It just seems like instead of saying that, they say, "Protein shakes don't count!" or "Juice doesn't count." When they say that, they're not stating medical or scientific fact; they're just shortcutting saying, "I want you to not include those other fluids in your count of water."

I was given pills, but also instructions on opening up the capsule one and sprinkling the contents on a small spoonful of unsweetened apple sauce. *grin* But other than that, not allowed to have swallowable Vitamin pills. Had liquid Vicodin for pain at home, too.

Normal. In fact, a couple of my incision sites from my lap gall bladder removal did that for *years*. I had one right at "table edge" level, and if it got pushed at too much from sitting at a school desk, it would get sore/angry. Not on the surface, but the scar beneath in the muscle level.

Yes, I had this problem. I lived on them for 2 of 3 meals a day for 2 months before surgery and never got bored, liked them just fine. My doctor finds them appropriate for after surgery as soon as they're tolerated. So, on the second day home, I tried, and could not stand the creaminess. A couple of days later, tried again and it was a little better, but I'm honestly preferring the Syntrax nectar flavors I have right now over the PP. I have a ton of them, too! But I am sure my tastes will change/evolve. *grin*

Things I brought and used -- lip balm and Biotene spray (fixes dry mouth). The Biotene is probably the single most useful thing I brought other than lip balm. Sipping Water early on is *very difficult, and you really have to sit up to do it. The spray immediately solves dry mouth and you don't have to sit up to use it. :-) Also, slippers for walking around in the halls. Things I brought and never used -- pajamas (couldn't put them on with the IV and stuff, and they get in the way of things like checking wounds, blood draws. Robe -- again couldn't put it on unless they disconnected my IV lines. Laptop (well, I used it once for 10 minutes.) Gas-X -- I had them, but I found that just sitting up in a chair was more helpful than anything else for getting air out. Part of the thing about the Gas-X strips is that they help with gas in your stomach and upper intestinal tract, but the gas we're talking about is initially put into your abdominal cavity and only slowly works itself back into your organs to be passed. Some of what we think of as "gas pains" is that pressure and discomfort of the gas working its way back in. You can't "fix" that with Gas-X strips. :-) So, walking was actually more effective for me than the strips, when I used them at home.

Hey, there! I had my VSG a day before yours, so I am at about the same place. I am also totally feeling you! I am almost the poster child for good presurgical habits -- from June-August, I basically did 2 PP shakes a day, with one small Protein meal. I've done all the things they've asked me to do. I walk, I get my Vitamins, I am getting in all my protein and my liquids each day. My recovery since surgery has been pretty easy -- at a week out, I feel almost recovered, though I know I need to be gentle with my body. I have also flirted with cheating. :-) Yesterday, I got so pesky I soft scrambled two eggs with a tiny bit of cheddar cheese and ate them. Well, I tried -- after two bites, I was like OMG WTF TINY SLEEVE! But over the course of about 2 hours, I ate those eggs. Oh, and a day or two before that, I took a chicken meatball from the leftovers, and pureed it with some chicken broth and ATE IT. *grin* But it wasn't very satisfying. As best I can tell, it's okay and normal to be feeling like this. I know that *at some point* I will be able to just eat the damned meat ball, but right now, I am a little tired of being the WLS good girl and drinking my nectar and flavored Water. :-) But in my heart, even as I'm doing those things, I'm thinking about a bite of an In&Out burger, or a taste of a burrito. :-) Last night, I imagined taking a bite of something on a TV commercial and just spitting it out after chewing it for the flavor! :-) So, I think that these urges to "cheat" are probably just the natural desire for more variety, and to move past this stage. I don't think having a bite of something means that you're going to fail, any more than cooking two eggs means I am. This liquid stage sort of sucks. :-) The only thing I can suggest to you is that when I have felt *really* like cheating, I have tried to figure out what would be best thing for me -- like those two eggs -- and least likely to cause me problems. Short version: Don't worry now about a bite of lasagna before! Today is a different day Breathe! Have some more liquids! It's going to be okay! :-)

No problem! Good luck to you too! I wish I had someone who had told me all this back in 2003! :-)

While I had an easier recovery, I definitely feel you on the food smells issue! We made some Pasta with meatballs and beef stew for my sweetie to have while I was recovering. Really simple stuff -- chicken herb meatballs, jarred sauce, penne, and the beef stew was just meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and some gravy mix in the crock pot. WELL, when he eats it, the smell to me is like he's been chewing raw garlic. He REEKS of strong smells to me. This was not strong sauce and the meatballs are not strongly flavored, but he comes within 10 feet of me and I get nauseous from the smell! *grin* So, now he's afraid to eat *anything* at all, for fear I will get upset about the smell. I finally had to be like, "Look, you can't not eat, and what bothers me today may not bother me tomorrow. I'll live -- just stay on your side of the living room!"

Hey! If you get dry mouth, I really recommend getting and packing some "Biotene spray". It was really helpful to me in the hospital and afterwards. Sips of Water feel really terrible unless you're sitting up, but the Biotene gets rid of dry mouth in the mean time. I combined that with regular application of lip balm every hour or so. Those were the two most important things I brought from home!

When I am having problems getting it in, I use the Syntrax nectar, but I reduce the liquid in it -- make a package (23 g protein) with 8-10 oz Water. In the flavors I like, it's more intensely flavored, but still doable. :-) Early on, I was making the mistake of making it up with 12-16 oz of water. No! :-)

Hey! Check with your doctor, but usually, the drinking 30 minutes only applies to when you start solids/mushies/etc -- not for liquid meals! Because you can't "wash out" of your sleeve anything that is already liquid. It's good as a habit, but it should not be impacting you right now when you're not on solids!

Such a range responses! I am with you on the "slap me" side of things. I have friends who had WLS, lost weight and have kept it off for over a decade. I have friends who had WLS, lost *some* weight, and have sort of spent a lot of time in the "half-way to goal" stage, talking about stalls, etc. Of those, the former -- the long term full successes -- are people who took *years* to go back to problem foods, and who do so with *bites*. So, "Three years until I had a bite of pizza, and I sometimes have a bite these days, but mostly, I have an appetizer meatball instead of the pizza at the fancy place." The folks who are "sorta-okay" are, for the most part, "I waited six months to have pizza, and I have a slice every now and then, but I don't eat the whole pizza." The former folks eat low carb, low gycemic index, high Protein "as a way of life", as people put it. The folks who are in the middle? They follow a "low carb diet" or a "primal diet", but make frequent exceptions. Now, if I am looking to emulate the folks I want to be *like* in 10 years, then I tell you what -- I'm gonna model myself on the folks who think of a *bite* of really great artisan pizza every few months as a nice thing -- not the people I know who have a piece every few weeks (and have a little dessert every now and then, and a couple of drinks at the holidays...). I say that because I got to my weight by being *like those people already*. I didn't eat an entire pizza at a time. I didn't binge eat ice cream. I am one of those people who makes a little exception for a piece of bread when we're out, and a little exception for a bite of dessert, and a little exception for the holiday party, and a little exception that added up to, over years, more weight than I could lose on my own. As the initial poster put it, there are a lot of things I want to celebrate, but my ability to return to regular exceptions of healthy-for-me food? Nope. Not interested. I'm in this for the long haul -- for another three or four or five decades. I made this choice with the understanding that I might not EVER have pizza (or fries) again. I'm good with that. Your mileage may vary. :-)

He usually does the bariatric surgery info/orientation at my nearby health provider, so I saw him the first time for that. Then I had an initial consult with him, that was an hour. Then when my surgery was approved, about a month later, I saw him again for another hour, to get ready. Then I saw him on the morning of surgery, to check in, and the next day to check in on me and discharge me. I have another appointment 2 weeks after surgery to see him, and then regular ones for a few times over the coming year.

Hey! Thanks for asking this! I too have worried that I am doing something wrong when I can drink pretty easily. What I've come to understand is that it's *very* hard for us to "stretch" our sleeve during the phase one liquids. Once we start eating things that don't slip in so easily, we'll have the full feelings. But in the meantime, if you can do the liquids, do them. The one caveat is that if you're on liquid Vicodin, be careful, because the pain killer can actually mask your discomfort. :-)

I am still wading into this thread, but one of the things I've seen is this repeated insistence that "I have to drink, it's part of my job." Hey, you know, there are a lot of recovering alcoholics or other folks in the world with jobs that have a social component like this. As a result, there are plenty of great alternatives to have other than liquor which will allow you to "look" like you're participating, if that's the issue. For example, a bit of cranberry juice with Water on the rocks or shaken and into a martini glass with a twist of lime. Looks like a cocktail, has much less bad going for it than a drink. Basically, if you need *appearance*, then your fabulous bartender can create that for you with ease. You walk up to a bartender you know and say, "I need a great looking virgin cocktail with no carbonation and easy on the sugars." Done! So, when someone says, "Oh, but I need to have the actual alcohol," then I agree that's something else. I'm not going to go so far as to say "OMG red flag," but as someone who grew up doing peer alcohol education, I don't think it's terrible to say to someone, "Have you considered some non-alcohol options that might be healthier and let you have more than one "drink" a night?"

Half the days I'm good with my PP shakes, and the other half, they don't feel/taste good to me. That's when I use the Syntrax nectar stuff. Right now I'm working my way through a PP chocolate. Yesterday, I couldn't stomach these.