Lizaboo

MissPoodle, I want to thank you again for sharing your doctor's recommendation to alternate bites of vegetable and protein. It is making it so much easier to get protein down without feeling nauseous! Thanks again!

This is a great point! It does taste awful. I hate to say something as basic as trying to chew sugar-free gum, but it really does help while this is going on.

Vegas, at no time did I have an issue with the OP. Perhaps you should re-read my posts. This is why people tend to become so unneccessarily enflamed. I sympathize with her, because working in healthcare, I know that it IS difficult for parents to bring children in when they need help. But in this case, this would be when I would suggest an exception. As someone with dehydration issues and a crap surgeon, I wish her the best. I do, however, disagree with the "as a mom" comment. And will continue to disagree with it. For reasons clearly stated. And that is as a mom myself. Let's stop using it as a catch all, I'm better than everyone else, including Dads excuse. Now, enough.

Goodness. All caught up now. Things got wild! My surgeons also sucked. I had to go around them to my main PCP, who basically called them and forced them to IV me. The surgical idiots couldn't seem to understand I was dehydrated. Total nightmare. The next step for me would have been ER. It sounds like you're trying to do what you can. Definately try rocking the sugar free popsicles. Those have worked well for me when nothing else did, even water. Sugar free jello? Sometimes I could tolerate one flavor (orange) when it seemed like bothing else worked. Also, when I couldn't tolerate cold water, room temp worked. Some days, I still wonder if doing this surgery was the right choice for me as well, but it is getting better. I hope it does for you too.

I'm a little late to this game- but let me just say as a fellow mom that nothing offends me more than "only moms get it." What a crock- and totally offensive to numerous other people. Starting with Dads. Let's avoid using that line ever again, please. I understand not wanting to drag 4 kids to the ER, and working in healthcare, I appreciate the OP's thoughts. But for anyone else reading this, find a neighbor, a friend, or drag them along if you are that dehydrated. Please get help. I was dehydrated, I almost passed out twice in the shower. It's awful. Don't take risks with your help. This is the moment you yell at your kids to learn to sit on their butts because Mom is sick and you get the help you need. You drag strollers. You do what you have to do.

MissPoodle, that sounds like a great idea. I'm so full just trying to get any protein in! I'll give that a shot. Sounds like you have a great group there. It is hqrd not to feel full all the time. Honestly, there are times I have to remind myself to eat an actual meal- with trying to get water and protein drinks in, usually I already feel pretty full! I know, this will all settle down for us.

We seem to all be at very different points. I'm at seven weeks out. Able to eat chicken and beef in soups, green beans, cooked carrots and applesauce- that type of thing. But nothing tomato-y (pasta sauce, salsa, ketchup, bbq) seems to work well, so sauces are tough. I tried finely cut moist and well chewed meatloaf today and it was nausea extreme. What I'm most worried about is that I'm only eating less than an ounce of anything other than applesauce or plain soup, and that's less than two ounces. Is that okay? My NUT is totally useless.

MissPoodle, I will agree with you. I actually canceled my appointment with my nutritionists. They are worthless, quite frankly. According to their chart, I should be in the second week of four eating english muffins, toast, chicken, fish, ham, etc. I'm currently eating broth with tiny bits of shredded chicken. I had sugar-free jell-o for lunch and am still mainly in puree with very slow foray into soft. I had to learn what to do from on here and another group. They only want you to drink milk, absolutely no protein shakes or supplements, even though I am lactose intolerant and even the alternates were making me sick. I finally just had to go on Syntrax myself and bari-wise soup broth to get in the protein. My main doctor has a great nutritionist she is setting me up with for the future. It looks like some plans I have since been reading are very good at saying step carefully through the soft stage, starting slowly and moving carefully. I think a lot of programs could benefit from suggestions on how to future modify their programs from past patients.

I was going to try a scrambled egg with salsa today. I'm rethinking that now. LOL! Since the great chicken misadventure, I went back to oatmeal, mashed potatoes, applesauce, and soups. I've put some shredded low sodium ham in cream of potato soup, and had shredded chicken in chicken tortilla soup. Some vegetable beef soup where I've chewed and eaten the small bits. But it's definately slow going. I think it's safe to say I'm a little scared of angering the very petite beast.

Yep. Bread is my Snack Buddy, so I had already planned to be a bad patient and ignore that. Not to mention, I had been concerned after reading reports from three different places, including the National Institute of Health, that said bread could really be a sticky food and bind you up. both that and Yale did not recommend it for a minimum of three months after surgery. But my best friend and I ( who has her surgery coming up) have both been noticing that some of their things don’t really mesh with what a lot of other programs do. They also strictly forbid any protein shakes, drinks or powders.

Mine says soft foods starting at week four, with a calendar to follow for the month. That has toast, english muffins, chicken, turkey and ham along with other stuff. chicken was the first day for lunch, and it got stuck. Sigh. So one just never knows. Currently I'm back to gentler foods and taking it easy. Every group is different.

Frustr8, you make me laugh! 😂😂 (Although I always check my pockets, so I know what you're saying....)

Have faith! I was reading this too, and when I popped on this morning after five days, there went three pounds! We just have to get over those bumps in the road.

Do you puree your eggs? I'm hitting four weeks out and heading into soft foods. I'm a bit iffy on leaving the food processor behind. I really struggled with the water and protein, still do a bit. But I was so nauseous I couldn't force anything in, my daughter had to help me out of the shower one day, I was about to faint. My BP was skyrocketing, barely going potty. Finally my PCP stepped in and put their foot down with the bariatric group and ordered them to put me on a fluid IV because I was so dehydrated. It made a huge difference!

So today was my first day on soft food. I had oatmeal earlier, no problem. Tonight I tried rotisserie chicken. Chewed for at least 30 bites, very fine, took at least half an hour. It feels a little stuck in the chest area. About a half an hour later, drank some water, and then a few moments later vomited some up. I still feel like some is a bit stuck. Should I be really freaked out? Our menu plan says just eat the chicken plain, but then they also say to eat bread, toast and english muffins at this stage, and to avoid protein shakes at all costs in any stage. We think they're a bit crazy. Should I have put some sort of sauce or something on the chicken to help moisten?? It looks from other posts that a lot of other groups don't do plain meat??

Thanks, John Kitsu. That is good to know, especially since turkey was on their calendar for lunch today. LOL. Oh dear. It sounds like all of my grocery shopping I just did won't do me much good now. I really am appreciating everyone's feedback a great deal. It sounds like you are all finding some wonderful methods and your coordinators have had some great suggestions. Thank you for helping!!

Our local sandwich chain was a star. They always serve 3-4 soups a day, and I would call ahead to check and see what they had. Vegetable beef for some reason was my favorite. They would pack me up a bowl of the broth to go that I could reheat for a few meals.

I lost 60 pounds from May 10 to September 24th, before my surgery. So I don't think there's any reason he couldn't have lost that weight if he wasn't working very hard and very committed to his goal. I think the hard work for him will be keeping it off. But I wish him the best.

LOL, I had a feeling that did not help the situation either!! Good thought, Frustr8. I will definately pick some up before making an attempt next time.

Thank you so much. They gave us a calendar that actually has us starting both the breads and meats at the beginning of soft foods. So puree at 3 weeks then starting this today, with chicken as the lunch. I was a little off schedule today, hence chicken at dinner. I will pick and choose out of the options and go back to this later, like you said. Thank you so much!

Me too!

I'm so glad to hear someone else say they are struggling with protein too. (Although I'm so sorry to hear you are also having difficulty). At this point I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my stomach will accept the idea of pureed scrambled egg- I'm giving that a go tonight for the first time as I begin this puree stage. She has tentatively okayed applesauce and mashed potatoes. What soups have worked well for you?

That's the exact problem I have. They literally make me sick. Sigh. Even the protein broth. I can do bariwise protein hot chocolate. Thank heaven.

I'm right there with you. The protein shakes make me nauseous. I'm fighting just to get 20 of protein in a day. I'm lactose intolerant and even lactose free milks are bad, so those don't help. Lukewarm water I can manage, but water is a challenge to get in. I can handle sugar free jello and popsicles, chicken and vegetable beef broth. Tried Idaho Mashed potatoes today- finally something that's okay. And applesauce. That's about it. But every day I'm trying to get a little more water in!!

I am a bit restless as well. So sore. Feel like been kicked in the guts. And it hurts through to my back. But I did just pass some gas. That I am excited for. Well done! It's crazy it feels like such an accomplishment, but it really does, doesn't it? I told my teenager, all excited, and she just looked at me like..."Oh, Mom-" LOL