Taj

I actually got a cold the week before surgery and took Zicam rapid melts and was completely clear the day of surgery. I think they’re just two forms of zinc, that’s why I was able to take them up until the day of surgery. I actually still take them as part of my supplement regimen because zinc helps the immune system. Hope you feel better soon.

Unfortunately, my family has a history of bowel obstructions and we can’t do heavy fiber. My sister just had her second bowel obstruction after being given benefiber in hospital after knee replacement surgery. I’ve tried it in the past and even with drinking tons of water it made me constipated. We always joke that our mother must have been taking exlax during her pregnancy and screwed up our bowels.

Omg!! That looks delicious!! I will definitely be trying it. Thank you for including the recipe!!

Two weeks on soft foods and then regular food, except salads. No salads for 6 months. It’s amazing that you can eat salad!! I was doing PREMIER but they were horrible and made me bloated so switched to Unjury, a medical protein that’s whey isolate. It was fantastic and easy to digest, they even have chicken soup and southwest taco which is delicious. This thing with smelling the cold shakes just started on Monday, same day I couldn’t eat more than a couple bites of soft foods. Bowel obstructions are really horrible. My sister was in hospital for 5 months with her first one because her organs started shutting down and put her in a coma. She had open surgery for that one. She just had another bowel obstruction two months ago and was in hospital for two weeks with the stomach tube and fortunately it cleared. My daughter had bowel obstruction last year after gastric bypass-all scar tissue. Fortunately they were able to do laparoscopic surgery for her. My family just has bad bowels for some reason so that’s one reason I’ve been so careful to follow the dietary plan religiously.

I’ll try the stool softener regimen cause this constipation is no joke!! Thank you for that tidbit.

This helps tremendously!!! Thanks to Dr. V I’m definitely eating properly and actually find that I chew those small bites more like 50 to 60 times and then wait 60 seconds before the next bite. Hearing that someone else is having the same issues calms my concerns. I knew it wasn’t a bowel obstruction because my daughter and my sister both had to have surgery so I’m familiar with the symptoms. I’m just so ready to eat real food. I weigh and measure everything and will put 2 oz on my tiny plate but barely able to eat 1 oz. For some reason, the protein shakes now stink!! All of them. I’ll be patient and keep trying. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. This is a pic of my tiny fork and spoon next to a normal sized fork and spoon. Dr. V says a nickel size for each bite and I do probably a little smaller than nickel size. Slow and steady wins the race, eh? I’ll just keep trying. It’s actually taking me longer to drink an 8 oz protein shake now (full hour) than it took 2 weeks ago 1/2 hour).

Four weeks, 2 days post op. Last 3 days unable to eat more than two bites of anything soft before feeling the burn of restriction. I’ve tried tofu, scrambled eggs, cod fish, salmon, purées spinach and feel miserable after two bites and have to wait 1/2 hour and do protein shake. Also still having constipation, but getting in the full 64 oz of water, sometimes more. If I take 2 tsp senna syrup or do an enema I have a small bowel movement but it’s not the same as having a natural bowel movement. Anyone else experiencing this problem with soft foods? Definitely not a bowel blockage as I’m able to take in liquids and pass gas. It’s as if the food is not getting to my lower intestine.

Omg!! I wish our bacon looked like that in the US! Our bacon is more fat than meat.

https://recovery.marena.com/products/sfbhl-compression-girdle?variant=14424287477802&gclid=CjwKCAiAyeTxBRBvEiwAuM8dndrFQNGnUKFxgIO-PmvArBmKzdBtlURZoZEgCfqnrHQKLSCtZsA_fBoCu2cQAvD_BwE I like this one because the bra on the full body one doesn’t fit me. They also have completely full body for the arms. The Marena have openings in the crotch so you don’t have to pull them down to use the potty. They’re not easy to get on, but worth the struggle.

Can barely see your incisions—looks great! Arnica cream helps a lot with bruising. I had massive bruises on the backs of my arms from the heparin shots and the arnica cleared them up within a few days.

Marena compression garments are used after liposuction to reduce swelling and helped my daughter after her 150 pound weight loss after RNY. She has very little excess skin, even on her belly where she carried all of her weight. They’re not cheap, but you only need a couple of full body garments. I’m wearing them now after my vsg and they really do help A LOT!!

I wear a tank top under my shirt. It soaks up the Vaseline and also gives the incisions some extra protection from the waistband on pants. Washes right out of the tank tops. I have one tank top for each day.

Your belly looks so small!!

Why do you both have an incision above your belly button? Just curious because I only have the five in a straight line below my belly button. My daughter had RNY and she only has five incisions in the same straight line.

You don’t take them off. They will all fall off this week on their own. I’m from the south and believe in the power of Vaseline so I was putting a layer on my incisions from day one and all five of my steristrips fell off in a couple of days and incisions were completely closed before my first post-op appt. my surgeon was so impressed with her surgical skills. I didn’t want to burst her bubble so I didn’t tell her the rapid healing was mostly due to my mother’s old wives remedy of Vaseline. 😬

One month post-op vsg.

Looking great!! Reminds me I need to take a pic of my belly. One month post-op tomorrow but better late than never!!

Wow! You look great!! I’m sure you already said but did you have vsg or RNY?

So sorry you had complications. I really do know how you feel and want to encourage you not to be discouraged. If they’re keeping you in hospital it’s for the best. Many of us rush to get home after surgery but my daughter was in hospital 3 nights after gastric bypass and for 9 months post op she was sick with vomiting, kidney stones and eventually a complete bowel obstruction that required surgery. Please try to relax and know that if they’re keeping you longer than you expected, it means you need to be there. Better to spend one week in hospital than spend 9 months miserable and back in the hospital. Peaceful thoughts to you.

Omg!! Thank you for posting this link!! I’ve already watched like five of his videos and feel so much more knowledgeable and positive and much less anxious.

congratulations on your first steps!! I hit the 3 weeks stall, which I now realize after watching the Dr. V videos is typical and I’m no longer stressing about it. Tbh I was kinda getting discouraged when others were saying things like they lost 27 lbs in 11 days but had my one month post op today and surgeon said I’m doing great. Down 18 pounds since surgery for a total loss of 28 pounds since pre-op diet. At any rate, I’m not over analyzing anymore. We’re all different and will lose at different rates. Losing fast is no longer my goal. Losing and keeping it off for life to stay healthy is my only goal now. 4 weeks post op and I still struggle to get in 2 liters of water and that’s with sipping constantly. But I know I’ll get there eventually. I’d rather take it slow than keep drinking when my belly is full. Good luck on your journey!!

Omg!! Thank you for posting this link!! Already watched one of his videos on how to eat and it was eye opening!!

Wow!! It’s the complete opposite of what my surgeon says, but everything your surgeon wrote is what I felt I should be doing for my body because I know my body will hang on to every calorie if I’m not eating enough. Thank you so much for this info!!

My surgeon is a great surgeon but some of her post-op instructions do have me puzzled. She told me today I can do full exercise and not just walking. Not listening to that advice. I actually started making my shakes with 4 0z Half&half and cooking my egg or tofu with butter and immediately started losing again after not losing a single pound for my entire third week so that tells me I wasn’t getting enough fat while doing 3 shakes and 1 egg. Thank you for your advice. Really appreciate it.

I think you’re right. 4 weeks post-op on Monday and just starting on soft solids, but my body feels like it’s in starvation mode. Hard to exercise on less than 500 calories per day. After 3 weeks of liquids, I’m still barely able to get down 2 oz of tofu cause my stomach isn’t used to food anymore. Can you tell us what your dietary stages were post-op? I don’t understand why it’s so drastically different with different surgeons.