chiquitatummy

Yum! I can't wait to try these when I get to solids.

uggg. Sounds awful. I had a similar experience when I was on my pre-op diet, post-op (knocking on wood) it has been ok, but I dread another round like this.

I didn't have a BM until 3 days post-op and it was very watery. When I had my consult with the program nurse she said that was fine as long as things were moving. Since we are talking poop I'll share that at two weeks out BM's have varied in consistency which seems reasonable to me since I'm on a full liquid diet still. A noisy tummy sounds pretty common based on other posts I've read on this board. I know mine has made some interesting sounds, especially in the first week! I feel you on the gas an uncomfortable burps! Not pleasant, but I tihnk also common right after surgery. You will have gas inside you from your procedure that can take time to get out. Walking helps a lot with this, and for me made the burps less painful. In that first week or so when I felt "bubbly" I would just pace my living room and this helped a lot. It also helped me to get my fluid in early on if I was up and moving while I sipped. Others have mentioned that stomach acid can feel like hunger and I think high stomach acid can be common post-op for VSG at least. My Dr. puts all his patients on omeprozole for 6 months as a standard to keep stomach acid low.

Thanks for asking TimC, I'm doing great! I had my two week post-op check up a couple of days ago and my Dr. was all smiles. Incisions are healing well, fluids/protein has generally been easy, and I've lost 14 pounds since surgery day. Most of that came off in the first week - not gonna lie I LOVED seeing the scale drop by a pound a day in that first week. I seem to have hit a bit of a stall this week, so I'm just hanging in here doing what I need to do and hoping to see another drop soon. My only real complaint is energy levels being low and crashing pretty easily after a little activity. I know it's to be expected, but I want to go go go instead of nap nap nap. 😂 How are you doing?

I am sooo glad you went to the hospital! Hopefully once this gets resolved things will get easier for you. Take good care of yourself - you deserve it!

thanks for posting! I'll be giving chickpea pasta a try when I get to the solid foods stage.

To prevent future disease and illness. I was obese and generally healthy but knew I was on the path (like many of my family members) to diabetes and high blood pressure. Watching my mom suffer with her health now is a big motivator for me to do something to prevent being in the place she is in another 15-20 years. Realizing that my weight put me at high risk for Covid was another wake-up call for me. I was also tired of feeling physically uncomfortable in my body (achy back, feet, hips, etc) and having no energy. I missed doing the things I used to do like hiking, rollerblading, and bike riding. I'd stopped doing them when I got heavy enough that it was painful and physically uncomfortable to be active. I'm only two weeks and a couple days out from surgery and already I can walk without discomfort around my neighborhood. My energy may still be low, but my back and feet don't hurt! It feels amazing!!! I'm remembering how much I used to enjoy being physically active.

I am so sorry to hear this! Please take care of yourself - what you are experiencing could be very serious and I urge you to seek medical care asap if you are in so much pain that you can't stand upright. Sending healing thoughts your way - please keep us posted to let us know how you are doing.

I was today years old when I learned that I'm not the only one that likes a look inside other peoples fridge's! 😂 Nice sauce and condiment collection!

I'm 14 days post-op and I feel this so hard! Every program is different, but mine does not allow cream of wheat during the full liquid stage (which is 4 weeks for me) the options are protein shakes, broths/liquid only soups, and greek yogurt. Things that have given me the feeling of a little variety include: adding PB2 protein powder and sugar-free caramel syrup to greek yogurt. It tastes like peanut butter toffee yogurt and is a favorite. Bariatric soup mixes, especially the cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, and cream of tomato. mixing Pero (fake coffee) in with a packet of protein hot chocolate.

I have a pretty conservative program, but they also have a very high success rate so I'm not complaining too much - I'm only human so some complaining does happen, lol. My programs requirements include no caffeine for at least a month before surgery and then for at least another 4 months after surgery and they really encourage folks to just give up caffeine altogether. The reasoning my Dr. and nutritionist gave is that caffeine is highly acidic and it can irritate your healing tummy, potentially cause ulcers, and just make it harder for other foods to settle well. I think having people go off caffeine pre-op also relates to not wanting patients to be going through caffeine withdrawals after surgery and discouraging empty calories since most people add goodies to their coffee. I know when I went off the bean I felt horrible (headaches every day and soooo cranky) for over a week and am really glad I didn't have to deal with that while also recovering from surgery. For tired mornings sipping water helps a little, but not gonna lie - nothing replaces the jolt of caffeine. I don't know that I will stay off the bean forever, but it's kind of nice not to feel dependent on it. We'll see what I think in 6 months; I may be back to my morning coffee.☕

thanks JMJames92! I forgot about the Pacific Foods soups so yay for more variety! The vanilla egg custard sounds good and your pizza mash sounds weirdly good. I will try both of them when I get to that stage.

I'm 10-days post-op and very happy to say that things have been going well. I've had no trouble getting liquids in and so far (cross fingers) my new little tummy is doing well with almost everything I've given her. I am on full liquids and will be for three more weeks. For my meals so far I've had Fairlife shakes, a couple of the bariatric pal soup mixes, yogurt with peanut butter protein and SF caramel syrup added (it was so good!), and Pero fake coffee with genepro in it. It would be nice to add a little variety over the next three weeks. Does anyone have a favorite full liquids recipe to share? I'll take favorite pureed recipes too since I'll be on that stage for another 3-4 weeks after graduating from full liquids. Thanks in advance!

Ya'll are some serious Inspiration! Love the outfits!

Welcome to the other side! Sending you wishes for swift healing.

ditto on Fairlife and GenePro. I also found that premier hasn't set as well with me post surgery, but Fairlife has been easy to get down and Genepro is easy to mix into anything (just keep the temp below 140) to bring the protein up. I also like the BariatricPal cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups. I doctor them up with no salt seasoning and mushroom salt (you can find it at any Asian market and it's amazing) then strain to make sure there are no bits of herb before drinking.

Me too Kmorrison! My VSG day was 2/23, so I'm just a couple of days ahead of you. Today was the first day that I felt like I had enough energy to take a walk around the block. It felt wonderful and it wiped me out.

GIRL YES. My surgery was on 2/23 and I cannot believe how exhausted I have been. Overall I feel way better than I thought I would and haven't had issues with getting protein or water in so it's not that. I think it must just be the combo of my body needing to heal and being on such low calories. Today was the first day I felt like I could actually take a walk around the block. I was so winded when I got back and needed a nap right away. I'm also really exhausted after I "eat a meal". I conk out for 30-45 minutes as soon as I am done with my 3 ounces of protein shake.

I'm close to your height and started out around the same weight (5' 2" HW of 271) and had some heartburn before I started my program. My symptoms were milder than yours (lots of discomfort after eating, able to tough it out without tums, but miserable for hours after eating). I found that when I lost some weight pre-surgery it mostly went away. May have been self-inflicted pain from my habit of eating too much and too fast. I did have an endoscopy and menonotry done which was enough information to make my Dr. comfortable with VSG for me. He waved the 24 hour PH study for me, but that is normally part of tests my program does to ensure someone with GERD symptoms is a VSG candidate. Turned out that while I had a little bit of stretching in my esophageal sphincter everything looked great and I was given the green light for VSG. I'm 1 week out from surgery now and feeling really good. Part of my program's protocol includes putting VSG patients on omeprazole for the first few months which is supposed to help tame the stomach acid while your healing and eating very little. You might ask if this is something that your program does. All that said, I really understand hesitating. The prospect of GERD misery getting worse with surgery is scary. My understanding from my program is that the results of the menometry, PH study, and endoscopy are pretty reliable in determining if someone is not a good VSG candidate because of current GERD, but that there is also a chance that anyone could develop GERD with VSG, so there is some gamble for everyone. Weighting the % risk of this vs. that was one of the hardest parts of making my surgery decision. It took me 2.5 years from beginning to consider the option of WLS to signing the papers to confirm that I made the decision. I am only a week out, but so far I am really glad I did it and none of my worst fears have happened. Good luck!

Saw your other post and it sounds like you are doing great! Fairlife has been my go-to also. I tried doing a premier protein shake and it was sooo hard to get down. My tiny tummy seems to like the Fairlife though.

I'm 2-days post VSG and doing pretty good, with the exception of a massively swollen uvula. Every time I swallow it feels like I have to get around a huge piece of skin (I know - gross) that is partially blocking and it feels like it gets "tangled" which triggers my gag reflex. Anyone else deal with this? Any wisdom or advice to help it go back to normal? It's driving me bananas and making me want to avoid sipping (I still am though, don't want a trip to the ER for fluids).

thanks folks! I'm 6 days out now and the swelling has gone down a bit. Throat is still very scratchy, and there is some swelling but it's a lot better.

Just to give you something for comparison, my program's requirement was that I lose 5%. Of course, as soon as I started the program I panicked and gained 4 pounds (blessing in disguise, it made me confront some emotional eating habits I was in denial about) and then had a really hard time losing. I ended up being a few pounds shy of the 5% goal, but did well everywhere else and was still approved.

Yesterday at my 3-day post op check-in I hadn't pooped and the nurse suggested that I take a stool softener and milk of magnesia. I took the stool softener, but was too scared to drink the milk of magnesia (I've just barely been on the ok side of nausea) so I drank some smooth move tea instead. It got me moving!

thank you for posting this! I am 2 days post-op and have been having bizarre sneezing fits. It didn't occur to me that this could be a full signal. Lot's to learn with this new chiquita banana tummy.