draikaina8503

I just had my RYGB and water has been my problem child. However, I have found that using ice chips instead (letting them melt in my mouth and the water trickling down my throat) helps a lot. I've even heard of people buying snow cone makers specifically for this reason. I hope we both get better with the water!

I had all those emotions too for my RYGB. Now we are into the post-op stage of me practically going overboard to make sure I follow the diet exactly and remembering to take all my meds. It did not help that I had a major change in medicines and had just picked up several bottles of things that were just discontinued. (My brain: Look at all that wasted money...) But we got this and it will all be worth it! For everyone on stage 2 of the liquid diet (what my doc calls stage 2, essentially the non-clear liquids and such being added back in), all my instructions say about yogurt is that it has to be thinned. How much water are you all adding to 'thin' it?

Great information, thanks! I just came home from my 2-day hospital stay following RYGB, and right now all I feel is pain. So those signs of what is to come in the future are great knowledge.

I've been home for a few hours now. I passed out pretty much as soon as I got home. I'm currently sipping on a Gatorade Zero, and now that I'm out of the hospital I can do a liquid diet instead of just clear liquids. So there's that, at least lol. My biggest problem is water. Doesn't matter if lukewarm or cold, straight water makes my stomach cramp. But because I am able to consume other liquids just fine, they went ahead and sent me home. The water thing is just something I'm going to have to keep working on. My other big issue was my body did the opposite of that they expected it to do in regards to my blood sugars. AKA, every time they tested, I was in the 200-300 range when they were expecting me to go down post-op. So I came home with rapid-acting insulin on a sliding scale. Hopefully soon we can discontinue that. For those of you asking about recipes, my doctor has me use the Baritastic app for my logging and tracking. It does have recipes on there as well, if you are looking to spice things up in the land of boredom. Now time to catch up on posts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl - Amazing that they had you drink Gatorade 2 hours prior to arriving for surgery. I had to drink mine the night before, and absolutely nothing by mouth after midnight. It's wild to me how different doctors prefer their things to happen. As for taking the shots, I'm sure you are going to rock it. I struggled with the idea of giving myself shots, but over the years it just became another thing for me to put on my calendar to remind me to take. Your question about how long to wait between trying new things, my doctor said I could not try anything new on the same day. So if I tried something and it seemed to work, that would be my thing that day. Then the next day, I would keep that for the first meal, and then as long as it still agreed, I would try something new for the 2nd meal. Maybe that helps you out some? Thank you again for the recipe/website. The site has been bookmarked for me. So the straw thing is for life, it sounds like? At least based on your experience. Chewing your eggs to liquid is still really good. My nutritionist said that every bite I take from now on needs to be the consistency of applesauce before I swallow it. And that chewing even beyond that would be great. But you're rocking it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt - Thank you for the idea of mixing things in. I guess I've been scared to do that because I didn't know if it was allowed or not. How do you like the Orgain powder? I use the Owyn premade shakes and Vega powder. They sent you home same day?!?! Holy crap, and I mean that in the best way possible lol. My doctor and nutritionist vehemently told me no straws. Apparently because you can actually suck up air as well as the liquid if you use a straw. I just don't know if that is forever, or just in the post-op period. But my stomach cramped drinking straight water no matter what temperature. However, I did exceptionally well with ice chips - letting them melt in my mouth and then trickle down with a swallow. That didn't affect me at all, so maybe see if you can get some ice chips from Sonic or something similar to maybe give you an idea of how much a 'sip' is? Another suggestion I got from my nutritionist as well as people who my husband work with that have had the RYGB is to buy shot glasses for your water. It should take you about 10-15 minutes to finish a shot glass of water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @AndreaJD - Thank you for the well wishes! Water was a struggle, but I was up walking on my own the next day. So I feel like I was doing pretty good for myself! I get to start my full liquid stage today now that I'm home. But man, I can't stay awake enough to do much of anything. Hospitals and rest do not go in the same sentence, unless it's discussing negative rest. (My care team was absolutely great though, so I very much appreciate all they were doing for me even if it meant not getting nearly enough sleep.) This will be an experimental phase for me as I have to find dairy free options to make my life easier. But even if I had to literally water down yogurt, that would be better than the chicken broth I had in the hospital. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses - I have a bunch of staples as well, and have never experienced them before. So thank you for that explanation. Hopefully when I get mine out at the 10 day post-op, I'll be able to at least tolerate it now that I've kind of been forewarned. And yay, WrA peeps! Honestly we probably did cross paths, but in the early days of RP for me I was stupidly shy. For your chair question - I noticed sitting in any chair for longer than an hour bothers me currently. Which they didn't like in the hospital, because they wanted me in the chair for two hours at a time. And I just... could not do it. It ached too much. Even being home now, sitting in chairs I've sat in previously, I have about an hour long time span before it starts to ache. I take that as my sign to get up and move around. Dry mouth is a problem in particular for me. I still try to sipsipsip but I hate the feeling of dry mouth. And that's made worse by the fact that I'm a diabetic. And yes, I was thrilled (/s) to find out I was starting my period. Thank God for mesh panties and pads they had on hand. They assured me this happened quite often, but it still annoyed me to no end (especially when I'm on multiple birth controls to prevent having said periods due to endometriosis). As for poor executive function, I have that in spades as well. I had to come off my Adderall a couple of days prior to surgery because you know, they want me to go to sleep during anesthesia and not be on stimulants. And hoooo boy did that make the problem that much worse. If it wasn't for my poor husband, pretty sure I would have lost my head and left it laying somewhere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Onemealplan - Did your doctor allow ice cream for the puree foods? That's kind of awesome. I don't have recommendations for that stage yet as the earliest I will get to it is 8/28 after my post-op appointment. I do remember a recipe back from one of my diet days (Weight Watchers, maybe? I don't remember) that I think might be helpful. You take a helping of ricotta, mix it with Splenda (or whatever sugar alternative you prefer), and some cocoa powder that has no added sugar. Makes it a friendly chocolate treat. I can't give exact measurements on it because I played with it some to get the consistency I liked at the time. I also don't think I could handle the pureed proteins lol. I'll be saving those for when I get to the final stage. I can survive on tuna for a while, especially when I'm having protein shakes alongside it. They gave me a walking goal of 4 laps per 12 hour shift. i was doing those just fine, and when they finally let me walk on my own I extended how long a lap was. But I could not pass gas until they started giving me what is essentially children's Gas-x. And even now, I only pass gass within the 2-3 hours after I've had it. So thankful they sent me home with some. As for in the hospital, the only options i had was water, chicken broth, ice chips, and no sugar added hot chocolate when I specifically asked for it. They brought in 10oz bottles of Dasani water, and it would take me 12 hours to get through one of those due to the cramping. But everything else went down fine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Rob Nissam - Thank you for that explanation. My left shoulder was hurting the most over the last day, and they said it was the gas pain. It was the thing that made sure I did not skip any pain medicine, because I was almost in tears over it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, I think I got through all the posts and everyone. If I missed someone, I am really sorry. For those of you in recover, I pray the pain lessens and the intake gets better daily. For those of you who are still waiting on surgery, YOU GOT THIS! I'll be praying for a safe and healthy surgery for you, and that your recovery process is simply fantastic. ❤️

Just checking in for now. I have a lot of posts to catch up on, but that will be when I'm home. Surgery went great, other than starting my period literally 10 minutes before anesthesia came in. I'm having trouble drinking water, so I will be staying another night in the hospital. Now if I could just get the gas pain to leave...

Well, I got the phone call. I arrive at the hospital at 5:30 tomorrow morning. It feels surreal. My plan for more protein today is going better, but it's still a rough time. But by this time tomorrow, it will have all been worth it. @Onemealplan Owyn protein shakes are actually part of my regimen (not currently because clear liquids). I've been drinking them for a couple of months now. I do like them, just wish there was more variety in flavors. I do wish I could handle the Premier protein as they have a lot of flavors to vary my diet with. ETA: @Pepper_No_Salt I hope you're doing well! Sounds like we are still surgery twins, based on what you said about the pre-op diet. ❤️

Gonna attempt what @Hiddenroses has taught me about tagging and see if I can make it work lol. @AndreaJD Hey, I write the fanfics too when I have time. Mostly Star Wars and LotR fanfic, but I have been thinking about a fanfic involving Bucky and Sam for a while. (Not a ship fic, just a fun writing experience.) People make fanfic out to be a terrible thing, but honestly it's what got most of us started in writing. As for your question about the surgery not working, I can't speak from that experience YET. (soon, so soon) But I think it is health to remember that everyone is different and everyone will have a different experience. @ShoppGirl Thank you for the recipe! I'm going to see what I have available at the grocery store for dairy alternatives. I would prefer not to kill myself immediately after surgery lol! I do agree with AndreaJD that it does sound amazing though, so hopefully I can find something that works for me. I struggled yesterday and did not meet my protein goals on the clear liquid diet. But I survived it and now I'm on to day 2. I have a better plan in mind for meeting my goals today, so hopefully it works out for me. I have to work 2 of my 3 jobs today, and one of them is a grocery store. Pray for me, y'all! lol

Today is day 1 of the clear liquid diet to prep for my surgery on Friday! It's... going lol. Definitely harder than I thought it would be, but I'm making it through. I'm flabbergasted that we are halfway through August, and my surgery is on the 16th and then 10 days later, I return to school to work on my masters degree. Now I'm wondering what I was thinking. LOL

I unfortunately am very limited in protein shake flavors that are available. I'm actually allergic to milk, so all I can have are plant protein shakes. So yay for having to have the more expensive, less available flavors. >_> I did buy a tape measure this morning when I was running errands so that I can take my measurements! My other tape measure, uh.... really put in perspective how big I was because it wouldn't go around me. Depressing but also motivating to know that I am doing the right thing for me. Hopefully, I move to being able to have 'cream of' soups when I get home. Though there are concerns about how much surgery they will actually be doing as I do have endometriosis. So the hope is that it hasn't spread since my last endo surgery 15 years ago, and therefore they don't have to deal with that particular complication. I am nervous about the hernia repair. I know it's common, but it's just one more thing to go through. I've been prepping myself for the bypass, not the hernia repair. LOL

Hi, WoW roleplayer and fellow ND here. You are always welcome to jump in the middle of my conversations. ❤️ In all seriousness, I hope things work out for you to get your surgery as planned.

All of this is super helpful! Thank you so much. I too am a fantasy/supernatural writer, though I haven't taken the time to write in a while. I may try to do NaNoWriMo again this year, we'll see. As for WoW, I keep returning strictly for the RP (though I am hoping the new expansion truly brings some life back to the actual game itself). We will see. I know it releases while I'm post-op, but unless I'm feeling truly up to it, I may wait before jumping into it. My guild knows I'm going on a medical hiatus and will return when I feel like I am ready to return. What server did you play on? I've been on Cho'gall, Arygos, and Wyrmrest Accord. I have toons on other servers, but those were/are the three I've been guilded and active on. And thank you for telling me how to tag people! I just do quotes and respond to posts because I couldn't figure that out (and because my brain needs to focus on one thing at a time lol). But I hope they get you in for testing soon! As someone who was diagnosed as an adult, it was a bit of a mixed blessing for me. I always knew I was "weird" and finally understood why. But then I had to look back and process all the times in my life where things could have been different had we known when I was a child. I hope your post-op appointment goes fantastically!

One of my audiobooks I listened to when prepping for this actually recommended it, even for regular food. Just put the food on a saucer plate and use the mug warmer.

Today begins the clear liquid only diet. I got this! (At least, I'm going to keep telling myself that lol)

Best of wishes to you on your surgery tomorrow! I'll be heading into mine on the 16th.

Does anyone know of any in-person support groups around Lexington, Kentucky that you do not have to have the procedure done at the hospital offering it? My clinic has Facebook groups but nothing in-person that I've seen. I don't really do Facebook, so that option doesn't feel like it's going to work well for me. I am definitely at least going to lurk on the forums here, but I personally feel the commitment of showing up to something in-person is going to help me out a lot (even if my anxiety hates the idea). But all my Google searching has found are support groups that you have to be a patient of THAT hospital to go to.

Core Bariatric by Dr. Maria Iliakova and Tammie Lakose - this one is interesting because it's a bariatric surgeon and her very first bariatric patient. It's a new podcast that started this year, so not a lot to catch up on. No Guts No Glory by Allyson and Cortni - both of these ladies had bariatric surgeries. One had the sleeve and the other had the diversion with duodenal switch. So they share about the upsides, the downsides, and everything else.

I work in healthcare as well, and I know that feeling all too well. Epic is gonna Epic. Worst three years with trying to work the kinks out of this thing. So are you back on for the 16th?

Did you know ahead of time they were taking your gallbladder, or was that something they discovered they had to do while they were in there? I ask because some of the audiobooks I've listened to make it sound like a lot of doctors just decide to go ahead and remove it. My doc hasn't indicated that he would, so I'm wondering just how 'normal' it actually is. And this is good information to have. I also have an adjustable bed (though where my dogs have kicked my remote to remains to be seen). So we are trying to make sure we get everything set up near the bed to make it was easy as possible on me. Would you suggest moving the night stand next to where I would be if I was completely sitting up to help?

Wow, I never thought about that as an option, but it makes total sense. It's definitely not something that was talked about in my nutrition class or the doctor's office. Great job on figuring that one out!

Great information for me to have. I am 3 days away from surgery and am looking for all the tips. As for the period, that is something I am terrified of happening. I don't have consistent periods and it seems like my luck it would start then. I hate that you experienced that, but I'm glad you shared the information. Hopefully they are as accommodating for me if that happens.

I work 3 jobs. Based on the physical needs of one of them and the fact that I don't get regular breaks (it's retail, could you tell?), my doctor is putting me off for 2 months on that one. My other two jobs are both sedentary and both WFH, but he is still insisting I take a full 2 weeks off. I'm trying to work out an arrangement with my boss where I am off for a week and then can flex schedule the next week, clocking out whenever I need time to rest or whathaveyou.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I was starting to wonder if I was crazy with the fact that I have felt hungrier in the last five days than I have in the past four months. At least I know I'm not alone.

I've been teaching myself to draw, but otherwise my hobbies are nerddom: D&D, playing video games like World of Warcraft. I love storytelling, so I'm drawn to anything that allows me to play out a story for my characters. I wish I had more creativity in other aspects of life.

OH NO. I'm so sorry So your surgeon's office didn't cancel it, but the actual surgery center did?

Yay surgery twins! I'm doing the RNYB with hernia repair. Here's to the new us! I have a lot of reading to catch up on and I'm still trying to get everything prepped for my next two days of clear liquids only. I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. (yes, I keep saying that, I know. One of my beautiful autiDHD traits is constantly repeating myself.) I'll post again once I have actually read through everything lol.