WTH? All these different post op diets after sleeve! Ughhh

[Soapandcandlequeen 124]

My insurance required me to go to a surgeon who was considered a center of excellence. These doctors and facilities have to prove they know what they are doing, have low complication rates etc. My surgeon is the chief of bariatric surgery at UCD medical center. The entire team is a well liked machine. I had every test known to man before being approved. His plan was very clear. I actually have a little book that outlines everything. I say this because before I found out I needed to go to a center of excellence I was already in process with another doctor office. They were not nearly as thorough and I would have been rushed into surgery far sooner. Many of the health issues I had would have been missed. I think people need to be more careful selecting their surgery teams. My post op has been much easier because this surgeon has done thousands of surgeries and knows what works. Some people were on full food at 4 weeks whilevi was still on puree. I am on regular food at 8 weeks. My surgeon also recommended at least 4 to 6 weeks off work. They actually prefer 8. I am so glad they said that because I could not have imagined going back sooner. My surgeon said most of the issues with dehydration is when people go back to work too soon and then end up in the hospital. Anyway, this is just my experience but I Am so glad I have such an experienced team who are more cautious.

[Michelle920 66]

Great post!! I actually stepped away from here for a few weeks because of the wildly differing phases and allowable foods. That and the fact that I didn't lose 30 pounds in two weeks like everyone else (it took me 5.) But I came back this morning to get some recipes, and am sort of reconnecting. Although I'm not going to make myself crazy with the comparisons. That's what got me in all kinds of trouble in the past. Thinking I'm not as thin, pretty or successful as everyone else sent me right to the refrigerator!

That being said, I decided to just follow my own bariatric team's recommendations. I follow their Facebook page, and use the nutrition booklet I got from my NUT. But even my team don't always agree, and then I have to do what works or makes sense to me. Like my surgeon says Protein Shakes can count as a liquid but my NUT says no. I agree with her so I only count waters. It's empowering to think for myself sometimes!! But being bombarded with SO much conflicting information can make you crazy!!

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

There's an assumption often made that IMHO is not supportable: That every bariatric surgeon operates the same way using identical techniques of cutting, staple placement, sewing, over-sewing, etc.

Also, everyone doesn't have the same size / shaped original stomachs to start with. Just as with other body parts, our stomachs aren't all the same length and shape to start with. Nor are our other body parts the same size that are involved, e.g., hiatal valves, duodenal valves, esophagus lengths, liver sizes and health variances, etc.

So given the variances in patients' bodies and surgeons' operating techniques, we don't all necessarily get exactly the same results. Therefore, there's the possibility that not all of us are going to get (or need) the same post-op eating guidelines.

This is why I think everyone should just do what their surgeons tell them to do during the first few weeks after surgery. After all, a few weeks is a relatively short time to be extra-compliant.

P.S. I've definitely seen Surgeon X order different pre-op diets and diet lengths for different patients, depending on their starting weights and liver sizes.