Three days post-surgery, the journey so far

[Tufflaw 465]

When you eat the egg salad and such do you eat that alone meaning not with bread or anything...I'm also 6 days post op and so afraid to eat anything...today I branched out and ate cottage cheese and pears all pureed...I know the fruit was probably pure sugar but I ate only 2oz...I'm thinking of making broccoli and cheese but not sure how that will fly once pureed, maybe to gross looking to eat...thanks for your post

The nutritionist told me I couldn't have fruits for a few months, this month is just meat, fish, chicken, cheese. Veggies next month and then I think fruits month three.

I do eat it with nothing else, no bread. The chopped liver tasting chicken salad I made would have been AMAZING on ritz crackers, but it's not meant to be. I just plop out 3 or so ounces on a plate and dig in. I eat very slowly, takes about 20-30 minutes to finish. I wouldn't waste your meals on fruit and veggies just yet, you need to get in your Protein and the meats and such will have the most. But of course I'm not a doctor, if your doctor allows it then have at it and enjoy!

Also, I was reading another thread here and someone recommended looking up The World According to Eggface for recipe ideas and I've been going through her page. Already found a great article she did on pureed foods post-surgery here: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

I'm going to try some of these out tonight or tomorrow. Good luck!!

[Tufflaw 465]

So I was bored of my usual stuff today and decided to try something new. Got a can of corned beef hash at Target, heated up 4 oz, put 1 oz of shredded cheese on top, mixed it up and OH WOW it was so good, easily the most delicious meal I've had since I started my liquid diet.

I didn't blend it first since it was pretty chopped up and I chewed a lot on each bite, basically I pureed it in my mouth. Really good and it did feel a bit heavy in my stomach but otherwise no problems. For dinner I couldn't help myself and had it again, although this time I did 2 oz, with 2 oz of fat-free refried Beans, also with some shredded cheese on top. DELICIOUS. I think I over did it though, felt really stuffed at the end and almost nauseous but not quite. It's settling now and I think I'll try to do 30 minutes walking on the treadmill if I can do it. I'm tired of walking in circles around my living room.

Realized afterwards that I'm not supposed to have potatoes yet, I have my first followup tomorrow with my surgeon so I'll ask if it's OK. I could eat this stuff every day if I'm allowed!

[Tufflaw 465]

Had my first followup today. The doctor wasn't in but the PA checked me out and everything is good. She did put the kibosh on the corned beef hash though No potatoes allowed. Although I did make the Shelly's Ricotta Bake found here: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html and HOLY CRAP it was delicious. I'll attach some pictures of the whole thing and my slice. Really really good, only 200 calories a serving and I think 16 grams of Protein. It was not easy to stretch the meal to 30 minutes. I have to try some more recipes from there.

 

[kmsull617 4]

This was awesome. I'm hoping for a February date so this was great to read. I died laughing out loud when you mentioned the poinsettia and having preferred to keep sleeping. Haha

Updates please!!!

Best wishes

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[Tashagirlxo 41]

Wow thanks for all your details!!! I appreciate all your tips!

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[Tufflaw 465]

Finished the last piece of that Ricotta bake today, going to make more tomorrow, it's my new lunch every day now, holy cow it's so good.

Tried some mahi mahi tonight for the first time ever, also first time I ever cooked fish. Not sure if I did it wrong but it was pretty bland, just bleh. Finished 4 oz. though, lots of Protein and it was something new to try. I have another piece in the freezer, maybe I'll cook it up and then blend it in the food processor and add some mayo, make a little seafood salad.

Everything is going great, although I get little blood spots every day on my shirt from the large incision. The PA at my checkup said not to worry, but at some point it should stop, right? Anyone else noticing this 10 days after surgery?

Also I noticed on my little signature ticker thing that my BMI is below 40, so I guess that's a milestone, woohoo!

Edited January 2, 2017 by Tufflaw

[Tufflaw 465]

Update: Still noticing some bleeding from the large incision, and the other day I thought there was a piece of the scab rubbing on my shirt that was causing it so I pulled it and it was some of my stitches!! This was right before New Years so I had to wait a few days to call the doctor's office. I put some gauze on it and when I took it off the stitches came off with it (just three stitches I think). The PA told me not to worry, that it's normal to get a little bleeding, that it means it's healing. Not to worry about the stitches either, that the doctor leaves a little bit exposed and there's not a problem with it coming out at this point. So I got some large band-aid type Patches that I wear now, they're actually great because now my shirt doesn't rub against the incision. Hopefully will all be better soon.

Looks like I may be hitting the three week stall though. For the first time, I had the same weight two days in a row and then this morning was actually up 4/10 of a pound. Although I still feel great and am already able to wear some suits that didn't fit me a month ago. Looking forward to being able to exercise in a few weeks.

[Tufflaw 465]

Weird dinner night tonight. I wanted to mix it up and I was thinking about SARDINES. I've eaten them a few times in the past, mashed up and on ritz crackers. No crackers for me now, so I figured I'd mash them up and mix with some mayo and just eat it.

Went to Walmart to pick up my new MINI food PROCESSOR which is so cool and it was 9 bucks. I want to be able to blend small meals without having to wash my large blender. Found the canned fish but no sardines. In a similar type of tin I found Kippers, which are smoked herrings. I figured they're similar and so I got them. Mashed them in the food processor, added some mayo, and - not so good. Very fishy, VERY salty, just not really enjoyable. I started getting a headache so stopped after eating only about 2 ounces. I nuked 3 oz of refried Beans and put on some shredded cheese and that was yummy. Live and learn!

[Tufflaw 465]

Things continue to go well, feeling better every day. Hit another milestone this morning, down 40 lbs since day one of my liquid diet (12/7/16) so that's awesome. i think my two incisions that were bleeding have stopped, I'm not wearing the bandages today so we'll see how that goes. Hope everyone is doing well!

[LIA-70 136]

I'll try to be as detailed as I can to help others about to go through this.

My surgery was scheduled for this past Wednesday 12/21, I was told to go to the hospital at 7:30 AM. My wife had to take the kids to school so my mother brought me. No waiting, immediately they took me into the back to start getting ready, and my mom was able to come. They filled out some forms, put the IV in, gave me a shot of Heparin (blood-thinner) in my stomach (didn't hurt) and told me I'd get an additional shot every 8 hours until I got discharged.

They gave me a few pills and some horrifically nasty stuff to drink (everything I had to drink in the hospital was terrible). Some of the nurses came by to introduce themselves, the anesthesiologist came by to chat. I had been concerned because I had been coming down with a cold but all I had left was a slight cough so it was fine. My doctor came by to let me know I would be going in soon. He had a busy day, at least 6 surgeries! I think I was number 3.

So about 9:45 or so they wheeled me in. My mom was given a tracking number, and there was a monitor in the waiting room where you could find a patient's tracking number, and it would light up green when they were in surgery, and blue when they were in recovery. They said they'd call when I was out of surgery (they didn't).

I went into the room and laid down on a very narrow table and got strapped in. My doctor wasn't in there yet, but they needed to prep me anyway. They put a mask on face and told me to breath deeply, and bam I was out. My next recollection was waking up in recovery with an oxygen mask (they give everyone oxygen via mask for two hours post-surgery) feeling very woozy and nauseous . I told them I was feeling sick and they gave me something that helped. Soon after, they brought my mom and wife back to spend some time with me, but I was really in and out.

Shortly after, they had me stand up and walk around a bit, and then they sat me in a lazy-boy type chair for a while, then I walked around a little more. Walking felt OK, felt some tightness in my stomach around the incisions but it wasn't unbearable. Then they put me in a wheelchair and brought me to my room which I was sharing with another guy who got the same surgery from the same doctor that day (he arrived later).

They put me in the bed and asked me a bunch of questions to get me admitted. After that it was mostly just sleeping as much as I could. Every two hours I had to get up and walk for several minutes. They got all the bariatric patients up together so every two hours it was like the world's worst conga line and we shambled down the hospital hallway. I made sure to go to the bathroom after every single walk so I wouldn't have to get up unnecessarily. They let me have ice chips and thank god for that. I didn't have a sore throat from the surgery although I'd heard some do.

It was a long night, people kept coming in to check blood pressure, give me heparin shots, take blood once I think, maybe twice. The next morning some folks from the hospital came in to give me and my roommate a holiday gift of a poinsettia which was nice but I would have rather kept sleeping.

In the morning they brought me down for a GI check. I had to drink some absolutely foul liquid four times while they took x-rays of my stomach (standing) to check for leaks. No leaks! So I was cleared for Breakfast. Breakfast was some Water, some orange Jello, and some Protein things to drink, they tasted completely disgusting and I couldn't finish them. When they saw I tolerated it well, they brought lunch, which was scrambled eggs, Powerade zero, and more horrible Protein drinks including one marked Prostat that I think I was supposed to drink but it was so awful I couldn't take more than a sip.

I had noticed over the night that was having pains in my back and shoulder, I was told it was gas pains and they would go away, I just needed to keep walking. The surgeon stopped in at some point to check in, told me my surgery lasted just 26 minutes, amazing. He said I did a good job with the liver shrinking diet.

About 2:30 or so I was discharged. I was able to dress myself which was nice. I had an appendectomy and umbilical hernia repair last December, and felt much worse after that, and couldn't dress myself when I left the hospital.

The drive home was uneventful, when I got back I took a little nap, but I got up to walk every hour or so. For the first day or two I noticed some ankle and calf pain when I got up but that went away and today it's almost all gone.

For dinner my wife made me some pureed tuna with low-fat mayo. I ate two ounces and could barely finish it. I drank about 2/3 of a bottle of Protein shake (the Premier Protein, same thing I drank on my two week liver shrinking diet), took me a looong time to drink it. Then drank some Water, not that much, I was being very cautious. When I swallowed it felt very weird, like I could feel it settling into my stomach. Didn't hurt, but just weird. I didn't have any real unbearable pain. When I stood up it hurt where my incisions were. If I coughed it hurt a lot but that went away.

Spent that day (thursday) just relaxing and walking and trying to get down some fluids.

Sleeping was uneventful, I took some of the percoset they prescribed and that helped. I slept on my back the entire night which is rare for me. Friday I felt a little better. Ankles still hurt, and my neck was killing me, I assumed it was the gas pain. Breakfast was two scrambled eggs which took over an hour to eat but I finished almost all of them. I finished the Protein Drink and tried some Powerade zero which was delicious. lunch was the rest of the tuna (3.4 oz, ate the whole thing), and dinner was egg salad with low fat mayo, and a little bit or paprika and mustard for taste. I ate 3 oz and it went down pretty quick. At some point during the day I took a shower which was great. No problem at all standing for several minutes.

Sleeping was again uneventful. Today I woke up late, so no breakfast. I had more egg salad for lunch and it went down fairly quickly with no adverse effect. Drank a Protein Shake (11 oz) and 16 oz of powerade zero, no problem at all going down. Before the surgery, the doctor said it should easier and less painful day after day, week after week, and that's been true so far.

I had read about "sleever's remorse" and yes I've felt it too, starting with when I first woke up in the hospital, and it comes back several times a day. I think once I reach the point where there's no pain, and I can eat solid foods again, and get back into my regular routine and see the effects of the surgery it will go away. I know that this was the right thing for me to do, and even though maybe right this second I feel like I wouldn't do it again if given another chance, I'm pretty confident that I'll be happy with my decision in the coming weeks, months, years, etc.

So that's the journey so far. I'l be happy to answer any questions anyone has, and good luck to anyone who is still pending surgery!

Thanks for update. Question? How many heparin shots did u get in hospital stay? How many days until pain in ankle and calfs went away? Im 5 days post op n ankle calf pain started today. I only got 1 heparin shot that i know of while i was awake.. concerned. Pain on my right hip now also. Otherwise all else is starting to move along smoothly.

I was sleeved on the 21st and having a hard time getting in my protein and liquids...it causes a weird feeling when I drink anything...hard to sleep, waking up every 3 hours or so, only hurts when I try to move around in my recliner...I did eat potato Soup 2ounces and some pinto Beans...this is definitely way harder than I expected but what's done is done, I know the days ahead will get easier, just wish it was now....

Well one week ago today I was leaving my office and mentally preparing for surgery the next day. Now I'm 6 days post-surgery and feeling pretty good!

Losing about a pound a day, and it's easier to eat and drink every day. I still get some weird feelings while eating every so often, but nothing too bad, and drinking feels totally normal. Walking and moving around is easy and pain-free. Two days in a row I had some blood spots from the large incision on my shirt but I'm pretty sure that's because my daughter went to hug me too fast and headbutted me right in the abdomen - that sucked.

I've been able to eat the following, all homemade and pureed: Egg salad, tuna salad, turkey salad, chicken salad, yoplait light yogurt (boston cream pie flavor, yum), also scrambled eggs with some ricotta mixed in. I went to my sister's for christmas and brought some turkey salad in a container but she had tuna there so I ate that instead, it wasn't pureed but it was mashed enough and I just chewed a lot, and it was fine. I have about 3 - 3.5 oz per serving.

The chicken salad was a bit of a disappointment. I bought some chicken breasts and put them in a crockpot overnight with some low-sodium chicken broth, mixed in some garlic powder, onion powder, and some barbecue sauce just for taste. Cooked for 8 hours, it smelled delicious! Shredded it, cooked another 30 minutes, then in the blender to puree. Tasted a lot like chopped liver - which I like - but not very good chopped liver. Mixed in some low-fat mayo and it's not terrible, just not as delicious as I was hoping Still better than the liquid diet though, I guess.

Doing OK with liquid intake, that isn't really a problem, and my protein intake has been right on point. Still taking in less than a thousand calories a day but I'm not hungry. That should increase once my portion sizes increase. I'm waiting for the day the MyFitnessPal app doesn't give me a warning at the end of each day that I'm not eating enough!

I'm proud of myself that I haven't cheated ONCE since the whole thing started, going to try to keep that up. My wife made a pumpkin cheesecake for the holidays and it looked unbelievable. Right consistency for me too, but I decided to stick with the post-surgery diet. There will be time for cheesecakes (small portions) in the future when I'm at my goal.

When you eat the egg salad and such do you eat that alone meaning not with bread or anything...I'm also 6 days post op and so afraid to eat anything...today I branched out and ate cottage cheese and pears all pureed...I know the fruit was probably pure sugar but I ate only 2oz...I'm thinking of making broccoli and cheese but not sure how that will fly once pureed, maybe to gross looking to eat...thanks for your post

So I was bored of my usual stuff today and decided to try something new. Got a can of corned beef hash at Target, heated up 4 oz, put 1 oz of shredded cheese on top, mixed it up and OH WOW it was so good, easily the most delicious meal I've had since I started my liquid diet.

I didn't blend it first since it was pretty chopped up and I chewed a lot on each bite, basically I pureed it in my mouth. Really good and it did feel a bit heavy in my stomach but otherwise no problems. For dinner I couldn't help myself and had it again, although this time I did 2 oz, with 2 oz of fat-free refried Beans, also with some shredded cheese on top. DELICIOUS. I think I over did it though, felt really stuffed at the end and almost nauseous but not quite. It's settling now and I think I'll try to do 30 minutes walking on the treadmill if I can do it. I'm tired of walking in circles around my living room.

Realized afterwards that I'm not supposed to have potatoes yet, I have my first followup tomorrow with my surgeon so I'll ask if it's OK. I could eat this stuff every day if I'm allowed!

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[Tufflaw 465]

I got a heparin shot every 8 hours, I think I got either 4 or 5. Pain in ankles went away after a few days, just disappeared one day.

[LIA-70 136]

Ok thanks. Im scared of the possibility of bloodclots. Im almost sure pain in my hip is from that huge strap tie down to table. I was awake for that n it was huge, tight as hell n hurt. Im going to ask my doc if they happen to strap us down by the shins/ankles also. That may explain it. Thanks for ur help.

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[Tufflaw 465]

They told me that they push a board or something up against your feet to keep them from moving and that might be the cause of the pain.

[rumplescat 0]

I'll try to be as detailed as I can to help others about to go through this.

My surgery was scheduled for this past Wednesday 12/21, I was told to go to the hospital at 7:30 AM. My wife had to take the kids to school so my mother brought me. No waiting, immediately they took me into the back to start getting ready, and my mom was able to come. They filled out some forms, put the IV in, gave me a shot of Heparin (blood-thinner) in my stomach (didn't hurt) and told me I'd get an additional shot every 8 hours until I got discharged.

They gave me a few pills and some horrifically nasty stuff to drink (everything I had to drink in the hospital was terrible). Some of the nurses came by to introduce themselves, the anesthesiologist came by to chat. I had been concerned because I had been coming down with a cold but all I had left was a slight cough so it was fine. My doctor came by to let me know I would be going in soon. He had a busy day, at least 6 surgeries! I think I was number 3.

So about 9:45 or so they wheeled me in. My mom was given a tracking number, and there was a monitor in the waiting room where you could find a patient's tracking number, and it would light up green when they were in surgery, and blue when they were in recovery. They said they'd call when I was out of surgery (they didn't).

I went into the room and laid down on a very narrow table and got strapped in. My doctor wasn't in there yet, but they needed to prep me anyway. They put a mask on face and told me to breath deeply, and bam I was out. My next recollection was waking up in recovery with an oxygen mask (they give everyone oxygen via mask for two hours post-surgery) feeling very woozy and nauseous . I told them I was feeling sick and they gave me something that helped. Soon after, they brought my mom and wife back to spend some time with me, but I was really in and out.

Shortly after, they had me stand up and walk around a bit, and then they sat me in a lazy-boy type chair for a while, then I walked around a little more. Walking felt OK, felt some tightness in my stomach around the incisions but it wasn't unbearable. Then they put me in a wheelchair and brought me to my room which I was sharing with another guy who got the same surgery from the same doctor that day (he arrived later).

They put me in the bed and asked me a bunch of questions to get me admitted. After that it was mostly just sleeping as much as I could. Every two hours I had to get up and walk for several minutes. They got all the bariatric patients up together so every two hours it was like the world's worst conga line and we shambled down the hospital hallway. I made sure to go to the bathroom after every single walk so I wouldn't have to get up unnecessarily. They let me have ice chips and thank god for that. I didn't have a sore throat from the surgery although I'd heard some do.

It was a long night, people kept coming in to check blood pressure, give me heparin shots, take blood once I think, maybe twice. The next morning some folks from the hospital came in to give me and my roommate a holiday gift of a poinsettia which was nice but I would have rather kept sleeping.

In the morning they brought me down for a GI check. I had to drink some absolutely foul liquid four times while they took x-rays of my stomach (standing) to check for leaks. No leaks! So I was cleared for breakfast. Breakfast was some Water, some orange Jello, and some Protein things to drink, they tasted completely disgusting and I couldn't finish them. When they saw I tolerated it well, they brought lunch, which was scrambled eggs, Powerade zero, and more horrible Protein drinks including one marked Prostat that I think I was supposed to drink but it was so awful I couldn't take more than a sip.

I had noticed over the night that was having pains in my back and shoulder, I was told it was gas pains and they would go away, I just needed to keep walking. The surgeon stopped in at some point to check in, told me my surgery lasted just 26 minutes, amazing. He said I did a good job with the liver shrinking diet.

About 2:30 or so I was discharged. I was able to dress myself which was nice. I had an appendectomy and umbilical hernia repair last December, and felt much worse after that, and couldn't dress myself when I left the hospital.

The drive home was uneventful, when I got back I took a little nap, but I got up to walk every hour or so. For the first day or two I noticed some ankle and calf pain when I got up but that went away and today it's almost all gone.

For dinner my wife made me some pureed tuna with low-fat mayo. I ate two ounces and could barely finish it. I drank about 2/3 of a bottle of protein shake (the Premier Protein, same thing I drank on my two week liver shrinking diet), took me a looong time to drink it. Then drank some Water, not that much, I was being very cautious. When I swallowed it felt very weird, like I could feel it settling into my stomach. Didn't hurt, but just weird. I didn't have any real unbearable pain. When I stood up it hurt where my incisions were. If I coughed it hurt a lot but that went away.

Spent that day (thursday) just relaxing and walking and trying to get down some fluids.

Sleeping was uneventful, I took some of the percoset they prescribed and that helped. I slept on my back the entire night which is rare for me. Friday I felt a little better. Ankles still hurt, and my neck was killing me, I assumed it was the gas pain. Breakfast was two scrambled eggs which took over an hour to eat but I finished almost all of them. I finished the Protein Drink and tried some Powerade zero which was delicious. lunch was the rest of the tuna (3.4 oz, ate the whole thing), and dinner was egg salad with low fat mayo, and a little bit or paprika and mustard for taste. I ate 3 oz and it went down pretty quick. At some point during the day I took a shower which was great. No problem at all standing for several minutes.

Sleeping was again uneventful. Today I woke up late, so no breakfast. I had more egg salad for lunch and it went down fairly quickly with no adverse effect. Drank a Protein Shake (11 oz) and 16 oz of powerade zero, no problem at all going down. Before the surgery, the doctor said it should easier and less painful day after day, week after week, and that's been true so far.

I had read about "sleever's remorse" and yes I've felt it too, starting with when I first woke up in the hospital, and it comes back several times a day. I think once I reach the point where there's no pain, and I can eat solid foods again, and get back into my regular routine and see the effects of the surgery it will go away. I know that this was the right thing for me to do, and even though maybe right this second I feel like I wouldn't do it again if given another chance, I'm pretty confident that I'll be happy with my decision in the coming weeks, months, years, etc.

So that's the journey so far. I'l be happy to answer any questions anyone has, and good luck to anyone who is still pending surgery!

I'm happy to hear you could tolerate scrambled eggs, I'm in need of something more then liquid. I'm at day 10 and I'm over the liquids

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[Tufflaw 465]

It's so strange how all the different doctors have different rules. I did a 2 week liquid diet pre-op, but I've heard of others who only had to 3 days. Or 2 weeks but could have a small "real" dinner. And apparently my doctor is a rarity in allowing soft foods starting the day after surgery.

Now I have two scrambled eggs with cheese every morning, totally fills me up.

i keep trying to think of new things to keep from getting bored. Yesterday my whole family was eating turkey meatballs for dinner and I wanted to join in, so I microwaved three of them (3 oz), ground them up in the food processor, heated up 1.5 oz of meat sauce, mixed it all together .5 oz of shredded cheese, heated it up a little more in the microwave, and it was DELICIOUS!