Any April 2021 surgeries?!

Blueslily · April 21, 2021

16 minutes ago, Newlyfe2021 said:

Sorry about the throat pain. Have you looked into the patch Vitamins? I haven’t started anything besides B12 right now but I’ve heard good things about Patches. Great job with the walking. You’re killing it!

Thanks! Yes, I've seen several people on YouTube talk about Patches. My surgeon does not recommend them because he said they don't offer enough of what I need, but he told me to chat with the dietitian to discuss in more depth.

LizzieRN911 · April 21, 2021

On 3/22/2021 at 5:15 AM, donnast said:

What is everyone’s favorite clear Protein Drink?

Have you tried the new Gatorade zero with Protein? They are delicious! I usually don’t like Gatorade that much but these are good and available on Amazon! (Much better flavor than protein 2 Oh

Blueslily · April 24, 2021

On 4/20/2021 at 7:49 PM, Newlyfe2021 said:

Sorry about the throat pain. Have you looked into the patch Vitamins? I haven’t started anything besides B12 right now but I’ve heard good things about Patches. Great job with the walking. You’re killing it!

Thanks! Yes, I've seen several people on YouTube talk about Patches. My surgeon does not recommend them because he said they don't offer enough of what I need, but he told me to chat with the dietitian to discuss in more depth.

Blueslily · April 24, 2021

Hi April Sleevers,

How's everyone doing? I'm feeling better. Looking forward to starting purree stage which is Stage 3 for me next week. I'm curious about how my body will respond. I picked up some broths of Thai Soups today for the weekend to give me a little variety this weekend for the last few days of my Full liquids phase. Did not walk the past two days and it will rain all day tomorrow so I'm feeling a bit bummed about lack of walking. Hoping for at least a small break in the rain tomorrow so I can get outside and do some walking in the park. If not, Sunday seems to have better weather forecasted.

Attempting to work a few half days next week to see how my energy level holds up. Starting Tuesday and only committed to a three day, half day trial next week.

I can see in my face that I've lost some weight. Interesting. Will take first after- surgery pics at One Month. Only weighing once a week at this point. I don't want to create stress or anxiety by checking daily. There are a lot of posts on this site about the negative impact of scale watching. I got this surgery for health reasons, not numbers on a scale. So, I'm not fixated on numbers on a scale. Scale watching can easily become a transfer addiction so I hope that everyone is being careful with that and not putting unrealistic pressure on yourself to lose weight super fast. Let's do this healthy!

Throat pain situation seems to be about wisdom tooth extraction one week before surgery and the impact of surgery on that process.

Still no BM without assistance. So, will probably use assistance every other day until I start solids which should help.

Vitamins make my tummy feel a bit unpleasant or unhappy. So, combined with the nasty taste, I think I will need to switch. Talking with dietitian next week about the situation. I really want to use Patches, but my surgeon isn't a fan of that.

I have to stay on myself to get in all my Water and Protein each day on the full liquids stage. If I get distracted by doing a task at home or have a doctors appointment, I get off track and it's hard to catch up since we shouldn't guzzle anymore. I can get liquids down pretty quick. But, really trying to be kind to my tummy and not drink too fast.

I watched a couple good videos on YouTube last night by Dr. V. The most helpful one was about the texture scale he created and deciding what to eat based on the texture and dryness, mainly after our initial stages.

Hope everyone is resting and adhering to stages suggested by our WLS programs so that you are protecting your new tummy. Let's be kind to our bodies. 🙂👍 Protect your healing. Make healthy choices! (I only share this because I've read some interesting stories on this site about food off plan that folks ate early on and the negative impact or sometimes no impact which gave false impression that it was ok to do that to their recovering bodies when its definitely not.) No judgement. Just hoping we will all be safe during healing.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Blueslily

Blueslily · April 24, 2021

For people in the soft foods/purree stage, any tips or suggestions? I want to get some veggies in since it's been a while but will focus on Protein of course. I want to try a soft fish instead of tuna. Any fish recommendations? Something soft so it will slide down easier.

Struggling a bit · April 24, 2021

I’m an April surgery 👍 I had my bypass last Thursday 4/15. The pain has gotten a ton better each day. I’m struggling w getting the fluids in. I was supposed to start shakes 3 days ago and had some trouble with my acid reflux so didn’t have room for them and try to get at least 1 bottle of Water a day. I hate water and I’m sick of crystal light. chicken broth about gags me now. I cant lay down because I feel like someone is sitting on me so my backside is quite sore. I’m exhausted and have a horrible taste in my mouth. I finally just sipped on Pickle Juice and swished it around for flavor because I am dying waiting for my appt on 4/27 so I can eat anything/taste anything different. Mentally I have been ok until today but also am having diarrhea cramping and the whole day has kinda sucked. Just wondering if anyone else has found a way to deal with this. I realize I should have probably posted this somewhere else now but can’t copy/paste for some reason w my phone lately. But thinking maybe someone else that’s had recent surgery will have some ideas! ❤️

Blueslily · April 24, 2021

19 minutes ago, Struggling a bit said:

I’m an April surgery 👍 I had my bypass last Thursday 4/15. The pain has gotten a ton better each day. I’m struggling w getting the fluids in. I was supposed to start shakes 3 days ago and had some trouble with my acid reflux so didn’t have room for them and try to get at least 1 bottle of Water a day. I hate Water and I’m sick of crystal light. chicken broth about gags me now. I cant lay down because I feel like someone is sitting on me so my backside is quite sore. I’m exhausted and have a horrible taste in my mouth. I finally just sipped on Pickle Juice and swished it around for flavor because I am dying waiting for my appt on 4/27 so I can eat anything/taste anything different. Mentally I have been ok until today but also am having diarrhea cramping and the whole day has kinda sucked. Just wondering if anyone else has found a way to deal with this. I realize I should have probably posted this somewhere else now but can’t copy/paste for some reason w my phone lately. But thinking maybe someone else that’s had recent surgery will have some ideas! ❤️

Oh, so sorry to hear that you're having such a hard time. Did your program give you a prescription for something for the acid reflux? I was sent home with a prescription..well, I picked up a med the week before surgery.

Does walking help anyone? Heating pad? Standing in warm shower with your back to the water to at least help you relax some. I love the feeling of warm water running on me. Helps me relax and feel rejuvenated.

I dont use broth straight from the cartons in the store. I like the broth from Campbell's Chunky chicken Noodle Soup. Not the regular chicken noodle that seems to have a thicker, oily broth. I add a little Protein Powder to that broth. I just pour all the broth out the can of soup and put the noodle part in a bowl for whatever will be done with it, lol.

I ate sugar free kello for flavor in my mouth the first few days at home. Helped me.

I really like the two broths that I picked up from the Thai restaurant today. Strictly broth for their chicken and rice soup and their tum yum soup without any spice added and no Tomato. A lot of thai restaurants make tum yum with tomatoes, but I sought out one that does not use tomatoes due to trying to stay away from acid right now.

Some people say they add water to the Protein Shakes to thin them out some. Maybe that will help.

Hope you feel better soon. First week can be a challenge for sure. I had my share of unpleasant moments the first week also. I'm just one week ahead of you.

Cherylanne22 · April 24, 2021

I had surgery same day as you on 4/15, one week yesterday. My Gerd has been so bad it scares me to drink to much of anything, been also having hard time getting all my fluids in daily , sucking on rolaids does help my acid and like the previous most said I strain lite Soups and use as broths. Popsicles have been good also, Are you still on pain meds?

Struggling a bit · April 24, 2021

Hopefully I’m replying in the right place. I still have some pain meds but I don’t really need them. the pain in my butt and back goes away as long as I’m not sitting although I think the one on my tailbone is trying to turn into a bed sore type thing. I can’t stand yet for long periods of time like it takes all my energy. So I take a shower in late afternoon and it usually puts me down for a little while. I drank a little Pickle Juice because I am craving salt because I do bottled Water so there’s very little of anything good in it. I will have to do some Soups broths tomorrow. Sending my bf to the store for me for something like that should be interesting lol. Ugh i know I’ll get through this but not being able to lay down to sleep is one of the most frustrating things right now. I don’t own or have room for a recliner. I pulled out my zero gravity chair but even with a pillow behind me it still had the arch of my back hurting. Thanks so much for the advice. I know I’m not in it alone but it sure feels like it.

Struggling a bit · April 24, 2021

And yes I have been on acid reflux meds for years so my dr told me to continue that as well but it’s not working well. I will have to get some Rolaids or SF Tums. I wasn’t sure if we could take that or not. But I’ll try anything

Cherylanne22 · April 24, 2021

I have been on the acid reflux meds for years too, but when it got tough my go to was always Rolaids. I just suck on them until I can chew in fine pieces, honestly my doctor never told me to do this but I did and it helped with no problems, thank goodness I guess. Can I ask if you are BM regular, because I get the tailbone pain when I know I have to go and I can't! Believe me we are going through this together as is everyone else on here. Hang in there.

Struggling a bit · April 24, 2021

3 minutes ago, Cherylanne22 said:

I have been on the acid reflux meds for years too, but when it got tough my go to was always Rolaids. I just suck on them until I can chew in fine pieces, honestly my doctor never told me to do this but I did and it helped with no problems, thank goodness I guess. Can I ask if you are BM regular, because I get the tailbone pain when I know I have to go and I can't! Believe me we are going through this together as is everyone else on here. Hang in there.

I go Tuesday for my two week so I will ask but that would be helpful in the mean time for my gerd. I do not have regular bm’s in fact I went for the first time today since surgery and have been dealing with a lot of cramping from diarrhea today. I’m not sure what that’s all about. The tailbone is def from sitting so much. I’m on it 23 hrs a day give or take. I can’t lay to sleep yet so that is very bothersome and I can’t sit too much on one side or the other.

On 3/21/2021 at 6:49 PM, ShoppGirl said:

After surgery I found that the Protein Shakes were too sweet. I have been drinking the clear Protein Drinks (premier protein) and am slowly going back to one shake a day since they are more nutritious. broth that you mix yourself is good so you can adjust it to your tastes which will change and for full liquid stage the cream of Soups were my go to (I mixed them with milk to make them a little creamier and I was able to add spices as tolorated so that helped). But definitely recommend having some clear Protein in case the shakes won’t go down as easy as expected.

Catmom30 · April 24, 2021

8 hours ago, Struggling a bit said:

I’m an April surgery 👍 I had my bypass last Thursday 4/15. The pain has gotten a ton better each day. I’m struggling w getting the fluids in. I was supposed to start shakes 3 days ago and had some trouble with my acid reflux so didn’t have room for them and try to get at least 1 bottle of Water a day. I hate Water and I’m sick of crystal light. chicken broth about gags me now. I cant lay down because I feel like someone is sitting on me so my backside is quite sore. I’m exhausted and have a horrible taste in my mouth. I finally just sipped on Pickle Juice and swished it around for flavor because I am dying waiting for my appt on 4/27 so I can eat anything/taste anything different. Mentally I have been ok until today but also am having diarrhea cramping and the whole day has kinda sucked. Just wondering if anyone else has found a way to deal with this. I realize I should have probably posted this somewhere else now but can’t copy/paste for some reason w my phone lately. But thinking maybe someone else that’s had recent surgery will have some ideas! ❤️

I have been doing sugar free popsicles to help get water in take as it hurts me to drink sometimes. As for the acid reflux, my doctor had me continue my medication I was previously on. Some tricks I have used in the passed are to sit up as much as possible. Even in bed I sleep with my head raised or I wake up with issues. Try adding some extra pillows at night, if you can.

Bree68 · April 24, 2021

The fist week is tough I spent about three night in a recliner. Every day gets better I had diherrea for two weeks I’m still working on that I think it gets better when you start regular food

Struggling a bit · April 24, 2021

5 hours ago, Catmom30 said:

I have been doing sugar free popsicles to help get Water in take as it hurts me to drink sometimes. As for the acid reflux, my doctor had me continue my medication I was previously on. Some tricks I have used in the passed are to sit up as much as possible. Even in bed I sleep with my head raised or I wake up with issues. Try adding some extra pillows at night, if you can.

I have to sleep sitting up. I’m not able to lay down for some reason yet. It’s very uncomfortable and I feel like I can’t breathe. The acid is in my stomach and not my throat. I haven’t had issues with it in my throat in a long time but it fills my stomach and makes it so I can’t eat or drink. Even before surgery it would be so bad that I could take 3 bites of something and feel like I just ate at a buffet. It’s awful.