August Surgery buddies

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

2 hours ago, draikaina8503 said:

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...

Oops I missed this one somehow. So glad to hear that you are awake and doing well other than the fluids. That takes a little while longer for some. Ooh the gas pain. Ugh. My dr refused to give me like gas ex. He kept saying to walk but I WAS walking SO much that the nurses all knew me but I was there for 5 days. The morning of day 4 I finally did pass gas and it was the greatest. Even the first one brought some relief but within the hour I had done like 7 big ones and I felt SOOOOOO much better. They were able to cut my pain meds by like 75% after that and I went home the next day. Anyways, just keep on walking and relief will come soon. Hopefully even sooner for you.

[Rob Nissam 15]

4 hours ago, ShoppGirl said:

Ooh the gas pain. Ugh. My dr refused to give me like gas ex. He kept saying to walk but I WAS walking SO much that the nurses all knew me but I was there for 5 days.

Just talking about gas,Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common gas used in laparoscopic surgery to inflate the patient's abdomen, or create pneumoperitoneum,in the case that you feel pain at any label in your left shoulder,specifically the rotator cuff,is a consequence of CO2;in that case you can contact an Sports Medicine Specialist Doctor and explain the situation or,don't waste time and resources and check in YouTube for excellent videos of simple excercises to resolve it.You are doing excellent,I wish you good luck again!

[Rob Nissam 15]

4 hours ago, Rob Nissam said:

in your left shoulder,specifically the rotator cuff,

Not the left,the right shoulder.

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

Bariatric fusion.com has quite a few recipes that look like they may actually be good when we get back to normal foods. And lots of Protein Shake and purée recipes too. Just FYI

[AndreaJD 64]

After an unfortunate experience with banana yogurt (I put some skim milk in it and put it in the bullet blender), I have had some nice successes with my full liquid stage, which lasts 2 weeks. The berry Oikos Pro yogurt thinned with skim milk is great, Jello pudding is really good, Progresso Tomato Soups are amazing, and Progresso chicken noodle Soup blended smooth is probably the best thing I've had since surgery. I put Protein Powder in everything - still working to get the amount of Protein powder right.

Took a Tylenol, and that's the only pain med today. My guts feel kind of "loose", if you know what I mean - like they're jostling around in there, but it's not bad.

Those who have yet to have your surgery, hope it goes as well for you, too!

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

Well scrambled eggs seem to be going down okay.not sure it’s a true test because I am chewing them to liquid because I’m scared but so far so good. Really wishing I had that mug warmer right now. Cold eggs are better than liquids but I’m sure I could be enjoying them more than this if they were warm. Thankfully it will be here today.

How is everyone else doing??

Edited August 18 by ShoppGirl

[Hiddenroses 85]

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday! I'm feeling quite a bit better now that my body finally evacuated what was bothering it. I'd kind of forgotten about the Milk of Magnesia I'd purchased, and yesterday it came to my rescue. Those Protein Shakes (30g) are no joke, especially if you're taking any medication that slows your digestion further. Yesterday afternoon, even after getting past the Constipation, my body just wasn't feeling like much intake, either liquids or 'food'. I found myself getting full after only an ounce of the chicken noodle Soup broth and a few teaspoons of yogurt. I struggled for the first time getting my fluids in; I think I had gotten lax about the sip-sip-sip method and maybe was trying to drink too much at once when I drank. It's definitely hard to resist the urge to go back to gulping, especially when the beverage it cold and satisfying, and I feel dry mouth creeping in.

Tomorrow is technically my puree day but I skipped ahead just slightly to try to move away from those heavy Protein shakes. I realized I'm very sensitive to the texture of my scrambled egg and had to recook it, pre-mixed with about a half tablespoon of skim milk, and instead of the butter he'd initially tried I just used a very light splash of olive oil. That gave me the light, moist scrambled egg I was looking for. I reread my book and while it suggested you might want to start with just egg whites I just couldn't make myself hold to that. I am trying to get better about spacing out the 'not drinking 30 mins before/after' now that I'm beginning to eat some actual food. That's a very hard thing to do, honestly, because I'm noticing that no matter how much I chew without a drink the food just feels kind of stuck in my throat for a bit. I can see now why my friend said she found drinking a broth type soup in the morning 'primed' her stomach for the day.

@draikaina8503 & @Pepper_No_Salt - How are you two feeling? I hope that your surgeries went smoothly. @Pepper_No_Salt I'm glad you can mix in some variety with additives to your plant based shakes - I was close enough to losing my mind during the pre-op diet so I think that being limited further would have driven me over the edge! I'm going to look up that PB2 you mentioned because I'm curious about it!

(Back to you, @draikaina8503 , just saw your post-op post!) Oh my gosh I hate that your body did that to you RIGHT before your surgery. Mine at least gave me two days I'm very glad they kept you at least another night! I hope they are helping you keep your pain managed. Yeah; it will definitely take some walking to get that gas pain to leave but in the mean time don't be shy in asking for those ice packs and your pain medication! Sometimes managing the pain, then walking with the ice pack is the only way to work it out - at least that was my experience, and I've heard the same from a few others. Thinking back, one thing I wish I'd done while in the hospital was be a BIT more squeaky - I remember now that when my Mom was in the hospital I had to shove a bunch of pillows behind her back when I put the hospital bed up at an incline so she could get a good enough angle in bed to safely sip liquids. I think that would have helped me tremendously, because I relegated myself to using their recliner a lot just so I could be upright, and it didn't work very well AT ALL. Hope you're starting to feel better!

(Coming back to you @Pepper_No_Salt since I now see your post-op post!) : Oh my gosh I feel you on the cold drink thing! I was a bit grumpy when I asked the nurse at my 10 day post-op and she casually said, "Oh, room temperature is mainly just the first few days because foods of extreme temperatures CAN cause uncomfortable cramping'. My fella covered his mouth to hide his snort of understanding at the look I gave him, having had to hear me whine off and on for ten days about how I'd give anything for a COLD drink of something. Figuring out the sips is tricky. They gave me little medicine cups that hold about an ounce and for me, sipping one of those 2-3 times felt about right at first. I'm sure this is another one of those things that depends on the person. I also alternated one ounce of gatorade/proper (they had brought me a kiwi watermelon that elicited heartburn, the berry was ok if I went slow - Also weirdly orange gatorade zero goes down better than watermelon, guess its all based on the acid and flavoring?

@draikaina8503 - I read where you discussed being pretty limited on the shakes due to dietary restrictions. That's rough It's very cool that you write the same genres as me - I, too, have given Nanowrimo a try but never seem to stick with it to the finish line. Maybe I'll try it again this year! I'm glad you mentioned it. Yes - I meant to follow up all week long on making sure I was on the waiting list, and lo and behold... it's Sunday, and I never did. I'm bad on a good day at executive function, so during stressful times like this recovery - whew. I need to add it as a task to my Finch app so my mind stops blanking on it. I hope they were able to do your full surgery with no complications.

@Singingbarista - I hope your recovery is going well! I didn't feel too terribly at first but I am suspecting more and more based off of people's feedback that I almost certainly had a nerve block that took a good 4-5 days to completely wear off. The achiness has built over time, and I hope that is different for you!

@AndreaJD - Yay! Another writer & Nanowrimo participant! I guess it isn't too surprising that several of us writing folks would find one another on a forum, but I still think it's really cool. Superhero fan fiction sounds fun; I'd say that some of the powers my characters have are very overlapping, like magic use. It would be awesome if you could get some productive writing done during recovery but I also wanted to encourage you not to be too hard on yourself if you can't. My mind feels muddy and I feel drowsy far more often than I would like. I know I'll probably feel SO much better in about a week, but it's sure hard not to be impatient. I also wanted to mention that I didn't have much trouble at all getting my fluids down at first, either, and that's definitely not a bad thing.

My nurse told me there will be good days and harder days, and yesterday I definitely experienced that. It was the first day I didn't make my Fluid goal, like I wrote above - and I tried to push it in the evening but that was a bad idea. The Berry Propel I drank a bit too quickly before laying down (should have waited longer, d'oh!) ended up giving me heartburn that woke me up around 3am. It's all trial and error, I guess. Dang - wish I'd thought of having Tomato Soup pre-op! No idea why I didn't - now it'll probably be a while before I dare due to potential acid reflux. Ahh well! I'm going to try some of that blended Progresso Chicken Noodle in my puree stage I think if it passes the 'book check' - it sounds amazing.

@Averdra & @caseyash30 - Are you two still surgery twins on the 21st? I'm trying to backtrack and I know that you said there were possible concerns do to a potential Covid case, @Averdra. I hope that's smoothed out for you! I realized while I was doing my recap that I never mentioned - traveling to Lithuania sounds so exotic to me, as a resident of the Midwestern U!. The furthest I've ever been is Alberta, Canada! Not that you would get to go sightseeing or anything; I get it. I know a lot of folks from the US travel to Mexico for their surgeries. Very cool that you were another WoW OG! The game sure has changed a lot, hasn't it? @caseyash30 - How goes the pre-op diet? Are you getting nervous or eager as the date approaches? For me it all just felt really surreal.

@Onemealplan & @Greekmom4 - Tomorrow is my 14 day post op! I was paying close attention to your discussions about puree - because to be honest, I'm kind of stumped on this particular stage. I just managed about half a scrambled egg and a couple of teaspoons of my sugar free Chobani and I just feel so full. The whole time I was eyeballing my sugar free gatorade, thinking how ready I was to just be through with food so I could set a timer to be able to start hydrating. As it is, I have hiccups from the two tiny sips of Gatorade I allowed myself just to make the egg not feel stuck in my throat.

I know everyone's experiences are going to vary significantly; the friend I have who had surgery previously said she had a lot of luck sipping the French onion soup mixed, especially in the mornings. She's two years post op and doesn't seem to have trouble eating small servings of most anything she wants now, minus much fried foods or rich Desserts. She had a full gastric bypass, for reference. She told me that ricotta was a big win for her because it could be blended and made either savory or sweet, depending on if you chose vegetables or fruit, and also said she really enjoyed refried Beans through the puree with mild seasoning to make it more like a taco. I have a gastric sleeve cookbook that offers a lot of different smoothie varieties. Other than that - I'm just not sure what sounds appealing as a puree, despite the nurse saying 'you can puree almost anything but stringy / dense meat!' I can see how the chicken or tuna salad would work - tuna just scares me for some reason. I wonder if I'd be able to do a salmon salad instead of tuna salad.

Also - @Onemealplan - Yeah, I tried having my fella puree me some canned kidney beans on Friday, just to test the waters, and they didn't settle well for me. I can't say they are what caused me to have trouble passing gas and extra trouble with my constipation - it seems unlikely since I skimmed away the 'shell' and only ate probably a teaspoon and a half worth, but I just don't know. It tasted great to me, but just made me nervous. This is probably in part because I've dealt with IBS and beans of that sort along with ground beef or Tomato sauce with too much basil were trigger type foods for me. I concur on the puree'd meats sound distinctly unappetizing. I'm hoping I can get away with mashing cooked salmon or something like that.

Wooo! I did it! I hope I didn't miss anyone - I feel caught up finally! Now, to go rest with my ice pack.

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

Okay so maybe it was because I got to see it as diced eggs in the food processor before I puréed it but the purée egg salad isn’t bad. I cut the fat by using half low fat mayo, half Greek yogurt like the recipe suggested and then cut it even further by using three eggs instead of two but cut out two of the egg yolks. This made around 1/2 cup. I didn’t put any onion in because I’m a little afraid this early out if missing a chunk but I used onion powder and it’s not bad at all.

[Hiddenroses 85]

27 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Okay so maybe it was because I got to see it as diced eggs in the food processor before I puréed it but the purée egg salad isn’t bad. I cut the fat by using half low fat mayo, half Greek yogurt like the recipe suggested and then cut it even further by using three eggs instead of two but cut out two of the egg yolks. This made around 1/2 cup. I didn’t put any onion in because I’m a little afraid this early out if missing a chunk but I used onion powder and it’s not bad at all.

That sounds way better than the scrambled eggs I tried to eat this morning! I can't *believe* I forgot to tag you in my earlier post 🤦🏻How are you doing over there? Oh I remember now! I was going to ask about the B12 injections you mentioned - that's the first I've heard of that being needed for we SADI patients. I will look it up, but curious if it was painful and location for the shots? Is it like insulin/hormone shots in the belly? I know they gave me some kind of injections in the stomach while I was in the hospital - I can't remember what they said they were for but I don't think they were B12.

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

8 minutes ago, Hiddenroses said:

That sounds way better than the scrambled eggs I tried to eat this morning! I can't *believe* I forgot to tag you in my earlier post 🤦🏻How are you doing over there? Oh I remember now! I was going to ask about the B12 injections you mentioned - that's the first I've heard of that being needed for we SADI patients. I will look it up, but curious if it was painful and location for the shots? Is it like insulin/hormone shots in the belly? I know they gave me some kind of injections in the stomach while I was in the hospital - I can't remember what they said they were for but I don't think they were B12.

I bet what you get in the hospital was same as I got which was heparin for blood clots. The two day nurses I had both said they were supposed to do them in the belly but didn’t want to torture me with my already sore belly so they did them in the thigh.i still baxe bruises so I can only imagine they were painful in the belly. At the time I was in pain so that sounded good. In retrospect I should’ve said I will deal if that’s where they are supposed to be I’m guessing it’s for a reason. Fortunately it worked out okay.

The NP at the surgeon who ordered the B-12 just said it’s not uncommon to need it post SADI but because if the gall bladder removal it would be way more likely. (I actually know a couple of people Who had bypass who are in if so it didn’t shock me). She wants me to do them in the thigh. She said it’s a little short needle but I was taking it with me to my family NP tomorrow morning to let her help me the first time. They gave me an instructions sheet for the injection but I have no clue how to use that sharps container anyways to get the needle off. The surgeon said to schedule a follow up with them and I may as well actually do something while I’m there. I am not on any meds that she can decrease which is why I assume they tel everyone to schedule it between a week and two weeks out. I will let you know how it goes.

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

On 8/17/2024 at 8:56 AM, Onemealplan said:

I am so excited for you!! Mine sounds similar scrambled eggs they asked I start with egg white only and they told me to wait 72 hours before introducing something totally new. However I can’t have the refried Beans because they said it has lard and fat so they want me to stay away from that but I can make a chili from pinto beans, red kidney beans, which I plan on doing and then mashing it really good. 😊 I also have cheese and I am in love with feta so I can’t wait till I start cooking this morning. So excited, we finally at this phase!!

I’m curious. What did you make this morning. I have had had scrambled eggs and puréed egg salad so far. Well a few bites at least. I’m kinda scared to push it. I tried making real mashed potatoes in the food processor but that didn’t work out. They came out real thick and sticky. I added milk but it was still a fail. I’m thinking I will stick with instant for this couple of weeks just to be sure they are the right consistency. Tonight I’m thinking refried beans. I forgot to get salsa but I have fat free cheddar so that should be pretty good. I got my mug warmer today so at least it should be warm 🎉

[draikaina8503 68]

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.

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@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!

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@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.

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@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

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@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.

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@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.

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@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.

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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. ❤️

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

@draikaina8503 wow, sounds like you are doing really well. Make sure that you give info that fatigue and get your rest though, you recover best while your resting.

Yes, The no straw thing is for life with my team. There are a very small few it seems that make this only for like 6 months or a year but MOST seem to have that rule due life.

Thanks for the direction of eating new foods. I already had a few today but thankfully so far I’m still good. I think I will do it your way from now on though. It will work out well because of course I have lots of leftovers from all I made today.

I totally forgot about the recipes on Baritastic. I have the app too to track food and stuff. I just checked the soft foods and that cauliflower purée sounds good. Not sure about the heavy cream though. I think that may be bad witb the no gallbladder thing. I think that has a lot of fat. I will have to ask. Or maybe just try it with like 1/2 cream and half 1%! Is that like making whole milk. 😆

Anyways, for anyone who is looking for a way to track progress I second that app. It tracks measurement and weight as well as exercise and Water too. And it’s nice that it lets you scan food and create meals to add things easier once you have used it for a while. And it’s free so worth a try.

Edited August 19 by ShoppGirl

[Hiddenroses 85]

Hello again! Yes, @ShoppGirl - that's exactly what it was, now that you mention it that rings a bell! It was Heparin to help prevent blood clots. Maybe I won't need to B12 since I do still have my gallbladder - time will tell! I, too, had forgotten about the recipes on Baritastic until earlier today when I went to add the recipe I ended up using for the chicken salad I had for dinner. I need to get some fat free mayo; today I cheated and just used two teaspoons of regular mayo because that's what I had; and also sweet relish as opposed to dill relish. Are you taking an ADEK supplement? My nurse was insistent on my having to take them as a SADI patient post-op, so I ordered some from BariMelts that have thankfully not tasted terrible and dissolve quickly.

It's a GREAT reminder about the recipes in Baritastic - thank you, @draikaina8503 for the reminder as well! When you get your staples out I'd suggest asking them to be liberal in their application of steri-strips, especially for ones that are on the sides or at an angle. Having that extra support against the pulling really did make a big difference. Weirdly, so has using antibiotic/pain relief ointment?! I'd never really experienced 'pain relief' from that ointment (generic over the counter) but I was shocked to find that after I applied it my pain did actually lesson! Who'd have thought??

Also, I totally kept the two reusable ice bags from the hospital and have been using them this whole time because they were softer than the ice packs I had and the ice being able to move around a bit as it melted was just more comfortable. I'm glad you'll be able to get back on your Adderall and normal medications now! I will say that nice warm showers also feel really nice overall during recovery, especially if you have an alternate shower pressure setting that can go easy on the surgical site and maybe more pulsing/massaging on the back. Just my own personal experience.

I came across an inspiration idea for the puree phase today when looking around on Amazon! A friend of mine had given me about 2/3 of a container of the 30g powder Protein in vanilla and I realized that oatmeal is a great thing to add it to! I feel like if I cook the oatmeal and let it get soft and fluffy, then add in the Protein Powder with it to the food processor that I bet it will be perfect AND help me get my protein goal! Plus since oatmeal is high in Fiber it should help with regular bowel movements. I even thought I might add some of my zero sugar caramel macchiato Creamer to it in order to give it more flavor without adding an artificial sweetener. I do have some xantham gum though should I need it.

I'm planning on exploring what types of purees I can make with my greek zero sugar vanilla yogurt, various fruits, and that protein powder. I'm not sure why but something just CLICKED earlier when I was in my kitchen and I realized that between the ricotta, strawberries, blueberries, low fat cottage cheese, and protein powder that I actually have a lot more options than I'd previously considered! You can also mix Protein Shakes with sugar free pudding instead of milk - but word to the wise, learn from my mistake and don't make up too much at once because at about day 3-4 it starts to separate and get runny. Before that it's quite tasty and filling, though!

My chair isn't bothering me quite as much today after I laid a thick folded blanket down on the seat for cushioning; and I think part of my discomfort may have also just simply been from Constipation and gas that needed to be passed. I'm proceeding with caution on starting new foods that I haven't already tried, but I will say the chicken salad sat really well on my stomach. I even 'cheated' and crumbled up two Ritz crackers on top for some texture variant - it was the first 'meal' I've eaten really other than my half a scrambled egg this morning that I found to be satisfying. I'm using the timer in Baritastic to make sure I go 30 mins before and after eating without a drink - that's still been rough but as long as I distract myself the time goes by pretty quickly.

Oh - @draikaina8503 - I'm not sure if it is allowed for you per your doctor, but I've dealt with the dry mouth using sugar free jolly ranchers sparingly. I'm so sorry you're struggling with getting Water down, but glad you're getting some relief with ice chips! Sonic definitely has better ice chips; as do a few gas stations here any there. Ice chips are SUCH a nice thing to have available. I'm cursing the fact that I don't have an ice dispenser in my fridge - sadly it isn't that fancy - but it sure would make it easier to fill these ice packs than having to fight to crack an ice tray and refill lol

@Onemealplan - Yeah, what's with the ice cream? That sounds delightful lol - I mean, obviously one ounce wouldn't be bad - It just wasn't something I thought of myself as being allowed to have! Now you've got me thinking of all the sugar free varieties I saw available at Braum's in their store section! I guess I can also finally have my sugar free popsicles - Woohoo!

Also thank you to @Rob Nissam for your insight about the gas and general knowledge sharing! I hope you are doing well on your path and in recovery!

@AndreaJD - Thanks for the suggestions about what purrees are working for you! I'm all ears when it comes to tips to carry me through these next two weeks. I was thinking about my cream of Soups earlier and how I can now have them warm. I know I need to buy some unflavored protein powder --

Does anyone have a suggestion for an unflavored protein powder they've found works well and mixes well? Just curious what's working and what if anything isn't!

Wishing all of you the best in preparing, having surgeries, and recovering from them in the coming days! This forum has been invaluable to me and I'm grateful to all of you for sharing your tips and experiences so far!

[ShoppGirl 4,328]

@Hiddenroses i am taking the chewable Calcium from barimellts for now but will be switching back to my Bariatric Advantage chews because they taste like candy and I’m addicted. , I am doing the bariatric advantage chewable multi with ADEK and low Iron for now and I have the SADI specific all in one Vitamin from Pro Care health for later which has the ADEK, a higher iron content, and some other things that we need but I need to be able to consume a little more first.

I used to take their regular multi post sleeve with 45mg of iron after a full Protein Shake but this one has 60mg iron, plus when i’m sipping slowly as I’m supposed to to let my intestines heal it takes almost an hour to get the whole shake down which I feel like at that point half of it is out of my stomach and I don’t want to vomit. (The iron is what makes you vomit without food). At my one month appt I will ask to see if it’s safe for me to drink A little quicker. I Know after my sleeve as my stomach healed I naturally started drinking a little faster by then so I’m guessing I can.

i love that you’re creating new recipes and figuring out what works. Just FYI, I was told no strawberries Yet. I guess the seeds can get stuck in the incisions. Actually I was told nothing with skins or seeds. Although it sounds delicious and could be a go to if you don’t feel like cooking or are in a hurry later down the road.

Oh yea everyone, for future reference this has some pretty good ideas for adding into cottage cheese.

https://www.popsugar.com/food/cottage-cheese-stir-ins-27035442

You know I actually have never even tried cottage cheese which is why I was searching for ideas. I am picking some up tomorrow after my dr appt but I need to come up with ideas that I can add during purée to mix in with it if anyone has any ideas.