I'm in a spot of bother here...

[Fanny Adams 7]

I'm 8 months out from surgery and so far have had a dream run, until my latest fill. All of my earlier fills went well, I stayed on liquids for a day or two afterwards and quickly returned to solid foods, albeit in much smaller portions after each fill. First was at 1 month, 2nd at 2 months, 3rd at 3 months, 4th at 5 months. That last one had lasted me up until the last couple of weeks, when my portions started getting larger and I was fighting the urge to snack a lot more. I was eating good solid healthy food at about 1 - 1.5 cups per meal - time for another fill, right? So I organised the visit for last Wed for fill #5.

The doctor only put in a small amount and warned me as usual to be careful and stay on liquids for a few days, gradually moving off. I thought I would be fine - hey, I've done this successfully several times now! Except from the first attempt to eat after the fill, it seemed SO much tighter than ever before. I had all my Soups ready to do the liquid thing, but the first Soup (one I've had many times before) was creamed chicken and corn and from the first bite it made me gurgle and burp and gurgle some more. I only managed a few bites before it all came up.

No worries, I thought, I'll leave it few hours (the first attempt was lunch) and tried again at dinner time - same thing, only this time it upset my stomach so much I ended up heaving for hours before I finally remembered the anti-nausea medicine I got when I left hospital and had never used. The next day I went out and bought clear consommes instead of cream soups and managed to get some of that down. Day 3, Friday (when previously I was just about back to full food), I managed cream of mushroom soup but another try at the creamed chicken and corn left me gurgling, burping, sliming and PB'ing all afternoon. Gradually over the weekend, I managed to progress to soups and mushies again but never full food.

On Monday night, I had to fly back to my work (at a remote mine site) and on the plane, I ate some of the Lamb Rogan Josh (a soft casserole) without too much trouble. The next morning I thought I was fine again and tried a poached egg for Breakfast (several hours after getting up). Big mistake! I was right back to Day 1 again! I didn't think there was much to that idea of flying making you tight (cos I fly once a week), but now I do! By Tuesday afternoon, I was so sick of PB'ing constantly and my stomach was swelling that I went home from work. Wednesday, I stuck to coffees and Water. Thursday, I went back to soup. Today (Friday), I tried thinned out oatmeal for breakfast - PB'd all day, skipped lunch. Couldn't get soup in the mess tonight so tried the baked fish in mornay sauce (really soft) and some really soft mashed sweet potato - PBing that up as I type!

I don't fly home for another 4 days, I can't get soups at every meal (usually only dinner and not always then). What am I going to do? About the only thing I can tolerate well is coffee and water - I can't live on that for the next 4 days. I'm going to get some of this taken out as soon as I get home but what do I eat in the meantime? Any suggestions?

Edited August 15, 2008 by Fanny Adams

[Sades 4]

Sounds awful for you. What about Protein Shakes?

[Fanny Adams 7]

I would, except I haven't brought any with me - haven't used them since the first month after the op. I'm going to try the yogurt for brekkie tomorrow and see if I can tolerate that, but it's pretty limiting eating out of the mess. Maybe I should just try drinking milk? I don't normally drink a lot of milk because of the calories/fat, but if I'm having nothing else, it shouldn't be bad, eh? I can get 1% milk here and I don't mind that.

[Lisa65 3]

My guess is that all the PBing has made you swollen even more. I would try very hard to stick to liquids only for a few days - maybe even Clear Liquids - to allow that swelling to minimize before you try anything solid (or even mushy) again. Many times the swelling from the PBs make a bad situation much worse. If you could stick to the milk (if that is your only liquid option), I really think it would be best. I know that is extremely hard to do, but you don't want to risk damaging something with all the PBing that's going on.

I wish you the best - please keep us informed of how you are doing, okay?

Lisa

[HeatherO 7]

Sorry it has been so rough for you. It does sound like you will need a couple of days of liquids until you can get back and ease the pressure a little.

My last fill was exactly the same and I was going to get an unfill. I went on liquids for a couple of days and was really careful. I found the fill was tolerable after the initial swelling went down. However, I know that sometimes if a fill is too much, it may not become comfortable again.

If I were in your shoes, I would drink the 1% and occasional juice as well if you can find it. This has always worked for me in a jam when nothing else was passable.

I read a lot about the flying thing and they say it really affects you when you are at restriction. You may just be tight enough now to really feel the effects.

By the way, I have seen your pictures recently in the albums and you look wonderful. :0)

[Fanny Adams 7]

Thanks for the advice folks. I think I'll hold off on trying the yoghurt for a couple of days and will stick to milk and juice for today and tomorrow, until all this swelling goes down. I know that once I start PB'ing in the day, the rest of the day is shot and I really really need to give my stomach a rest. This morning I'm having trouble sipping Water, but it's still very early (4:45am), so I'm hoping it will get better when I get to work and have a coffee.

I think it has been a combination of being really tight, flying and my ToM started yesterday. Maybe it will all sort itself out in a few more days. If not, I'm going in for the unfill, coz this sucks!

PS: And thank you, Heather!

Edited August 15, 2008 by Fanny Adams

[aubrie 6]

the acid in the coffee may exacerbate the problem a bit, and upset your tummy. I agree you need something warm to soothe the belly. Some broth and herb tea with honey may be good. Do they have that in the mess? I just had gallbladder surgery last week after 8 1/2 months out. I was on Clear Liquids for 6 days, and they only thing that really made me feel better was the broth. If I ate the Jello, I had to let it sit in my mouth until it completely melted. That might be an option as well. A good stong vegetable broth would at least give you some nutrients. Good luck sweetie. It's so hard to be sick when you're away from home, and espeicially in a remote area. I feel for you!!! Please notify the mess of your dilemma. I'm sure they would oblige you the broth.

[Jachut 487]

Ugh, no. I had to have an unfill a month ago after I flew whilst I had my period. I've never had any effect from flying before.

You really ARE in a spot of bother, about all you can do is stick with liquids, and any calorie filled liquid you can find - milk, orange juice, anything like that. Yogurt might be OK, I actually block up really easily on yogurt for some strange reason.

You wont starve to death in four days even if you only get down coffee and Water, but that isnt going to be pleasant. I hope you're not actually phyiscally hungry at the same time!

Hang in there!

[Fanny Adams 7]

Well it's now 7:30am and it doesn't look like it's getting much better. I'm starting to think I should arrange to fly home early, except that the first flight out is not until mid Monday morning (I'm due to go home late Tuesday night). So far, I've had a few sips of Water and half a cup of coffee and it's taken me a couple of hours to drink that. It's causing gurgling, sliming and burping but I haven't actually PB'd yet. I'm not sure how long that will last though, as I can feel my pouch filling up with slime :thumbup: ewww... I'm going to have to lay off the coffee I think and maybe just drink hot Water until later on tonight, when hopefully things have loosened up a little. Right now, I don't even want to risk milk, as that tends to make me phlegmy and I don't think that will help.

I'm really not looking forward to the flight home either, as it might make the whole problem even worse. Ack! I'm just gonna have to tough it out till Monday at least, as there are no flights on the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks!

[Fanny Adams 7]

Whoohooo! I found a huge hunk of fresh ginger in the fridge and I snapped a little piece off of it. I hope the owner doesn't mind - I feel bad but it was only a little bit and I really need it. I've scraped a few bits off that and added some honey and hot Water, to make honey ginger tea. Not exactly the most elegant tea I've had, but it smells wonderful and I know the packet ginger teas helped me in my first few post-op days, so maybe this will do me some good. I'm going to sip on that for the day and see how I go.

[juliegeraci 7]

Wonder how much of a fill your doctor gave you? It is .2 or .3 even .5 you should be okay. I bet he gave you 1 or more.

[Fanny Adams 7]

Wonder how much of a fill your doctor gave you? It is .2 or .3 even .5 you should be okay. I bet he gave you 1 or more.

Well the one before was only 0.5 and he specifically said "I'm only doing a small one this time because we need to be careful", so I doubt if he put in a whole 1.

Good news - I spent the morning sipping the ginger tea and didn't have any problems with that. I was hungry by mid afternoon, so had the Soup I had brought and, although it caused a bit of gurgling, I wasn't throwing up from it. dinner only offered Tomato Soup and I really hate that so I tried some actual food (because the Soup had gone so well). I put the lamb & mushroom casserole on my plate, ate the gravy and mushrooms but not the meat - I could tell by the little pieces in the gravy that anything more wouldn't go down well. Only managed a few bites but I felt so much better. Even managed some jelly and mousse later on for dessert!

I think I might have this thing licked if I just stay careful for the next few days.

[Nanook 2]

Glad to hear you're feeling better Fanny, keep us posted. Nancy:smile:

[Sades 4]

Sounds like the swelling has gone down Fanny. You probably still need to get a little taken out though.

[Fanny Adams 7]

Feeling MUCH better today. Still staying on mushies for today, just to be safe, but hopefully will move back to full food very soon. I don't like living on mushies - goes against the whole point of the band, IMHO.