RVUSA John's surgery

[2goofycampers]

I have been instructed not to whine, so won't tell ya all the bad stuff.

The person who imposed the no whining doesn't read The Dis. We can take it, go ahead whine away.

 

[auntie]

May I offer you some cheese to go with your whine..errr..wine.
Ooops, never mind, you probably can't eat that right now anyway....


Seriously, John, I don't mind. WINE..or WHINE away,.....we're here for ya!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

John - do you have a nutritionist? And I don't mean that to be insulting. Not all practices give you menus or nutritionists to help out.

Okay, and I've really tried to keep my opinions to myself but I like you too much and have personal experience from this surgery. So I'm going to share it. This is not meant to insult you or anyone else. I really like you and want you to succeed so here is my 2 cents from when I had surgery:

Protein shakes - one for each meal at this stage - buy yourself Unjury or something similar, available on line - make with 8 ounces of skim milk. - drink as much as you can but don't overstuff. Also look up something called Liquafiber. I put a tablespoon of this into my shakes. Shake it up really well and you won't taste it. This will keep things moving because as you will see - there isn't any fiber in your diet!! Ouch.

refried beans are good right now. Get the taco bell fat free stuff from the grocery store, mix with MILD salsa, you can even put some of that mexi cheese shred on it.

low fat ricotta with Victoria's sauce (very low in sugar). (I'm Italian so this was an easy one for me.)

And believe it or not - Wendy's chili - get yourself a small and make it into 2 meals. They cook that stuff for like 4 hours so it's not bad for the pouch at all.

Drink as much water as possible. Never be without a water bottle. Sip constantly throughout the entire day. You want to work yourself up to 64 ounces.
Stay away from all carbs at this point. You can have Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt - vanilla.
Keep any food you eat to a minimum of 6 grams of Sugar at this point.
Unless you have room stay away from veggies too. Stay away from the fiberous ones such as brocolli regardless. They are tough on the pouch right now.
Keep taking your vitamins.

And for heavens sake stay away from any sort of pasta, bread or fried food. Grease will make your system cramp. Sugar will give you ummmm....explosive diarehha.

If you start to hiccup, your nose starts to run or you feel as if an elephant is sitting on your chest - YOU'VE EATEN TOO MUCH! All the nerve ending in your pouch have been severed and need to heal. You cannot feel if you are full until the pouch is over filled. And trust me, throwing up can be your friend when you get to that stage.
And for those that haven't had the surgery, there are no gastric juices in your pouch so everything tastes the same in both directions.

Okay, I've said my peace. I really meant this with love. I'm 2.5 years out and have been successful but the beginning part is very hard. I'm here if you want to PM me. I'll give you my cell if you want to chat.

 

[liv luvs disney]

Hi all, still alive and kicking! Just tired still, and no appetite. LOL but guess that is what this was supposed to do.

I have been instructed not to whine, so won't tell ya all the bad stuff.

Glad to hear you're alive and kicking! Take it easy and do what you're supposed to do.

You've been around long enough to know you can whine away.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

The person who imposed the no whining doesn't read The Dis. We can take it, go ahead whine away.

Thats right, go ahead and whine,,,we just wont listen to you anymore.

Gonna havta side with Erica on this one John. She's absolutely right I didnt wanna say anything,,but so long as the door is open,,,
I love you man, but I gotta say, the next time I see you I want to be able to party WITH you,,and NOT because your wearing a new suit. Sorry to be so rough dude, but yer sweetie is right It's not magic,, it's surgery,, and something you havta work hard at,,ya GOTTA do what the Doc tells you young man !! Do you hear the words that are coming outta my mouth ?




you do know that if we didnt care, we wouldn't bother b*tch'n you out.

 

[RvUsa]

Allison, thank you so much, and feel free to give me words of wisdom, yell at me or kick me in the butt as needed... LOL I have a Nut, but my docs office SUCKS!!! Their after care is terrible, but I knew that going in, but they were the ONLY one my crappy insurance would pay for. The appt with the nut beforehand lasted about 10 mins and consisted of what I would amount to an infomercial on the products that they sell. LOL

Erica is a nurse, she is keeping me in line LOL and she saw our PCP yesterday at the hospital, and they talked and, he said he knew that my WLS docs post op care sucked, and would be happy to work with me.

I have to say my biggest problem is that before the surgery, I was by far the pickiest eater you have ever met, and now, I am having problems with most of what I used to eat as well!!! LOL (Frank and Denise can testify to this fact if needed )

Today has been a pretty good day, I did eat some lean ground beef with some low fat cheese melted on it last night and wow what a difference, I actually feel kinda human today. Right now, I am just happy if ANYTHING goes in without pain, stays in without pain, and sticks around for more than 20 mins LOL I have to have something right now, I will work on the healthier part once I get past the not passing out in front of my kid part LOL

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to tell me what I need to hear!!! I am online all the time, and I swear everyone has a different opinion, and every doc has a different regimen for patients to follow.

I know carbs are bad, but one thing that I have eaten and worked well was some ground up kraft mac and cheese... LOL

Frank, yes sir, I will sir, whatever you say sir!!! LOL My goal right now is to be stong enough to take Matt and the scouts to the Pa free fishing days in about 4 weeks, we had so much fun doing it last year. And Erica and Matt are already bugging me to get the camper ready!!! ITS TIME TO CAMP DANGIT!!!!

Thanks everyone, I need the support and good wishes right now, and you guys are so awesome!

 

[liv luvs disney]

John, with all your LOLs, you are obviously feeling a bit better.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

John,
A couple of more thoughts?
1) Does your dr. have you on a prescription to help with ulcers? I didn't have an ulcer but the dr put me on something for about 6 months to ensure that the pouch didn't ulcer. I can't remember the name of it. I want to say it began with a P. It was preventative and helped with any sort of reflux or any pain.

2) You do know not to drink anything for 30 minutes after you eat, right? The liquid will overfill the pouch and start forcing the food through. It will lead to great discomfort. Even 2.5 years out I can still get discomfort if I drink too soon after eating.

3) Protein shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes. You need to be getting your protein in right now and the only way to get in enough is to drink it. Seriously, look up Unjury.com. BTW, only go with the chocolate. The others are yucky!!! I think I used an overflowing scoop of powder with my milk. And shake the crap out of it to mix it. You can try other shakes from GNC or the Vitamin Shoppe just watch the sugar content.

4) Are you taking your vitamins? Make sure you use the chewables or sublinguals. I found a great B12 from Wal-Mart that tastes like cherry and it dissolves right under my tongue. You should be taking at least 1000 mg (I think that's it) of B12 a day. I also use Centrum Chewables, D3 dots, and chewable Calcium Citrate. Make sure it citrate because your body can't absorb the other types of calcium right now.

5) Did your dr. do a vitamin panel? If not, get to your PCP and have him do one. Get a baseline and then have one done at 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. As you are malabsorbing you need to ensure you get your vitamins or it will play havoc with your body! Take your vitamins!!!

6) Breakfast food - You can eat Cream of Wheat at this stage (blech) and scrambled eggs. No fried eggs yet. Can't remember at what point you can handle oatmeal but it should be soon. They want your pouch healed.

And whatever you do, measure your food. You should probably only be getting in 1 to 2 ounces at any meal right now. Get yourself a digital scale from Wal-Mart and use it!! Do not overeat. This will give you the chest pain as your pouch is overfilled. Eat what you can in a 15 - 20 minute window and throw out whatever you don't eat. And eat slowly!!!

Oh yeah and stay away from citrus fruit at this early stage. You may be able to handle to smooshed up banana or no sugar added applesauce but I would stick with protein first.
And good job with the ground beef with cheese.