AbacoRaveness

I had my surgery on 1/31 (a Tuesday). I went back to work exactly 15 days later (a Wednesday). That Wednesday-Friday I worked from about 9:30am-4pm, so kinda part-time. But, honestly I felt great. My work does not involve alot of physical activity. I sit at a desk and I do alot of hallway walking, but I've not felt at all tired at work.

When they came in pre-surgery to talk to me, they said: "It really NEVER happens, but you need to know there is always a chance that we could chip or crack a tooth." I said, "It will happen to me... the freak things always happen to me." Sometimes I think if it weren't for bad luck I'd have none at all... so unless you're the fall guy like me you're teeth will probably be fine. I've never heard of anyone else having this problem!

We are all different, but I had very little pain after my surgery. About three hours after I got to my room I woke up in pain... it was an overall ache type pain. My nurse said it was probably from the gas, so I got up and as soon as the gas shifted a bit I felt much better. The day after surgery I walked a mile so it couldn't have been that bad. By about day 7 I really felt some pain in my left side from the liver retraction, but it was more annoying than anything because it was the only thing still bothering. THEN, disaster struck, apparently when they intubated me, anesthesia cracked one of teeth. It got infected and festered for a week before hitting the nerve in my jaw. THAT pain was horrible! It was WAY worse than the surgery and I really broke into those pain meds! I waited four days for a root canal and they were the worst four days of my life.... luckily I was stoned out of my mind on percoset and don't really remember them Now I'm 17 days out and I still have some pain in my left side when I do silly things like bend over repeatedly to throw a ball for my dog, but now the worst part is the scabs from my incisions getting caught on my clothing (sorry if thats TMI), but those little suckers hurt when they get caught. But, seriously, if thats my biggest complaint... I'll take it!

So, I was told before I left the hospital that the second week would be the worst. I have no idea if that was the case or not. I was completely stoned out of my mind the entire second week because anesthesia cracked one of my teeth and I ended up with a dental abscess and had to wait four days for a root canal. The pain was so horrible (WAY worse than the actual surgery) that I was drinking percoset every four hours. I literally don't remember that week AT ALL. Initially I was pissed! But, now after reading all of this I think I'm probably glad I missed out on all of that! I'm sorry to everyone who is having a hard time! I hope it gets better! I am 17 days out now and I'm loving life! Honestly, I don't want to be "normal" again like I was before. I'm done with that life and I'm so looking forward to my new one!

My surgeon told me before I left the hospital that I would be unbelievably tired in the second week. So that indicates that its totally normal. Fortunately for me, I completely missed the second week because I was taking percoset every four hours for a dental abscess. I was so stoned I don't know if I was tired or not!

Are you doing it from your smart phone or from the actual website? On the website, when I enter a food I have it set up to show me calories, protein, fat, carbs, and sodium. On my smart phone when Ienter a food I have to go back to the home page then click on "daily" and it will show me a full report. I haven't ever seen a ratio function on the site.

You're right Cheri! I definitely have had a dream recovery from this surgery (other than a cracked tooth, dental abscess, and root canal courtesy of anesthesia, but that's another story). I had a little trouble with my fluids at first, but once I got past that everything that I've put in my mouth has gone down and stayed there. So, I'm very lucky! Great advice on trying just a small bit until you see how well it's gonna go down! Wow! Thanks for the recipe... I've always wondered if, given my very limited cooking talent, I could make gnocchi at home. You think there is any chance of making it work with a ricotta/cottage cheese mix?

You're welcome... BTW: my username is the same on MFP, "AbacoRaveness" you can add me as a friend there if you want :-)

Under the "MY HOME" tab there is a sub-tab for settings. You can go there to change which nutrients (carbs, protein, etc.) that you track and how often you eat. Then, again under "MY HOME", there is a sub-tab for goals. If you go there and choose "custom", you can change pretty much everything from calories to sodium. For carbs I think, and don't quote me on this, it should be less than 40g per day. But probably want to check with your NUT on that.

Congratulations!!! Hope your recovery continues to go well!

Wow! I have had this same issue with some doctors. I remember once I went in because one of the horses at the barn that I was at (not my own horse) had kicked me in the knee. I waited for the swelling and bruising to go down and probably two weeks later my knee is still really bothering me. So, I go in to see a PCP and all I manage to get out is, "So, my knee hurts...." Before I can even get to the part about the horse this doc starts going on about how fat I am and how I'm always going to have knee trouble as long as I'm fat and when I lose about 100lbs it will all go away and I'll be healed! I just sat there looking at her. Finally after she shut up because I had been staring at her for so long. I managed to say, "Actually, I got kicked by a horse AND I'm pretty sure no matter how much I weigh that was always gonna hurt." Then I got up and walked out. I don't know if I made my point, but it made me feel better.

OMG! I USED to love chips, but when I read this all I could think of was that commercial where the guy hires the popular teenage girls to follow him around and everytime he eats something "unhealthy" there is a chorus of "Ew!, Seriously! That's so gross!" In fact, if you play that off youtube over your computer speakers everytime you hear the bag rattle, that might solve your problem!

So... I've ALWAYS been a super slow eater. My husband makes fun of how long it takes me to eat a slider! But I had to teach myself that behavior since anyone who's ever been to my mother's house knows we eat like we're in prison before she takes your plate away! My advice on how to eat more slowly, for what its worth.... (1) Take small bites... seriously. Cut your food up like you would for a child. (2) If you're one of those (us) who likes to watch TV while you eat, only eat during the commercials. (3) Putting the fork down between bites really does help. (4) Chew your food to within an inch of it's life. If it doesn't taste good enough to do that, you probably don't need to be eating it anyway. (5) If it feels stuck, get up and walk around until you don't feel the discomfort anymore, then try again... small, slow bites! Hope this helps!

Congratulations on your boots! That's got to be a great feeling to wear some "skinny" clothes again! Today was my first day back to work (yesterday was exactly 14days post-op), and when I got dressed I couldn't believe how loose everything felt... including my calf-high boots! AND... I got to hear the first few people exclaim with surprise, "You've lost weight! You look great!" Whoo Hoo! (Sorry to hijack, but wanted to share my boot story with you!).

It's hard to say whether you should be eating more or not. If you're losing consistently, then I would say to stay where you're at until you stall completely. The fact that you're losing at all means that your body is in a good place and willing to let go of excess. I guess it couldn't hurt to experiment with bumping up your intake a little. But be prepared that you may not lose any faster or even at all that week. Everyone's body is a little different and what works for one (me) may not neccessarily work for all (you). I guess my advice at this point is to do what "feels" right.

I was supposed to be in for only one night... but I was also supposed to be the first surgery of the day and ended up getting bumped so instead of a 7am surgery I didn't hit the OR until 1pm. I didn't get to my hospital room until like 5pm. So I stayed two nights and I WISH I had stayed the third. But, my surgeon made a deal with me. I could either stay one more night with the JP drain in place, or I could take the drain out and go home. I chose to take the drain out. That thing was majorly annoying!

I was around 600cal per day the first week. I noticed that I was kinda stalling a little the second week, so I bumped up to 700cal per day and my losing kicked back in. I figure I'll stay around 700 until I hit another stall then bump up to 800. I've heard on these forums before, though my center never mentioned it, that you should be somewhere between 600 and 800cal/day in the mushie phase.

Pretty much everyone has low Vitamin D. Doctors are on this kick that Vitamin D deficiency causes everything from diabetes to cancer...I think they're quacks. Seriously, we don't even get Vitamin D from food anyway, we get it from going outside... in the sunlight... what a novel idea! Anyway... rant over. As far as the iron, you can get liquid supplements which tend to be easier on the digestive tract and more effective anyway.

Wow! Your riding vacation looks AWESOME! You'll have to let me know all about it when you get back. You're absolutely right, dressage definitely improves your seat and refines your riding to make it look more effortless (even though its really not) and it improves the responsiveness of your horse. I was initially trying to learn dressage on my VERY GREEN QH/Arab. So, for about a year we were stagnant because I didn't know how to ask and she didn't know what to do. I finally decided, screw that, now I'm taking lessons on a been there-done that warmblood. I was so messed up, my first four lessons I couldn't even get the jug-head to trot! Now we are doing lovely collected canter circles, so we've made alot of improvement in six months. My trainer and I thought when I came back from surgery we would start on lateral movements since those are initially taught at the walk. We'll see how that goes. My horse is kinda "retired" from dressage. She's SO stubborn, she can have a beautiful headset and trot but she HATES being in the arena. She's a trail horse and I've never found her bottom. At my heaviest I was 256lbs and I've had that horse lay down in the creek and turn and look up at me like, "Oh! I forgot you were back there!" Then get back up with me still in the saddle and carry on up the other bank like nothing happened. I'm sure she will be happy with the weight loss, but she never hinted that it was a problem! She's brave and eager and I think she will excell at endurance. We've done a couple of ten milers with no issues and so I think it's time to move up to 25 miles and see how it goes.

Well, any aspiring equestrians on the west side of Atlanta, GA just get in touch with me and I can arrange it for you!

Hi! Any fellow horseback riders out there? How long after surgery did you wait to start riding again? I asked my surgeon the day I was discharged when I could get back in the saddle. He got this really horrified look on his face (doctors always get this look when you mention riding horses) and said that we could "discuss it" at my 4-week post-op followup. I guess I can wait that long, but I'm really starting to hit withdrawal! BTW: When I say riding, I don't mean "just sitting there", I mean getting back to work with my trainer schooling dressage and jumping. Also, is it realisitic to expect to do my first 25mile limited distance endurance race later this summer (surgery date 1/31/2012)??

OK, so my center recommends NO rice, bread, or Pasta until at least 45 days out. I don't really miss many of these things, but I was trying to think creatively about foods that I could eat in the mushie phase and I thought about meatballs. Where better to get a good meatball than at an Italian place? But, what a bummer that I could only have a meatball and no pasta. So thats when I thought about gnocchi! It's like pasta, but its potato based. So, if I can have mased potatoes, then why not gnocchi? My husband and I went to FIGO in Atlanta for lunch today. I had gnocchi with funghi sauce (mushrooms) and a meatball. I ate about 1/4 of the meatball and maybe four or five pieces of gnocchi... the poor server looked so disappointed that I hadn't liked my food! :wink1: It was SOOOO good... and I have enough in the to-go container to last several days! So, I said all that to say, if you're really missing pasta in the early stages, try gnocchi!

My center recommended clear liquids through day 3, then full liquids through day 7, purees through day 10, then slow cautious forays into mushies. I'm 12 days post-op and I've had a dream recovery (other than a cracked tooth, dental abscess, and root canal... but that's another story). I've never felt nauseas and I've kept down everything I've tried to eat. So, my favorite purees were: Corned beef hash and scrambled eggs Chicken salad: canned chicken, greek yogurt, sweet midget pickles, and curry powder. I ate about 1/4 cup of those at a time. Usually corned beef and egg for breakfast and chicken as a late lunch/early dinner. My first non-puree was mashed potatoes. Since that I've been branching out... my first "real" food was grilled salmon.... yum! Went down easy too. Last night I had this genius idea that I would blend my protein powder with a little milk and some sugar free fat free ice cream. It was delicious! But I didn't want it to melt so I ate it too fast... ugh! No more ice cream for me!

My center recommended clear liquids through day 3, then full liquids through day 7, purees through day 10, then slow cautious forays into mushies. I'm 12 days post-op and I've had a dream recovery (other than a cracked tooth, dental abscess, and root canal... but that's another story). I've never felt nauseas and I've kept down everything I've tried to eat. So, my favorite purees were: Corned beef hash and scrambled eggs Chicken salad: canned chicken, greek yogurt, sweet midget pickles, and curry powder. I ate about 1/4 cup of those at a time. Usually corned beef and egg for breakfast and chicken as a late lunch/early dinner. My first non-puree was mashed potatoes. Since that I've been branching out... my first "real" food was grilled salmon.... yum! Went down easy too. Last night I had this genius idea that I would blend my protein powder with a little milk and some sugar free fat free ice cream. It was delicious! But I didn't want it to melt so I ate it too fast... ugh! No more ice cream for me!

Hi everyone, I supposed when it rains it pours. I am just moving into the puree portion of my post-op diet and I was really excited about it until last night when, out of the blue, I get this AWFUL pain in my tooth/teeth/upper gum area. My instant fear, given the discussion my anesthesiologist had with me about potentially chipping teeth when intubating for surgery, was OMG abcess! So, I go to the dentist this morning and get x-rays. There really isn't any clear cut abcess (they're going to give me antibiotics just in case), but the nerve looks incredibly inflammed! However, the dentist is afraid to touch me because I'm "so fresh off of major surgery." So, now I have an appointment for NEXT week to see an endodontist to determine whether or not I need a root canal. In the meantime, thank GOD I have half a litre of liquid narcotics! Anyone else around that was unfortunate enough to have a dental problem following surgery?