alexa

I had surgery 11/19 and am going back to work tomorrow. My only concern is how I am going to get all my fluids and Protein in while being busy all day and I can only take sips at a time. I have a "desk" job but I am in a lot of meetings most days. Has anyone else run in to this?

I can't wait to get there

@@beachgurl84 Oh I hear ya, I was a little "shocked" at just how miserable the first 5-6 days We're but by day 7 it was much better and here I am almost 3 weeks out and it's like it never happened....except for restriction so rest assure it will get MUCH better!

Well, this past Wednesday as planned, I had my surgery. Gastric sleeve.
OH MY GOD I WAS MISERABLE!!!
We read all these stories about success and how wonderful everything is after the surgery. I never thought about how miserable I would be waking up after surgery. You can't move, you can't drink, can't stretch, nothing. But, as the days go by, things get a little easier. I have a long way to go but I'm recovering nicely. I'm 4 days post op and I'm able to move around on my own for the most part as long as it doesn't involve bending over. I'm down 15 lbs since starting my Preop diet 5 days before surgery. It's funny because I keep thinking this recovery would be so much easier if I were skinny. Oh the irony.

I didn't do anything with that information. What was I supposed to do with it? I am still on full liquids, so I don't bother with charting anything yet. I drink one mega muscle milk Protein Shake a day (40 grams of protein). I drink my water. I drink 3 oz of Soup once a day. I fell and sprained my ankle on the 14th so no walking for me. Lots of laying in bed with my foot raised above my heart. What do you do when you have feelings of joy from success? Do you feel like you have to validate those feelings or do something about them? Do you feel the need to process the information you receive from your joy? I'm going to guess no. You just feel happy. Same thing for frustration. I don't feel the need to process it or get information from it. I just feel frustrated and move on. Feelings - good and bad - are part of life. You don't have to analyze or try to validate them all the time. You just have to keep on going.

Hope everybody is doing well. Its my second day home from the hospital and I am feeling really good. Some gas and pain but not too much. Before surgery I read from everyone that you feel better everyday after surgery. This is so true. Don't get discouraged if you feel bad the first day or two after surgery. Just work your surgeon's plan and you will get better everyday. For me right now that means fluids and walking. Its surprising how hard it is to get in all the fluids but I've already got about twice as much today as yesterday. Oh yeah, take your pain meds and use the GasX strips! Anyway, I am doing great and am glad to hear that you all are too. For those with a date coming up, good luck you will do fine!

Hi all November members! I am 11 days out and I can't believe how GOOD I feel. It still amazes me how smoothly things have gone. Each day truly does get better and better. I just got home from lunch with friends - I never dreamed I'd be able to eat at a restaurant already, manage a tiny Protein packed portion without overeating or eating too fast, dealing with wondering what others would think or say about be eating so little, etc. But it all went beautifully and I had a fantastic time. I am so happy I did this - and already wish I had had the surgery years ago.

I am wrapping up my puree foods stage. I gotta say "creativity" is tough for me but my go to's are: Cottage cheese with pureed canned pineapple (the "no sugar added" can). I scoop maybe 2 tablespoons of the pineapple mush on top of 3 tblspns cottage cheese. Another common one I do is instant mashed potatoes with a scoop of cream of chicken Soup on top. Swear this pretty much tastes like gravy :-)

Its been a little hard cant lié . Especially since I had a huge hernia they fixed as well . The gases are the ones giving me trouble .

I am so sorry you so nauseous. So far I am experiencing that each day is better. I took my nausea medicine the first half of today and didn't the 2nd half and am doing fine. I am going to try to stop my pain meds tomorrow and see how I do. I hope each day will get better for you too.

I've been feeling a LOT better already. Walking around definitely helps. It's much easier to sip plain Water than the Protein juice, so I've been alternating these throughout the day. I only got about 8 ounces in total yesterday though. Hopefully today will be a lot easier, I feel like it will be! I'm not feeling like I need the pain meds right now, so I'm going to hold off and see how long I can go without taking them. As soon as I take it I just fall asleep. Lol.

Good Morning! I had surgery on the 19th at 3:30 in the afternoon. By the time I got back to my room it was evening. The incisions were painless, however, the gas was terrible! After the first 4 hours, the nurse helped me out of bed and I took a walk. That was a great help. He also got me a recliner as being in a bed was just too uncomfortable. I had mouth swabs during the night which actually was fine as I did not want anything to drink. No nausea at all- my doctor has everyone on anti=nausea medicine IV until the IV comes out which I really appreciated. One other thing I was a little surprised at- at my hospital- everyone is on a heart monitor and pulse oximeter until the morning after surgery. Was it that way for others?
I walked a lot the morning after surgery and went home Thursday evening, the 20th. It was a hard ride home as it was 1/2 hour away and the roads were rough even with me holding a pillow. Transitioning to home has also had challenges. While I was thrilled to be home, getting in all the liquid was tough and there was no IV so I had to! Getting comfortable at home also took some time as there was no nurse right by! The incisions have been fine- I don't have any steri strips and they look and feel ok. Still have gas pain from time to time but coming along nicely. Congratulations and good luck to all of the persons who were sleeved this week!

I didn't drink it all at one time. I drank it 3 times throughout the day (or maybe even 4) to get in the whole bottle. The rest of the day I sipped on a Protein shot diluted with Water, plain water and unsweetened, Decaf tea. I guess I am drinking constantly. I have noticed that I get a pressure/burning feeling sometimes when I drink so I have been trying to remember to take smaller sips with more time in between. I also walk and drink sometimes to help get it down and it does seem to help. I have seen on here that someone else makes sure they sit completely straight up and that helps too. I hope this helps.

You can always ask your surgeon if you can move forward early. I started full liquids a couple days early because I had an interview to go to so I needed my brain working and the clear liquids weren't helping that. I just called and asked if I could have some milk or hot cocoa, and they said if there wasn't any other issues that it would be fine. You have to communicate what you need and what you're doing though, that way if something does happen, heaven forbid, everyone is on the same page.

Day five at home and just feeling great.Sorry to those people who are not having it as easy as i am
i know i am very lucky to feel so well.Off to an auction to get old furniture to "SHABBY CHIC" it`s my new hobby and old brown furniture is practically given away at auctions these days.Take care all pippinleicester.

I think in regards to BD, we have all seen pictures of ourselves and said " do I really look that big? Or am I really that fat??"
I know I do, to the point I do not allow my photo taken often.

I am also making a ricotta bake, just part skim ricotta cheese, 1 egg, Italian seasoning and a thin layer of marinara. Just bake it at 350 for 30-40 mins. I will divide it up in my 2oz cups, keep a few out and freeze the rest. You should be able to eat that.....I could just go on and on! I love to cook, I didn't think I was going to get to cook like this after surgery but I was wrong. It's fun making recipes and adjusting the ingredients to fit my new eating style. @@nikki9

@@nikki9 Do you like meatballs? I have mine in the crockpot rt now. I used 1lb of ground turkey, 1/2 lb of 93% lean ground beef, 1egg, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic, chopped onion, red bell pepper , and fresh parsley in the ninja so super tiny. I rolled it Up and baked them in the oven @ 375 for 25 mins then put them in my mini crockpot with marinara sauce and olives. I will cook them on low overnight. They should be super soft but if not you Could blend them up with a little bit of the sauce. I got plain marinara because it has less sugar than regular sauces. If you make them make sure you check labels some spaghetti sauces have a lot of sugar in them. These are high in Protein, and no bread crumbs. They held together perfectly w/o bread.

I just started soft/purée and My first food was crab cakes. Real crab, mayo, 1 Egg, chopped onion and parsley, tsp on mustard and I sprinkled low sodium O Bay seasoning. I don't have measurements I'm a scratch cook so I just mix it until it looks right then I broiled them for 15 mins. They are really good. I'm not sure how much Protein? Very little carbs just a few in the crab. No breading. I could only eat a couple bits but it was good

I am now 3 weeks post op, and I have had 3 family gatherings already. My un-laws don't know about the surgery and I really worried how I'd keep the secret. Turns out,I never had to say a word.
No one noticed or cared about what or how much I was eating.
I thought everyone would notice how little / how differently I was eating, and no one batted an eye.
For the most part, I think you'll find that most people aren't paying attention to you and what you eat. So far, keeping the secret has been surprisingly easy. Don't feel pressured to tell before you need to!
Good luck, secret keepers!

Well, I called the Dr. this morning. I have been thinking about it all night long! They said they think it is either a fat tumor, or scar's from phenomena or a collapsed lung.
I then said "well, I am glad to hear that! Is my surgery still set for Monday because if not I am having a huge sandwich! She and I laughed and she said NOPE you are having surgery Monday morning!
Thank you all for your support! I really love how everyone tries to help each other!

11 lbs in 5 days, 9 more to go. 4 Protein Shakes a day. I've had a few spoons of spaghetti sauce or chile, but done pretty wellso far.

This is my favorite recipe right now......Ricotta Bake
8oz part skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 large egg beaten
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella
Heat oven to 450
Mix ricotta cheese, parm cheese, beaten egg and Italian seasoning together.
Place in over proof dish
Pour marinara sauce on top and then top with mozz cheese
Bake for about 20-25 mins
This is so YUMMY!!! I make half a recipe at a time in a little square oven proof dish I have had forever and never used till now. Then I cut in four pieces and enjoy! Reheats wonderfully. I usually add a drop of sauce on top when reheating.
With the products I use here are the stats for 1/4 of HALF the recipe so you get an idea:
94 Calories
7 grams of Protein
4 grams of sugar (I still use my six cheese Ragu sauce cause I love it but you can probably find one with less sugar if you want)

These are all fantastic ideas! I'm only 4 days post-op but i've copied this to have on hand when I get to purees. Thank you

I made all sorts of combos of any meat I wanted plus a sauce that went well with it and pureed it. Then I put it in a little ramekin, put some shredded cheese on top, and heated it up in the microwave. There really isn't any limit to what you can do with your basic building blocks, it just depends on what you like. I used the little flavored pouches of tuna when I did tuna for more variety as well. Some of my favorites were:
--chicken with marinara sauce & mozzarella cheese
--turkey with peanut satay sauce & jack cheese
--lemon dill salmon with remoulade
--shrimp with garlic butter and pecorino cheese
--hickory smoked tuna with chipotle BBQ Sauce
--ground beef with spicy Indian ketchup and cheddar cheese
You get the idea. Just think of what meats appeal to you and take some time to stroll the Condiments, sauces, and international food aisles of your supermarket and come up with some combinations that you will like.