theother_onefoot

@@toasty - when you say ulcers, does that relate only to stomach ulcers? Or can mouth ulcers develop from this too?

@@toasty - My NUT told me about this milk brand called Fairlife and it is SO good. It's higher in calcium and protein (13g per 8oz/1cup with the fat free one) and even though the fat free one is a skim version - they do have a whole milk version but I'm not supposed to drink that because of the fat, I assume - it isn't thin and watery at all. Highly recommend it if you can find some near you!

@@Marie Car -- Yes, pickles do have a tough skin. But pre surgery during the liquid phase, that's still okay! However afterwards, since the new tummy cannot handle it for a while, my NUT said the alternative is basically spooning the pickle out of its skin, haha. A little more tedious, but not if you really like pickles!

I'm three weeks post-op and it wasn't until just recently that the crazy dreams have gotten better... And I've been off the pain meds for two weeks now. I'd say the most terrifying, besides being bizarre, of all the dreams was one a handful of nights ago where I had a dream my belly was literally tearing open at all of my incision sites. Slightly traumatic, haha. But I'm sleeping MUCH better and more soundly now!

I've seen posts about it going both ways.. Still waiting to figure out my own fate!

I second Gail on this one. Even though sometimes the strips made me gag so soon after, I never got sick but seemed to be forced to choke up the air bubbles! There are also some chewable tablets, I hear.

I was all about that pickle allowance. One of the medium-big sour ones. Didn't eat one every day, but it really breaks up the sweet shakes and bland broths. Some sugar free Jello cups are nice too, just for texture. As far as soft foods -- I'm just now getting into this/the pureed stage -- and my mom's spaghetti sauce without the meat is still awesome, I just add unflavored Protein to eat a quarter-cup. But really tender chili has gone over great, too. I got some chili from McAlisters (a Soup and sandwich shop) and did half regular and have vegetarian which is all Beans, mixed it up and eat a quarter cup at a time. Very yummy. I'm interested in some refried beans next! Scrambled eggs are nice as long as they're still soft, but watch out if you go out somewhere and eat them. I heard IHOP puts some of their pancake batter in their eggs to make them fluffier and another person on the forums said they were much harder to eat. Cottage cheese is another soft food I'm glad to have back!

Well it was already way late in the evening when I had a migraine last night and I took an Excedrin Migraine for it. Except instead of the usual dose of two, I just took one and it helped me amazingly and everything feels fine so far. I'm sure I'll call and ask my doctor to know what to do for future cases, but it sure helped.

@@dhrguru Usually cramps happen for me when I don't have enough potassium or electrolytes in me. Try eating half of a banana or drinking some Gatorade or Pedialyte -- even a bit of pickle juice could help wonders. (:

Today marks 12 days post-op. I was very on top of getting all of my fluids in the first few days after surgery and being home, but then the next few days were a mix of fluids and required Protein (also in liquid form, some shakes, some broth), but it seems these last few days I've been managing to get in my protein goals but it's had me sacrificing my Fluid intake. I'm trying very hard, but at this point I still find it impossible to get my goal combination of fluids and protein in one day. And since the last few days have ended up being protein days, today I'm just SO thirsty. I just want to be able to drink like I used to, able to swallow full mouthfuls of Water that would quickly sate my nagging thirst. But I know those days are gone and I'll be lucky to handle a few ounces quickly as I'm farther out. So I would really appreciate some advice from the veterans... I'm so thirsty. And I WANT to drink my water. I try the "sip, sip, sip" method, but it is so unsatisfying that I feel like I'm losing my mind. Not to mention I've been trying to figure out exactly how I'm swallowing my sips or holding them in my mouth, because for some reason I'm inevitably having pressure or air bubbles almost every other sip and I don't know why. I've tried bottles with different sized openings (think the small opening of a standard water bottle versus the opening of a Powerade or Gatorade type bottle), I've tried waiting different lengths of time between sips, I've tried room temperature versus chilled water, I've tried all manners of trying to swallow the sips effortlessly to not swallow air and then I'm still punished with the air pressure. Can't anyone offer something that will help me?

@@Djmohr -- you've kind of given me the closest to the same experience so far. I know we can risk being more sensitive to smells or tastes, and hopefully this isn't a straight up food aversion for me (though I have already enlisted a weekly therapist to see), but it actually was the sound and sight of my parents eating that made me feel so sick. Maybe it's because I've been on mostly liquids for so long that I haven't had to do much of my own chewing, but just hearing them EAT was terrible. It isn't like they were intentionally scraping their forks or gnashing their teeth and smacking obnoxiously either, it was just their usual and mostly polite eating habits. But watching forkful after forkful of food go from bowl to mouth, regardless of it being salad and veggies, was making me physically ill. I haven't had a meal with them again, but I'll have to see how it goes. Maybe it will get better since I can actually eat more things now.. Fingers crossed. @ - I still smell fresh pizza and think, "oh my gosh, I want some of that!" but the truth is, I distinctly know that's just head hunger. Yes, it smells fantastic. But I'm not actually hungry. In fact, today there was a meeting where they brought in dozens of pizzas and they looked so good, but I was still trying to work on getting through my Protein shake and I knew I couldn't handle anything like that (this soon) even if I truly was hungry. So I enjoyed the smells like a savory candle but focused way more intently on the speakers presenting, haha

Today I was eating lunch with my parents at home. My dad prepared them some generous salads with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and all of that, and since I don't care for any of that in my salads, I wasn't bothered. And at first the balsamic dressing mom had made smelled good, even while I was happy with my meatless spaghetti sauce with Protein powder in it (and no noodles of course). But then as they were eating the smell of the dressing began to be too strong and sweet to me so I turned my face away, but then the sounds of them eating their salads...the scrape of the fork, the crunching and chewing and swallowing, all of it, just coupled with the sweet smell of the dressing and I just felt so nauseous I had to leave the table. Watching and listening to them eat their salads was just suddenly a horrific experience when it's never bothered me before. I want to think the initial sickeningly sweet dressing just made me hyper aware of the experience... But I'm worried about it happening again. Has anyone else felt nauseous just from other people around them eating? :\

@@TJBintheOC thanks for the reply. But what about the doctor, nurses, and dietician all emphatically insisting that I don't use straws pretty much ever?

My pain and nausea meds for after surgery were also included. My consultation was $200 and I guess kind of a down payment. It was included in my total quoted cost of $13,900 total though. My final cost may have been a bit less since insurance covered the hiatal hernia repair..

Varies by doctor. I was allowed to keep taking it up until surgery day. And as soon as I felt able again afterward

The two week diet actually made my body freak out too where I was just kind of bleeding but enough to require feminine products (sorry, TMI?) and subsequently made this period technically 17 days long. How miserable! So I had surgery when it was still the end of the cycle -- thankfully, and yes, dealing with tampons was a pain. Especially with having to pee so much from the IV fluids. Just hope your body gets this period completely out of the way before surgery! (:

Today was my first day back to school ( surgery 8/17 with TxTinana) and everything was fine except that I got pretty sore by the time my class actually rolled around 6p-8p because I had decided to catch up on some errands through the beginning of the day. I went from 400-550 steps around the house the past couple of days to 2,500 just today. I should have worked up to it more...but no worse for wear except being sore!

I would say ask about a catheter. Some doctors use them and some don't, some people like them and some don't. My doctor said he wasn't going to use one for me, which I didn't mind, but then the night after surgery I got really frustrated. They keep you so pumped full of fluids with the IV (and I was actually able to start sipping Water pretty early because my surgeon does the leak test while I was still under), that by the time I was trying to go to sleep I was literally getting up every hour and a half to pee until 4-something in the morning. And not just a "I kind of have to go..." but a serious, "I am going to wet myself in 10 seconds!" EVERY time until I finally fell asleep for two or so hours and they had a rounds change and came to wake me up for my vitals.. Ugh, haha. But each time I had to go, a nurse had to come unhook everything, let me go, then hook it all back up... It was exhausting in itself! -- even though I got so insistent some of the times I unhooked everything I was able to as quickly as possible so the nurse only had to do the IV and I could shuffle out of the bed pronto. Also, be sure your IV isn't in your dominant hand... It would have really been a hassle if mine was.

When I was still in the hospital, every time I would walk I would feel so nauseous I had to immediately get back in bed to sleep it off after just one loop. Turns out the pain medication was making me feel so terrible and I actually felt way more alert with more energy and overall wellness when it accidentally came out during a nap. An hour or so after that and I was ready to be discharged!

I was at the end of my cycle when I had surgery on Monday and they didn't say anything against me using tampons but I also didn't have to have a catheter. Which was kind of more of a pain than I thought having one would be because all of those IV fluids were making me get up to pee every hour and a half which involved a nurse unhooking everything from me then rehooking, unhooking, etc.

I can home Tuesday afternoon after surgery Monday morning. How much are you walking, @@ylluz ? Are you on a little pain pump connected to your abdomen? How much water are you drinking?

I've found it's not just the initial gas pain, but the pressure pain that comes from sipping. Yesterday I was able to get through three 16.9 fluid ounce Ozarka bottles but it literally took me all day up til midnight. I woke up feeling less incision pain today and I was able to get through a GNC Total Lean protein shake, but finding the right amount to sip of each different liquid so the pressure DOESN'T build up in my chest is kind of tiring. Might be a nap in my future. Zzz

I was just sleeved 8/17 as well with Dr. Yu, and he did my sleeve and hiatal hernia fix. I'd have to say the pain from the gas isn't constant for me and was definitely worse right after surgery and yesterday, but I'm already feeling better. Walking and sipping fluids is very important. And it seemed no matter how gently I tried sipping at a time, I always felt like I was swallowing too much air and it built pressure up in my chest and stomach; today is better though. I was also having issues with the little abdomen catheter pain pump, in that every time I got up and walked it made me feel terribly nauseous. It slipped out on its own while I was sleeping at one point (and once it's out, it's out) but I was much more alert and feeling way better once it was out, so I don't really mind not having it. I was prescribed a liquid Tylenol/codeine pain medication to take at home anyway and that's been much better. ETA: I'm just south of Houston as well!

@@MzB - the liquid diet went pretty well for Pre-Op and I lost about 12~13 pounds total. But I just had surgery yesterday morning so I don't have much experience with the liquid diet post... They said it will be at least 1~2 weeks before moving on to anything pureed and from there to soft foods

I have surgery in a couple of weeks so this past week I ordered the sample package of unjury products and bariatric Vitamins. I'm on my two-week liquid diet right now (this is day 6) and while the headaches the first few days were uncomfortable, I'm feeling great on all of these liquids and I'm already in ketosis. But the low/no sodium chicken broth I use to try and break up the Protein shake regimen is just...just awful. I miss the sodium! Any flavor, really. So today I decided to try mixing my boring broth with one of the Unjury chicken Soup flavored powders. On the packet it says to mix with 140 degrees Water and they sent me a thermometer, so making sure it was the right temp was easy. But when I mixed the powder and started stirring it, it didn't seem to be dissolving very well. So I tried pouring it all into a blender shaker, which seemed to help a little, but a lot of the powder was still separating on the top no matter how hard I was shaking it. I tried drinking it...but chewing through the clumps of powder was not palatable texture-wise. Which led me to straining the mixture back into my bowl. There was a lot of the powder left in the little strainer! Fortunately, the broth was delicious and had much better flavor, and I could see smaller particles of the powder had made it in, but it seems unlikely that all the protein of the packet made it in with so much powder left in the strainer... So what happened to keep it from mixing all the way? Am I only supposed to try mixing the powder with water? Is the broth too different for it to dissolve in? Or could I possibly have lost too much heat between all the transferring and straining for it to dissolve completely? Any help with this would be great!