theantichick

I've been eyeing one. I just need to know what I'll use it for before I bring yet another appliance into my tiny kitchen. Let us all know how it goes!!

Mine was modified liquid (liquid plus Jello, pudding, smooth greek yogurt) for 2 weeks, then 2 weeks of adding in puree/mushies slowly, and then if that went well, adding in solid food very carefully, with the goal of full diet in 6 weeks. Each food to add was to be done by itself, in small amounts, and chewed VERY well to see how it went/stayed down.

Ditto what dairymary said. I had an extensive knee surgery and researched it extensively. One of my questions to my surgeon was about which physical therapy protocols he follows. Every doctor formulates his protocols based on his training and experience. I had the same questions for my WLS surgeon, especially since I can't do Keto. I didn't want to be at odds with my surgeon and her recovery protocols.

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I am so sorry you're having issues.

Some people have issues moving their diet along to purees/solids as early as others. When you have issues, go back to what worked for a while before trying again. If liquids are what works, stick with that for a while. Just be sure to work as hard as you can to meet your Fluid and Protein goals with Protein shakes/powder. Sip-sip-sip all day long, you do have to keep your nutrients and fluids up in order to heal.

Keep pressuring your medical team to stay on top of it. Sometimes nausea meds don't work or quit working, but others might still work. Ask them to change your script to something else.

I hope this resolves quickly for you!!

Like @theanitchick, my bariatric program allows for NSAIDS due to a chronic illness. When my Migraines hit, I can usually think back to what I ate or what I did to bring on the Migraine. Such as not realizing something I ate had MSG in it. I try to avoid all the triggers if possible. You were given some great suggestions, talk them over with your surgeon.

My biggest trigger after dehydration/low blood sugar is nutrasweet/aspartame. The hops in beer or the nitrates in red wine will do me in, also. And of course, weather fronts and hormones, which I can't do much about. I'm lucky that cheese and chocolate don't trigger me.

I agree with kschultz007! That nurse should be fired!

I work at a hospital too and we would never do this to our patients.

Do you have a case manager with your insurance? They can guide you through the referral process to ensure your covered.

I wish you the best of luck and don't stop pushing until you get some answers and proper care!

Um, really? The nurse has absolutely no influence on the physician, and very little with the administration. While she may be wrong, she is sharing her experience in that facility. I agree that she should offer some ideas such as contacting the patient advocate or the CNO, but firing her? Really? As a nurse, I don't excuse poor behavior, but firing over this? I don't think so.

Yep really! It's my opinion and I feel strongly that no patient should Ever be mad to feel like they have no options. Clearly that facility does not make the patient a priority.

I certainly agree that patients should be given every option available, and the patient's well-being should be the top priority. I just think it's a little harsh to say the nurse should lose her livelihood over something she has little control over. Re-educated, yes. Fired, no. Of course, that's just my opinion.

There's quite a few book on Amazon to help with that. I've been checking them out but didn't decide on which one yet. Why don't you eat meat? You body needs that kind of Protein especially after WLS.

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There are a multitude of reasons people choose not to eat meat, or certain kinds of meat, and all are valid. She stated that she is a pescatarian, which means she eats fish. She may also be lacto-ovo which would mean she drinks milk and eats eggs. But even if she's not lacto-ovo, I don't think we should be trying to convince her to eat meat when she has religious/moral/health reasons for not.

I am no longer vegetarian, but was raised that way for religious reasons (we were lacto/ovo/pescatarian in practice) and I can assure you that there are MANY ways to get plenty of Protein without eating meat. There are a number of high protein foods that are not animal-based.

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4771/10-Vegan-Sources-of-Protein.html

To the OP:

I have been trying to find meal planning help with my own food issues, and have found that in general the options are not very good. There's tons of recipe ideas here in the recipe section and on Pinterest, but not a lot of information about how to plan meals especially if you're planning to do once-a-week or once-a-month cooking. There are resources for OAW/OAM cooking, but it's with their recipes and doesn't offer a lot of insight as to how to put your own recipes in place of theirs.

If you search once-a-week or once-a-month cooking, and read enough of the books/resources, there are basic principles you can apply. Like which kinds of food freeze well, which are good for make-ahead, etc. I personally have found it very hard to implement from scratch. But if you dig enough you can find them.

I will offer that if you're doing low-carb, you shouldn't worry overmuch about fat. The concept of low-carb requires a higher fat content than in a "normal" diet. I wouldn't go overboard, but since you don't eat red meat, your fat options are going to tend to be the "healthy" fats, so I really wouldn't worry much about that.

Also, I advise getting some clarification around "only 3 meals" a day. Post-op, your intake at a sitting will be so little that I don't believe only allowing 3 meals a day is wise. My instructions are to eat every 3-4 hours. Many of the people here who have 3 meals only as instructions, were allowed 2-3 Protein Drinks outside of those 3 meals as "snacks". Others are told 3 meals with 2 or 3 low calorie high protein Snacks.

Good luck! If I remember when I get home (feel free to PM me to remind me) I can post some of the OAW/OAM resources I've found.

I agree with kschultz007! That nurse should be fired!

I work at a hospital too and we would never do this to our patients.

Do you have a case manager with your insurance? They can guide you through the referral process to ensure your covered.

I wish you the best of luck and don't stop pushing until you get some answers and proper care!

Um, really? The nurse has absolutely no influence on the physician, and very little with the administration. While she may be wrong, she is sharing her experience in that facility. I agree that she should offer some ideas such as contacting the patient advocate or the CNO, but firing her? Really? As a nurse, I don't excuse poor behavior, but firing over this? I don't think so.

Sleeve patients don't have malabsorption, so they don't necessarily need Vitamins for life (though it's suggested for micronutrients), and they don't typically have nausea/vomiting/diarrhea past the first few weeks post-op. The risk for clots is the same for any surgery, and leaks are very rare. So she's badly misinformed.

Also, just FYI, most doctor's offices don't actually employ registered nurses anymore (though there are a few that still do), so there's a good chance the "nurse" you're talking to is actually a medical assistant. While I don't want to dis MA's, they are absolutely critical to keeping patient flow going in a doctor's office, they are NOT registered nurses, and their training is limited to taking vital signs and a few other tasks they do in a doctor's office. So next time, ask her what her credentials are. Not that having an RN makes what she's saying OK, because it's wrong regardless, but it might help your perspective of where she's coming from, or give you ammunition to shut her down if that's what you want to do.

I address a lot of this kind of crap in my post

http://www.theantichick.com/2016/08/05/the-easy-way-out/

Bottom line, if diet/exercise worked even 50% of the time, they might have an argument. But the data tells a different story. I have no issue telling people to educate themselves before they start lecturing me about what to do with my body. My medical team and I came to a decision about what was the best option for me, and everyone else needs to respect that. If someone has a genuine concern or information, I'm happy to listen, but I don't tolerate people telling me I'm making the wrong call based on bad information.

Good luck to you!!!

I advise involving an attorney as an absolute last resort while he's still in the hospital. There are 1,000 ways the staff can make life harder for you all if it becomes known that you're threatening a lawsuit. Lawsuits are about money after the fact, and take a long time to work through the system. You don't need that while you're still dealing with the health concerns.

As others have said, there should be a patient advocate in the hospital. If not, contact the chief nursing officer and the chief medical officer (administrative offices for both). Or the chaplain's office, they often handle patient advocacy issues if there's no designated advocacy person. There should also be an ethics board at the hospital.

Unfortunately, your nursing staff are not able to do anything, this is something that has to be dealt with within the physician level. They should have already involved another GI doc - doesn't have to be a bariatric specialist, once the surgery is done any competent gastro should be able to help figure out what's going on. You should also have an infectious disease specialist on the team at this point since he's had c.diff as well as an intensivist.

Others are right that it would be hard to transfer him elsewhere, you'd have to get a doctor at the receiving hospital to accept him as a patient. The only other way I know of to force a hospital transfer is to check out AMA (against medical advice) and then go to the county hospital's ER, or if you have good insurance a different hospital that's in network. But then you're playing roulette with what doc you'll get at the new place.

I would start with a patient advocate, and escalate to the chief nursing and medical officers and see what you can get done before getting an attorney or threatening a lawsuit.

I regret it a little bit because I am 2 weeks and a half out of surgery and I just still don't have no energy and I'm just wishing I was back to my old self

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The energy starts coming back (for most of us) once you can eat solid food. Hang in there!

3 months out, and I have days where the thought of eating just makes me nauseated. Then I will have days where I can't seem to get enough to eat. On the days I don't want to eat, I still make sure I eat a few times and get Protein and plenty of fluids. I choose the foods that have "gone down" the easiest for me that have good amounts of Protein, and I try not to stress about it.

Will my stomach every stretch

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Not as much as people think.

The swelling and inflammation after surgery limits your intake to only a couple of ounces, usually. As that swelling and inflammation goes down as you heal, the volume of your sleeve increases. You also teach yourself to be tolerant to larger amounts of food as you progress.

The part of the stomach that is cut away is a different type of tissue than what is left. That part that is cut away is VERY stretchy. Depending on how large the bougie your surgeon used, there is VERY little of that super-stretchy tissue left. The tissue that is left for most sleeves will have a little stretch, but not a significant amount.

My surgeon says that most people by a few months post-op can eat about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of food. By a couple of years out, she has seen that go up to a full cup in some people, but usually less.

Not me i dont want my stomach to get stretch

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Fluids and air are NOT going to stretch your sleeve.

Long time migraineur here, and an RN as well.

I just want to clarify for everyone: the triptan class is NOT an NSAID. There are ZERO contraindications for the triptan class and VSG. This includes Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Zomig, etc. If the generic name ends in -triptan then it's in this class of drugs. There are a couple of formulations that mix a triptan with naproxen, it's the naproxen component that is the NSAID, not the triptan.

My team allows me to take NSAIDs because I have auto-immune conditions and the benefits outweigh the ulcer risk. I am minimizing my NSAID intake however, because I only want to use it when I absolutely need it. Knock on wood, haven't needed it since surgery.

Excedrin usually will knock out my Migraines if I take it fast enough. Since surgery, I've switched to going ahead and taking my triptan instead, and it's working GREAT. I have the kind that melts on the tongue - gets in the system faster that way - and it tastes like a dirty mint but it works amazingly well. My doc is going to put me on topiramate as a preventative if I start having them regularly, but so far that hasn't been needed.

Talk to your team, though. They may be OK with an occasional use of Excedrin for migraines. I highly recommend switching to a triptan or even an ergotamine if you tolerate them.

Also, the biggest triggers of Migraine are dehydration and low blood sugar. In the words of my daughter's neurologist - never let yourself get hungry or thirsty. I had a string of migraines one week when I wasn't on top of my Fluid intake.

Oh, the dissolvable one I take is Maxalt ODT, btw.

I have Mirena, on my 2nd one even. Reduced Migraines (hormone), and have only had like 2 breakthrough light (spotting) periods in 9 years. One of those was after VSG surgery... spotted for 3 days, then it was done. Nothing since.

Insertion/removal is a huge B**ch. No 2 ways around it, it hurts. But the worst of it is over in a couple of minutes, and then it's just cramping like a heavy period for a couple of days (at least for me).

My 19 year old daughter has the implant. She bled for 2 months straight, and after that it smoothed out and she has lighter periods than she did.

You should ask your surgeon and/or his team. Every doctor has a different diet progression plan, and sometimes it needs to be tailored for a specific patient.

You will have people tell you it's safe, and you'll have people tell you it could be deadly, and you'll hear every opinion in between. I'm a nurse, and the surgery is NOT a small one. Some foods eaten before you're healed can result in a leak or abscess, which can be deadly.

I'm a nurse, and love watching surgery, so I was fascinated by the surgery videos (my favorite is the 360 one by the guy in Mexico) but for many people that is vomit inducing. I agree that many people don't seem to understand how big the surgery is on the inside because all they see are the tiny incisions. I don't know that forcing people to watch something that turns their stomach is the answer, but I agree that more information is needed.

They don't always stop the study, unless the apnea is severe. I had moderate apnea, and didn't find out for weeks after the study. Then I had to schedule another night at the sleep clinic for them to calibrate the CPAP. And another couple of weeks to get the machine ordered. If the apnea is not immediately life threatening, it can actually move quite slow.

That's crazy that people consider themselves vets and newbies. That just does not sit well with me. We are all in this journey together. Because you had the surgery before I did does not make you more aware of anything. People need to drop the vet/newbie thing.

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I disagree. People who have had successful experience with the surgery, especially once they're out multiple years from their surgery, have a LOT to offer by sharing their experience and advice about what worked and didn't work for them. Everyone's different, so their experience won't be identical to mine or yours, but they know a LOT about what it takes to be successful long term. They also have a lot of indirect experience by virtue of the people they talk to in their in-person support groups, and the people they've talked to online. To say that they don't is very short sighted. There's a reason the term "veteran" exists (outside the military term), to refer to the people who have experience in comparison to those who do not.

I cannot express how much hearing the stories of the vets here and getting advice from them has really helped me in my progress. I think it's utterly disrespectful to say they don't have anything to offer. Every vet who posts here does so in order to try and pay it forward because they probably got a lot of help and support when they were going through it. If you don't like what they have to say, just move along. It is not necessary to attack someone just because they're telling you something you don't want to hear. And when you're hearing the same thing from a dozen people, it might be a sign that you should at least consider what they have to say.

Making a bad food choice is WAY different than eating solid food before you're cleared to after a major abdominal surgery. We have witnessed a wave of people who come to this board and ask if this food or that food is OK while they're still on a liquid diet. This is not the same as "cheating" on a normal diet. I am a nurse, and I know firsthand what can happen when someone after stomach surgery chooses not to follow their physician's diet orders. It can be deadly dangerous. Many of us here worry when someone posts as you did about eating solid food sooner than their surgeon allowed, and other posters treating it as if it's no big deal. We know that for every person posting, there's an untold number who are just reading and absorbing. Some of them apparently have been given REALLY poor post-op instructions from their docs. We feel a responsibility to make sure people know that it's NOT a good idea to go outside your doctor's orders until you have been released to a full diet. It's not about judgment of the choice, it's about making sure you and others know that the choice can be physically dangerous.

Lipsticklady, I would prefer if you would stop commenting to my posts. Just leave me alone. We don't know eachother and I really don't care to see your opinions. Again, I begging you. Please leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I would suggest you block her then. The instructions on how to do so are in the footer of her posts.

Wow that's a lot of pork bellys...at least it has Protein. (And sodium and fat). I laugh...

What was the most unusual dish you tried GW? And do comment on the patrons.

We can live vicariously....

I think I'm glad they don't have a bacon restaurant near me!

Honestly Julie...I loved the cheesecake with candied bacon bits on top. The patrons...well as this is NYC, there were lots of pretty, thin people there. Not like what you would have expected. NYC is a different breed...you just don't see lots of obese people here. It's like when Parisshel used to be online here and said that Paris was filled with pretty people. Same with New York. I did not see much in the way of what you would expect at a restaurant that was all about excess.

I haven't been to NYC yet, but from what I've seen, I would think having to walk everywhere would change the dynamics for most people. Out here in the Texas suburbs, we typically don't walk anywhere. Heck, my town doesn't even have reliable bike lanes. Of course, there's only about 3 months out of the year you CAN walk anywhere without either dying of frostbite or heatstroke.

I had the surgery on Wed and was out of the office the rest of that week. The following week I worked from home. I would not have been able to go to the office for any reason until 8 or 9 days out. I had not been at my job for a year, so I didn't qualify for FMLA protection, and didn't want to take any more time than needed, so I was very glad I was able to work from home (I am in IT). If I'd been at my job longer and had more PTO built up, I'd have liked to have taken 2 whole weeks off, because that's really when I felt like going back to work. I'd have benefitted from more time to get to purees at least and focus on liquids and Proteins and get some energy back before going back, even working from home.

My husband is the only person I let plate my food. Mainly because he's being a sweetheart and really is working to get used to the small amount I eat. I would start there.

As for the rest of it, are you somewhere that you can take walks? Just getting out of the situation for 20-30 minutes with fresh air would probably help you feel better.

I'm not sure I have anything helpful to offer because the comments you've quoted are ridiculously rude and hurtful. Family or not, I don't associate with people who behave like that with me anymore. I will say something like "I'm going to assume you didn't mean to be hurtful or rude with that comment, so here's your one chance to try that again before I walk away." The follow-through is necessary or they just won't get it. I have family members who I haven't spoken to in years because they've been awful to me, and I believe you teach people how to treat you. If they truly care about maintaining a relationship with you, they'll apologize and start thinking twice about what they say to you, or at least will try to make amends after you disassociate with them for a few months. I no longer have room in my life for toxic people, whether or not they are related to me.

I'm 3 months out and have days where I just can't with the food, and I am *SO* over the Protein shakes. So I'm making ice pops out of Syntrax Roadside Lemonade, because I am always down for ice pops. I'm also going to lay in some of my favorite comfort foods that are high Protein, like hummus and a particular vegetable protein product I grew up on. I'm also going to try my hand at making pudding from scratch with Protein powder in it, since I'm allergic to nutrasweet and haven't found a sugar free pudding mix without it.

I have tried forcing myself to eat when I'm just not feeling like it, and I was miserable. So I'm going to try working with my body for a while and see if that works out better.

I'm a nurse, so I generally get a sense of a doctor's competence pretty quickly in talking with them. I was referred to my surgeon by my rheumatologist, who I have a high level of trust and respect for. I researched her background before I met with her, and had several questions to ask her about her protocols and procedures. I was impressed with her, and though I had two others I was planning to meet with, I decided not to bother. Her office is across the street from my office, and her electronic medical records use the same portal as my rheumy and at the time my PCP as well. I already had a high confidence level with the hospital group she practices with, so there were no flags of concern. I had a great experience, and have not regretted my choice one bit.