becomingmandikaye

It took me 4-5 days to fart. And when I did, it was awesome.

Never smell your Protein drinks. You won't get them down if you do!

My nutritionist suggested doing this if we were struggling. I've found that GENEPRO in broth is the best way for me to get my Protein in - 30g of protein in 4 oz of broth is definitely doable a few times per day.

I will say this - that quarter scrambled egg was the best tasting scrambled egg in all of the world.

For me, I wasn't hungry or interested in food at all the first week after surgery. When I went into my second week, I started feeling hungry - but I didn't actually want food. I'm pretty sure the hungry feeling is from acid, and not actual hunger. I am, however, starting to feel some head hunger. I want food in my mouth so badly! As far as pain goes, I was very lucky. I really only had pain under my largest incision. I stopped taking pain meds within a few days of coming home, and was able to take only Tylenol in the evenings.

My first non-liquid food is a mashed scrambled egg. Is it normal not to be able to eat one whole egg? I ate maybe a quarter of it (probably not even that much), and hit that moment of too much food.

Good luck! And congratulations!

I will definitely take a mental health day from work if I'm struggling. Sometimes that's the best thing I can do for myself.

I was pretty thoroughly prepped as far as food goes, but not so much about the actual experience of being post-op. But I'd done so much reading here and elsewhere that I was pretty confident that I knew what to expect - and I was right. There have been no surprises or anything.

I have the Fitbit Charge HR, and I love it.

Definitely not the same. Broth is so bland!

That's what I do - I add Genepro to strained chicken soup and it's AMAZING. It's the only thing I have that tastes remotely like real food, so I savor that cup every day.

@@Lizardlady Was your surgery on the 15th? Me too!

Yes, I take a pill every night.

Is it normal to feel hungry so soon after surgery? I'm not sure hungry is the right word for what I'm experiencing. I'm feeling sensations that I would have called hunger pangs in the past. Stomach growling, rumblings going up to my throat, etc. Sometimes it's physically painful, sometimes it's just irritating. But at the end of the day, I know I don't physically want food. I can usually settle it with a Protein shake, but it's happening far more often than I would like. Is this hunger? Is this gas? Is it something else?

I second Genepro

I'm in almost the same boat as you (except I can't have yogurt or jello). I've found GENEPRO to be a game changer. I strained some chicken and stars soup last night and added Genepro to the broth. It was 4 oz of broth with 30g of Protein in it, and it tasted wonderful. I went down the soup aisle and picked up any soup that seemed like it would have a flavorful broth after straining. I also have sugar free popsicles, and I did get some Luigi's Italian Ice in lemon (not sugar free, but I'm having issues getting calories in, so I thought why not). Good luck to you!

I didn't find out any of the specifics until my pre-op appointment the week before surgery. I knew the basics, but I legitimately didn't know I had to do a liver shrinking diet until that last appointment.

The burps are productive. Just keep at it.

Walking. I did laps in my hospital room or in the hallway. If you're feeling gas in your stomach or intestines, Gas X Strips *may* help - but really, walking is the remedy.

I will tell you this - you will absolutely regret it the day of surgery - when you wake up, you're groggy, thirsting to death but can't drink, in pain, and you ask yourself why on earth you did this to yourself. But the next morning when you wake up, you'll understand it's only temporary and your new life will begin. I'm one week post-op and have nearly no pain at all. I'm not ready to go back to work yet because I still tire very easily, but I feel fine.

Also fill 4 before bed - then when you wake up in the middle of the night, you have some right there to sip on. I spent my first few nights at home waking up multiple times for whatever reason, and each time I'd sip one and walk up and down my hallway a few times before getting back in bed.

It gets better after 3 or 4 days, promise. You can also take Tylenol (but not Advil) to help.

What's really helped me are those 2 oz red solo shot cups. Since I've been home, every hour on the hour I get up and walk around and then fill 4 of those with fluids (Water, propel, isopure, etc.). My goal is to drink those 4 during the hour, and then repeat.

Well today has been full of some (not so great) adventures. First, I couldn't get out of bed this morning (just super sleepy) so I ended up sleeping until 11am. Drank about 1.5 ounces of Water before getting in the shower. The combination of no water in 10 hours + hot shower left me dizzy, nauseated, and shaky. That was TERRIBLE. But I did drink a 16 oz bottle of water in less than an hour afterwards, so my tummy is definitely healing. Then, I went on some errands with my mom. I brought water with me because of what happened this morning, but nothing else. Realized at 2pm that I'd had no Protein and no calories, so we stopped at a convenience store to see if they had Muscle Milk or something similar. They had Monster Milk, but I didn't want to try it because of the caffeine, so I grabbed a low fat chocolate milk instead. Drank about a third of it and my tummy did NOT like it. It looks like I may be somewhat lactose intolerant after all (I forgot that the milk I drank yesterday was Fairlife, thus lactose-free). In other news, (sorry for the TMI) - I pooped!