kitmouse

I was on full liquid for five weeks before surgery. Be grateful it’s only two days!!

But isn't it nice to not be DRIVEN by food, to be able to stop so easily, to not go to war with yourself over 10 calories' worth of egg? That's what I'm marveling at right now. This freedom is marvelous to me.

So far so good! I only ate a third of it, but my body is happy and Qbic (my pouch) is quiet and satisfied.

My first meal! Refried beans watered down with vegetable broth and spiced with garlic, onion, and chili powder, and a soft-scrambled egg. I'm obviously not going to eat the whole thing. If I only get to eat a bit, I get to eat the best!

Thank you both so much. Yes, I have an incentive spirometer--part of the time it makes me cough. My lungs were xrayed and so far I'm okay. But I do have crappy lungs, too (thanks Mom!) so I'll be watchful. Good article, James. I will track this problem.

For some reason the search isn't working for me right now, it just makes my page crash. I did try to find this before I asked! I had my RNY on Thursday last. Everything went perfectly, and I came home yesterday (Saturday). I'm working on fluids and protein. I have a G tube for some reason I can't remember (those drugs are STRONG) so I can put liquid protein straight into Q-bic (my pouch) if I get to the end of the day and I'm behind. So all is well. Except I have this annoying dry (regularly productive at first, now rarely) cough. It started in the hospital and no one seemed bothered by it. They said it's normal, cough it up and get rid of it. Okay. I can do that. But this dry cough is driving me batty. It wakes me up from sleeping, I have to struggle to sit up and hug a pillow, and you all know that coughing 3 days after surgery HURTS!! Is this normal? Do I just have to muscle through this? Should I call my doc? If I'm being a wimp just tell me, but I haven't seen anything about coughing in all my months reading.

I am a physical therapist assistant, and I have a patient load scheduled a month in advance. Year-round I am always fully booked. When I was preparing for surgery I told my employer that I was "having surgery" and that my surgeon insisted on 4 weeks of recovery time because my job is an active one. Legally they can't insist you tell them what surgery you are having. If your surgeon says two, three, four weeks, they can't argue. If you're covered by FMLA by all means apply for that. If you're covered by state disability (I am) then apply for that. Advocate for yourself. Take care of yourself as if you were one of your patients. Learning to stand up for ourselves and our needs is as important as any of the other changes we have to make in living this post-surgical life. You will be a better employee if you take the time to heal properly.

Soooo?? Is it done? Are you okay? I'm done and home after two nights in the hospital. Updates please! ?

Interesting indeed! Mine was a whole day later. Ugh, drinking contrast...

Interesting. I have no idea! I'm sure you could call your surgeon and ask though?

No, that wasn't. Basically you go to X-ray and they take baseline films, then you swallow contrast and they take more films. It's so they can see if your new pouch is leaking into your abdominal cavity. Q-bic (my pouch's new name, so called because it looked square in all the films) is fine and sealed and healthy!

When was the last time you lost 16 pounds in a month? That's great! My surgeon says never compare yourself to others. Just work YOUR tool. Keep your eyes on your own work!

Surgery yesterday, and my swallow test went perfectly this morning. My doctor says "you're maybe even a little ahead" (I've been doing laps around the nurses station). And who knew that chicken broth would taste this good?? And who knew that I'd be in a place where I hadn't eaten in 30 hours, and a few spoonfuls of broth were good to go? Who is this person? Just...WOW. I was really worried about eating so little food with that driving, desperate hunger. I get it now, though. Bye bye, Hungry Monster!

Surgery yesterday, and my swallow test went perfectly this morning. My doctor says "you're maybe even a little ahead" (I've been doing laps around the nurses station). And who knew that chicken broth would taste this good?? And who knew that I'd be in a place where I hadn't eaten in 30 hours, and a few spoonfuls of broth were good to go? Who is this person? Just...WOW. I was really worried about eating so little food with that driving, desperate hunger. I get it now, though. Bye bye, Hungry Monster!

Congratulations John!