ClareLynn

Ah okay so going from full liquids to ricotta cheese was too big of a jump. Makes sense! Thanks I’ll try some (very moist) puréed foods tomorrow and see if that is less troublesome. Thanks!

I was supposed to start the mushy/soft food phase yesterday but it’s not going well. After just 1 tiny completely chewed bite it feels stuck in my throat. I have tried three times now: ricotta bake (no egg), soft scrambled egg and a thick puréed soup. Honestly even with liquids I feel it hang out for a bit in the same spot before going into my stomach. But if I eat real slow with small sips it’s fine. I’m going to just go back to the full liquid phase and ask the surgeon on Monday. I was wondering if anyone had other food suggestions that may go down easier? Yeah was thinking thin mashed potatoes. I was supposed to have my hiatal hernia fixed during surgery but it ended up not happening. I sort of wonder if this is related. I needed it fixed because it’s causing me a ton of pain, vocal and swallowing trouble…

I would say that you and your body are going through a lot right now. Time for any partners to step up and wear a condom.

I landed back in the ER because I wasn’t fully emptying my bladder. Same deal, only a dribble came out. The problem isn’t not drinking enough. The problem was the pain medication that I was on. Some pain meds cause problems peeing and pooping. Call your surgeon and ask about this. If you don’t completely empty your bladder you can have problems so don’t ignore it! I had a catheter put in to get the pee out then switched from a pain medication with opioids to plain Tylenol. All better now.

I know that there are a million topics about this already but to be honest I was still having a hard time mixing my protein powder (isopure zero carb) into hot soups for the full liquid phase. If I mixed it first, getting out all the lumps, then microwaved it, it would curdle. If I mixed with water and added it after heating, it would thin out the soup too much and cool it down even faster. I tried blender bottles, a vitamix, and milk frothers and nothing was working. I am having much better luck mixing the powder with a tiny bit of broth (just water was diluting the soup flavor). Mix it up into a thick paste and there are still dry spots and lumps. Then just leave it for a few minutes and it finishes mixing all on its own. The consistency starts off as thick oatmeal and after sitting is like heavy cream without any lumps. I then add that to the heated soup and don’t get any lumps, thin out the soup or dilute the flavor! I’m just super happy to have finally figured out something that doesn’t totally suck after 2 weeks of liquids. ? I guess it also helps that I am adding salt to the soups. It’s just 3oz of soup, and more sat is the only thing making this doable.

Thanks for the pointer to the journal! I think I’m going to keep logging it as strength training because it’s easier to see in my summary and figure out how my caboose is doing.

I wanted a way to track bowel movements with Baritastic so that I can better tell when I’m ok vs constipated. I couldn’t find anything in the app so here’s my workaround. ? I just record it as strength training!

I am 12 days post-op! Insurance ended up approving the surgery, they just took their sweet time about it. I’m so glad that my doctors wrote extra letters and went above and beyond so that I could have the surgery safely. I have lost 13lbs since the surgery for a total of 64lbs down from my highest weight. 100-ish more to go! I’m also glad that I took short term disability and did the full 5 weeks my surgeon recommended. I didn’t honestly understand just how impacted I’d be by the surgery and it’s comforting to know that I don’t need to magically get better in time to go back to work.

I had diarrhea during my preop liquid diet. For me any change in diet throws my digestion off though. I took immodium once and that helped a lot.

My surgeon left all of my insulin and diabetes meds up to my endocrinologist. Make sure that you are on top of testing your blood sugar when you start the diet and communicate with your doctor regularly

I was on an insulin pump, metformin and ozempic when I started my pre-op diet. I was glad that I had my Dexcom because it helped me quickly adjust my insulin. I had 2 severe lows then after talking with my endo, stopped all insulin while on < 600 calories. I’m 1 week post op and while my numbers aren’t perfect they aren’t high enough to warrant correcting. When I am eating again, I’ll have to test and figure out how much I need.

I’ve had sleep apnea for years and it’s always been well controlled, with a AHI less than 1. Immediately after the surgery my sleep apnea has been really bad. I was waking up multiple times a night because I stopped breathing and my AHI shot up to 5 (maybe higher actually since I found myself waking up with my mouth open which the machine can’t record). I got really bad dry bloody nose after being in the hospital and I think that didn’t help. I ended up buying and overnight shipping a new full face mask so that I could sleep safely even if my mouth popped open. Tried it out last night and after a few hours tinkering with the fit I think it will work. Still had a pretty crappy night though. I’m seeing my pulmonologist in a couple weeks for the post surgery follow up and will ask more about this then. I was just wondering if anyone else had trouble post surgery and had suggestions?

I went for a walk in my yard today but otherwise all my walking is just me going from room to room in the house. It’s been 6 days and I’m still super tender, can’t stand up straight without pain and walking jostles things. I do get up and walk once an hour. I hope that’s enough for now.

Having just recently landed back in the ER, I know just how scary and miserable that can be. I hope they figure it out quick so that you can few better. ❤️

Hours! Oh goodness I’m sorry to hear that. Did your surgeon have anything to say about it?

I’m less than a week from my SADI and I get stomach spasms when I have certain things. Water and broth is fine, liquid Tylenol and jello though both trigger it. It only lasts maybe 5-10 seconds then subsides. I just assumed that I’m still healing and that it will go away.

I peed! Was having trouble for a minute, then my cat crawled into my pants which were pooled around my ankles. It was such a normal little thing and I think that made it all work. I’m so glad that things are working again.

The catheter was incorrectly placed. The balloon wasn’t in my bladder but my ureathra. So yeah that explains why I was in excruciating pain. My surgeon took it out today and we are hoping I won’t need another.

I went to the ER last night, less than a day after being released after my surgery because I wasn’t peeing properly. Just a few drops come out when I knew my bladder was full. They put a catheter in me (it hurt so bad and still does that I’m afraid to move) and sent me home. I am stuck in bed, can’t move, can’t sit because it hurts so bad from the catheter pressure. I can’t take care of myself, and have to wait for my surgeon on Monday to see me. It’s not clear what he can even do, and may need to stay like this until a urologist can see me. The surgeon on call was no help just told me to go to the ER. I feel really abandoned and I am terrified that having a catheter in this long is going to make it really hard to pee by myself later. I don’t know how I got into this mess but I am so scared. I’m just focusing on pain management and staying hydrated. Also making sure the catheter doesn’t backflow, I don’t know what I’m doing and am so upset they wouldn’t re-admit me. I had a drug resistant kidney infection and almost died 2 years ago and none of this feels very safe to have to try to deal with without any training. Just like, pray for me please.

He said it kept them out of the way and made more room for the robot. The surgeon himself has had gastric surgery too, with the robot, and said that they did the same with his arms and they hurt for days. I agree it’s a bit unexpected and I do wish my arms weren’t so sore.

I had my surgery on the 24th and the surgeon used the DaVinci robot. Some things I didn’t realize before: * they tie up your arms over your head to get them out of the way * I had a small bruise on my wrist from the restraint * My shoulders hurt, not just from gas, but also that position. The muscles are seriously mad at me. Every time I try to lower myself into a chair, or get out of bed it makes my shoulders hurt super bad. * I have a mystery cut on my upper arm that I haven’t had a chance to ask the surgeon about. Looks like they fixed it up for me. I’m guessing my skin got pinched (I have loose skin there from losing weight and it’s paper thin and tears easily). All of my incisions are incredibly small, maybe less than 1”. None of the incision sites hurt, or are bruised or swollen. There ended up being 5 incisions. One just under my chest, another next to my belly button, then three on my lower abdomen. The surgery took 2 hours for a SADI. I was in terrible pain post op, it took several days to get a handle on it. Luckily they were fine with giving me whatever I needed to make the pain stop, as often as needed. I have stage IV endometriosis so some of the pain was probably from my adhesions too. So I’m not really sure if the robot made it better than normal surgery? It made some things worse and others better.

Oh I forgot the weirdest thing that happened after my surgery. I woke up and my eye glasses didn’t work anymore! In the span of 2 hours my prescription changed. So right now I have to take off my glasses for anything up close and put them back on to see stuff more than 3 feet away. The doctor thinks it’s a reaction to anesthesia or the nausea patch. I had just ordered 2 new pairs of glasses a week ago and will be quite sore if I can’t wear them! ?

I had the SADI on the 24th via the davinci robot. Turns out that there was my surgeon there plus two others to help! One was a specialist in diabetes and he intervened when mine went through the roof during surgery. My blood sugar is under control now on the liquid diet but … I sure do still have diabetes. I thought maybe it would go instantly away like magic. Maybe it will in a couple months, but for now I’m still on insulin. I didn’t anticipate coming out of anesthesia would be so rough. I was incredible pain and my first words were “can’t breathe” so I was immediately put on my cpap and then given fentanol. I was only supposed to stay one night but was still in a lot pain that we were chasing with a cocktail of drugs. So I stayed one more night. Now I’m able to walk and am not in a fog of pain. Just sitting in my room waiting to go home. It was a little rough at first but I still feel like me, and can see a path where I’ll feel better each day. It will have been worth it I am sure. p.s. At some point during the pandemic I must have become a different person because I have mooned everyone on this floor and worse. I just don’t care anymore. ? I used to be modest but not anymore!

I would eat the Bariatric Advantage calcium chews as candy if that wasn’t such a terrible idea. It’s like a starburst laffy taffy. ?

I am still waiting to know if insurance will pay for the surgery, but I have started the pre-op diet, done all the last minute pre-op tests. The office said that they are confident it will be approved but it takes time. ?‍♀️ Or maybe it’s been approved and no one told me. My short term disability / fmla leave was approved though! After 2 days on the 700 calorie low carb (30g) liquid diet, I am completely off my insulin. Makes me wonder why I haven’t just been living off of protein shakes since I seem to do so well with them! ?