My incisions never did really have much pain, just more a tenderness, like sore muscles after a good workout. But the Gas! That hurt, but not unbearable, and would not scare me off the surgery. Pre-op my Dr. only had me follow a low carb diet, no flour, corn, rice or potatoes, but I was allowed 1 serving of fruit a day, and basically all the meat eggs and veggies I wanted, so that wasn't hard at all and I still lost 5 lbs. On Wed. the day I had my surgery I slept most the day, with ice pack on my stomach, wasn't really hungry but did eat some jello and drank juice and water, took pain med twice I think. Day 2, Thur. I felt pretty good, still not really hungry, but ate Jello, sorbet and juice, about 4- 6 oz at a time every few hrs. kept ice on my stomach most of the day but the pain I had was in my back and shoulder not my stomach. I tried walking around the house and even walked around the yard a bit, layed down with my feet elevated anytime I was laying, and I did feel a bit better by bed time, but I did take pain meds for the gas pain in order to sleep at night. Friday, day 3 not so bloated feeling but the muscles in my back and left shoulder were still very sore, and I started feeling HUNGRY! I added protein shakes, and the thickness of them helped. I was feeling more normal so I drove my daughter and I to see a movie, got a big Icee to sip on during the movie, only taking pain meds 1 time at night and Dr. said I was ok to drive as long as I wasn't on narcotics. Sat. I was really hungry I had Protein shake in the morning, finished it for lunch, had sorbet, and jello every couple of hours, but I was still hungry between, took my daughter to watch fireworks and stopped to get a chocolate malt on the way, nothing seemed to satisfy my hunger for long, and I was feeling like if I ate another sweet thing I would puke...ugh! 11:30 at night I am making myself cream of chicken soup, I mixed it with water and put it in the blender to make sure their were no lumps in it, I only slightly warmed it, since I am still not suppose to have hot liquids, but soup never tasted so good. I feel like I am rushing it a bit, starting cream soups so soon, but my Dr. said the diet plan was only a guideline and everyone is different as far as how much swelling they have, and how soon they should move up from full liquid diet. Sunday, I started out with the other half the cream chicken soup, later I had a protein shake, still hated the sweetness, but Doc said the protein was important. later tried Butternut Squash soup, never had that before, but thought it would be safe to eat. It was surprisingly good, and just thick enough to make me feel satisfied a bit longer. Monday, no more gas pain, still some muscle soreness in my back though, stomach feels good though, I'm hungry again, I have lost 11 lbs since my first visit, so weight loss is going well, but I feel hungry within 30 min. of eating, I think the liquid is just going threw too fast since I won't have a fill until at least a month out. I am fighting the hunger, I still can only take in 4-6 oz at a time, but if I let myself I could do that every 30 min. I had a vanilla protein shake, and a can of broccoli cheddar soup spaced out threw out the day, I also had some juice and some sorbet, but late night I gave in and ate 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, I felt so much better, it was thick enough that I felt satisfied much longer. I didn't want to go to bed right away because I was afraid of heartburn, but it has been over three hours ago, and I basically felt ok this whole time. I am going to bed now that I am finished typing this, I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I wonder if I am pretty normal so far?:thumbup:

Hi Pam! Ok, your stories are giving me some confidence to try some other things. I will probably stay on the softer foods for a couple more days, and then maybe venture out and try some other stuff. Sorry about your car/water incident--oh my! I haven't had that happen yet...yikes! It's probably a good plan to wait til after your vaca to get a fill.

I've been wanting to try some pretzels and bread, just to see if it will go down. I did try some chicken last night and it was fine. I have a feeling once we get our first fill it may be more difficult to get some of this stuff down. I am having a hard time not drinking with my meals. I always feel thirsty, for some reason. I try to drink in between meals as much as possible.

Enjoy your vacation! Keep me updated. I'll let you know how the fill goes.

Susan

I agree, it will be harder to get some of these things down after a fill, especially bread that seems to be a common problem food, but what I have tried so far has worked fine, I just don't eat too much of it because it fills me up too fast, and it is high carb, which I am trying to stay away from pretty much. The not drinking has been hard for me, I knew it would be before I went into this, I even discussed it with my Dr. and he told me he had another patient that just never could adjust to the not drinking and he told her to do her best, and if she really felt that she had to then go ahead but keep it to a minimum, but during our discussion he indicated the reason not to drink was because it would wash the food threw the pouch faster and you wouldn't feel satisfied as long. So, in my mind I felt it would be ok to just drink a small amount for now, when I really felt I needed a drink and I would work on getting used to not drinking, I mean this is all a learning process right? Well, so far drinking while eating has not worked out very well, I told you about my two experiances, the one with the chicken and the time in the car, so I think maybe their is more than one reason not to drink while eating. It sort of makes it a little easier to say no. Now I just have to get better about drinking between meals, I'm not very good at that:unsure: Good luck as you slowly progress to other foods, keep me posted on how it goes! Pam