I'm almost 2 weeks post op. Everything has been going well, just started puree stage. I had a minor constipation issue days ago. But otherwise was tolerating things well.

I stayed at family member's house this weekend. I brought all my supplies, with me, except when I got stuck on my dinner, I just repeated what I had earlier, cream of wheat. (I tried adding Protein powder.) Big mistake. Looking back, it was too much carb, and seemingly Fiber and lets just say- constipation problem solved. I guess I can take away that I fell back on an old habit: eating whatever in bind and not planning well enough.

After a miserable hour, I feel much better. I was feeling great about not being too tempted by birthday cake this weekend, only to be betrayed by cream of wheat and stupidity. This is definitely a learning process.

Deb, It's ok. We all have done it. I got way to cocky this yesterday and added too much cereal to my yogurt. I add a little for crunch. Well, I paid for it. Lesson learned here as well!!!

I am under the impression that over time - maybe a year after surgery - out stomachs will be able to tolerate more and we will not have these same challenges. I have to say that I also find business travel challenging for eating. At the hotel buffets, I end up eating boiled eggs and smoked salmon every day - there literally is nothing else, though sometimes scrambled eggs are available. It is hard to plan for every situation.

One thing that has helped me is to carry Protein bars with me everywhere I go. I travel a lot for work. So for long plane rides (8-10 hours), I always have some Atkins meal/snack bars that are high-protein and low-carb. Those help a lot. I also keep a plastic bag full of decaf tea bags and artificial sweetener. The flight attendants give me hot Water to make tea. I also carry with me instant decaf coffee.

I have been going over what I did differently besides the second go round of c.o.w.. I know I had unwittingly had tea that said, "may have caffeine." I just though it was herb tea. I had stevia in it. I wonder if either of those caused this. I'm still not feeling good.

I have been going over what I did differently besides the second go round of c.o.w.. I know I had unwittingly had tea that said, "may have caffeine." I just though it was herb tea. I had stevia in it. I wonder if either of those caused this. I'm still not feeling good.

I've never experienced a problem with stevia but I definitely have problems with caffeine - it irritates the stomach.

I think it was the cream of wheat. I was sick for more than twelve hours. I have since had a shake with stevia and no issue. The thought of cream of wheat even gags me a little at the moment. I got a little queasy tonight, but nothing severe. More like annoying. Took a zofran and it helped immediately.