I'm 13 days out and wondering what on earth I did to myself.

In the beginning, I couldn't hold down liquid. Then it was just cold liquid. Then it was just milk. Then it was just if I drank too fast. Getting my Protein was a chore. I despise Protein drinks. I have to gag them down. If I'm lucky, they stay down.

Now I'm thinking OMG yay soft foods!!! Maybe I can get protein without the nasty protein powder!!!

Scrambled eggs stay down. Yogurt does half the time. Deli meat and cheese, string cheese, egg salad, refried Beans - all the other things I've tried - have come back up.

At this point I'm struggling to get much protein at all. My NUT says its hard in the beginning but they've never seen someone with a protein deficiency so just to do the best I can. At this point, I'm wondering if anything will ever stay down. I want to start exercising but have no energy because I can't keep any food in. I'm tired of throwing up. I keep having to run to the bathroom at work within twenty minutes of eating anything. I'm feeling really defeated. I want to cry. Everyone says this will be worth it, but it seems like nobody else is goin thru or has gone thru what I am.

Wow, jus goes to show ya how different doctors are. I'm 11 days post op and no way would I try purée yet! I am on 1 week clear liquid, 2 weeks full liquid, then purée for 2 weeks. Then you can start to add soft foods. And they say try to avoid tuff meats for 6 months. Good luck to you! Hope it gets better!

I haven't been sick in three days. Everything I have tried has sat well. Maybe I'm finally turning the corner. Thank God!!!

Yay!!! Awesome!! Hope it continues!

Had my upper GI study this morning. If I ever have to do one again, it'll be too soon.

Preliminary findings are I have a narrowing below my pouch. I guess this is stomal stenosis? The doctor who did the test didn't really elaborate. Said he would get the report to my doctor.

Now the waiting game, and worrying I'll have to have surgery to fix it.

At Wal-Mart they have Protein Shots. They are 2.9 oz and have 26 gm of whey protein. I think they are Body Fortress brand. They had some that were more expensive that were 54 gm in each one.

The nutrition label for the Body Fortress shot can be seen by going here - http://www.bodyfortress.com/SUPER-PROTEIN-SHOT and then clicking on "View Product Label". Labeling laws require that ingredients be listed with the most predominant ingredient first followed by the next and then the next, etc. The second ingredient listed is "Proprietary Protein Blend (Hydrolyzed Collagenic Protein Isolate)".

The digestibility of various Proteins is published in the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). The PDCAAS has been adopted by the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. food and Drug Administration, and the World Health Organization. Proteins are ranked on a scale of 0 (least digestible) to 1 (most digestible).

Protein "bullets" or "shots" are attractive to bypass patients because they contain very large amounts of protein in very small volumes - usually 3 to 4 ounces. Every product I have seen marketed as a bullet or shot, including this one, contains collagen protein.

The problem is that collagen protein is an incomplete protein (meaning that it is missing one or more of the nine essential amino acids that your body requires but cannot manufacture) and more importantly, collagen has a PDCAAS digestibility score of 0.08. Compare that to Whey, Soy, Milk, and Casein proteins which all have a PDCAAS score of 1.0 and all are complete proteins.

All the protein in the world is useless if your body cannot digest it.

Ironically for me is the one thing they told me to stir away from which is CARBS, is the one thing I can get down easily, such as oatmeal, rice, and certain crackers. I had a major addiction to carbs specially cereals and sweets, so I didn't want to even try eating these but my pouch was rejecting protein by itself even eggs! I'm 5 weeks out tomorrow, and it takes time, patience with yourself, and re-training your body to eat. I started getting the eggs down like in egg drop soup or pouched eggs, but solid or boiled eggs, it's just not happening yet. Luckily I don't eat red meats or any four legged animal to say the least, so tofu has been very easy for me to digest and not have any problems with. You'll have to play around with many food groups and consistency until you find one that works better for you. I am about sick of the protein shakes, and wish I could EAT a darn salad at this point, but I'm still not there. Hang in there, I think we've all had our downs when we have trouble eating even a tbsp of what we think is normal. The compensation to the sacrifice is seeing that reading in the scale go down. My surgeon grilled the 60g of protein on me, and said if I don't get those in I will be loosing LEAN muscle and not fat, so I try to remind myself than even when I don't want to chug down that chalky nice shake. LOL. I don't want to end up to flabby and loosing muscle tone, so make it your priority to loose weight maintaining your muscle tone and mass. Hang in there girl, we've all been there!

Looks like I'll be having surgery either Thursday or Monday to remove scar tissue that has narrowed my intestines below my pouch.