I had my surgery on Monday the 17th. Yesterday was absolutely terrible with the gas pains and everything, but I'm doing much better now. No leaks, and I was able to come home early this morning. I do have some questions though about the first couple of weeks.

I'm supposed to get in 60 grams of protein plus 64 oz of water in, but I'm truly struggling to get this down. It took me several hours to drink 8 oz of milk with protein powder, and I felt so extremely full that I can't imagine drinking anything else for a while. How did you guys get in all of your requirements the first week?? Every sip of anything I take makes my stomach gurgle in a very uncomfortable way. Was that the case with you guys too?? Is this something that gets better after the first couple of weeks? I'm sure this will all pass, I just have been warned and warned to make sure to get in my fluids, but it's a lot more difficult than I could have imagined. Any good or bad stories of your first weeks would be great so that I can kind of have an idea of what I'm looking at. I know that the hardest part has passed, and I am so very excited about what's going to be happening in the next few months. Thank you for letting me share with you guys!

Congrats on your surgery and being home!

Sip, sip, sip... everything inside you is swollen and recovering from being cut up. You're going to make funny noises but try to avoid taking in so much that you feel discomfort. The sipping really helped me. It's really hard to train yourself to sip- at least it was hard for me. Three sips and I was pretty full!

I seem to recall being on Clear liquids only for two weeks and had no Protein requirements. There are such variations between surgeons and it's always best to follow your surgeon's advice. I heard lots of people had luck with the Isopure clear dissolve protein. The thing that saved me in the first two weeks were strained progresso Soups. If you strain all the solids out of the soups they are clear (again, just my surgeon's plan) and you could add the isopure protein to them. They're a good diversion from basic broths, or were for me.

Good luck with your recovery! I'm almost three years out and it's been the best thing that happened to me after my son!

All Drs are different. My Dr & nut work together and I was told that my goal was 64oz fluid which included my protein drinks. My surgery was 11-4 and there is simply no way on earth I'm getting in 64oz a day yet. I do try and as stated above the key is sip sip sip... Tiny sips all day long add up. I always have a bottle of something liquid with me sip sip all day. I'm at my first post op visit now and the Dr said main focus is hydration at this point just do what I can and keep working on it. Things will get better.

About the gurgles: Miss Tummy sounded like a dinosaur fight for the first month until I started solid foods.

The most important thing is to drink fluids. Worry about Protein later. Find something you can drink comfortably. Some find that Hot drinks like herbal teas help.

The sounds will slowly begin to subside after a few weeks.

You have to build up to the Protein and Water levels. Do the best you can. In the hospital they gave me these little medicine cups like the ones on the bottle of Nyquill. I took a bunch of those home and for the first week I'd sip from that. I think it helped me slow down. I never had the gurgling or the slimes _{(knock on wood)}

Oh my, you're trying too hard and stressing too much. Get in what you can at this point, I think I was lucky if I got 8 oz of Water down the first few days. Good luck!

Congratulations and just sip. With my doctor protein shakes counted towards 64oz liquids.