Hello everyone,
I will have my surgery on the 25th of May. I am well prepared I think, the only thing that worries me at the moment is that 2 weeks after my operation I want to attend an important 3 day meeting. I will probably still be in the liquid phase. How do you gallantly get around questions from colleagues? Because you don't take anything at the buffet and you don't drink in the evening either. That's going to be really interesting, because I usually love eating and drinking with my colleagues and I'll probably have to think up some really good excuses.

Thanks ? Greetings from Europe!
Danijela

Tell them you're doing a cleanse? People love "fad" diets. lol

I had a company event not long after my surgery. I just told them I had food restrictions post operation. I didn't tell anyone what kind of surgery it was, but there were no questions and everyone was cool about it. It depends on how much they know, I guess. Everyone on my team knew I was out for surgery, though I never got into specifics. When asked, I just said gastrointestinal - a true statement, but also vague enough it could be anything as far as they knew, and that I had restrictions during the healing process. These were all pretty new colleagues and none were personal friends, so maybe they would have asked more questions if they were close friends.

Edited to add: You can always fake eating, if even saying the above is difficult. Put things on your plate, move them around. If there is anything you can eat, eat that and just play with the rest. Get a glass of wine and just never drink it.... that sort of thing.

Edited May 4, 20224 yr by Queen ApisM

I have multiple food allergies. I always just take things I can eat. Just say you have allergies and it’s easier to bring your own things. No one ever gets wierd about my food then.

I'm gonna go old school - Take your shakes/protein water and don't worry about it. If you're comfortable telling folks about the surgery, my experience at work events was that everyone was really cool with it and often went out of their way to accomodate me (not pushing food or making it awkward when I wasn't eating).

You can always just say you had stomach surgery but not what kind. And if they insist on knowing which surgery and you don’t want to tell them I believe it is the hiatal hernia surgery that is very similar to WLS post op in terms of pain and diet. Double check that though.

I think people have given you good ideas. You will need to bring protein shakes or something, but there is likely going to be some sort of soft/mushy food you can eat. Talk to your nutritionist about what are some things likely to be on the menu you can eat. If there are beans, for example, or soft cheese. I am not too sure what sorts of foods are common at German work functions LOL! I've heard some other Europeans on here talk about pate, so maybe that's something that would be there.

Thanks to everyone sharing their thoughts. I’ll talk to my hotel and get some soups and I’ll talk to my nutritionist too. ?

Hello everyone,
I will have my surgery on the 25th of May. I am well prepared I think, the only thing that worries me at the moment is that 2 weeks after my operation I want to attend an important 3 day meeting. I will probably still be in the liquid phase. How do you gallantly get around questions from colleagues? Because you don't take anything at the buffet and you don't drink in the evening either. That's going to be really interesting, because I usually love eating and drinking with my colleagues and I'll probably have to think up some really good excuses.

Thanks [emoji4] Greetings from Europe!
Danijela

Just be honest with them...if they have a nasty opinion, that's on them not you. You are trying to better yourself and that's all you need to worry about.