After post op gastric sleeve - my experiences

[Arabesque 6,478]

Yep, baby spoons or teaspoons. I used to sort of just dip my teaspoon in - nowhere near a spoonful. Think of the teeny taste a child will take of a food they don’t like or have never had before & think they won’t like.

Your purées may be too thick for your healing tummy to tolerate yet. Try adding more liquid (water, stock, gravy, milk, etc.) & thin it down to a thick pouring consistency like custard or thinner for a while & see how you go. All because your plan or doctor says to move to the next stage, sometimes your body just isn’t healed enough to move on. It’s not uncommon for people to step back to the previous stage for a couple more days. We all heal at different rates.

Keep it slow. Leave minutes between bites. Don’t be surprised if it takes 20 or more minutes to eat that 1/4 cup. And if you can’t eat it all, that’s okay too. It will get easier.

A lot if this may sound like a bit of a faff but there is a lot of good learnings in these seemingly strange behaviours we’re asked to follow. For example taking small bites helps you to appreciate & think about what you’re eating. It takes a good 20 minutes for your full signal to get through to your head. Eating slowly helps to make sure you’re not eating to excess. So the message you’ve had enough gets through before you’ve eaten way more than you actually need & aren’t ever at the OMG I’m stuffed stage. It helps you to reassess & avoid that mindless shoveling in of mouthful after mouthful of food in a short period of time.

[NickelChip 686]

In preparation for post-surgery, I recently bought a set of vintage cocktail forks and demitasse spoons to help keep my bites the size my doctor wants. I happen to love vintage china and went through my collection to find suitably small salad plates and bowls to use, too. I took a photo with the new plates and utensils with my "standard size" items (dinner plate, dinner fork and teaspoon) for comparison. (The bowl is a fruit bowl and holds about 1/2 c)

Edited February 7 by NickelChip

[Raevor85 24]

Thank you all for suggestions i tried them earlier today and so far so good! Im over the moon happy. I know i will have to use every ounce of patience i have to make it through this stage and remember when they say baby steps that phrase is literal lol.

[Arabesque 6,478]

12 hours ago, NickelChip said:

In preparation for post-surgery, I recently bought a set of vintage cocktail forks and demitasse spoons to help keep my bites the size my doctor wants. I happen to love vintage china and went through my collection to find suitably small salad plates and bowls to use, too. I took a photo with the new plates and utensils with my "standard size" items (dinner plate, dinner fork and teaspoon) for comparison. (The bowl is a fruit bowl and holds about 1/2 c)

Beautiful china & cutlery @NickelChip. Such lovely patterns. I love vintage/antique cutlery & china too. I have my grandmother’s best china she got when first married so about 70 odd years old. It’s not an expensive collectable brand like Wedgewood, Spode or Royal Doulton but beautiful & very special to me.

[Raevor85 24]

I had a bout of weakness earlier today like i felt drained completely and had to sleep. Im trying to get a good rhythm going with taking my Vitamins. Its slow going but im taking B12 complex and Multivitamin in the morning and im trying to get the Vitamin D and 2nd multivitamin in before bed. I find it hard to take all 4 at once like i used to before surgery. Hopefully this system will work. As usual ill keep you all posted.

[Arabesque 6,478]

I split my Vitamins & meds across the day. One multi, my PPI & vit D in the AM & the second multi & HRT in the PM. Didn’t hurt me or affect my blood work. As long as you’re taking them. Routines are essential.

[Raevor85 24]

Omg thats good its not just me doing this lol i just couldnt find a way to take them all at once without gagging. Breaking them up is definitely better for me too.

[NickelChip 686]

13 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Beautiful china & cutlery @NickelChip. Such lovely patterns. I love vintage/antique cutlery & china too. I have my grandmother’s best china she got when first married so about 70 odd years old. It’s not an expensive collectable brand like Wedgewood, Spode or Royal Doulton but beautiful & very special to me.

I have my grandmother's silverware from 1938, which is so special even though it's just silverplate. The funny thing is, the cocktail forks pictured here were supposed to be in that pattern, but the seller on eBay sent me the wrong ones and I liked them so much, I offered to buy them too (she did end up sending me the correct forks, which I've put in the silverware chest). When I started looking for demitasse spoons, it turned out my grandma's pattern didn't have them, but the "mistake" pattern did. So it turned out to be a lucky accident, and they really complement the early 1900s china pattern (which is Bavarian, and not very expensive but looks gorgeous). I figured if I needed to use small plates and cutlery, I could at least make meals special by using the china that usually stays hidden in the cupboard. A way to shift from focusing on the quantity of the food to enjoying the overall aesthetic experience of dining.

[ChunkCat 673]

Looove the plates and silverware @NickelChip!! I don't have any fine china but I love the look of it. Once I'm not in an apartment or moving around the world anymore, I am determined to start a collection. LOL For now I just ordered some smaller plates, bowls, and tiny silverware to accompany the larger normal portion plates and bowls I have. It has helped immensely. If you have to eat small portions, they might as well look pretty!!

When you introduce foods in the soft food stage the brain can go through this panic when it sees a small portion in a big dish. It thinks you are starving it!! I found the smaller dishes really helped calm this voice and helped me be mindful of how much I was eating. Plus it helped me reprogram that "clean your plate" mentality so many of us had drilled into our heads from childhood. If you only put the appropriate amount in your tiny dish, it doesn't feel so bad if you leave that last bite...

[harw 4]

I agreed with some, that the stomach was on fire kind of sensation. But eventually after surviving the tolerance level for 12hrs, the pain reduced and i was able to walk with the grace of God and a great support of my wife. 1 week past, I laughed today and literally the intolerable pain of the stomach pull was bloody torturing and went through extreme level of hurt. Please take note, do not try to sneeze, laugh, stand up fast, sit at low height, or even feel nausea… suffering level is tremendously high.

[T O P 3]

On 1/21/2024 at 12:24 PM, Raevor85 said:

I woke up feeling ok today day 3. I walked around my house for a few minutes. Dont know what that helped but i did it. Finally started having gas last night and today. My brain slipped on the sipping Water once because im so thirsty. Also bad side effect for me i cant stop spitting! Its driving me batshiz. I hope that goes away soon. Anyone else have a spitting issue?

The spitting is probably from the anesthesia or the breathing tube they had in your throat. That happen to me.