Hi Everyone!

I was sleeved this past Monday came home yesterday. I was having a lot of gas pains but most of that has went away now with moving around. I had an awful 2 days at the hospital mainly because I had so much fluid build up in my sides that I could not lay flat and that made getting my CT Scan very hard, when I laid down I could not breathe. Other then that all went well.

I just had a question about the post-op diet, my surgeon said not to focus so much on getting the full 60 grams on Protein the first few days but rather on fluid intake. I have been sipping water -lots of it and I ate some sugar free jello and pudding. Also for lunch I had chicken noodle soup strained so just the broth. Anybody have any suggestions of other things that worked well for them? I tried the Carnation Instant Breakfast with no sugar and skim milk but I have irritable bowel syndrome and it made me so sick- I really did think I was going to die :thumbup:

So now comes the hard part of this journey the post-op diet!

I will be anxiously awaiting all your replies!

And for anyone wondering-I did get to keep nursing my 19 month old, he has slacked off a little and realized that he does not need mommy to fall back asleep at night and that it a wonderful thing:thumbup:

From my doctor's office:

Just as a suggestion you might want to do a bit of grocery shopping before you have surgery so that when you come home you will not need to go to the store, you will be able to rest and relax. Some ideas are:

broth, chicken, Beef, Vegetable, or they have new products out (new to me) that are Chinese soup broths in a carton that you simply heat. It would give you a bit of variety.

Popsicles that are Water based, sugar free, and a variety of flavors.

Ramen Noodles. While the noodles are not acceptable during the clear phase of the post op diet there is a packet of dry broth mix that many seem to like, it has a bit more kick than regular broth, I am told.

Propel water, you can purchase this as bottled water or you can purchase individual packets of this product and put it in water and mix. The reason this product is good is because many are used to a high carbohydrate diet and when your body is used to many carbs, especially white carbs such as flour, Pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar; your pancreas tends to put out a bit too much insulin because of the carb load. When you remove carbs from your diet it can potentially be a drastic change and your pancreas is still putting out a bit too much insulin during the post op diet. This can cause low blood sugar, your stomach might feel nauseated, you might begin to perspire, feel like you are trembling. This does not happen to everyone but it does seem to happen more to older folks or those used to very high white carb diets. Propel water has a very small amount of sugar in it. Just enough to bring your blood sugar up but not enough to cause large blood sugar spikes.

Power Aid Zero, it is a new product that is low carb but it has some electrolytes that are beneficial during the post op stage.

Water, you need to get about 64oz of fluids in daily. Your broth and Popsicles count toward your 64oz of fluids daily. The key is to sip, sip, sip all day long. The first few days you may find that you cannot get your full 64oz of fluids in, try as hard as you can. You do not want to become dehydrated. If you enjoy tap water that is fine, if you don't then perhaps try bottled water and see if that goes down.

Crystal Lite, Sugar Free Hawaiian Punch, pretty much any sugar free water flavorings are fine during the post op diet.

Protein products, during days 1-5 you'll need a clear protein product such as Isopure clear bottled protein liquid or powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury. You can find Isopure at General Nutrition Stores or a variety of Health food stores. Unjury must be ordered on line in advance of your surgery, www.unjury.com. They have an unflavored product that is nice because when you are done with clears it is versatile and you can add it to Jello, cooking, smoothies, etc. Please note, this is a whey protein product. All whey protein products have one issue in common and that is that they don't heat easily. If you add any whey protein product to a hot liquid it will clump. The key is to add it to a cold liquid and heat slowly, then it will not turn into lumps.

A good source of protein products after the clear liquid phase (you can use these with water instead of milk starting day #5, and with milk starting day #11) can be purchased reasonably at:

www.netrition.com

Some excellent products are:

Matrix 5.0 by Syntrax http://www25.netrition.com/syntrax_matrix_page.html

The more popular flavors are chocolate and Cookies & Cream.

You can spice up the Chocolate with Da Vinci Sugar Free Syrups:

http://www25.netrition.com/cgi/prices.cgi?manu_id=121

Another very popular protein product if you like Chocolate and Peanut Butter is Whey Gourmet, Choco/Peanut butter:

http://www25.netrition.com/pvl_whey_gourmet.html

I suggest the above because you'll need to consume about 60-80gms of protein after surgery. During the post op diet this can be difficult to do. Adding protein supplements can make this much easier.

You'll want to track your protein intake in the beginning and a few free, on line sites you can do that are:

www.thedailyplate.com

www.sparkpeople.com

www.fitday.com

How is the baby feeling? Fever gone?

Congratulations on your surgery. If you can have protein drinks and can't tolerate dairy, try soy splender drinks. They are in the health food section of the grocery store on the shelf in a carton.

Congrats! You'll hear time and time again that you get your life back with this surgery. Good for you for taking over control of food issues!

YAY YAY I am so glad you posted. . . My phone would not let me log on here while out of town and I forgot to take my laptop.

I'll call you this weekend and check in on you.

I liked the Isopure clear protein drinks in the early days. Eventually I couldn't stand them but they saved my life in the first month or so.

Congratulations on getting your sleeve!

Pretty much what everyone has already suggested here is what I lived on, so nothing new to offer there.

Rosebud2 mentioned Ramen noodles and that reminded me of something my Mother turned me on to when my kids were small. When the noodles are cooked, turn off the heat and add 2 eggs to the pot and stir for a minute or so. MMMMMMM...soooo good. I think this would work whether you are using the noodles or not.

can I ask what made you decide to go to a vertical sleeve?

Rosebud2 mentioned Ramen noodles and that reminded me of something my Mother turned me on to when my kids were small. When the noodles are cooked, turn off the heat and add 2 eggs to the pot and stir for a minute or so. MMMMMMM...soooo good. I think this would work whether you are using the noodles or not.

That would work very well for full liquids but not clears. It would bump up the Protein a bit.

There is also that Nectar stuff. Isn't that a clear liquid?

can I ask what made you decide to go to a vertical sleeve?

I am going with the sleeve because I did not want the hassle of the follow-up that the lap band required and I did not want the malabsorbtion issues that go along with bypass. After researching all weight loss surgeries I heard more positive about the sleeve even though it is a relatively newer procedure.

I'm so glad your breastfeeding has continued!

I found by 19 months with my third, I wouldnt have even had to nurse her on my sore stomach - I could have thrown her a boob from across the room, lol. She didnt even have to stop playing with her blocks!

Thank you everyone for all your responses.

The baby is doing just fine and without fever they had me bring him into PEDS right before my surgery to ease my mind.

I am doing so much better today, each day seems to make a huge difference.

I did have to go back in yesterday for an emergency CT Scan and blood work because my rate heart was extremely fast 140-147 range and I was also having cold sweats (I was drenched when I was sleeping) everything came back normal as far as the surgery part my surgeon just had to change my medication for hypertension add in a beta blocker and I am okay now. I was so scared though!

I have been a little hungry, I find that the packet that comes with the ramen noodle Soups have been like heaven!!! I cannot wait to have mashed potatoes, but I am just so scared to do anything to these staples.

So I just take it easy, I am a little confused on the clear to full liquids thing- I question everything, so I have pretty much still been on a clear liquid and drinking Isopure.