15 day Post Op Report

BrianChesteen

Glad to be a Loser!
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
155
Location
East TN
Well today is my 15th day as a DS'er, my second day back to work.

Everything is still going well physically. I am getting close to 90oz of liquid in a day and averaging well over 90g of protein a day. Many days are over 100g of protein.

All of the muscle pain is basically gone. There are a few little tender spots. The incisions are all but healed, basically pink scars at this point. I am bruised from the Lovenox injections I have to give myself every morning. The insides are basically pain free. Have different sensations now than pre-op but I guess that is to be expected. Urine output seems to be normal. It has slowed way down from the early days out of the hospital. I drink mostly crystal light and powerade zero. Sometimes just plain water seems to kick the kidneys in gear better than those other liquids. TMI warning: Having one good BM a day now first thing in the morning. It is soft but well formed with sort of a Green tint now. The black stuff has worked its way out.

Everything is so good that at times I forget that I had the DS. Knock on wood and pray hard that it keeps going that way.....

However the chattering monkey on my shoulder tells me that this DS is being way too forgiving at this point and that I have spent all of this money in vain. That I will somehow defeat the surgery or not really get any benefit from it. I know these are not realistic thoughts but the chattering monkey is hard to silence sometimes!

Still just taking multiple woman multi vites at this time (the woman ones have iron) until you experts tell me it is OK to start on more vits. I have the vitalady DS regimen ready.

My issue right now is dealing with this all liquid diet. My surgeon now leaves DS patients with about 10% more stomach than a VSG patient. Not sure if this was always the case or not. That being said, I feel like from the reports others make that I have been left with a larger sleeve than many have. I can swallow about 4 oz of liquid at a time and just start to feel it. The full sensation leaves quickly with just liquid. I can drink an 8 oz protein shake in about 10 minutes.

I do feel like I feel hungry. It is different than pre-op hunger but it seems like my new hunger feeling. The liquids and shakes only satisfy this for a short while.

That being said, I have tested the water on a few food items that are not allowed on my surgeon's Phase I diet. Before you read the next paragraph, please don't think I am cramming my face full of food or anything, all of what I have tried so far combined could easily fit on a bread plate (with the exception of the liquid soups).....

So far I have tried spaghetti squash with a little bit of marinara, cream of chicken soup, a teaspoon of mashed potatoes, a teaspoon of fried green beans, about 1/4oz of well chewed roast beef, taco bell refried beans, very thin deli turkey rolls with a slice of colby jack cheese, half a whole wheat english muffin with butter, and chicken tortilla soup from Mcalisters. Obviously my portions are ~4 oz for thick stuff and around 8oz for liquids and I chew the stuff till it is mush. Today I am 15 days post op and honestly I feel like I could go back to regular food but I am taking it in baby steps and being careful! I figure if it does not hurt and does not make me sick or have bathroom issues I must be doing ok.

So there it is. Am I over doing it? Eating solids too early? Am I crazy thinking I am getting hungry? :hide:

PS: I have sort of been using this veteran's original food list as a test for my excursions from the surgeons plan:
http://www.dsfacts.com/Post-Op-Eating.html#.Ut7OkBAo670
 
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I think you are doing very well. :banana: Keep up the good work. I wouldn't worry about your stomach size. Mine started out at 5 0z, I lost all my weight. It is HARD getting in all the protein a DSer needs with a teeny tiny stomach. I think it will work to your benefit.
 
What Elizabeth said.

When you are Jonesing for your next fix of food, you are probably craving protein. I STILL do that, as regular as clockwork, and I am over eight years out.

But, you will learn what YOUR body needs.
 
I'm glad things are going so smoothly for you! Please keep letting us know what new things you are introducing and when. How are you doing getting your vitamins in?

I have been taking 9 multi's per day geared around women because they have iron in them. I plan to start more vits from the vitalady regimen as soon as suggested by the vets here (and based on how my labs change from pre-op to 3 months). I take 3 in the morning 3 in the afternoon and 3 before bed. I have no problems taking them.
 
It sounds like you are working as hard as you can towards health and taking care of yourself. Looking forward to hearing about how well you will do. It's great that you are tracking vitamins and protein; that seems to be something that the most successful vets share in common with you- at least in the beginning months. *I need a high five smilie*
 
One a day women's by bayer

The only ones I could find in our cabinet with iron in em.

Well other than the horse pill multi my surgeon made me buy.
 
One a day women's by bayer

The only ones I could find in our cabinet with iron in em.

Well other than the horse pill multi my surgeon made me buy.
Brian, you probably need to supplement the iron separately anyway. I know Costco carries a centrum equivalent...Sam's might, don't know how close you are to either of them or which one you belong to but the one Vitalady sends out in her pre-packs is the Kirkland (Costco) Daily Multi.
 
Yep, I have the Kirkland ones from her. I just have not cracked into those separate ones yet. I totally agree that soon I will need to go that route. I figured it would be best to wait a bit before starting the tender iron.
 
Are you doing the pre-packs or did you get all of them separately? We (dh and I) did the separately.

The one issue many have with the pre-packs is early on something usually upsets their sleeves. So easiest way to start is to start with just the multi's and about every three days, add a new one to the mix. Like the vitamin D , then the C, then the iron, then the calcium, etc. That way if something bothers you, you can ask about an alternative.
 
I have all of them separate. Non-prepackaged.

Thanks for the advice on how to start the regimen!
The thing is, early in the process you still have vitamin stores to pull from which is a good reason to have them as healthy as possible. So if it takes a month or so to get up to taking them all, you aren't gonna go too deficient. But you do need to start as early as you can.

I think I was almost 4 months out before I could handle much more than a multi.
 
Okay, I'm looking at the label of that vitamin. By taking 9 of those a day, you are loading WAYYYY up on the B vites, possibly to extremes, especially on the B6. You are pouring a shit ton of calcium carbonate down your gullet and therewith inviting kidney stones. I don't know what that much copper might do.

This is not a good plan, not even for the short term. I know you like "empirical evidence," but what you are doing is neither empirical nor evidence-based.
 

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