2nd Week Post Op

Tuesday marked my post-op follow up with my dietitian and my cute surgeon.  

The dietitian visit was eye-opening.  As he explained it, my stomach can currently handle about a quarter cup of food.  My stomach will slowly expand to handle first a half cup, and then a full cup of food at one sitting.  Thankfully, this is natural and will not be due to some fault I make.  He explained weighing food by volume, instead of weight, as it is currently the volume that I am restricted by.  Therefore, a 4 oz Tuna steak could - by rights - be pureed to fit into a 1/4 cup container (or a 2 oz container).

Luckily, he also pointed out something that I had noticed.  I don't get full the way I used to.  The sensation is different, which can make it difficult to know WHEN I am full.  The way he explained it is that most people get a pressure just below their sternum that alerts them that they've had enough to eat.  My way of telling I'm full usually depends upon changes in my breathing, where I begin breathing deeper before taking a bite.  The bad part of my method is that it doesn't usually take effect until AFTER I've eaten too much.  This will come into play later in this blog.

Aside from that, I was to continue doing well and given the okay to return to work.

I was bad that day.  I woke up late for my appointment, which ran four hours, and then had to grocery shop and put groceries away, which means I ate or drank nothing till about 4 pm.  I had a popsicle because the idea of having more soup or protein shakes literally made me sick to my stomach.  Then, a few hours later, I joined a friend at Panera Bread and ordered some Tomato Soup.

I should have been on fluids for two more days but, as I said, I was literally becoming sick of the idea of having to sip another ounce.  So, the morning I returned to work, I took a calculated risk and tried my first taste of pureed protein.  The eggs with cheese sauce I had for breakfast went down fabulously.  Later in the day, I tried chicken salad, which also went down without a problem and tastes so much better than anything I'd had to for three weeks.

Unfortunately, the next day, my stomach began cramping after the eggs and - although I never threw up - I really, really felt like I wanted to.  So, I called work and told them I thought I'd bitten off more than I can chew (ha ha ha), and stayed home for the day.  The cramping and nausea persisted through lunch and my mid-day snack.  THIS was when I realized that the change in my breathing must be occurring when it is too late and I've already overeaten...or, at least I was eating too fast.  The 1/4 cup of pureed protein was supposed to last me 30 minutes, but I was eating it in 10-15 minutes.

Today, I've done a little better.  First, I've learned to only put food on the very tip of my spoon - not the whole surface area.   Secondly, I time my bites so that I take one bite every two minutes.  These two things now give me time to notice the subtle pressure below my sternum that the dietitian was talking about, signaling me to stop eating.  So, my third day has been a bit more successful, though I still missed work while I tried to work this all out.

Although I seem to have solved that problem, I've now having some pain in the front left of my stomach.  I'm not sure where it's come from, but it only hurts when I move, so I'm thinking it may be a muscle and not surgery related.

In regards to my current meal choices, I've pureed Tuna Salad, Chicken Salad and Turkey Club Salad.  I also made my dad pasta with ground turkey, Rosa sauce and some ricotta.  I took the meat sauce and pureed that, so it gives me a little taste of "Italian".  I also took some barbecued pork (light sauce) and pureed that.  Then, of course, there's my beloved eggs with cheese sauce.  It's not filet mignon, but damn does it taste better than soup!  Tonight, I think I'm going to try oatmeal and see how that hits the spot.

All in all, I'll be on the pureed diet until next Friday, when I begin soft proteins.

So, as you can see, I'm supposed to start for three weeks on soft protein; the first week being fish and seafood.  Unfortunately, I don't like fish (besides tuna and salmon) and I'm allergic to seafood.  Therefore, I don't foresee eating those two things for a full week.  So, the dietitian told me to do tuna, salmon and eggs the first week and then slowly try the other foods over the next two weeks.  I guess I'll just have to play it all by ear.

All in all, I've only lost three lbs this week, so I'm a bit disappointed by that.  Hopefully, I can get my energy levels up and get my stomach to behave long enough to start exercising more steadily, and that will make a difference.

Till next time, BE KIND!