7 wks and still wishing I was feeling better...

Hi folks.. Well I have my support group tonight, so I believe my mood will change soon.. but I was hoping to be feeling so much better by now. I still seem to have trouble getting the fluids in. I wish I could describe the feeling in my tummy. It is sort of like I use to feel when I was really hungry, like a gnawing in the pit of the tummy. When I drink lots of rumbling happens, and sometimes a wee tummy ache too. For that reason it makes drinking so much more difficult. Eating.. well that too can be a problem for me. Some days I just have to force myself to eat. Other days are better. I have been ing ill a few times in the 7 wks, and the last time while trying to eat a bit of spagetti meat sauce with star pasta. Boy or boy that was the worse. Because I feel that I am still struggling I try to have a few protein drinks daily, otherwise I cannot believe I would be even close to 80 grms of protein daily. In fact may most of the time I am more like around 60 grms. Those of you that are post 6 months or more... does this get better. Did you have weeks that were good, followed weeks that were not so good. I guess I just expected it would be better than it is... my hopes were tooo high on my amazing recovery... Jane

Hi, I am 6 wks post op and I just saw my doctor yesterday. One of the questions he asked was are you throwing up at all. Luckily I have not but he said if I do he wants to know immediately as it could be a stricture. said it usually happens at 3-6 weeks but that I still need to let him know if it happens. Have you told your surgeon? Also you need to chew the living crap out of your food. Pasta goes down so fast that you need to be careful and really chew it good. I had chinese noodles today and it was hard not to swollow like the old days. I get the same feeling in my stomach, like you're really starving and sometimes you are so eat small meals more frequently or have a low carb yogurt in between meals. It will get better. I still eat a lot of cream soups. It's just easier. LOL

I understand, I have the same difficulty. I have had many bouts of not because of a stricture, but because I ate too fast or too much. If I have ANYTHING, I mean ANYTHING I should not eat, it generally does come back up. I made home-made periogis the other day for Easter and took two bites of it, boy was that a BIG mistake. Pasta just sits way too hard in my pouch. I also seem to have a hard time with meat. I just cannot seem to get the mind set that we can only have 2 or 3 bites. If I eat just one bite too much, up it comes. It does seem like it is getting better recently. I think I am realizing more what the feeling of full is. GOOD LUCK, Jen

I think I can honestly say that THIS week, I have felt the best since surgery. My heartrate is still a bit high, but my BP at my 2 month visit was 123/77 -- it hasn't been that good since I was in my 20s. To answer your question, though... I still felt kinda bad at your stage in the game, and pretty much stuck to soft foods, i.e., cottage cheese, quiche (which I still have nearly daily), chilli, string cheese, protein bars and Atkins protein shakes (coffee flavored). I've tried tuna and salmon but both were kinda dry, no matter how much I added to them, and ckn breasts make my pouch grouchy. I have had crab and that set well, without the butter, just lemon. I can do about a 1/4 cup of ice cream, which actually will settle my pouch if it is grouchy. Dark meat ckn settles fine (I do like KFC and have had their coldslaw and mashed w/gravy - a couple times this past month). Tonight I had corned beef with a few baby carrots and 1/3 red potato with sour cream - that settled very well. I also like SF popsicles very much and low-carb yogurt. With more time, I think you will begin to feel better and better -- I know you keep hearing that, but I think it is the truth. Remember to eat extremely slow (like 15-30 minutes for a cup of food) and chew, chew, chew (25-30xs with each bite) and maybe stick to soft foods for a bit longer. Best wishes to you! ((((skinny hugs)))) wendyb 1.11.05 302/261.5 -40.5 Feeling GREAT this week!