new post op question (one of many)

Okay, so how do you know if you are going to like or tolerate something before you have it?? I'm talking mushys to regular food and drinking?  I so badly want a big swallow of milk! I am just unsure of my limits and I think I might be dehydrated.  I can start mushys tomorrow if okayed with MD. I was going to have scrambled eggs for lunch with maybe a little bit of cheese but a lot of people seem to be having issues with eggs.  I need a bigger manuel!  LOL

My next question involves Maryland food. Crabs, corn on the cob, oysters, shrimps??  When? How much? how often??     Any ideas!   I think this surgery is going to save me a lot of money.

lol Your so cute honey! You will be able to tolerate it all in about 6 months just in MODERATION! When I was in your early phase I lived off unsweet tea with Splenda, No sugar added Italian Ice cups, cream of wheat, chicken and rice soup, chicken and stars soup, hard boiled eggs cut up in tiny pieces, protein shakes, sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, cottage cheese with sugar free grape jelly, oatmeal, no sugar added applesauce with Splenda, Chic fil a's diet tea and lemonade, crystal light, yogurts (Breyers Light) and everything else that was in my book. lol You will get through this phase fast honey. (((Hugs))) PLEASE DRINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Kelly! I've found with most things that it's really all about trial and error. My best suggestion is to start small, take a couple bites and wait a minute to see how it sits with you. What bothers someone else won't neccessarily be a problem for you, and vice versa. I, for one, have never had a problem with eggs, milk, or chicken, which seem to be 3 of the big things people have problems with. I've also found that Petey (my pouch) will let me know pretty quickly if he doesn't like something I'm eating. If I start chewing something and Petey doesn't want it, I usually have the urge to spit it out. Not exactly a classy move, but it helps! :)

As for seafood, I can't do crab cakes (Petey doesn't like mayonaise), but I eat lots of shrimp, scallops, and crab legs. They're my favorite sources of protein and as long as I chew, chew, chew, they go down very easily.

According to my doc,  you actually go from mushies to SOFT food. Eggs and soft cheese are okay. Then as far as meats, ground meats and then work in some soft meat (like crockpot meat).   I am still on the soft food, myself.

I don't see why you can't have milk (1% or Skim), as long as you can tolerate lactose.

I think sitting home for the last seven days has allowed me to do nothing but think about eating or not eating and food and now I am trying to finish my menus for the doc/NUT tomorrow and I'm worried.  Just need some talking off the ledge! 

Kelly

Well.... the first thing I did was make sure to buy in VERY SMALL QUANTITIES.  We were told that after one week on clear liquids at home, we could TRY introducing little one ounce containers (but that doesn't mean it actually WEIGHS an ounce, it just fits in a one ounce container!) of things like smooth yogurt (no seeds, no lumps of fruit, etc), one small container of Taco Bell refried beans lasted me about 3-4 days (I'm not much of a bean person myself, but I diluted them with beef broth and they were edible).  I bought a small fat-free cottage cheese, and my nutritionist recommended that I flavor it with a tiny amount of the dry Hidden Valley Ranch Original (buttermilk) dressing mix.  I also made fat-free-sugar-free puddings by using the instant sugar-free jell-o mixes and making them with fat free milk.  I'm pretty sure that you know what flavors of those kinds of things you'll like before you try them.  But the EggBeaters.... for the first couple of weeks, I had a hard time choking them down.  I guess the texture was a little firmer than my pouch liked.  Now, that's all I have in the morning is EggBeaters, scrambled up with fat-free Walmart Turkey Breast lunch meat, 15 grams of Weigh****chers 4 cheese Mexican shreds, and about an eighth of a cup of diced mushrooms.  I also eat fresh sliced strawberries with a little Splenda on them, and a half of a nearly ripe banana.  But, this kind of stuff is for after you've been on solid foods for a while.  Now, I also eat shrimp, oysters, crab-meat.  But, corn on the cob, not so much - too high in carbs and for now, waaaay too much roughage and fiber for your new little pouch.  I'd say that you could make yourself up some crab salad (cut up the crab really fine, chop up an egg, maybe use a tsp of dill pickle relish and a tsp of light mayonnaise), and it'll be really good.  But.... I would try eating it for at least another month.  You really do have to baby your pouch.  And remember that it is a TOOL, not a magick bullet.  It HELPS you to stay on track with your new MUCH SMALLER portions, but you can always damage and stretch it back out if you're not careful. 

Erica, I'm talking about the seafood more for later like summertime, I just wasnt sure we could eat it or how much?

Kelly

I have never had trouble with milk and I've been drinking it since about a week out from my surgery.  I remember the day I got switched to mushies.... mmmm that FOOD was soooo good!

you don't know till you try.  so try at home.
crabs i had right away when i went to mushies
shrimp too... mashed up
i don't like oysters so I can't comment on that.

corn is not digested by normally built folks much less surgially altered ones so I would avoid it for a while...

Kelly - you'll meet with the NUT tomorrow at your appointment and she'll give you a lot of guidance on our program.  You'll do mushies for a month (with the protein shakes) and then at your one month appointment, you'll move to solid foods.  I was allowed to have skim milk even during week one - but it really bothered my pouch.  Took a month before I could tolerate milk, and still not in big quantities.

Crab meat counts towards mushies - she told me anything that I could mash with a fork.  Of course, you are limited to three eggs a week on our program - I use egg beaters and don't taste a difference. 

I can't take a big gulp of anything, at all.  Even after two months - it's physically painful - but I can eat most anything now.  I limit my starches a lot - you'll only be allowed 1/4 c of food for a while - 2 oz of protein, 2 tbsp of veg or fruit and 2 oz starch.