Venting here so beware lol

Well its 12:15am and I haven't been home but a couple of hours and before that only had 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes and a little brown gravy and did fine with it but since I got home I tried eating a 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese and had maybe 1/2 tsp of grated parm cheese in it and after about 3 tiny bites I felt the pain building up in the pouch and that was about 30 mintues ago and the pain is still there. Now this isn't as bad as the episode I had last week where the pill got stuck but its the same type of pain. I got rid of the cottage cheese and got out yogurt to try in a little while and dang, it has little tiny peaches in it and I'm scared to eat it. Well I already had taken my insulin and sugar wasn't to high so now I don't know what to do because I don't want my sugar to drop but don't want to be more in pain then I already am. I've been eating cottage cheese for a week now with no problems so I know it must have been the little taste I had of the cheese. This really makes me wonder when Monday comes around how I'm going to beable to eat the things on the soft diet like eggs, chicken or tuna salad or whatever else I'm told I can have. Well I think I'm going to wait until the pain goes away and maybe drink a protein shake made with milk.
Other than this I've had a good day and I have people telling me they can see my weight loss .

I dont know what to tell you Cindy but be leary of scrambled eggs and tuna and chicken.
I was so happy when I could eat soft foods and scrambled eggs was on the menue.
They did not work and I avoided them for over a year before I tried them again.
One of my favorite things were refried beans with melted cheese.
It is rough right now but it does get better.
                                                           Annie

Thanks Annie for the advice and the beans and cheese I've heard alot of people talk about so will have to try that. Okay I'm taking the same thing I ate last night and put it in the blender so there is no chunks and going to see if it makes me sick again.

Cindy,

This is such a learning process and a little hit and miss as well. Generally, the reason that you have problems with things getting stuck has to do with the swelling of the pouch. As that heals, it will get better. Much better. Unforturnately, what works one day may not necessarily work the next; sometimes, it feels like one step forward, two steps back. That said, keep trying. I doubt that the parmesean had any impact one way or another.

As you start the soft food diet, I would start with very gentle things... And I must say, that everyone will have a slightly different experience, but these worked well for me:

Seafood! Believe it or not, shrimp was great! Easy to eat and easy to get pretty much anywhere I went and you can get or make low sugar ****tail sauce .... mmmmm, savory! I enjoyed crab and tuna as well. Remember that with all of these you have to go VERY slowly. I used a fork that was meant for canapes, so it was very, small and it was a help in controling the size of the bites I took and then I chewed, chewed, chewed.

Beans of all sorts were my friend and I learned to enjoy them in a myriad of ways. Of course, chili is always a good choice and Wendy's chili really helped me when I was out and about and needed something that I could get while I was running errands. I also enjoyed pinto beans from Taco Bell. Beyond that, as I started cooking I made things like a white bean and chicken chili, and cassoulets.

Eggs can be tricky, so go slowly there and be sure that they are very 'soft' at first. As you pouch heals you'll find that you can tolerate them more easily.

Finally, meats. I was able to tolerate meats relatively early on in my soft food stage, but of course, there was some trial and error, as well as a few bumps in the road. I found that if I tenderized the chicken or pork in buttermilk first, then pounded it thin before cooking, I did much better. I also only cooked the meat until it reached 165 degrees and no more. That allowed it to be moist, tender and fully cooked. You will find that cooking meats in the crockpot or other moist, slow cooking methods will also help as your baby pouch is healing. Again, here, you need to tread lightly and go very slowly, chewing until you are sure it's absolutely pulverized.

I think as you transition to soft foods you may find that there are times, like yesterday, when you'll just fall back on your protien shakes. They are a good way to get that protien when you have a hard time 'eating' it, but as time passes, I think you'll find that you'll be able to 'eat' your protien more and more.

Wishing you all the best,

Barb

Once again Barb thank you for all your great advice. When you ate tuna, chicken , eggs or whatever did you put in the blender or food processor before eating it?  Well I know you didn't the Wendy's Chili if you were out so how did you cope with that, just mashed them?I was looking so forward to having something different but now I'm like I don't know. I'm taking the same cottage cheese with the cheese that I had put back in the fridge last night and put in in the food processor this morning and going to try and eat it. Well I'm off to the gym in a couple of hours so well chat later.

Hi Cindy,

As you know, each program addresses re-introducing foods differently. My program actually advises agains pureeing foods that are not meant to be pureed. For example, pea soup would be fine, but not spaghetti. So, I never did puree anything or put it into a food processor unless I was making a protien smoothie. I never pureed anything like eggs, chicken or tuna. You should also remember that I didn't start eating 'soft solids' until I was 3 weeks post op either.

When I did eat Wendy's Chili and others that I made at home, I ate it as it is normally prepared and didn't have any trouble with it. I just went very slowly. I was fine with shrimp and crab. Chicken was a little more hit and miss, but normally related to how tough it was and how much I did or didn't chew.

I hope that helps some.

Barb

Yes it helped and thank you. I had another bout today with it while taking my pills and the protein drink came back up so I called the doctor because I have thursh in my mouth to get some meds and told her how I was doing and she said that maybe I was eating to fast or that my pouch was still just real swollen. She said I could have low fat peanut butter and sushi but not much rice when I start on the soft food next week and I told her I was about scared to try anything. But I have my one month appt with them on Tuesday so will talk to them then if this don't get any better. I only got in about 300 calories yesterday and not even that so far today so don't even know how I'm going to eat 1000 calories down the road like they say I will.
Oh a different subject I was at Sam's club today and reached up for a box of something and another one fell down and hit me in the stomach right beside the open place and it cut me and it bleed a little but I guess I'm okay. Thanks for listening.

I wonder if you aren't developing a lactose intolerance?  I didn't have that pre-surgery, but I do now.  I can eat cheese, but cannot do milk, cream, ice cream, etc without intense pain.  Maybe you should steer clear of milk products for a few days and then try something to see if it affects you this way again.  Just some thoughts.

Take care.
Ellen

Thanks Ellen and yes I already knew I was and been drinking the lactose milk forever and ice cream always bothered me too but have never had trouble with cheese.