It happened

I don't need to be attacked.  I also don't need someone who wasn't in my appointments to tell me how wrong I am about what was said.   I have followed his directions to the letter.  The closest I've come to not is when I drank broth during my pre-op liquid diet before I found out it was ok to do so.   As far as my pain tolerance, you have no idea.  I have screws in my legs and wear leg braces every day.  I haven't had pain medicine that wasn't administered through a pump in the hospital in 8 years. As far as the amount of time I expect to be spent in an office visit, I expect whatever it takes.  I don't expect hours.  It'd be nice if I got to complete a sentence or question before he finished it for me, incorrectly, and then answered himself. I keep trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I don't doubt his skill or experience.  I just doubt the care that I, in particular, am reciving.  There are days I've wondered if I could see a different doctor.  But I keep giving him another chance.  I've only seen him 4 times total.  Maybe I'm just not catching him on a good day, or whatever.  Who knows? I am not alone in this though.  I've gotten PMs from some of his other patients who've had the same experience.  They're all at different stages of this process. I don't regret having this done, nor do I regret having to make life changes.  I have only spoken of MY experience so far and will continue to do so. I'm glad to hear your experience was different. 

I so apologize if you felt attacked.  Sure not my intentions what so ever!  I was just shocked about the food you get to eat this early in the game.  You are the first I've heard getting to eat those types of food that are harder to digest so soon after surgery.  But, each and every surgeon is different on their directions.  And, it's a learning experience for all of us. Just know that you are wished the very best in this journey and that you will continue to have success.  You are going to do great! Tonja

I don't feel like you are the one who attacked me.  You have been nothing but supportive in this.  Since I've found out that other surgeons introduce foods in stages or phases, I am also shocked at how little guidance I've received and the things I was encouraged to try so soon out. Thanks for your kind words, Tonja.

Launa, Ok, Ok.....I knew this was coming....

 

this was not an attack on you, just added my 5 cents to your post..... I have read all of your posts and have noticed that from day one things have not gone well for you;

 

starting with your hospital stay and on to today...as this is a message board I felt the need to let people know that the surgery and the recovery and the life afterwards can be good.....is it the doctor, or is it the individual???????

 

I don't know, and you are soooooooo right, I don't know what your life has been, what pain you had in the past and so on;.....again this is a message board, you make a post, somebody will reply.....so, again, this was not an "attack" on you or anybody else, rather to let other people know that the doctor and the surgery can work in different ways... (ah, I know remember why I don't post on here very much)  anyways, for what it is worth, I suggest you should switch doctors if you feel you don't get the right treatment, it is after all your life and you deserve the best....and I do wish you the very best and hope you feel better soon and find the right doctor and treatment…

 

I don't guess you've read as many of my posts as you think you have.  I feel my overall experience has been pretty positive.  I've written of one experience where I've gotten ill.  I've written of how I feel my surgeon is rushed, hasn't provided enough information up front, and how I feel it might have been improved.  There wasn't much negative about my hospital stay except lack of sleep.  There wasn't much negative about Rathgerber except the beds were uncomfortable. 

I had a pain in my side that really hurt.  I believe I mentioned that.  My incision is larger than most.  I MIGHT have mentioned that.   But all in all, I've healed fine, the scar doesn't matter (which I've said over and over), I'm tolerating almost every single thing I do try, the pain is gone and I'm doing great. I feel like things have gone great for me.  There are tons of people on here singing the praises of Dr W.  There's nothing wrong with someone stepping up and pointing out a thing or two that they didn't care for about him.  There's nothing wrong with someone giving an honest accounting of their experiences with this procedure, the good, bad, and ugly, to help those who come after prepare.   If me stating that the beds at Rathgerber were painful makes someone bring some extra pillows then yippie, I helped.  If me stating that Dr W is rushed makes someone go in there with a more realistic expectation (instead of ideals of how perfect he is), then great.  If it makes them take the time to write down their questions so that they can make him pause long enough to answer them, then great. I have stated that I do not regret having this procedure.  I have stated what a skilled surgeon I think Dr W is.  I have stated in many many posts how well I feel I am doing and how quickly I feel like I am recovering.  You apparently only see what you want to.  It's attacks like yours that make people not want to share their experiences.  I was actually so hurt by it that I seriously considered NOT comming back here.   You're now on my block list because I don't need this negativity.  I tell you this so you'll know I won't see any replies you make. 

Wow, different doctors really do things differently.  My surgeon gave us a REALLY strict diet to follow for the first six months after surgery.  The first month or so, the most solid food I had was pureed tuna!  I didn't actually get sick of it, but I sure would have liked to have been able to eat it on bread! Red meat wasn't allowed for me until 6 months out, and I did stick to this.  I was allowed to have chicken at 4 months, and was so thankful for it!   The very same thing happened to me once when I ate some hamburger meat.  I had made a Bisquick recipe called "Cheeseburger Pie".  I warmed up some leftovers from the previous evening's meal, and maybe the meat had gotten tougher, or drier, or something, but what you described happening to you happened to me too!  I was SO miserable.  It was like having food stuck all the way from my stomach to my mouth, and I couldn't burp, I didn't even have room to swallow saliva!  It was about 45 minutes before I was finally able to throw up, and it was all foamy then.  I SO did not enjoy the experience.  I just tried to remember the things that made me feel less than stellar.  So far, the foods that do this to me are french fried (or fried potatoes), fried chicken, and tough meats.  I'm now almost 14 months out, but I'm still really careful about what I eat.  I still don't eat fried foods, and have just begun to add small amounts of bread back into my diet. Unfortunately, it is really going to be hit or miss for you on what bothers your pouch.  What bothers one person may make yours feel good!  Even though your doc said meat was alright at this point, maybe you should lay off of it for a couple of months anyway, to give your new stomach time to re-adjust to food again.  I always thought of it as "learning how to walk again".  Good luck to you! :)

That's so true.  I didn't even think the texture of the meat could have changed as a leftover.   This post was originally about a week ago and since then I've stuck to things that I can mash with a fork, with the exception of the taco meat.  I put it in the food processor a bit.  It was ok, but it's not something I just feel I have to have.   Today all I've had so far is some potatoes with cheese.   I'm going to try a tiny bit of pan seared fish tonight unless it feels dry to me.    I've been trying to stick to things that mash up easily since then, especially since I've found out how other surgeons do things so differently.  It's helped me to realize that I'm not in any hurry. 

You know, french fried stuff doesn't work for me either.  Last night I tried again...even though I know better...and on the way home after eating I had to have my husband pull over so I could puke.  And I mean PUKE!!!  Yuck... So, here I am 14 months out and I'm still learning! One day at a time! Tonja

I've never been big on leftovers, but I'm really wary of them now-make sure they are moist, etc. because reheated food will often get stuck with me.  I just bought some sugar free barbeque sauce which will become my new best friend.

Hi Launa !!   WOW - I can't believe that you tried that spicy of a food this new out from your surgery !!  I'm scared to eat alot of things and well, my doc said that I needed to start experimenting more and start EATING.          Now I find myself "snacking" which isn't a good thing either.................... Think I may have some "food fear" after 40+ years of food being my friend.........NOW I don't want it !!