Bariatric post-op Guidelines - a repost of a good statement.

REPOST - Cut from Facebook.  I thought the message was important, blunt and for some timely. *I don't know what group this is originally from, as it was reposted in a WLS forum I do belong to. 

"I belong to another large Bariactric group on Facebook. Saw something posted today that really hit home. This is why i follow my book to the letter, no gray areas for me.
This persons brother who passed did not follow his surgeons or bariactric centers guidelines (as per his sister) and figured that if he chewed really well and kept it down then it was alright.

COPIED POST......sobering words for a Monday Morning. Since this group moved to Facebook just a few months ago, we've had several members pass as a result of surgery, non compliance and/or ravages of the morbid obesity they sought to cure. The most recent being the brother of a member whose intent was for them to go through their bariatric journey together, she will be going 'next' in a few days. We pray for her safe surgical recovery and healing from her surgery and loss.
Now the lesson, if we can reach just one of you, a tiny bit of good can come from sadness. Too many treat bariatric surgery as if it is simply a diet without consequences with little concept of the intensity of the surgery. A smart friend quipped that if we woke up with a giant bolt going through our leg we would get it, but since we have Band-aids on our belly, we think its nothing. Your internal surgical wounds must heal - this is no time to go to the mall, out to dinner, visiting friends and on vacations.
In terms of food, you must stick to your surgeons protocol for post op stages. These stages are not meant to punish you but to safely allow your tiny pouch that was cut from the fabric of your giant floppy stomach, to heal closed. We have all glued something only to have it pop open.
The liquid diets are to avoid pressure on healing tissues and to give the new pouch a break from digestion while healing. If you had a back injury, you would not tile your kitchen floor until you had fully recovered. Yet, people think nothing of taking a ten hour trip to a theme park when they should be at home resting and taking in fluids. This is why as high as 30% of post ops are dehydrated enough to end up back in the hospital with a fluid IV. Dehydration is a complication serious enough to cause heart damage.
Your post op diet is not a suggestion, it is a requirement. You cannot eat Chinese food the week after surgery because you 'chew it well', you cannot push through the hard part in the beginning to return to eating the foods that created your obesity. Being 'released' to 'regular food' does not mean you have free reign, but you already know that. How long until you can have pizza again? Pizza is not a food for someone having obesity surgery. These actions have landed new post ops in the hospital.
If eating is a compulsion that you cannot control, please ask your surgeon to suggest someone for you to talk to. A therapist can help you realize things about your life that you did not see - you talk, they listen and often after even one chat have a clearer truth of why you use eating as comfort. Knowing what drives you can help you to shift your eating to work with your surgery.
Vitamins are critical. It is impossible for you to have your stomach surgically removed or reconfigured and still extract ample nutrients to run your body. While your surgeon has mentioned Flintstones, that is so you will possibly take SOMETHING rather than the 67% of post ops who take NOTHING. They are not optimal and wont prevent longterm problems like broken bones from simple falls and losing teeth, but may keep you from dying. The idea behind supplements is to prevent issues from grabbing you by the throat one day when its too late to fix them.
If you are unable to take in 70 grams of protein per day, you can either grow weak and lose your hair or figure out another way until you are able to both learn and eat the right foods. Protein drinks make up the difference between what you can eat and what you need. They are not simply a tasty beverage for your enjoyment for you to be picky and ridiculous over. They are the antidote for your disease of morbid obesity. Would we even think of not taking blood pressure medicine based on whether it really tasted like Reeses? Morbid means death and obesity surgery only slows and reverses the condition if you follow the rules.
Please wake up get very serious about what you have done or are about to do to your body. There are obvious rewards to losing 150 pounds, but it does not need take place at the expense of your life. Peace."

It is a good message and since it is very likely that your timing has to do with out recent conversation on Facebook regarding my dinner lastnight, I'll address it here. 

I have been doing really well since my surgery. I have had no complications or pain and I have tolerated things well. 

Lastnight I decided that since I am close to the pureed food stage, I would try some. I had some chicken that was cut up very tiny, 2 tbsps of baked potato and some zucchini that was microwaved and mushy. I didn't think it was a huge deal but apparently on my fb some people did and showed concern over it. 

Did it bother me? No, it didn't. Was I wrong? Yes, perhaps I was but in my defence this is a learning process and I need to remember that I am still healing even though I feel perfectly fine. 

I will, however, not apologize for my food choices as it wasn't Chinese or pizza. It was plain chicken breast, plain potato and plain zucchini which I think wouldn't be a bad choice but one that can be saved for next week perhaps when I am onto pureed foods. 

Thars my my take anyways and while I don't fault people for showing concerns, I really felt judged and like I was having my hand slapped. 

In addition to just having surgery, my mom, who is my best friend also just told me she found a lump in her breast so I am really not doing well emotionally right now. 

Sorry about the news of your friend. I hope all will be well.

I wasn't pointing fingers or making this about you.  Not my style. 

Take care

Feeling judged is never a good feeling. Quite often others' concern can come across as judgemental, but in my experience a lot of the negative feelings people have when they've made poor choices come from within - from going into "defence" mode. I'm not saying that's you, but it is extremely common, especially so early out of surgery with all of the emotions running high and the hormones raging and all. I'm sure - in fact I'm certain - that if you had posted your poor choice yesterday here, you would have received much of the same response. Not because anyone is mean or thinks you're stupid, but because it was a damn poor choice and you could have hurt yourself.

So I guess consider your "hand slapped" from me too. And know that I say that out of concern, because I want you to do well. And I don't want to read about you becoming another sad ******g statistic.

K.

You might have jumped the gun and you are lucky that you didn't have any issues.  However I just read on a FB post about someone who ate a snickers bar at 6 weeks out and in their words "I didn't dump!"  That makes me go WTF and people were telling her it was ok. Are you kidding me???  I would only caution you to follow the plan. Her I would slap up side her $&ucking head :)

It's my mom. Honestly, I wi**** was a friend. It would be hard but not this hard. 

I find it highly disturbing that this group you belong to that "moved to FB just a few months ago" has had several members pass. What the hell, honestly?

I know right?  That isn't my statement.  I'll try and edit it as such... but I've tried to figure out what group that is from.  Scary.  What the hell indeed!!

I think if you are pushing your limits and not following your centres guidelines, then making excuses for it than you are doomed to fail.  Seriously.  Whether your mom has found a lump or the sky has fallen, you are the one that makes the bad choice to put the food in your mouth that doesn't belong there.  Eating food you aren't supposed to isn't going to change the outcome of any cir****tance.  So why do it? And if you do it, why complain when people "slap your hand"?