Eating meat 3 weeks post op? Should you?

Hi again! I was doing my daily reading on here this past weekend and noticed someone posted about cooking dinner and eating what I interpreted as pork chops? If your surgery was on Oct 7th and it was Oct 31, is a pork chop (may have been a spelling error). I had surgery in mid Oct and and I'm wondering if sold meat is something to be consumed in the first month? I'm just asking since I'm not sure for my own information. Thanks!

I was still on soft foods then, so no - I wasn't allowed to have pork chops. But post-op diets differ depending on the surgeon, so maybe this person was. It seems like most of us are still on purees or soft foods then, though.

catwoman7, thank you for the information. My medical team gave me a plan that didn't include solid meat for this early part, so I was just comparing mine with what I was reading. I know we're all different and the surgeons have many different opinions and plans and they're not one size fits all. So far my plan is working fine.

You should go by what your Doc's plan says.

At 2 weeks, everything is still very tender, swollen, and healing. Don't pu****

Tek

Tek, I will stick to my plan that my team provided. It didn't include solid dense meat, so I was just asking to make sure I was on the right track. Thanks!

Glad to hear it.

There is nothing that someone here is not eating in large quantities too soon after surgery. When some people see this they take is as permission to do the same.

This is why I repeat 'Stay on plan'. Not that you aren't, just that even the question can worm it's way into our minds sometimes.

So... Stay on plan.

Tek

I'm 16 + years out and would still struggle to eat a pork chop!

I'd stick with softer, easier to digest foods for at least 6 months.

The pain of a stuck pork chop is horrendous

Citizen Kim, this is good to know that it can affect someone this far out. Not saying it will, but especially for this first six months, I'm not willing to test it! Thank you for sharing this info!

Programs vary widely, to the extent that some may still be on liquids while others are having steak. But we really don't know what experience your program draws from in making their protocols - have they experienced problems with patients going too fast, or is it just the way they've always done it? Is there something about the way they do the surgery that requires a slower progression, or allows a faster one? Go with their instructions to be safe.

Our program had some meaty things the first month, mostly things like some seafood and things like tuna or chicken salad - very moist and flaky type of things (but then we were having yogurt and eggs in the hospital, so they were on the quicker side.) The general rule was to follow ones tolerances, and some could progress faster than others.

The first real meats that were advised were very moist things like dark meat poultry -the fatter cuts slide on down more easily early on. Pork chops are usually fairly dry and dense, so I wouldn't go there unless it was cut very small and had lots of meat lube (sauce or gravy). For a first steak, when it comes to that, I would go with filet, as that usually digests easily (often better than ground beef - a surgeon's Rx that we still fill regularly!)

califsleevin, thank you for this wide range of information; it clearly shows how different some programs can be, and it's helpful to have. I can't imagine yogurt and eggs in the hospital, wow. Ya, I was still not ready for solids in the hospital, but that's ok, I'll stick with what's good for me. I had to ask, and I'm hoping I didn't interpret in error that this person was eating a pork chop!