5 Days Post Op and Tired of Jello!

I have been doing really well with just the broth and the jello but today I think if I have to look at another container of broth I will revolt. I wont really but I do truly feel like it! I have my post op education class on the 15th...what kind of food will I get back after that class? It isn't the amount that I am bored with...it is the lack of any flavour...any consistency. I guess maybe this happens to alot of people. I am not a cheese eater but I was making grilled cheese sandwiches for my 3 granddaughters yesterday and I was amazed at how much I wanted to lick the dripping cheese! I don't really have hunger pains. I have flavour pains! The only dream I remember having in the hospital was one of two single french fries laying on a paper plate with a tub of ketchup next to them. There were crystals of salt all around. In the dream I wanted to stick my finger in the ketcup and run it through the salt and then lick my finger dry! The french fries be damned! I wanted the ketchup and salt!

I can relate. I can't eat jello anymore and I never could handle the broth. At my class they served an egg, tufu, cottage cheese, brocoli with cheese, and deli turkey. I was 8 days post op and I had no appetite. I did try the cottage cheese and even though I don't like cottage cheese it was really yummy. Other people seemed to eat okay. I guess it just took me a while to get my appetite back. Your most likely feeling the "head hunger" right now. And yes everyone goes through that to some degree at some time. It will get easier once you get some more food options. I'm very much looking forward to my 4 month point so I can get ketchup back! So your dream was kinda funny to me about the ketchup. Glad you are home and doing better

I thought your post asked what kinda foods you would get at class, but I see it says after class. Unless she has changed (Dr. B) in the past few months You will get beans (not green ones), tofu, eggs, 2% cheese (not soft ones), fish, chicken, turkey...maybe something else but pretty much just soft proteins for the first month. At your one month class they add some vegetable and fruits minus tomatoes, peas, corn, potatoes, lemon, orange, lettuce.. basically no citrus and all veggies have to be cooked. That is after one month. Then you don't get anything else bac****il month 4.

Hello Ellen, glad to see you are recovering well It must be a huge relief to be on the other side of surgery, (lucky . iI'm so happy for you, and can't for my surgery also.......On another note, how was Dr Blackstone????? Alli

Hi Ellen, I was just thinking about you and getting ready to call you and see how you were doing! Glad to hear you are doing GREAT and that you went home that evening I saw you! Lucky you! You will get to sample a few different things at the 1 week class... hard boiled egg, cottage cheese, tofu and refried beans. I didnt eat any of it... I was just excited to eat when I got home. They mainly want to teach you mindful eating. So have a low-fat yogurt before you go. Then they will go over what protein supplments you can drink and what to buy... you will also start your vitamins that day too. You will be allowed to have lean proteins (chicken, fish, turkey), low-fat yogurts, tofu, beans (plain, no baked beans, etc), cottage cheese and low-fat cheeses (I dont remember them saying no to soft cheeses for me, I had soft cheese), low-fat mayo. There are alot of Turkey based products out there... Jenni-O makes alot and they are good. You wont get to add more stuff until 1 month, then you can add cookied veggies and fruits (non-citruis) but it adds color to the flavor. After the 5th day of jello, I just about had enough too and just drank water until my 1 week class. I so enjoyed my first meal, I couldn't wait to have it and it was yummy!!! Something to try... use a baby spoon for the first week or two. It helped me a great deal with my chewing and portion size. I am so glad to hear you are doing well... please call me whenever. I am here for you! When you are up to it, we can do lunch! ~Nicole

I was glad to read turkey products by Jenni-O in your email. I have already (pre-surgery) switched to turkey ham, turkey hot dogs, turkey bologna. So maybe on Thursday after class I can stop at the store and pick up a pack of Jenni-O turkey dogs and have at least half of one. The quanity of what I eat is really....I mean really small. Once I get any pressure at all behind my breastbone I stop. That means I have never finished a single serving of broth. I have never been able to eat Jello and broth at the same meal. The little baby food containers (like Tupperware) that I have Jello in right now are 2 meals each. I know my pouch will eventually handle more but I do not want to start any dangerous habits at the beginning of this wonderful experience! Hey Nicole...along with the Jenni-O turkey dog will I get to have mustard? Or are all condiments "off" limits until at least 4 months? My mouth is watering just thinking of something I can actually chew! Funny..all the months I read postings on this board before my surgery I always thought the people that talked about this head hunger thing were a little loopy. I have to apologize for that micro-inequity! Head hunger is the pits! Also, Nicole when do jalapenos get added back? If pinto beans are added I absolutely love diced jalapenos in plain pinto beans. If not the actual jalapeno then I will pour the juice that they are pickled in into the soup for the flavour. The things you said I get at the one week class seem so wonderful right now. I do not like cottage cheese...at all. The only way I have ever been able to eat that is to have it hidden inside lasagna (that is how my daughter makes it). I may have to do what the sign you made me said and just taste it again. I am okay with eggs. Can we have salt and pepper? The ketchup thing stinks but I will have that to continue to dream for. Ketchup and salsa...ahhhh thats the life. Cheese, as long as it is melted is okay. It is the "squeeking" that cold, unmelted cheese makes on your teeth that almost paralyzes me. It is like popcorn...I love popcorn (hey when does that come back?) but the minute it squeeks on my teeth...yikes! out goes the rest! Will they give us a book or something with all the details at the class? My original class was so very long ago I cannot remember much. Sorry this post is so long. I am sitting by an open window and someone in the neighborhood is barbequing chicken. The sauce smells so aromatic...so spicy...I have got to get up and close that window!

They have those jenni-o turkey breasts stuffed with cheese and broccoli, and one stuffed with swiss cheese and ham also. I bought te one with cheese and broccoli but i haven't tried it yet. They are too expensive to throw up, LOL, so I was waiting until I got fixed. Be careful with some of the products like the turkey sausage early on. You might do fine with it, but I got VERY sick on it. Twice! I have no idea why I tried it a 2nd time. It was early on and I was still learning I guess. I did well with the turkey bacon. Yes you will get a big blue binder full of stuff. Good luck with the cheese. Prior to surgery I wouldn't hardly eat a food that didn't have some sort of cheese on it. I was a complete cheese addict. Now no matter what type of cheese I eat it tastes like spoiled milk in my mouth after I eat it. Maybe that was partly due to the stricture?? I don't know. Or maybe my taste buds have done a complete turnaround. LOL. I've never noticed a squeeking sound though. But I get the teeth thing. Unwaxed dental floss does that to me, or the sound of fabric tearing is like nails on a chalkboard.

I am not sure about the mustard... I hate mustard with a passion so I didn't pay attention to that, jalapenos... I would wait until 1 month and see then. I dont see a problem with the juice just to add some flavor at least. Yep... you can have salt and pepper. Popcorn, not until 4 months... but I tested myself at 8 weeks and I was able to handle it fine. I didn't put anything on it either, it was just pre-lightly buttered. I didnt go crazy either... only a little bit and no problems. If you are going to experiment with that kind of stuff... wait a while. (I won't tell!) but this is what I wrote down in my book at the one week class.. Turkey Products: bacon, sausage, brats, ground turkey, etc Deli Meats... chicken based, turkey based Cheese: low-fat like mozzarella, american, provolone, etc Eggs: egg salad, deviled eggs, scrambled, over-easy Fish/Seafood, no calm or mussels (too rubbery) Tofu/Soy Products: gardenburgers, boca burgers, soy sausage Low Fat Yogurts: under 100 calories, Activa (for extra fiber) Beans: no baked beans No Tomato Based products Salt & Pepper Olive Oil, Peanut Oil, Canola Oil Low fat may, soy sauce, dired herbs, spices and oils Eat what you can in 20 minutes... small bites, chew chew chew Here's what we can have at 1 month in addition to what we already have. Proteins (adding Liver) Vegetables: must be cooked (no corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes) All other cooked veggies are fine Fruit: not citrus (orange, grapefruit, pineappled, lemon, lime) fresh fruits (peeled, no skin) canned fruits (in water or natural juices) Fats: Olive, canola, or peanut oil low fat dressings, low sugar sauces peanut butter (less than 2 tablespoons at a time, less than 3 times a week) Then you can change to non-chewable vitamins at 1 month. otherwise I constantly email dieticians at the office with questions... did you get your book at your pre-op class? the blue blinder? just wondering... if not call the office and ask for one! The head hunger will pass, first few weeks are really tough! When I feel hungry and want to snack, I go walk instead... helps alot. I was so excited for the 1 week class... such small things seemed so exciting for me! You are doing great!

Oh... I forgot... when I got that discomfort behind my sternum from the food. I got up and walked around until I got the hiccups or burped... It helped a great deal and it went away. That discomfort goes away around 11-13 weeks usually. It's gone for me!

The one month list didn't have the no soft cheese on it, just that first list we got for the first month. So it is probably okay after the first month. I think it is is because some of soft cheeses are actually cheese products vesus real cheese. So they contain milk or whey as a first ingredient versus cheese being the primary ingredient. So early on the soft ones can cause dumping. I got dumping on the american cheese slices from kraft. It is one of those that is a "Cheese product" versus real cheese. I don't think you and I got the same paperwork at the pre-op class. Remember you didn't get that protein sheet either. I think they are constantly changing it, it has probably changed again since I had the surgery too. Didn't you say they told you they were thinking about removing chicken from the okay list? I wonder if they decided to do that.