SHOCKER!!!

I am D deficient and take 2000 IUs daily to help.  Before this the doctor had to put me on 50,000 IUs per week which was insane!! So, now I try to keep up with it.  Multivitamins sounds reasonable, at least its not handfuls of items to remember. :)

Something to add to the tricks for after surgery!!!

Small plates are AWESOME, and along those same lines, small gladware food saving tubs to portion meals out ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  This helped tremendously when I was in the full liquids and puree stage.  No matter how small the meal was when I prepared it, a can of soup ultimately became 6 meals and I needed to store it somehow.  It was so easy to spread it out across 6 little tupperware style containers and put them in the fridge.  Then I did not have to worry about choice when I was ready for a meal.  There was something already made and ready for me to go.  (Protip:  Don't put your unflavored protein powder into your soups before portioning it out.  Do it right before eating.  You cannot reheat foods with protein powder in it.  It turns yucky.)

Go to an antique store and buy little mini spoons.  They used to be used for sugar in tea sets.  If you can find little ****tail forks, too, this will be good as well.  Get 2 or 3 of each.  These are great to keep your bites small when eating.  Depending on your surgery, a regular mouthful of food could be too much for your pouch.  You have to relearn how to eat, and very small bites is part of that.  Trust me, eating too big a bites, or too fast, is painful.  I did it for the first few days and it just killed me.

When you are in the hospital ask the nurse if you can get some extra liquid medicine cups.  They are clear plastic and they are 1 ounce in size.  Get your hands on as many of these as possible.  You want to use these to measure EVERYTHING!  AND THEN USE THEM!  Again, if you eat too much too fast it will hurt!  I did this.  Most did.  You learn fast.

I bought a huge sleeve of plastic medicine cups from Amazon and use(d) them exactly the same way.  I STILL use them -- they are perfect to make sure you really know how much dressing you're using, etc.  They were also great immediately post surgery to get your water in.  Drinking a medicine cup 4 to 8 times in an hour seems a lot less daunting than drinking an 8 oz glass.

I also use "appetizer" forks and spoons!  Great advice!

Great tips!! Thanks you!! :)

That's fantastic! you are almost at your surgery. Oh how exciting :)

I am very excited and really scared at the same time.  It has been so many years waiting, hoping, planning, that I don't think I ever really considered the day actually being here.  I just don't want to mess up

Congrats, I'm so excited for you!!! I don't have much advice for pre-surgery. I just wanted to say welcome to the group and how great you're doing, you sound like you're doing amazingly!

I second the advice on not buying too much protein powder ahead of time or even afterward lol - I tried a few before hand and didn't like the same ones afterwards. And then I tried a few samplers and got a big tub of the ones I liked afterwards. But after a month I started getting nauseous on those. But I have a local friend I switched with so it worked well for me :) Also I really didn't want to track on My Fitness Pal, I can't even tell you why now but now I've been tracking everything I eat for 56 days in a row and I swear by it. People on here convinced me to try it and I think it's helped me a lot! 

Again, congrats on how far you've come and how close you are!

thank you :)

Congratulations, that is great news! You can totally do this. I don't have a lot of advice for what you'll need after surgery since I haven't had mine just yet. I'm less than 2 days out so I've prepped best I know how. I have plenty but not too many protein shakes. I really like the Premier Protein from Costco in chocolate. I am really hoping I still like them after surgery. I have small plates on hand, my dog is taken care of, my girlfriend is staying with me for a couple of days, and my sister and I live together right now so I have lots of good support.

Best of luck to you! You have a great attitude and I can "hear" the excitement in your post. Keep doing what you're doing. :)

Wow!!! So happy for you...you are a breath away from your new future!! I am so going to get some shakes from sams club and check those out!!  And the small plate idea is awesome because I can pick some very fancy cool plates just for me!! LOVE it!! :)

Best wishes on your surgery, keep in touch!! God bless the doctors and may your recovery be quick. :)