What to have at home for diet after surgery?

They offer a huge selection at the store at my surgeon's office.  They sell the nectar shakes, but I only have a few of those.  I have some Berry Creme smoothies that are by NutriMed.  The gelatin is by Health Wise.  I like that, but it's very filling so I couldn't get it all in at 1 sitting.

All the other products I have here in my bag are marked with Grand Health Partners, which is the surgeons office.  They only sell them to their patients.  They include packets of soups (beef bouillon, cream of broccoli, tomato, cream of chicken & chicken bouillon).  I also have vanilla cappuccino and Irish Cream hot chocolate. 

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. 

It seems kind of wierd to me, that the surgeons are selling food products for after surgery on the side.... Surely they make enough on the surgery! Don't they trust you to buy cream soup?

Does it strike anyone else as wierd???

In the case of Dr. Kemmeter, I'm confident that this is more to ensure patient compliance with diet requirements than to make another stream of income. Dr. Greenbaum does this as well.

In at least one surgeon's case, Dr. Felix Spiegel, it's another income stream and part of his racket. But for the vetted DS surgeons, I'd feel comfortable that it's for reasons other than lining the pockets.

These surgeons are not selling cream soup. They are selling specialized products that, for some people, are not all that easily available elsewhere. What do people do who don't use the Internet to shop, for example? Or people who live in rural areas and travel to see their surgeons? It's a good opportunity for them to stock up all in one place.

No, they are not regular soups.  It's a special product and each packet has 15 grams of protein.  They want us to try and get in 4 of the packets a day, which is 60 grams of protein per day to help in the healing process.  We do this in addition to getting in a minimum of 64 oz fluids each day for the 1st 2 weeks. 

Thanks to everyone, so much, for the advice and ideas on what to try that first week or two.  I think I'll make a trip to GNC tomorrow to see if they have any vitamins in liquid form.  I'm going to be focusing on the steps discussed here often, the sip, walk, rest, repeat.  After the initial week or two, I'll check out vitalady.  I've been to the website before, but the starter packs only come in 3 month supplies, which is awesome, but all my money is going to the surgeon and bills while I'm out of work to recover.  Not saying that I won't come up with money for vitamins, because I definitely will, but might have to wait on vitalady's starter pack.  I so appreciate everyone here... as a newbie to the forum, I appreciate the responses, suggestions, and all the other posts I've read.  I'm so happy to have found a place where I can go and get no-nonsense answers, and where things are not sugar-coated, but talked about as-is.  I know I have a hard few months ahead, but I can't wait to start seeing my health return!  If anyone has any other suggestions... for immediate post-surgery diet, what to have at the hospital (Cottonelle, for sure!), what helped them through the first few weeks, months... I'm all ears! 

Thanks again everyone, for being such a supportive group, and taking the time to advise me on what worked for you... even though you all don't know me, I'm amazed at how supportive everyone is! 

Kri

 I shot for the 30/60/90 for protein.  30 grams a day for the first month, 60 the second, etc.  Always make sure you drink, drink, drink.  Make sure you get a good tasting beef and/or chicken broth.  Use that to thin everything down to make it full liquids.  I kept refried beans, different soups, tuna, egg salad, etc on hand and thinned everything down with either broth or milk (or water as a last resort).  Make sure you have a blender, too, that will make everything a lot easier.  I used a stick blender but also had a magic bullet and a regular one on hand too.  My taste buds really didn't change, so the full liquid diet was pretty much the same as my presurgery diet, just blended down to a liquid.  For protein, the best thing I tolerated was the Myoplex Lite that was premixed  and I could buy by the case at Sams.  I just didn't like the shakes you made back then.  Once I got sick of the Myoplex lites, I got a sample pack of Nectar fruit flavors and then bought a big thing of those and mix that with cyrstal lite or water.  I didn't get on my vites until I was done with the liquid/puree stage.  You won't do major damage not taking them while you heal.  I started with all chewables and then progressed from there.  Good luck!

I am on the same day with the same doctor.

I am on the same day, different Doctor, maybe we need our own forum!

I have been experimenting with dissolving my calcuim in water or milk and then mixing the dissolved paste into pudding, oatmeal and yogurt. I found that it has no taste but if you don't let it dissolve completely it has a gritty texture. I am sure that it will not be the same after the surgery but it does give me something to do instead of just setting here worrying about the surgery!

Good luck on your surgery everyone!

I'm a month out, and the only advice I can give is not to "over" buy anything.  If something tastes good to you one or few more days, doesn't mean it's going to the next or a few more days.  I've had a bad habit of doing this, and am trying to stop.  My tastes have changed from one thing to the next so dramatically this month, I can't begin to tell you.

The things that are non perishable, I'm storing for when my taste buds change again!

Hi All,

Thanks again for all the recommendations!  I've bought small quantities of a myriad of different high protein liquid products.  No telling which will taste like what, but I have enough of the different products to try and choke down that first week.  I also have a lot of different sugar free drink choices, and broths and, of course, lots of water. 

Hi to you two having surgery the same day as me... good luck with the surgeries and wishing you both speedy recoveries! 

Hi Carol... which hospital are you having your surgery with Dr. Stewart?

Thanking everyone for posts and inputs and opinions and advice... getting more and more anxious as Wednesday approaches!!!