19 days post op

Things are finally looking up. Called the Doc yesterday and explained to him that I was sick 100% of the time. He suggested I was starving. Go figure, on liquids and starving. He moved me up to pureed foods and told me to eat more calories (first time ever having to be told this) since then have felt much better. Scrambled eggs never tasted sooo good! Also discussed the no pooping problem. He suggested fiber, I hope it works Milk of magnesia sucks so bad and afterwards I am on the toilet for an entire day. I noticed someone mentioned that they could smell better after surgery. Does this go away?? I hope so I have 2 year old twins who poop alot and the smell is killing me since I returned home. Any suggestions on pureed foods or a website I can look at. right now anything is good but after a couple of days I see myself becoming bored. Thanks Jim D

Jim, Welcome to the loser's bench. As you are able to start eating more normal foods you will have more energy and feel much better. Increasing the variety in your diet and upping the calories also makes a big difference. Here is a list of some of the things I ate in the soft stage: Eggs cooked any way you like as long as they are soft and not greasy, cottage cheese, fat free refried beans with melted cheese, tuna salad, chicken salad, chopped liver, chili, soups of all types, cooked vegetables, oatmeal and other hot cereals, sugar free Jell-O, sugar free pudding, unsweetened applesauce, peanut butter, bananas. Use your imagination and spice things up. Tabasco sauce on the refried beans is great and so is a little peanut butter on a banana. As long as it is soft and you are chewing thoroughly you will be fine. If something doesn't settle well or you accidentally eat too fast (it will happen), learn from the experience and try something different. May Your Lantern Burn Bright, Paul

Hi Jim, here is a suggestion for you on the calories and fiber that worked for me. Find a good chocolate protein shake (Champion Nutrition Pure Whey is a good one), then put a double scoop of sugar free metamucil or generic in there. It gives it an orange/chocolate taste that is pretty good and helps with the poop. If you can tolerate egg beaters, use them alot. I put a piece of 2% cheese (varying the type) and the equivalent of 3-4 egg beaters. It goes down very easy, is lo-cal, low cholesterol, and great protien. Water and protein are more important still than calories. Your calories will naturally grow as part of this. On the kids side, I would invest in one of those air purifiers. You can get the ozone kind, or just the standard Hunter ones at Lowes. They will recirculate the air and help with the smell. The smell thing is just about getting your body back to normal. I found that I see better now too, particularly at night since I have lost the weight. Hope this helps. Greg

Jim, That 'smell thing' lasts around a month, And your sense of taste may be altered for good. (mine was) as for some 'pureed ideas?' ---------------------------------- Here are some other "Meals" At the Mushy/Pureed Stage- :Cream of Wheat with a teaspoon of protein powder mixed in. :Super Soft "Cheese Grits" (cook in skim milk and add cheese) ..........(those "Butter Buds®" sprinkles are great early on) :Really Mushy Oatmeal. Splenda and even a touch of cinnamon and rocks ..........(Vanilla protein Powder in this is good too) :Refried Beans with a spoon of enchilada sauce and cheese on top. ..........(or just buy a small order at Taco Bell! Loved those) :Yogurt (CarbControl or SF or Lite,) ..........( jus****ch out for more than 4gs of sugar) :Campbells Bean w/Bacon soup, ..........(run through the Blender. -food of the gods) :Tomato Soup with Cheese and/or some protein powder ..........(try with spices for variety- Basil/Italian flavors, Curry Powder,etc) :Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Chicken Soup ..........(be sure to chew those mushroom/chicken bits) :Instant Mashed Potatoes with Fat Free or Low Fat Cream Cheese ..........(Also good to make with Chicken or Ham Bullion instead of water) :Scrambled Eggs with Cheese (My "Go To" Favorite) ..........(can top with spoon of Non-Chunky or blended Spaghetti Sauce, ..........Chili, Cheese sauce, every type of cheese that will melt, etc) :SF Puddings! The Jell-O Cheescake SF Pudding -w/ cream cheese blended in Rocks! ..........(A little SF strawberry Jam, thinned with juice and spooned on top is great) :Egg Salad- Boiled egg mashed with pickle or olive juice, pepper and Mayo Things that I had success with running through the Food processor/blender- :Canned Carrots, ..........(Added Splenda Brown Sugar, Butter Buds® & cinnamon like Sweet Potatoes) :Deli Sliced Chicken, mayo and pickle relish with a spoon of Cream Cheese ..........(Like a Chicken salad Spread) :Chili! With or without beans, then melt cheese over in the Micro wave Those are some of the "favorites" of the "pureed stage" that come to mind. Hope these help. ------------------------------------------------------------------ A lot of people have trouble getting Those Protein Powders to mix with stuff. Someone at my support group Said she always thought it made stuff taste like Someone had thrown a "Handful of Chalk Dust" In her food or drink. Well the solution? Liquid into Dry! Suppose you are trying to add some to Yogurt or mashed potatoes. Take your scoop, (or actually only ½ scoop) Of the powder and put it in a coffee cup or small bowl. Get a fork, And slowly drip some cool water into the powder while Stirring with the fork. Don't try to just add the liquid. Attempt to make a very thick paste. Once you've got it into a thick paste Then slowly add more drops And stir some more until you get a thinner paste. Keep this up until it is the same consistency As the food you want to add it to. By not having "liquid" per se, The powder can't clump up And hang onto "bubbles." Even mixing this up ahead of time And keeping it in the fridge Is good. Then just take out how much you want And stir it into your food. I have great success this way Adding Protein Powder to- Yogurt, Soups, Oatmeal, Smoothies, polenta, etc... It really helps going into shakes/smoothies. You don't get that "foam" on the top That, no matter how long you run the blender Just stays forever. It also gets rid of the "powdery" texture That can hang on otherwise. You'll be on to real food soon. Just take it SLOW and drink your protein between meals If you need to get more in... Best Wishes- Dx

thanks for the suggestions.. Breakfast was a low carb/no sugar yogurt Lunch had 1 egg with 2%cheese snack had some pudding 4oz with 17g of protien powder supper 1/2 cup cream of brocoli soup. 7g protien powder(delicous) bedtime snack will be 4oz of no sugar carnation instant breakfst in between all of this is water constantly Just thought I would write this down to see how it looked. Before I forget had a great big dookie after breakfast without the dreaded milk of magnesia Yeah!! jim d

Hi Jim. I have an incredible dietician who stays up on the literature. She's not convinced that it's necessary to stay on full liquids so long! There is a center here in Indy where people are on full liquids for 6 weeks! I would have been out of my skin. I started on pureed on day 7 and have done very well with it. Then I moved to soft on day 11. I'm 22 days out and I'm on soft foods currently and doing great except for HARD STOOLS. Trying everything to remedy that one. At 22 days I'm still VERY hypersensitive to smell. I could smell a fart from 2 cubicles away at work, which led me to start a huge paperwad fight today with my boss! Pureed foods i liked: soft cooked scrambled eggs (cut with skim milk), salsa, peanut butter, mashed potatoes, ground turkey, soups from the can, refried beans with cheese adn sour cream, cottage cheese, tuna salad, chicken salad, crab salad, egg salad....you get the picture. MOST OF THESE GIVE YOU LOTS OF PROTIEN AS WELL! Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing. I should be on regular food in a couple of weeks. Ken