Death by tuna

Being the good post-op patient I am, I thought today I'd try to get some protein by eating a little tuna fish (packed in water and not oil, of course). Two bites into this adventure and I was in tears and would swear I was dying. It felt like I was trying to swallow softballs. I have found I can eat Fruit Medley baby food and it will go down easy and stay down. But haven't found much else which will go down without pain or severe nausea. I am beginning to fear I will never be normal again. I am getting 90% of my nutrition per my tube feedings but am not sure how long Dr. Wright will allow that to go on without wanting to see if my new stomach and the route to it is too tight. I do go see him Wednesday so maybe I'll know more. We went to the mall today and I walked about 1/2 a mile with a couple stop breaks between. I really wasn't anticpating feeling this drained for energy this far out, but maybe the complications set me back. Hope you all are well. Love, Kelly

Hi Kelly - I am 19 mos post op and still can't get tuna down! I don't know why. Even when I do mix it with some lite mayo to soften and moisten it, still gets stuck everytime! Good luck on your follow up.

I was on a clear liquid diet for a week, then protein shakes for 2 weeks before trying to eat real food. I felt sick when I first ate too. I buy Sargento Light Mexican shredded cheese and mix it with my tuna for lunch. Zap it in the microwave and melt the cheese and it is not too bad. I really have to eat tuna to be able to get anything close to my protein in. Jules

Oh kelly am so sorry you are having such problems. what am I doing wrong? I honestly worry I am not going to lose weight with this operation. I dont seem to have trouble eating anything so far though I have avoided surgars. I am not eating much, less than 600 calories a day, but I am still not in ketosis after a week. I am beginging to think I am one of those that this is not going to work for. thank god I dont have complications, just big worries about why my body is not acting like a normal one. I am never hungry, I have been having great difficulty getting the protein in as my taste for sweet things has gone by the way side so sweet drinks dont do it for me. did manage to eat a pureed meat dish last night(used the blender to puree a lean cusine meat with mashed potatoes dish) with 19 g of protein. thats the most I have had at one sitting. usually it is 5 to 9 the rest of the day If I have ever gone over 30 a day it would be a miricle. I have had no thyroid for the last 9 years thus no metabolism to speak of, looks like this is going to be much the same. Kelly what exactly did you have done? I take it you had open RNY thus the G tube , My own experiences with the lap procedure seem totally inconsistant and about all I can do is add my prayers that this will work through for you and you will be on the mend soon. hugs. Joe

Joe, I am sure you will do great with your surgery. As my doctor has said, I am the oddball statistic here as most people don't stay as sick as I have after surgery. The only good thing about the tube is I can get my 80-100 grams of protein via it and don't have to try and fit it in by mouth. As for the taste for sweet things being screwed, I hear ya. I licked chocolate on halloween as an experiemnt and even it didn't taste right. My tears today after throwing up what little I tired to eat was that I'll never be normal and able to eat again. And even though my stomach is torn up, my head keeps screaming it's starving. Kelly

Joe you are doing well and from the sounds of it you are going through what most of us went through. Just remember you might think that the amount of food you are consuming is way less than before. That is key in losing the weight. With the RNY there are two things that assist with the weight loss restriction and malabsorbtion. As we heal though the malabsorbtion will not be as great as it was in the beggining but can still cause a bit of a problem. For me the main thing was to lose some weight so I could become active again and really work on outputing more than I input. When I was on my way to my two week post op appt I swore that I just knew I hadn't lost any weight. I just knew that once I got on that scale it wasn't gonna budge. To my surprise I had lost 30 lbs in that two week period. Also the hunger thing I didn't start to get a hungry sensation until I was about 2 months out. Before then I would just have to schedule my meals and make sure I ate. Just remember to take your vitimins, drink plenty of water, watch the calories, and get that heart pumping while exercising and everything will fall into place. We didn't gain all the weight overnight and even with the surgery its gonna take a while to get rid of the excess. *huggles*

Kelly!!! you shouldnt be eating food at all. except for liquids... then pureee then soft food. I was on liquid for 4 weeks, pureed for 4 and now soft foods for 3 months. please talk to dr. Wright. don't try anything but liquid. Sheila from group

Sheila, Yeah, well the liquids make me nauseous, so I am exploring the puree/soft options. I have to go see Dr. Wright in the am for my first post-op, but am getting a little discouraged as I feel as if me being an odd case is an aggravation to him and his flock of residents/interns/med students. My husband says the problem is no patience; I wanna be well and life to go on too fast. Kelly

don't feel that way. I was sick for 5 weeks. he kept threatening to hook up an iv like yours. I was really sick too. I think my dry heaves only lasted a few weeks. It was awful. Please don't give up. It is easy to feel depressed right now while your so sick, but I promise, things will get better. when you do try puree or soft don't eat meat yet. it is the worst. have you tried yogurt? or s/f pudding? or popcicles? just do a tiny bit at a time. maybe even just one bite and let that settle. or fight the nausea until it stays down, then maybe another bite. I am so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. You sure are walking allot more than me. I can't walk very far. before surgery I couldn't hardley walk at all, so I am making progress. Good luck to you, Sheila

Yeah, well I am not walking that every day. Today I didn't get any exercise in as it was a high nausea day. I just had my oldest make me some ramen and she ate the noodles and I am sipping the soup from it and so far, so good. I don't do well with the artificially sweetned stuff as it makes me sick but I can keep baby food down, so guess that's progress. I hope to see you guys Friday for group.