How soon did you start eating real food?

[Hellbetty]

I had surgery on 2/10/11. I'm on the "mushies" diet right now and I can't really get the pureed chicken or fish down either, however on the diet my doctor gave me I can have cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, tofu, hummus, scrambled or soft boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, whipped squash, mashed or sweet mashed potatoes as well as strained creamed soups and yogurts. Plus my diet consists of 2 protein shakes a day that I make with 8-10 oz of skim milk. The one I picked out tastes like chocolate milk so it's not too bad at all. You can make them with water, but milk gives you 10g of protein per serving. You really need to be sure to get your protein in first and foremost! One of the women that comes to my support groups LOST A LOT OF HER HAIR because she refused to take the protein shakes because she did not like them. Her hair is finally growing back now that she's 18 months out, but could you imagine???? I would FREAK out if that happened to me.

Just be careful - your doctor spent years in school getting the training to do the job. I am betting he knows what he's doing and there is a reason he give you instructions to follow post surgery. The diet is like rehab for your stomach. It has to learn how to do things all over again now that it's been reduced to about 10-15% of it's normal size. Take it easy. It's a short time to deal with something you don't find pleasurable to stay healthy and fit and not have to deal with complications. You can do it!

Good Luck,
Terese

[CandyCat]

I really appreciate all of your replies. I saw my doctor for my first post op yesterday and he was very happy with my progress. I did confess to eating solids, and his major concern was the stretching of my stomach while it is still healing. Not worried about me popping a stitch but just stretching while in a fragile state, and solids are more prone to do that than pureed even in small amounts. Made perfect sense to me and I am going back on the soups until I am supposed to go on to more solids. He was very impressed with my weight loss and said I looked great and healthy and all blood work passed with flying colors. Thank you all again.. I am so glad there is this group!