Surgery Scheduled! Questions...

Hi All!

My surgery is schedule for November 5!  I'm feeling really excited about this and I'm excited I found a dr and a team that I like and am comfortable with - since I live in Hong Kong it wasn't exactly an easy task!

So my questions for you all are...

What did you stock up on prior to surgery?

Any recommendations for protein drinks? (I used to like EAS low carb drinks, hoping they work this time as well - any other ideas?)

How much were you actually able to eat at a time the first 2 weeks/month after surgery?

Thanks!  S

 Protein is key. The liquid phase is tough, lots of water, gatorade, and protein drinks. EAS are great, particularly the low carb Myoplex and AdvantEdge. IsoPure Zero carb is a good way to get 40 grams of carbs in 20oz of drinks but most of the flavors do not taste very good. I like the Blue Raz and the Grape frost. The Orange and Apple are terrible. I have heard the Orange Banana Pineapple is pretty good but I haven't found one to try it yet. 

After 2 weeks I am able to eat about a cup of soup, I am not on solids yet so I do not know how much food.

There are a bunch of videos on YouTube of what people bought before surgery. I did not use much of what I bought. I sort of just stuck with what I knew.

 I hate the grape and love the apple...so funny!

 I stocked up on almond milk and protein samples.  I knew my tastes might change after surgery, so i didn't want to waste a lot of protein.

For the first 2 weeks on I was on full liquids, so I wasn't eating anything.  After 2 weeks, I was able to eat soft foods and was able to have 1/4 cup of greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

Good luck and congratulations  on your upcoming surgery!

 I am currently 3 weeks out and am able to eat about 1/3 cup of yogurt, cottage cheese or applesauce.  I use unsweetened almond milk instead of regular milk to cut back on the calories.  I got so sick of protein shakes I had to come up with an alternative....I drink sugar free hot cocoa with a scoop of vanilla protein powder mixed in.  Hope this helps!

I stocked up on little containers for freezing stuff in our sized portions. Eg, I have just made up some savoury mince and split it out across tonight's dinner plus 7 little containers with 120grams each in them to go in the freezer.

I'm 4 weeks out and can get through around 100 grams of sloppy protein foods (like scrambled eggs, savoury mince) about 150 grams of yoghurt, but only about 50 grams of dense meat (fish, chicken etc). 30 grams of cheese on 4 water crackers is my favourite snack/meal though. That and yoghurt just seem to go down a lot easier on my wee tummy than heavier foods.

Suzy, what is savoury mince?

It's a real kiwi thing!...lol



My new tummy doesn't like tomato based sauces, like bolognaise etc, so I make up a savoury mince which has a gravy sauce instead.



It's minced beef, cooked until lightly browned, throw in some finely chopped onions, garlic and sautée together . Then you can either add a packet of beef gravy powder and some water to make a sauce, or you can just add water, some beef stock, Worcestershire sauce (not sure if you have that in the US) and a little tomato paste to make a savoury sauce. Thicken it with cornflower if needed.



So on the purée stage, you could just have that, or as I did last night, throw in some mixed frozen veggies too.



In New Zealand, we also then use that as the base for a "shepherds pie". So you put that mixture into a casserole dish, add mashed potatoes on top, sprinkle with cheese and bake for about 20 mins so the top layer of cheese/potato gets lightly browned and crispy.



I didn't make the full shepherds pie, as I don't want the potato carbs at this stage, but the savoury mince on its own with some veggies in it is delicious!!



Each 125 gram (4 oz) serving is



118 calories

4 grams carbs

3 grams fat

18 grams protein



You could also easily add some unflavoured protein powder to it to increase the protein as it would disappear into the sauce, or sprinkle a little cheese on top for a few extra grams.

What did I stock up on? Too much stuff. Make that WAY too much stuff.

What should I have stocked up on? SF jello, SF Hawaiian Punch (Crystal Light still tastes vile and I don't know why), Better Than Bouillon (one of the few things that tasted good), a few cartons of unsweetened fruit juice (not pineapple or citrus) and a good quality unflavoured whey protein that I could mix into whatever beverage I could stand the taste of. Honestly, the easiest way to be sure of getting in your protein the first while is to scoop 75g of protein worth of whey powder into a bowl every morning and add a bit to everything you eat or drin****il the bowl is empty. Simple and effective.

I was on liquids for the first 20 days, then got to experience the pure joy of mushies. (trust me on this - your first bite of pretty much anything is going to taste like heaven) For my plan that meant things like Greek yogurt, and I was able to eat about 1/4 cup at that point, and 1/2 cup by the end of the month.

I'm 3.5 months out now and my limit is now about 1/2 cup of densish food like a casserole with maybe 2 tablespoons of veg or 1 cup of soup or salad or 1-1.5 ounces of chicken or fish and 1/4 cup of veg or ONE KFC mini chicken filet. I also really enjoy the occasional 1/2 cup of yogurt with a tablespoon or 2 of all bran mixed in. Shakes make me feel not hungry rather than satisfied, if that makes sense. Satisfied needs either denser protein or some fibre.

Awesome suggestions and tips - thanks so much!  Since I'm in HK, sugar free items are few and far between, but I have a stash of Crystal Light that I moved with - I suppose it will now come in handy! 

I'll make a trip to GNC and see what I can get from there - great suggestion on the unflavored protein powered - I already have vanilla soy protein which is very low carb.  I try to be as prepared as possible for everything...this is no different! 

I can't believe how quickly my surgery date is coming!