Why do doctors have different plans?

I'm just curious as to how fragile the staples in our pouches are... I see some on here who can have protein shakes after 2 weeks of clear liquid and others who must go longer, or shorter, etc, so I'm wondering if we all get different types of staples or are these just different opinions from doctors or what? My doctor got upset with me today because I've been drinking protein shakes and trying to get in 6 oz of water per hour. I'm 16 days  post op and on the sheet my NUT gave me it said I could have them after 2 weeks of clear liquids. My dr was quite unhappy and said I could possibly rupture my pouch! I don't understand why some can be drinking them at week one and I can't have them at 2 weeks out!

THE STAPLES ARE REAL STRONG if used properly , every doctor does the surgery a little different and be-leave in there food plan 

I was allowed any food at 2 weeks starting with softer stuff, some plans have you on cleear liquids for 2 weeks and a month of full liquids

 I went home from the hospital on full liquids , and could take any pill whole , I have never had any problems eating or getting sick

others are on the clear liquids for a long time and have leaks my surgeon be-leaves in stretching  the sleeve a little at first to get it working , It worked for me 

yea I wonder the same.. I am was on ful liquids out of hospital for 4 weeks.. Now in my puree stage for 4 weeks and next is mushy/slightly chunky for 4 weeks.. But I see ppl on here that eat what they want just 2 weeks out.. Im jealous lol

That's the plan I'm on as well... I read on here where people are eating two weeks out and I'm all like ! It's hard to have patience... all I want is a soft boiled egg LOL... Friday I get to move on to puree stage WOOT WOOT WOOT!

I want an egg too!! and salad I cant wait to eat a salad lol that wont be till Sept!  lol

The staples should be very strong.  The way they are placed by the staple gun your doctor uses should make them hold everything together very well.  That said, there exists the possibility for leaks.

Every doctor's training and experience is different, therefore, the plans they use will vary.  My doctor's plan called for 3 weeks of full liquids post-op, followed by 3 weeks of soft foods, and then everything after that was fair game with the exception of raw vegetables (not like I had a lot of room for them at that point anyway!). 

At this point in your recovery, you SHOULD be drinking protein shakes.  Wonder why your doctor is not happy with you drinking them?  That seems odd.

As I understand it, the strength of the staple line doesn't happen till the scare tissue builds up on and around the staple line as two cuts are fused and healed together. This takes healing time.

The staple gun uses cartridges and are typically 3 rows on each side. Different color cartridges dictate different length of the staples. The staple line is comprised of several cartridge loads applied end to end and the number of cartridges can depend on the length of the stomach.

A proper made sleeve is a curved shape that is made with a stapler that makes a straight line (think surgeon skill).

Staple strength is pretty strong within the staple cartridge length, it's the joint between each cartridge that can be an issue and at the ends.

The tissue is pretty mushy and mutilated on a fresh staple line. That's why leaks can't be typically fixed real fast.

Cartridge/staple mis-fires can happen also where some of the staples did not completely fire, normally not an issue cause there are 3 rows.

All that said, you only have one shot at healing and everybody heals at different rates. The people that tend to take longer to heal are diabetics and smokers.

I cringe when I read about people starting on solids so soon, a good month on a diet that does not close the pyloric valve is about the safest way to go.

With my surgeons blessing, I extended my healing period and didn't start solids till week 6 and it was half a scrambled egg.

frisco

Hi Frisco, I am curious about your definition of full liquids/solids. I understand you waited 6 weeks before moving to solids. What non-solids were you eating?  My surgeons program has phases for clear liquids, full liquids, soft food and gradual movement into regular foods. He told me he defined full liquids as something you could suck through a straw. Did you stay at that type stage for the 6 weeks or were you doing soft type things also?  Thanks!

I was on the same program as Frisco. The standard program is: 2-3 weeks of "thin" liquids. This is slightly different than full liquids as the definition of full liquids includes a few things that a lay person wouldn't consider liquid -- like yogurt. Thin liquids doesn't include yogurt. When we went to Soft food for 2-3 weeks. Then Regular. Soft was basically mushy food -- we had a list. Regular was "anything you could tolerate."

However, if at any stage, you had trouble, you were supposed to go back to the prior stage. So it could take longer than 2-3 weeks to go through each state.

Also, the dietitian would call us around 2 weeks out if we weren't scheduled for an office visit to talk about whether we should advance to the soft food. We didn't just decide on own. (Or we weren't supposed to. LOL)

Also, we met with our surgeon a lot and he would tell individuals to wait based on whatever was going on with them at the time. So I went to softs at 2 weeks with no issues but I was on the soft/mushy stage until week 7 (5 weeks total) as I had some stuff going on and he wanted me to heal more before attempting regular food. I was okay with that as I could only eat about .5 - 1 oz of mushy food so I just slowly built up to more and more complex mushy stuff, starting with yogurt and eventually getting to things like scrambled eggs and tuna fish salad.

Once on regular food, we could talk to the surgeon or dietitian about how to progress and what kinds of foods typically give people trouble but there was a recognition that different foods give different people trouble so there weren't a lot of hard and fast rules about what foods to eat at different times. Some people, for example, have issues with raw veggies, but I never did so I just started eating them. Actually, pretty much nothing gave me trouble except dry meat. So I guess I'm glad I waited until 7 weeks to start.

I'm not sure as why each seem to be different.  Mine had me at clear liquids only not worrying about protein at all for 2 days. I am now on full liquids and working to get 80grams of protein in each day.  I'm on a liquid only diet for 4 weeks, then I can start transitioning to fork tender proteins for 2 weeks.  My surgeon is also different than most I've seen on here in that mine was on outpatient procedure.  I had my surgery Monday 7/7 at 8:45am and was home by 5pm.