Amalilly
Is it too soon? Q&A
Jun 27, 2017
"Can I ask what happened/how fast you moved through the phases? The booklet my surgeon gave me says that I can start trying "soft foods" 7-10 days after I am released from the hospital. I planned on waiting 10 days which puts me at about 13 days after surgery. Do you think it is too soon? My 2 week post op appointment technically isn't until July 6th...do you think it would be better to wait until then? I don't want to have to back track!
Are you vomiting with foods or just unable to eat them?"
Answer:
Regrettably everyone is so very wonderfully unique that there isn't an easy answer for 'is it too soon'. The longer you take before moving to the next phase the better... in my opinion. YET...
I trusted my body to tell me when it was ready to try something new. And for the most part this has worked. My biggest problem has been nausea - partially because I was taking that last bite. It took me about 10 days (after I started pureed/soft food) to begin to learn my 'warning' signs.
Eating too much = pain and discomfort... the kind that has you sitting upright with your arms in the air hoping to make that tiny bit more space in your stomach.
If I eat something I'm not ready to handle I 'throw up' which I actually call "blurping" because it is nothing like pre-surgery vomiting. I tried extremely moist chicken last night for dinner - it was wonderful and delicious for the whole 2 minutes it stayed in my tummy.
One benefit of throwing up, as gross as it may be, is you can tell if you're chewing your food enough!
I have no schedule to get to 'life food' so I'm taking it easy and trusting myself and TRYING very hard to have patience and understanding for myself.
I believe there is a limit to the preparation we can do for this post-operative healing phase, in the end we do what we need too do to get the water and protein we need. In my life working on the 'food for life' comes after I've learned how to eat, how much to eat, how fast to eat and what I can tolerate. AND slowly trying new foods every couple of days.
I figure I'll get 'there' eventually and I'd rather practice listening to my body than trying to think for it (beyond the basics) on someone's 'average' timetable.
My first 'real' food was a craving for a scrambled egg and that was at about 7 days. I ate about half of it and it was really good. Right now I'm trying a mini Caesar salad with a tiny bit of last night's chicken, lettuce, a crouton or two, some crumbled bacon and some dressing... Here's keeping the fingers crossed it will be okay.
I think starting on some soft/pureed food before your two week follow up is appropriate. Take is slow and easy. I needed apple sauce to take medication (discovered I love unsweetened apple/peach sauce). I've tried eggs and they are good - in a variety of ways but straight up hard boiled was a bit too dry for my taste. I've had tuna mixed with mayo and herbs. I've had some pate but find it generally too fatty to feel good for more than a taste or two.
I was really surprised to find how much I enjoyed a low-fat cream of mushroom soup (concentrate) mixed with skim milk (with extra skim milk powder) and a can of well rinsed white beans (I think I used kidney) - put it all into the blender to make it smooth, then heat it up. I only ate about 2-3 oz at a time but it was really good.
I digress... Back tracking is inevitable. You will eat something you're not ready to eat, you will eat too much and feel uncomfortable. 'back tracking' is taking a breath and backing up to the limits of what worked the day before and then next day try something new again. IF you irritate your staple line you need to give it a rest for a bit to recover (NO Peanut Butter it is an irritant). Learning curve... children fall down as they learn to walk and yet they get back up and try again until they figure it out.
