5 days post op

and I know that popsicles are my friend. The only real form of me getting my liquids in with few exceptions. I am growing accustomed to Cream soups but that is all so far. Praying for variety soon. 

A couple days after I was released from the hospital the grocery store had a sale on Powerade Zero. We bought a LOT of them. Two of them equals 64oz. That's what I focused on getting down everyday. I considered popsicles to be extra bonus liquid. I also drank warm decaf green tea w/lemon. It's hard to do, but make sure you get those liquids in. I picked up a case of Perfec****er yesterday and I know that I have to drink one more before I go to bed tonight to equal my 64oz. It's hard, but we can do it!

Luckily, the hydration part for me was one of the easiest steps in the process.  I seemed to have a dry mouth for a bit, so sipping on water def helped.  Luckily, I wasn't affected by cold water, and that seemed extra refreshing, especially now that it's so hot outside!  My stomach did well with the low-sodium tomato soups, ironically.  Campbell's has some of the ones you heat and sip (on-the-go type) and those worked well, too.  

Ok so I'm 5-days postop and fluids i'm getting down in the form of cold water and crystal lite but what I cant seem to do is protein shakes or soups is there a trick to getting the protein in cause any smell of food or site of it makes me sick to my stomach even food commercials.  Any suggestions? I know how important it is to ge protein in but it's changelling.

I mhave not even tried protein shakes yet. My Dr. told me to start them on Tuesday (8 days post op) but I know I am not looking forward to drinking all of that at once. I am still taking baby sips

My advice is to start slowly w/the protein. If you have protein powder maybe mix just half a scoop with a lot of water to thin it down so it's not thick. My surgeon's office has a shop inside where I was able to purchase a lot of protein that I actually liked. Protein vanilla cappuccino, hot cocoa and tomato soup were my favorites. Each has 15 grams of protein. I also bought a lot of protein powder samples from Vitalady.com. There are some flavors that I thought were awful and poured down the drain and some that I really like and will be ordering full size cans of. 

Right out of surgery you're not very hungry, but after a week or two that will change. Since you're doing OK w/Crystal Light maybe an unflavored protein powder mixed w/different flavors of Crystal Light would work best for you. 

okay I am a doctor so this is going to sound silly but it worked for me.
I just plugged my nose and drank a sip of it. the smells were awful so I purposely worked hard not to smell it. My children thought it was hysterically funny and it was. However I did not care I just forced myself to drink it.

Years ago when a wee girl I had to take this medication that "tasted like sprite" it was vile, and would congeal and harden if not drank immediately I learned the trick of pinching my nose then and 38 years later it still worked fine.

So good to hear from you! Keep taking those baby sips. Variety is right around the corner. Just keep sipping. Popsicles were my friend in those early days, also. Crystal light, room temp.SF pudding.


Ruby

For what it's worth, I didn't have the energy to even make protein drinks in the beginning.  I was given a list of RTD (ready-to-drink) proteins that were acceptable.  Muscle Milk Light was one of them (I thought it was disgusting, but that's just me -- my grandmother loved it).  I ended up with Myoplex -- I use the original (but they also make a light).  It is 42 g of protein in 17 oz with 19 g of carbs.  I still use this about once a day.  I find it to be the best to drink from the fridge.  So I pour some into a coffee mug (it's kind of thick) and put the bottle back in the fridge.  As I get down the first mug full, the shake in the fridge is still cold.  In the beginning I think it maybe took an hour to get it down -- sometimes more.  Sometimes I couldn't get the whole thing down. 

Many vets had posted that you just have to try, try again, when it comes to brands and shakes.  I've found that to be good advice.  I hadn't started making my own protein shakes (that tasted edible) until maybe 3 months out. 

All in all, to those of you struggling now, I was told something that sticks with me:  World Hunger cannot be an obese person's concern.  I remind myself of that when I throw away a shake I took less than a sip of, b/c I'd rather not get sick and force myself with my food than just toss it. 

Hope that helps.

B****he myoplex came from Stop & Shop in my area (our local grocer). 

Izari, I hear ya about your sense of smell.  Even at 4 weeks out, everything smells too sweet, too... smelly.  And I mentioned a week or so out in one of my posts... I NEVER realized just how many food commercials we're bombarded with on a daily basis.   Egg whites make me shudder, but I can eat the yellow part, hamburger just turns me right off at the moment, but moist chicken, I'm ok with.   Funny thing, I'd still kill for baked spaghetti right now... probably of course until I smell it... then I'll probably be turned off. :)

The protein drink thing... I started drinking IsoFlex a few years back during a very stressful period in my life.  NOW... can't stand the smell of the stuff from a 100 yards.   Putrid.   I've tried Champion - I'm barely managing to gag down a Moccochino.  I went searching for some Nectar type... had to settle for the Cherry Twist... my god that stuff is sweet.  Doesn't stink as bad as the others, but in order to drink it, I have to drown the stuff in pure unsweetened Real Lemon juice. (that stuff that comes in the bottle.)  They didn't have the Lemonade variety, so I'll have to take a little road trip States' side and get low carb stuff and a better variety of protein samples.