Sip, sip, sip ???

k- I hear this over and over. Just wondering a couple of things. When you sip, how much can you take in and swallow at a time- or how many sips in a row?  Also, what is your favourite container to sip from?  TIA, Jen

Just a "sip," not a gulp, and you can do it basically constantly thru the day.  They pushed me to keep at it all the time I was awake post surgery in Utica.  So you have ice chips, juice, water and so on, and you just do just that - "sip sip sip" lol.  Now I can drink a normal mouthful of fluid with not problem - well, normal for me these days.  I still would never try to chug a glass of water or soda or whatever.  But I can take a fairly normal, single, mouthful of fluid with no problem.  You definitely want to sip in the early days so you don't do anything to risk tearing the sutures or doing any damage to those fresh surgical sites inside your body.  Graber and Fitzer will read you the riot act when you're there - Fitzer was my d/c surgeon and he minces no words, trust me.

Mike

Hi Jen,

I'm 18 days post-op and a sip is tiny to begin with.  Initially you can't drink anything until you have your leak test the next day.  But....they do give you a cup of ice cold water with these cool little sponges on a stick to moisten your dry mouth.  Instant relief and you can do this as often as you like.  You are also allowed to have ice chips...just let them melt in your mouth and it's heaven...you will be very dry post-op...but not un-bearable.  I used Lip balm too.  My lips were very dry right after surgery. 

Now I take a sip, hold the water in my mouth and am still careful to let it go down slowly and in smaller amounts.  Just what I am doing??  I have noticed that I can take a bigger sip now...but not by much.   I am literally sipping alllllllll day long.  I get hiccups if I take too big a swallow or am too fast with the next sip??  However, I can eat a popcicle without any problem? 

I drink out of a single use (I know bad for the environment) water bottle or my big 32 oz re-useable bottle.  I have had a glass here and there but I find it easier to track how much I'm getting in with my re-useable giant 32 oz bottle. 

Good luck,
Kristi

Hi Jen,

I would take in a normal mouthful of water, hold it in my mouth & swallow 4-5 times. So, I would sip-sip-sip-sip one mouthful at a time. Months later I accidentally swallowed the whole mouthful at once & realized all was good. I gulp like a truck driver now! lol!

I like to use water bottles you buy water from. I know, not really environmentally friendly, but it helps me keep track of how much water I'm consuming.

I also found, early out, that it was best to hold the water in my hand. If I put the bottle down for a minute, suddenly hours later, I realized I hadn't sipped at all! Also, if I was watching TV, I made a point of drinking during every commercial break. Just a way to remember to sip-sip-sip.

Good luck,

Andrea

Trust me my dear you will know if you take too much, hurts like a bugger.  I found the best way to truly sip was to wet your lips and tongue.  That's it.  Just keep doing that over and over.

I know that sounds drastic but take it from a Woman who inflamed her pouch like mad because of not realizing some stuff I was doing wasn't going to work for the pouch.  {Not waiting a full 2 to 3 minutes between mouthfuls and realizing that a mouthful is litterally teensy weensy {less than the size of a dime}, I was doing say quarter sizes.

Once your pouch gets mad at you for stuff it stays inflamed a bit and you have to reverse to get it to relax {meaning back to liquids and sip sip etc} so better to start that way.

Elizabeth xoxoxo's

The way I trained myself after surgery was:  I used one of the plastic containers they put your pills in in the hospital and that little container was 4 sips.  It took awhile to catch on but now I just use a large plastic container with a circular hole at the top.  Large so that you can add ice to make your SF drinks a little tastier and with a hole in the top so your'e not sucking back more air into your system.  (Gas is your major problem just after surgery)