Having a hard time tolerating foods

I had my surgery on 8/1/2011. At my last NUT visit 10 days post op my diet was advanced to soft foods, including things like chicken (thighs were suggested), shrimp/fish, ground beef/turkey ect.

The problem that I'm having is that no matter how small I cut the pieces, and chew for at least 25 times, I still experience this feeling that the meat is hanging at the sternal notch and radiating to my back sometimes.  Ground beef/turkey i**** or miss, chili was fine for a day or so, then it became a problem. Home made taco meat with a little beans and cheese also was a problem. However the insides of a taco (meat/cheese) from taco bell was fine.

When I prepared the chicken thighs, I used boneless, skinless in the crock pot with fat free cream of chicken soup and cooked it for 5+ hours and it shredded up.  I had about an ounce and I was sick for the rest of the evening.

I'm feeling frustrated and actually nervous to eat anything that isn't softer to try to avoid this pain and I'm not sure what I'm doing that's wrong.

 

Nothing's wrong- it's just the name of the game early out, figuring out what works and what doesn't. The only meal I could tolerate for 4 months was filet of sole and 3 shrimp. Very limited, but what worked. Now I miss those days- my hunger has returned.

So enjoy- the weight is coming off so easily!

I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you and I still find this to be an issue. It really reminds me that I have to let my body be my guide and see how I feel during the meal. I have noticed that if I wait 2-3 min between bites I can normally tell when I'm going to have a problem. It's really inconsistent, too. One day I can do ground meat and the next day I can't. Just go slowly and listen to your body. Good luck!

Did you go through the cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt stage?  Did any of that cause problems?  If not, go back to those things.  You may need to just wait a while more before you are ready for those things.  You can try pureeing bean soup in the blender, eating refried beans, pureeing homemade chicken and veggies, like soup.  Try very small bites, use a baby spoon and wait between bites.  One of my favorites was homemade chicken, pureed til not quite smooth in the blender.  We were to spend 20-30 minutes on a meal that was 2 oz.

Good luck.  It does get better.

Sadly, you may have some problems with getting into solid foods.  Just eat what you can
and take each new food slowly. 

If you need to you can try to puree some foods;  my surgeon told me to make sure that
anything I ate was the size of an eraser or smaller.  My favorite soup in a blender was a
good way to eat;  I added some unflavored Unjury protein powder (a tablespoon or so)
to up the protein content after it had been heated.  Don't get it too hot as protein powder
is absolutely gross when it's too hot.

I had a lot better luck with tuna and shrimp when I first started solid foods.  Then scallops
were added.  You're still pretty early out, so try not to push yourself.

Good luck!

Some people have trouble with meat in the beginning.  Try other soft foods like beans, cheese, scrambled eggs and cooked vegetables.

 Hi Beth,

Your program advanced you much quicker than my program did.  I'm still not allowed to eat the foods that you were allowed to eat on day 10. Last week I was having a lot of problems with tofu and whole milk ricotta cheese; I can't imagine how I'd do with chicken, ground beef, etc.

My suggestion would be similar to what others stated.  Step back and eat some smoother foods and attempt the meats in another week or so.  All I've been eating this week is part-skim ricotta cheese with spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, and applesauce and I don't have the problems I had last week.  

Sorry to hear you are having problems.  I hope you can find some relief soon!

 thanks everyone.

I think I may be trying a little too hard to live up to the letter of what the NUT sent home for me.

I did have some problems with some of the softer foods, eggs especially, and cottage cheese unfortunately came right back on me, but the applesauce ect was okay.

I think that I'll switch down to some soups for a few days, and soft carrots seem to be okay for me now (no crunchy vegetables yet) and apple sauce and jello.

I was thinking about trying shrimp and might run over to costco to get some prepared shrimp and I have some low sugar ****tail sauce.

I'm also thinking about scallops but haven't a lot of experience in preparing them. I think I better do some research into that.

I appreciate the reassurance, maybe I need to step back and breathe a little and not worry about trying so hard. 

You are still early out.  It took me a while before I could eat meats and they are still hit or miss.  Just take it slow, don't ru****  It will eventually happen. 

I think you may be rushing your recovery a bit.  At 3 weeks out, I was just barely coming off of the yogurt/ cottage cheese stage.  My mainstays were Cambell's Chunky Soups (sirloin burger and split pea, especially), refried beans, and canned lite diced peaches   Lay off the meats for another week or so and then reintroduce sloooowly, and you should be fine!  Good luck!