Silly Newbie Water/Protein Question

I am probably going to have the bypass in January.  I have been lurking here since August.  I hear lots of discussions by people who can't get in all their protein and water daily.  Then I hear tha****er is more important as "no one has ever wound up in the hospital for lack of protein but they have for lack of water and dehydration".  Water first then protein.  Then I hear there are unflavored protein powders you can put in your water soooooooo..... why can't you just mix this unflavored powder in your water and sip all you can per day working your way to the 64 ozs.? Or put the protein powder in clear broths at that stage then soups at that stage.  Or buy some of the waters with protein powder already incorporated.  What am I missing.  Forgive me if this is totally stupid.  I haven't even had the surgery yet so I am pretty clueless.  There must be a good reason this does not work - what is it though?

Molly 

My nutritionist tells me to treat anything mixed with protein as food, not drink.  That means no drinking 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after.  So even if I mix my protein powder with water like I normally do, I have to stop drinking non-protein fluids 30 minutes before I am going to drink the shake, then drink as much of the shake as I can in 30 minutes, then wait 30 minutes before drinking any more fluids.  The protein shake does not count in my fluid totals - only the non-protein fluids.  Every nutritionist seems to be different though, so I would ask yours what her opinion is.

Many of the protein waters are horrid too.

If "unflavored protein" was truly unflavored, that idea would work great.  Unfortunately, unflavored protein has an icky taste, so mixing it in with just plain water would be really unpleasant.  I tried to mix unflavored protein with V-8 and it was DISGUSTING.  After attempting to plug my nose, bypass my tastebuds, and other creative ways to avoid the taste and smell, I had to dump it out.  I also seem to have a super sensitive sense of smell since surgery, so I gag at the slightest whiff of protein powder.  I've found that just a sprinkle of the unflavored protein is palatable in most foods,  (but that sprinkle has negligible amounts of protein - a 1/4 of a scoop is only like 6 or 7 g)  The waters with protein already incorporated (I use the Isopure juices) are very odd tasting too, so I have to dilute them with extra water, and throw in a packet of Crystal Light in order to drink them.  I have a hard time getting my protein in, because I'm supposed to have 93 g of protein daily, and each of my protein shakes is 25 g at the most.  Technically, they want me to have three protein shakes daily, then get another 18 g from my food.  (Luckily my protein shakes, even when mixed with unsweetened almond milk, are considered "liquid" and count towards my daily fluid requirements.)  The protein shakes fill me up so much, it's hard to think about food.  I'm only four weeks out, so it will hopefully get easier in time, but in the meantime, it really is a struggle to get all of it in!!  It does sound kind of strange, but believe me, once you've had your surgery, you'll see what everyone means!!  Good luck with your journey!