CLEARED FOR SOFT PROTEIN.

I went for my two-week followup with the surgeon just now. Weight is down, BP is down, everything looks good, wounds are healed up, and I'm looking fine but a little drained. He declared me "healed up" and expressed concern over my bowels issue, which has been a problem on full liquids and it's been hurting my energy levels. Visibly, today. He suggested a bunch of foods for me to try, like beans and cottage cheese, and I said "but uh, they're not on the full liquids plan in the book that the nutritionist gave me and I'm supposed to be on liquids 2 more weeks" and he said "Throw that book away."

Heh heh heh heh. YES SIR. GLADLY.

So. I'm cleared to try flaky fish, cottage cheese, soft eggs, beans etc. to try and stop the constant diarrhea. I grabbed a couple of eggs and a tub of cottage cheese at the store, and also a tub of ricotta cheese, because I want to see what that whole ricotta cheese bake thing is about.

I am also cleared for my Wii Fit light aerobics, walking, and anything else that's not too hard. I will be picking that up later on this week after the bowel issue clears up and my energy levels start to go back up.

I am one happy monkey!

Try some tilapia and some lump crab meat.   The crab meat goes down good.  I was told I can go to regular food after this week.  I'm still a little scared to try new foods. 

Good luck!

I know what you mean by being scared. I have some tuna fish in a can. I might try that later on. Right now I don't know which to try first. Only know that my surgeon said to get some solid(ish) protein into me like beans, chili, flaky fish or eggs. Now I'm nervous, and think dinner will be my first "real" meal with the sleeve. I'm glad my surgeon is confident that my little tummy can handle it.

Hi Scribbler,  I have been watching your progress and just wanted to share a little with you regarding eating tuna.  I have the band and waiting to see if I can get the sleeve.  As a bandster, and I only eat albacore tuna in water, I sometimes had trouble with it.  Just be sure to break the tuna up well with a fork and either blend it with something to make it very moist or get the tuna in oil maybe.  ??  That way it isn't so hard on your sore tummy.  Good Luck!

Albacore is my least favorite tuna, especially the solid white. I never did like the taste. I much prefer the oil pack yellowfin or skipjack. This time, I got hold of some water pack tongol and mixed that up with my homemade mayo. HOLY PANCAKES WAS THAT EVER HEAVENLY. I never tasted such tuna. Or maybe it was the mayo - I did make an especially good batch today. It tasted like rainbows and unicorn farts in my mouth.

I worked through 2 tbsp of the mixture. It was about 1 oz. of fish. I'll nibble on some of the rest tomorrow.

In another month or 6 weeks, once I'm less nervous about the little bones getting into my staple line, I'll go back to my usual standby, which is oil pack sardines with red hot chili sauce. They're higher in calcium and omega-3's and just crazy delicious and good for you.

Yay, sounds great! I hope you tolerate them well and I hope it helps your GI issues.

So far, I've tolerated everything I've thrown at this sleeve with no vomiting or getting food "stuck". One of my strategies is I don't put anything in my mouth bigger than a pea. Then I chew everything that goes into my mouth until it's a fine paste. The surgeon did say to do that. And I've been diligent about it. Besides, when you chew a long time, you get the full flavor. If I encounter a piece that I think may give me trouble, I don't swallow it.

So far, this little sleeve is doing a great job, even with hot sauce. It's my iron stomach, just smaller. I sure wish I had an iron gut, though.  :(

Just take it SLOW. Too big of a bite WILL HURT or cause you to vomit pretty immediately. Don't push yourself. I found scrambled eggs with cheese went down well... The wetter the eggs were, the better. 

I am totally being careful. I just had a bite of a Quest bar... a bite the size of a PEA... chewed well until it was liquid. I have ricotta bake in the oven, assembled in tiny 1-serving crocks; we'll see how that stuff sits. I'm definitely trying the soft scrambled eggs tomorrow. I have a recipe that is "to die for" and VERY soft and easy to eat, almost like egg pudding, and there's a little cheese in there for flavor.

If you don't mind I would love to try that ricotta bake. Do you mind sharing your recipe? I'm 3 weeks post op and just looking into what i can start eating. Thank You!