Hello,

Okay, I had my takedown surgery on Thursday and am feeling pretty good but have a couple questions. I have a lot of gas pains but not sure other than walking what i can do about it. I am going fairly frequently and it is like turning on a faucet when i do it is sooo watery. I am still only eating full liquids so lots of jello, pudding, cream soups etc. Will this get better as I can eat more and will the leakage let up then? I'm not leaking alot but am leaking some.

It seems like everytime I eat i end up with pain in my pouch area, is this normal and will it get better?

As I said before I am eating only liquids as the Dr. told me to but he never really told me how long before i could add other foods like mashed potatoes or noodles etc? Could someone give me an idea of time frame for introducing new foods.

Thanks for all your help!

First of all, please remember that everyone is different and heals differently. I assume that since your surgery was just a few days ago you are still in the hospital and being monitored by Dr and nurses. They will tell you when you can start adding things to your diet. My takedown wad almost 5 weeks ago and I'm still adjusting. The first few weeks it seemed that I could feel everything digesting, it was weird. I was in the bathroom a lot and it was luquidy. Before I left the hospital I was allowed to try some crram soups and toast. My DR kept me on low residue? Low fat for 2 more weeks and then told me to start carefully add stuff. Honestly it's been trial and error, some days are great and others ate trying. Just remember that you have put your body through a lot and it will take time to heal and adjust buy it does get better. 5 weeks ost surgery and I'm eating fairly well, swimming, exercising and "normal" in many ways. Good luck with your healing!

Carrie

PS - sorry for the many typos above! Harder to do this on iPhone than expected!!

If it's okay with your doctor try introducing some of the bulking foods like bagels, rice, potatoes, pasta, bread. It's probably preferable to introduce one food at a time so you can see if it works for you. If it doesn't work now, wait a while and reintroduce it.

I was in the hospital for 2 days for my takedown and I was eating anything I wanted before I left the hospital. And that included salads.

Things will get better.

kathy

Hello again,

Okay first off I am not in the hospital and don't want to call the Dr till Monday when I can speak to my surgeon or his nurse. That's why I turned here. Thanks for the input though.

Kathy, that is amazing you were able to eat that much that soon! I am jealous!

Take it slow Tiffany, it is really very early on and the slower you take it the easier it will be...you might want to start with rice water (yuk!) I know but it really is the best food soucre to thicken things up in the begining...just cook a cup or 2 of rice in twice the usual quantity of liquid and then drink the liquid! ( a day or 2 later you can start eating the rice too...use a drop of olive oil and salt on the rice and you can use brown sugar+cinnamon in the rice water...makes it easier to go down and the cinnamon is anti inflamatory!)...
Also try to avoid all acidy juices in the begining..Stick to apple, carrot or tomato/V8 for now.
Sharon

Good luck Tiffany!! I wish that I could offer advice to you, but I can only give you my best wishes as I'm only one month post step 1. How does it feel NOT to have the bag? Please keep us posted on your progress.

I'd agree with your assumption that it's your full liquid diet that's contributing to liquidy poo. Once you start eating food with heft to it then you'll see a different...especially when you add a fiber suppliment.

Thank you sooo much for the support guys! I am doing a little better. I ate a banana this morning. I ate half when i got up and half about three hours later. Ifind if I eat too much ate once i don't feel so good so I am eating very little amounts at a time but eating more often. I have only gone to the bathroom 3 times since I got up at 6:30 this morning and once i didn't have any BM I think I may try a little mashed potatoes tonight at supper time. then I can try to share some of a meal with my family

Bman- I am very happy to be done with my bag but I can tell you that a couple times when I felt things moving inside I found myself feeling for my bag to see if it was filling up, habit I guess! I didn't have too much trouble with the bag and know if it came down to it I could live with it long term but am so happy to know it is an option at this point

Tiffany,

Just checking in on you to see how you're doing. Hope things are getting easier for you.

Reaching down and checking for a full bag after takedown is very common. I found myself doing it for about the 1st week at home.