Hey everyone, WOOT! I think I'm almost done. I'm blowing the trombone on the toilet, feel eveerything moving, and am on unlimited clears with small crackers and no nausea. Tommorrow, I will start a soft diet and will hopefully be released in the night. Thank you so much for your good wishes. I had one last worry while I'm still away from home and that is what is the BEST to eat?

The doctors say that the initial obstruction/vomiting was because where they reconnected my bowel was most likely swollen for a while. I don't want to overtax this site with food. At the same time, we are told to eat stool bulking foods like mac and cheese and stuff. But anyways, what should I be eating initially and gradually since I had this special swollen case (you guys are better than my surgeones, they'd just say "eat whatever you want"). Thanks!

Hi
Congrats with your TD and I wish you all the best with your recovery. My doc said eat anything but I listened to people on this site and had fantastic results. I stuck with the Banana, rice, potatoe, bread and cracker diet the added a new food each week. I am currently doing salads and everything has been great (knock on wood). Just take it slow, drink fluids,chew and continue to listen to people on this site, these people know what they are talking about and have been instrumental in my recovery.

Good Luck

Funny how the docs say "eat anything" when all of us experience that this can give various problems. I wonder whether any of the surgeons and docs ever visit sites like this and listen to what people actually experience in real life? Anyway, I agree with the above. Take it slow - mashed potatoes, boiled carrots, thick soups, chicken, fish...anything you'd eat if you were feeling a bit tender. If you can deal with dairy, yoghurt is a good thing to have. Hope the swelling goes down nice and quickly and you can start a decent recovery

Hi,

So glad you are getting to go home after your ong hospital stay. Having that swelling causing your obstruction does seem logical, I wonder how common it is?

Soph, you know I watched the surgeons with Mark and one of the resident surgeons was shocked by two things 1) how well he was handling it emotionally, and 2) how much better he said he felt right after the surgery. He tried to explain how sick he had been but we realized in this interaction that her job was one-dimensional, she focuses on the surgery of healing. I can't help but think that they can't listen to these sites, or the real experiences b/c the act of surgery is so serious and tense for them to execute. When the surgeon came out to talk to us after Mark's surgery, I ask him, 'how are you?', at first he kept talking about Mark, then I asked again, 'yes, but how are you?' and he said 'tense, surgery is always tense'. I wish surgeons could be the perfect healer of mind, body, soul, etc. but after I heard him say 'tense' I gained a new respect of what type of mindset they must live in to actually continue successfully the work they do. Okay, sorry to purge on that topic, I guess I'd thought about it some myself.

aashkab, please let us know of your recovery process. We are so glad you are going home!

Megan

Megan, you're right. I hadn't thought of what it must be like to be wielding the knife. If I make a mistake at work, I may lose us a lot of money or open us up to criticism, but at the end of the day, no-one gets physically hurt or loses their life. Surgeons put their necks on the block every day.

I'm glad you're coming home and I hope things continue to go well for you. Just be careful what you eat for a few weeks, you want to give things time to heal. I would eat small amounts throughout the day. Start with some toast, eggs, crackers w/ peanut butter, some ham, yogurt. Things that are easy to digest and will break down easily. I would avoid chicken, ground meats, and tougher foods for a few weeks.

janna