I've been having issues with my stomach lately. I've been adding in soft foods (the next phase of my diet) one per day (with one exception), varying what it is. I've tried eggs, spaghetti and sauce, tuna (not as blended as I normally would have it) with fat-free mayo and toast.
The results are not very promising. The night I ate the tuna, I was in the bathroom wishing I'd throw up for about 45 minutes. I did not want to even eat the next day. I just wanted to drink my Powerade zero (my new favorite thing to drink) and eat/drink nothing else. Of course, I did, because I need to, but I didn't exactly like the idea. Then last night we had eggs. We had scrambled - and we had even had this earlier in the week. Earlier in the week it upset my stomach, but didn't make me that sick for that long. And I finished what I didn't eat at dinner later for another meal (eggs are great sources of protein, but if you have surgery, gassy foods such as eggs might bother you more than normal, I've been lucky and haven't had this issue). The second time eating them that night didn't bother me at all. However, last night when I ate the eggs I spent the next hour wishing that I'd throw up.
While many may not care to read it, it is important that I go into this topic due to the nature of the blog and the fact that people who read this and consider the surgery need to be aware of. Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you want.
When talking about "throwing up" after a RNY, it apparently isn't... quite like it used to be. Because the stomach is primarily used to vomit and you don't have a lot of your stomach anymore (well, you have it all, some of it is just separated from the portion you use), anyway - because you don't have it any more, you don't have quite the ability to vomit as you may have had before. It isn't that you can't - I certainly heaved last night. But what I tend to get is a foamy mucus rather than any of the food. I got some of the eggs up last night, but it was mostly the mucus. What makes matters worse is that if you don't get the mucus up, it only serves to make things worse as your stomach is producing it and if you're not getting it out, it is only filling up your stomach more.
It isn't fun, it isn't great, and trust me, it is giving me great bio-feedback. But it still sucks.
So, while I've tolerated the full liquids and puree (for the most part) perfectly fine - the soft food stage is going to be rough it seems. I'm sure I'm "ready" for it. I can tolerate some things (like toast) very, very well. I just think that because I tolerated the puree and full liquids so well, I didn't really have to worry about how much I was taking in. I also had measured portions that equaled what I could have, and everything worked out very well. In addition, it would quickly move through my pouch because it was already fluid, it just needed a little work in the stomach it seemed. On the other hand, when I'm chewing and swallowing, it is causing my stomach to have to work on the food as well. This, I believe, is pissing it right the heck off, not to mention it stays in the stomach longer, so I have to be MUCH more careful with how much I'm eating, and how quickly I'm eating it.
So, for the time being, I'm going to still try and stick to simpler foods that are easy to digest (pureed stage stuff). But, I'm going to keep trying to eat the "soft foods" diets. Note, I keep using soft foods, but it is really easy to process foods. Steamed veggies, soft canned fruits (not in syrup), crackers and toast, cheese, etc. The toast and crackers are soft, believe it or not, because once you're done eating them they're mush. The reason you don't want bread is that doughy bread can ball up in your stomach (imagine getting it a little wet, and then mashing it into a ball) and that can be as problematic as anything else. One thing I don't know if I can have yet, but I am absolutely dying to try, is sushi. I am going to try and get in touch with the dietitian and see if I can't eat that yet, or if I need to wait to eat that until I'm back to being on a normal diet (minus the fats and sugars, lol).
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