Sunday 25 February 2018

After the op

Sooze asked:

" Do you still need to follow any kind of eating guidelines after the op?"


Good question.

Assuming the op goes well and achieves what it is supposed to achieve, I won't need to go so low fat and I won't need to stick with the liver shrinking diet which is purely a pre-op thing.

However, since November I have lost masses of weight but there's still more to go, plenty more. I'd be daft to go back to my old ways, wouldn't I? Despite the regular pain, I'm feeling so much better in myself, fitter, more comfortable, both mentally and physically.

However, the regime I am currently following won't wing it. For a start, it is designed to be a short term, pre-op thing with specific, medical outcomes which is why I am a bit worried when I have to change anything. The info I have specifically states that it is not a diet that provides all the essential vitamins and minerals that my body needs so I'm taking a multivitamin and mineral tablet every day. I'd like to stop that.

It's too restrictive and rigid.  There's enough food to stop me feeling hungry but the way it is organised doesn't work that well.

I can't have protein or fruit for breakfast so no boiled egg and no fruit with my porridge as the two portions of fruit are for snacks.
I can have two protein portions for lunch but no carb. so I could have boiled eggs (two per portion) but to toasty soldiers to dunk. And it is not fun to try and force down two portions of tuna without the addition of some mayo! (fats are strictly limited)
Dinner is better but only one small portion of veg isn't great.

It isn't as frugal as I would like either with a lot of lean meat and fish.  As I have most stuff already in the freezer, I'm not spending more but I would be if things were different.

And don't start me off again on the limited veg!  :-)

I have a backlog of recipes to try and, while I don't want to go the WW2 rations route that some of my bloggy friends are taking, I really want to try some of their recipes.  It's frustrating!

However . . . I've had precious little gallbladder pain since I started on it and it's keeping on the straight and narrow.  And the weight is still coming off.

So - after the op, I think I might continue with a much less restrictive form of this diet which is what I was doing after I had the first attack until recently.  Less protein, more veg, less rigidity as to what to have and when.  I'll stick with low fat but with flexibility.  And if the weight stops falling off, I can always go back on it as a short term thing.  It's not, hopefully, a need but it certainly is a sensible thing to do.

Of course, there is always the chance that the op doesn't sort out the pain in which case I'm stuck with low fat and bouts of ouching for ever.
But I'm not thinking of that!  :-)


4 comments:

  1. I do hope the removal of your gall bladder also eventually removed the pain. I had mine removed 4 years ago this week, but I still have bouts of having to find a loo quickly (sorry it that is too much information) and this is what I've heard from others who are sans-gall bladder. I think everyone is different, though. Some have this kind of problem post-op, some don't. I just hope all goes well for you and you make a fast and full recovery.
    Margaret P

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  2. My daughter and my daughter-in-law and also my friend have all had their gall bladders removed in the last couple of years. They have all been incredibly better since the op and have not had recurrence of the pain they were in before. So it seems likely that the op will sort out your problems too. Hope so! : )

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  3. I think your liver should cope post op provided you don't challenge it too much. Keep the fat within bounds and you should be fine. When are you due for surgery?

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  4. Thank you, everyone. Really, I'm not too worried about whether it works or not. I tend to believe that operations do work (usually) or they wouldn't do them.
    Margaret - Thanks for warning me. At the moment I'm all bunged up (blaming the current diet for that) but must be aware that the opposite might be a problem too.
    Jo - that's extremely reassuring, thanks for that. Really glad your family and friend have been so much better. I'm looking forward to that very much.
    Diane - yes, I think so too. I haven't got a date yet - I keep running to the hall each time I hear the letter box! They said March but who knows until I get official confirmation!
    J x

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