Getting appetite back etc after surgery

Hi  Welshpoppy, 6 1/2 weeks is still early days. What are you eating? Even though it's small amounts and often you generally have to eat by the clock. Forget about eating healthy and appetite the appetite will return to some degree later. I was drinking lots of coffee made with fortified milk, which is full fat milk with powdered milk. Instead of making it with water you mix it with the full fat milk. I found I could eat anything made with minced beef, chilli and Bolognese especially and my wife made sure it wasn't lean low fat steak mince. I had to get my gullet dilated about 8 weeks after the surgery and swallowing became easier again. I had lost about 5 stones in weight so I was fitted with a jejunostomy feeding tube to supplement my diet for about 3 months. That was in October 2016 and I have regained all the weight I lost. So think fatty foods and protein. Good luck and kind regards Frank.

Thanks Frank, that's helpful to know. I am eating lot more fatty foods than I used to as they tend to go down easily so croissants, cheese on toast, omelettes etc and eat mostly 3 times a day with snacks in between when I can. Because of the capacity issues in my new stomach/oesophagus and it not emptying very well it reaches a limit after about 1000 calories when it feels like somethings stuck in my throat and if I try to get something else down, even drinks it starts bubbling so I have to start on jej feeds this week as I'm losing too much weight. I haven't had too many milky drinks as I have resistant oral thrush (a throw back from chemo/radio regime I had last year which was irritated by the NG tube during surgery/recovery from the op) and I find milk makes the oral thrush worse. 

The recovery process is a real rollercoaster isn't it? I won't even start on the ups and downs of the digestive system, dumping syndrome and stomach gripes. So glad the op is done but it'd be good to have a week of not having any stomach gripes and nausea and eating problems. Sorry I'm moany just had a few sleepless nights with the stomach gripes which wasn't helped I'm sure by being given Calogen shots to try and build me up - absolutely disgusting and made me sick and gave me bad stomach pains.

So glad you're a few years down the line and able to help others.

Thank you

Carol

Hi Carol, you were brave to be eating toast so soon after the surgery, I think it was about 3 months before I felt confident enough to eat toast. People used to say to me that I would be looking forward to being able to have a steak, I used to reply no I'm dying for some toast and butter. And when I had I toast and butter it was delicious. Finding the foods that agree with the new stomach and plumbing system is trial and error. I avoided potatoes until earlier this year, previously after the surgery I thought mashed potatoes would be a good idea, big mistake I had to lie down for about an hour then got the sugar crash. Apparently simple carbohydrates passed to the intestines too quickly. With regards to the oral thrush a friend of mine who had been to the doctor 4 times for this problem with no cure after 4 different prescriptions cured himself by swishing his mouth with warm water and bicarbonate of soda. Initially with the jej feeding I had to get the flow rate reduced because of nausea. It meant that the feeding took longer but it worked. Good luck and kind regards Frank.