Love and vibes for Diane

Dys--

You've had enough going on to drive any man a bit distracted.

Wow, that makes sense, Phoenix.

To be honest: I didn't really change anything BEFORE the operation.
Now: no fruit, no pulse, no grilled meat, no fish (which makes me wonder), no fat (well, that was what I did before).


SHE (sic!) now gets mostly on rice and any kind of (cooked) poultry, non-creamy soups ...


The link is really good.

Yipes I just saw this thread, I have only the very best wishes!

What's pulse?

ah, here it is -

Crop such as peas and beans. Pulses are grown primarily for their seeds, which provide a concentrated source of vegetable protein, and make a vital contribution to human diets in poor countries where meat is scarce, and among vegetarians. Soybeans are the major temperate protein crop in the West; most are used for oil production or for animal feed. In Asia, most are processed into soymilk and beancurd. Peanuts dominate pulse production in the tropical world and are generally consumed as human food.
Pulses play a useful role in crop rotation as they help to raise soil nitrogen levels as well as acting as break crops. In the mid-1980s, world production was about 50 million tonnes a year.

Winter squash is easy to prepare, easy to eat, and because they get steamed soft, they will be easy to digest.
Not to mention their vitamin count is really high.

The best ones -

acron squash
butternut squash
spaghetti squash

Simply cut them in half, which is a task in itself sometimes, remove all seeds and steam for about 40minutes.
Let cool about 20, then spoon out the insides.

With this you can add simple things to help her gain nutrients with out gaining weight/fat/salts

Purchase some cool keeping nutritional yeast and sprinkle a tablespoon in with the squash.
1/4 teaspoon of flax seed oil ( not high in fats, or cholesterol) does the same thing
Emergency - vitamin c energy drinks are safe as well ( little to no sugars, high in vitamins)
Baby chewable , or liquid vitamins will help
Greens, in the blender with powdered vegetable protien. Yucky.. but very easy on the system and diabetic friendly. A good 3 or 4 swallows can give her body a great amount of vitamins, and still be easy onher system.

A good shake to make -
2 leaves of Kale
1 head of broccoli
about a 1/2 handfull of oatgrass
1/2 handfull of sprouts
2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of unflavored yogurt
1 scoop of vegetable protien ( powdered)
2 cups water or milk.
Blend until soft, adding water if need be.

No, it doesnt taste good. But it is a powerhouse drink that is very easy on the body.

If consistancy is the issue. STEAM EVERYTHING, keeping the water to drink. ( the water has alot of vitamins in it )


but, im just throwing out ideas..

The Post Gall Bladder surgery seems to call for an old fashioned bland diet--what my kids used to call the "diarrhea" diet.

Toast with just a scraping of jelly to cut the scratchy edges of the crumbs.

Canned applesauce.

Broth. Eventually broth with some noodles.

Carbonated beverages.

Sherbet.

Jello in all permutations.

The logic is not to tax the digestive tract. Complex carbohydrates (bread, noodles) are partly digested in the mouth. Simple carbs (sherbet, jello) are digested in the mouth.

This does not continue forever.

I have a stubborn friend who had emergency gall bladder surgery who loathed the bland diet and kept violating it. After a month she could eat anything she wanted without her system rebelling.

It has been humbling to read all the

posts written over the past few days. As

usual, the a2k community is coming

through with love and support in every

way it knows how.

There have been a few serious

misconceptions as to what has happened

during this entire process. For one

thing, every doctor involved has been

excellent, it is their staff who have

fallen down on the job and failed to

communicate the latest information to the

other doctors. They can't take care of

something they know nothing about. I plan

on writing a letter of thanks to each

doctor who has been involved, but I will

also complain about the way their offices

are run.

In the plasma infusion lab, I finally

talked to a nurse who took it upon

herself to put all the pieces together.

It took her at least 20 minutes, being

referred from one office to

another(withing the same group of

doctors) before getting the full story of

the initial gallstone discovery on to the

intestinal infections of which there are

two--just found this out yesterday!

Apparently, like so many other bacteria

resistent infections, these have jumped

from a hospital setting to the general

public--to people who have no reason for

getting such a thing--not HIV positive,

no outside the country travel, good

health in general. They could have been

picked up at the grocery store, or at a

medical lab where I had some testing done, at the gas station, or a thousand other places where one is likely to touch things that have been touched by hundreds of other people.

Now I realize why no one took my

complaints about diarrhea seriously--I

wasn't in the group that normally gets

this type of bug. I'm the typical maven

of "Be sure to wash your hands." (I'll

try not to let this turn me into Lady

McBeth).

Hopefully, this will increase awareness

in Albuquerque's medical community that

this is happening here and that people

should take any illness that lasts longer

than usual much more seriously than they

do in general. Yes, the bile duct stones

are serious and possibly

life-threatening, but the intestinal

infections were making me feel sicker

than I've ever been in my life and I

couldn't get anyone to do anything about

it until I mentioned it to one of the

physician's assistants, who ordered a

stool sample. Finally! I'm beginning to

feel human again--granted with

occassional pain, but nothing compared to

those blasted infections.

This isn't any easy topic--sort of an

euwww kind of thing that we all tend to

avoid talking about, but for all our

sakes, it needs talking about and it

needs to be taken more seriously by the

medical profession. I do not hold any of

the doctors to blame--it is still not

something that normally comes to mind in

a generally healthy population.

Tomorrow I will have the duct opened to

remove the stones and have my gall

bladder removed. Unfortunately, not a

laparoscopy, but all the doctor can do is

based on what he found the conditions to

be. Blame me for having such a sweet

tooth, a southern mother who's wonderful

cooking included lots of deep fat frying

and for not following a saner, healthier

diet.

So please wash your hands but for Pete's sake--no, for Diane's sake.

And don't get all paranoid, just be careful.

in ontario we have a free DIAL-A-DIETICIAN service provided by the ontario society of dieticians .
they'll provide professional advice re. special diets - they are probably more knowledgeable about diets than physicians .
very few physicians have training in dietary matters .
hbg

This is a separate post for my heroes, Bob (Dys), Jo (Ossobuco) and my sons, who have done anything and everything they could possibly do to make all this easier on me.

There is not a thing I can say that would come close to expressing my love and appreciation for having them in my life. They faced all this realistically, without placing blame, even though there has been anger on all our parts over the unnecessary length of this ordeal.

They were able to express anger and concern without making it into something it isn't and never has been. I've been terribly sick. There have been mistakes. I'm still here. My friends and family are here, in spirit if not in person. To me, that is about all I could ever ask for and ever need.

That old blue-eyed cowboy is my life. He has given me reason to live. What better incentive is there?

huhwith the exception of the kale and broccoli, this about what we make for young weaning lambs. Course we use fattier milk.
Go figger.

Diane, thank you for your very well-spoken and informative post! I feel better now. And I feel that you are in good hands and will be better in no time. I don't know the digestive infection first hand, but my landlady just had a run with it last month. She was in severe pain. I feel for you, of course. Good luck tomorrow. We'll be awaiting great news.

And, I am glad the cowboy is taking care of himself as well.

Definitely holding your virtual hand. And I'll be with you tomorrow virtually, holding your virtual hand and kvetching about the virtual lack of oxygen in Albuquerque.

Hanging with you, kid.

Diane- If you hear a low pitched buzzing, it's the sound of the ommmming that is embracing you from around the world.

Can't wait until you start a thread, "Did you hear about my operation"! :wink:

add some avacado, flax seed oil , or pour this mixture into cooked milletseed cereal, and this was jillians first food

Heh, it seems the bunny has got a similar idea ... :wink:

Catching up on this... thinking of you both, D & D, and sending really wonderful thoughts your way.

I'll bring carrots.

With the rather tall Boidy kvetching about the lack of oxygen in Albuquerque and the rather vertically challenged Phoenix holding my virtual hand, I know I'll be fine in no time.

Big smooches and hugs to all. If I leave anyone out, please realize that the anesthesia they provide during the operation, in addition to the pain killer that is in the IV, means that a good part of my memory is wiped clean. I have no memory of the doctor even starting on the first proceedure on Thursday (?) or of the ride on the cart to the recovery room. Not even a memory of Bob. I do remember my son Mathew because he was there later as I was coming out of total amnesia.

Finally, I have a good reason for my loss of memory. Drugs do it every time.

BTW, I tried singing Wind Beneath My Wings to Jo and she almost threw up. Not a sentimental bone in the woman's body!

Hi Diane and Dys:

From personal experience with my own gallbladder surgery, the one food you will want to avoid at all costs for as long as possible are grapes, grapes in any form. Whole grapes are the worst, wines and fruit juices the next most painful. Keep an eye on other "juices." They like to sneak grape juice in as a filler.

When you feel ready to try grapes, just eat one or two of them and wait a day to see how you do with them. Unknowingly, I made the mistake of eating a bunch of grapes soon after surgery and the pain was almost as severe as the stones themselves! It's been 10 years since my gallbladder removal and I still can't eat whole grapes without paying for it all the way through my digestive tract. The odd thing is that raisins are okay. I eat them like candy.


Also from personal experience and a diehard Ben and Jerry's ice cream lover....go for the sorbets. Be careful on the fruit sorbets...but pig out on the chocolate sorbet. Safeway's Select Chocolate sorbet is to die for and tastes every bit as good as a Ben and Jerry's chocolate ice cream.