Monday, March 2, 2009

Today was the pre-surgery appointments with the dietitian, physician's assistant, and surgeon.

Long day.... Lots of information.....many answers.

Starting next Monday, March 9th we begin the pre-surgery diet, designed to shrink the liver before surgery and to give us a healthy start to our new US!

We need to have 4 servings (Tom) or 3 servings (Teresa) of Unjury protein powder (chocolate, vanilla, unflavored, or chicken flavored) in skim milk or non-milk liquids (2 of each).

We are to include,only, 6 servings daily of approved food list:
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce or fresh fruit (if berries, it can be a full cup)
1/2 cup sugar-free, fat-free pudding
6 oz. light, sugar-free, fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup cream of wheat, cream of rice, or oatmeal
1 cup tomato juice or V-8 juice, or sugar-free V-8 Splash
Small salad (lettuce, tomato, onion) with fat-free dressing
Small Vegetarian Vegetable soup (ie. Amy's or Hain)

Drink water or sugar-free (caffeine-free, uncarbonated) beverages as needed during day (6-8 cups of additional fluid daily)

Not much, huh? Well, here is an example meal plan:

Morning Meal - 1 serving Chocolate or Vanilla Unjury powder mixed with skim milk
1/2 cup Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal
1 cup V-8 or Tomato juice

Snack - 1 cup sugar-free pudding or Unjury High Protein pudding

Midday Meal - 1 serving unflavored Unjury powder mixed with 8 oz Crystal Light
6 oz Fat-Free, Sugar-Free Yogurt

Snack - 1 cup sugar-free Jello or Unjury High Protein Jello

Evening Meal - 1 serving Chicken soup flavored Unjury mixed with warm water
1 cup V-8 or Tomato juice
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Bedtime Snack - 1 serving of Chocolate or Vanilla Unjury powder mixed with skim milk
6 oz Fat-Free, Sugar-Free Yogurt


Vitamins will be forever part of our lives.
Centrum Silver Chewables - 2 daily
Calcium Citrate Chewables - 6 daily
B-12 - depending on delivery system, either daily or weekly
Actigal - daily for 6 months to eliminate potential for gall stones

Usually, people having this surgery have private rooms at the hospital. They are making arrangements so we will share a room. This way, the 3 of us can have eyes on each other and Sue will have less traveling. She says she is going to sit between the 2 of us and push our pain medication plungers for us. We have stressed that Sue is part of our family and she is to be informed about our care. We have listed each other as being able to get info about each other.

We are to arrive at the hospital at 5am on March 23rd. All the prep stuff and a shot of heparin in the tummy (ouch!) before surgery and each day we are in hospital. Originally, they planned on doing Tom first and me 2nd. Tom doesn't care about the order, but I do. I really prefer going first so I can get it done and not sit and stress over BOTH surgeries of a couple of hours. Yes, I am being a wimp...but this is about the only thing that has me a bit wigged.

We will be in surgery for about 1 1/2 hours... in recovery for about 2 hours.. and in hospital 2-3 days after surgery. If one of us is ready to leave before the other, they will keep us together so we can come home together. Again, this will make Sue's life easier, too.

They says we should expect to be off work 6 weeks, with the potential of returning earlier if we feel like it.

Today, it seemed more "REAL". I mean, I have known for days that this was approved and scheduled....but today it seemed more like we are steaming on to a new life. Exciting and scary at the same time.

I am 5'2" tall and (today) weigh 268.2 lbs. Can't wait to see where I am in 6 mos.!

T