Let's Talk Stage 1

I will preface this by saying I am not a medical professional and every doctor has different recommendations for the stages to follow after surgery. Please follow what YOUR doctor says.

For me, Stage 1 was Clear Liquids.

Clear Liquids include:

Broth (beef, chicken, etc)
Sugar Free Jell-O
Sugar Free Popsicles
Low sugar juice mixed with water (good luck finding that one)
Water

Mmmmm! I know you're drooling just thinking about it. Here's how I got through that lovely stage. It really, really helps that I wasn't hungry at all. I drank everything other than water out of duty. I probably didn't drink non-water things as often as I was supposed to, but my doctor didn't really have a schedule or time frame listed on anything.

#1 White Miso Soup - It comes in little envelopes that are powder and some dehydrated mushrooms. Mix with 1 cup of warm water and voila... salty, pretty tasty Miso soup. I ran mine through the strainer to remove the mushrooms and spices. It took me all day to finish the one cup this made. I ate around 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup those first couple of days.

#2 Swansons Flavored Broth- After 2 days of White Miso Soup, my store was out of the packets and I was burnt out on the taste. So, we journeyed to Wal-Mart in search of the flavored broths I had heard about. I got the Tortilla Chicken infused broth and it was yummy! It tasted so different than the Miso soup and my mouth was ready for a change.  They have more flavors that I haven't tried yet. As the week progressed, I slowly ate more at a time. By the end of the week, I could do 1/2 cup of broth at a meal (Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner). As my ability to drink more at a time increased, I decreased the frequency of my broth intake.

#3- By Saturday, I was sick of being at home and getting pretty tired of soup. So, my mom and I went to the movies. We saw a cute, but predictable movie called "Age of Adeline". Afterwards, we went to the local Chinese restaurant and picked up some egg drop soup. I ran in through my strainer to drain out the eggs and chicken chunks, etc. It was heaven in my mouth! I know many doctors will say this isn't technically a clear liquid, but I didn't care. Since it was thicker than broth, I stepped back to 1/4 cup at a time. With the new thicker liquid, I also took a few sips then waited 10 minutes to see if it would agree with my stomach. It did!

Yes, sugar free Jell-O and sugar free Popsicles are on the list you see above. I tried. they were gross. The sweet taste made me want to gag. It just wasn't working for me. Your taste buds change after surgery for awhile. I don't know why, but they do.  Though, I will say I still find sugar free jell-o and popsicles to be nasty,  vile things that one should never be required to eat.

Yes, I could have made my own broth, but I'll be honest I was too damn tired to care about it. My husband says he doesn't know how I survived that week on nothing but that little bit of broth here and there. I just wasn't hungry and drank enough to get through it. Lots of people end up with a lot of nausea after surgery. I was blessed to not have that during the clear liquid stage.

I absolutely did not count calories or protein or anything during this phase. For me, it was about healing and following the instructions from my doctor to the best of my ability.