what to make for dinners?! Moms out there- help me!!!!!

Why do you think you won't be able to eat anything? I don't remember having a limited diet with an ostomy; it was temporarily limited when I had my reversal. I think you might be over thinking this.

Sue

Except for the bean dishes and Caesar salad, you'll be able to eat all that stuff as soon as you start on solid foods... in fact my hospital would have considered those soft solids that you could have eaten before going home! Within a few weeks you'll be able to eat all of that.

You might have some trouble having enough energy to stand and cook a full meal, regardless of what it is, just for the first week or so. You have the added benefit of going into surgery in pretty good health though, so I bet you will bounce back quickly. I would freeze a few entrees or stock up on easy/no-prep stuff beforehand and you'll be completely fine, really.

Finally, Greek yogurt is my #1 favorite post-op food. Requires no prep, no chewing, won't block you, and has tons of protein for healing.

You will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of foods you can eat right after surgery. The only things I avoided for the first six weeks were raw fruits/veggies, skins, seeds, nuts, anything very high fiber (but still ate whole wheat and well cooked veggies/canned fruit), popcorn, corn, mushrooms....things like that, that are hard to break down. After 6 weeks I started slowly trying all of that stuff and am now able to eat anything I want, always remembering to chew well! I actually have some sort of flu/cold mess right now, and feel WAY worse than I ever did after my surgery. You and your family will be just fine! :)

You're definitely overthinking things. As others have said, you'll have a fairly low residue diet at first, but you'll be able to add things as time passes. As for what you find on the internet, you can find anything and everything you seek out. Most of it is anecdotal. A lot of it is just plain wrong. I also agree with what others have said in that everyone is different. Things I might have been able to eat soon post-reconnect, others can't. And things they can eat, I couldn't. Your family will understand. Besides, you're recovering. Make THEM do the cooking!

I agree with all the replies you've got so far. As has been stated, the first weeks (and to a gradually decreasing extent, the first couple months) after surgery require care and caution both in terms of food softness and quantity of food in one go, but after the trauma of the surgery is over and the new plumbing adjusts, there are essentially no restrictions apart from using common sense and chewing well anything that is non-digestable into a good pulp.

I had an ileus five days after surgery that landed me back in the hospital for almost another week, and so my advice would be to be a bit more conservative right after surgery then they may push-- eg if they switch you after 3 days to normal diet, stay with low residue for a couple extra days instead and only nibble normal stuff experimentally then step back and see before moving up the ladder. Yogurt and scrambled eggs are great low residue protein sources. But eat 8 or so mini meals through the day at first and avoid full meals for the first couple weeks ... Not everyone needs to be that careful but you its better to be safe than sorry in the first weeks. Oh, stockup on lots of pedialyte as many hospitals only offer the far more sugary gatorade. Sugar creates excessively high liquid output which you want to avoid.

I haven't gone yet- it's not until 4:30! Lame... The sports drink thing- I hate sports drinks, never drink them. No Gatorade/pedialyte, etc. I've been told that plain water is ok to keep hydrated, as long as you drink enough. Will I really "need" pedialyte or gatorade? I'm fine with soup forever- I could eat it daily, it's my favorite dinner, with some bread to dip in. I guess I should do some freezer meals- though they tend to be giant casseroles, & it's really just the 3 of us. My husband is a pretty decent cook when need be!

As far as pedialyte goes, it is another thing that can be helpful during the weeks right after surgery, when high output and hence loss of electrolytes are normal. You may not need it at all, and certainly will NOT need it later on (after the first few weeks) for life with an ileo unless you want to use it as a sports drink (it is healthier for aports than gatorade). Try to aboid the sugary fruit juices they tend to foist on you in the hospital smetimes- but sounds like you dint like them (good!) so that's one thing less to worry about.

I drink whatever I want now- mostly plain water for hydrating including when I am biking, playing tennis etc for hours on a hit summer day. But make no mistake about the fact that it is typical and normal in the weeks rught after surgery to have lots of gas, faiorly high output, etc... Knowing that it is normal and temporary will help you not think "what did I do?"- it is temporary and fairly short lived. The UC pain willbe gone right after surgery-- even though you will have surgical pain that is fairly well controlled with meds right after surgery, you will know that sort of pain is the thpe that gets better rapidly day by day, sometimes 2 steps forward and lne back but overall better rather fast.

I only drink water. Never had a dehydration problem yet.