Hungry and full same sensation? puree vs liquid? LOTS of questions!

 I'm about 9 days post op and was just ok'd for pureed foods yesterday.  So far I've only had pureed tunafish (with no fat mayo) and then some cottage cheese.  I was told I can't have anything to drink for approx 30 min before and 30 min after eating.  I have a REALLY hard time getting anything down without drinking.  I have a very dry mouth.

Anyway, I'm taking in about 1/4 cup of whatever for a meal.  With liquid I take that in about 15-20 minutes, but last night the tuna took me over an hour (I added water to it to make it REALLY runny).

Well, I feel the same sensation when I think I'm hungry as I do when I think I'm full!  Is that normal?

I'm so confused because I have contradicting information from the dietician and the book they give to patients (it's one the dietician put together).  One part says I should eat something every 3 hours.  Another spot says 3 meals and one snack a day.

It also says that the puree diet should be the consistancy of baby food.  Well, to get it to grind up in the magic bullet you have to add liquid or something moist.  By the time it's done (not chunky) it's basically what I was eating for the full liquid diet!

I had cottage cheese with some unflavored protein powder and milk blended for lunch.  1/4 cup.  I have felt hungry since then.  I waited about 30 minutes and had 4oz of protein shake.  I still think I feel hungry....  I didn't feel like this on the 2 weeks pre-op diet....

So exactly what is puree vs liquid?  Also it says in my book I can have egg substitute (cooked soft), but to wait a few weeks for whole eggs.  Is there a reason for that?

Also I'm thirsty ALL the time.  I drink at least 64 oz of fluids a day (probably 50+ is straigh****er), which is what they told me to do.  But mouth is usually dry and always feel thirsty.  I get out of the shower and have to have my water right there or I feel panic!

I'm hoping to go home this weekend (I'm at my parents house where I had the surgery - 3 hour drive from home and of course now we have snow all over), but scared at the same time.

Help???  I feel so stupid dealing with all this and just not knowing things, I'm not use to feeling so lost I guess.  I'm sure everyone goes through this, but it's really kicking in my anxiety and depression.

Thanks everyone!

i would consider puree to be applesauce consistency. each doctor gives their own advice for their patients and overall, along with following their instructions you have to figure out what works best for you! i dont' drin****il an hour after i eat. i also don't think the feeling of real HUNGER will come along for awhile with me. some people don't get that feeling for months which is why i think it's very important at first to keep your meals on a schedule, no matter what variant of a schedule that is.

i'm also at my parents house right now, since my mom went through this a year and a half ago. hoping to go home sunday. for the anxiety and depression i've been taking prozac (liquid)

i don't have too much advice because i'm a noob myself... hope some of that helps :)

Hi Shelly!  Wouldn't it be great if the danged nutritionists could give helpful straightforward and not contradictory info?  That aside, are you still taking pain meds?  That will make your mouth really dry.  either way you can get some biotene toothpaste or mouth gel that might help with that.  I am only four weeks out so I am certainly no expert, I am just trying to figure this out same as you.  but here is what I do know, this is all very tricky and when the professionals don't give you clear guidance of course you feel lost.  I felt the same way and still do sometimes.  The best advice I have gotten at this stage was from a nurse in the hospital who just told me to take things really slow and go back to what I was doing before if I find moving up a phase isn't working.  I was told not to drink for thirty minutes before and one hour after eating (to avoid your tummy feeling too full and because of the risk of dumping if too much water gets mixed with your food.  So if I ate four meals a day that would be 8 hours a day I couldn't drink water (takes me at least thirty minutes to eat anything of substance).  That just wouldn't work for me right now.  So here is what I do:  I do a really high protein drink in the morning, 12 oz milk and one and a half scoops of protein powder (with some unsweetened cocoa and splenda thrown in totalling 39 grams of protein).  That totally takes the stress off the rest of the day because most of my protein is taken care of.  Then I shoot for two meals of actual food.  Sometimes it is really pureed wet food like cream of brocolli soup or black bean soup.  Sometimes it is harder stuff like scrambled egg (I have never heard of that wait for the egg thing) or salmon.  I think the really wet pureed food is closer to liquid and I think the issue is you just want to keep liquidy stuff away from harder stuff to avoid dumping.  If I am really thirsty but also need to eat I just make my meal a yogurt smoothie or soup.  Just take it slow and pay attention to your body.  There are a million ways to do this and the surgeons can't even agree on it.  Figure out what works for you!  Good luck!!!

 I'm not an expert either at 8 weeks out but we were told that drinking with food will cause the solid food to wash out of your stomach sooner and cause you to feel hungry faster.

I experience the hungry or full symptoms too. I think its our pouches working the food around in there. I too was given contradictory info so I mainly stick to the basics, protein first, try to get enough liquids, few carbs and no white sugars, take vitamins and supplements. The pureed diet is as the other poster said about like applesauce, I was told bean with bacon soup pureed was ok. Your diet may be different but mine let me have cream soups with protein powder. I was always thirsty as well so I did what they told me which was sip, sip, sip. You do get to a point where you can drink more at a faster pace, I just reached it, lol. Hang in there you can do this and you have OH community to help you along.

I never get the full feeling and even almost 6 months out still get hungry. People say it is head hungry. I don’t see the difference when I am hungry real hungry, or my head tells me I am hungry. Anyway that is why I measure or weigh everything I put in my mouth. If I don’t I will over eat and will throw up most of the time. You know the amount you are supposed to have at this time so just eat that and know that you are getting what you need as far as the amount even if you still feel hungry or can‘t really tell if you are full.

When I came home from the hospital I was on the pureed stage and just had to have the liquid along with it. I had no pain or nausea and had no problems with the stage except that it all looked the same kind of like cat food. You will get through it and start the new phase of solid food which was a bigger problem for me. Now however everything is just fine and I feel like I did before surgery. It is a great feeling and you will be there soon. Good luck. 

 The pureed stage isn't too long so here's what I did for that time.  I bought Cream soups like chicken, asparagus, broccoli, mushroom, etc. There is a cheese soup that I like or I throw some shredded cheese in at some point after the next step.   I stewed chicken and /or beef with onions, veggies, and fresh herbs until the meat was really tender.  You can do this in a pressure cooker, oven, or stove top.  Just make sure that you cook them until fork tender.  I put enough creamed soup with the meat to make it moist and processed it in my food processor.  By that point the pureed food tasted wonderful.  Just eliminate the corn, extra broccoli, and any of the tougher veggies that are reserved for when you are out 6 or 8 weeks.

With the broccoli soup you can add a small amt. of cooked ham and lots of cheese.  
I also just discovered a roasted tomato in a can and it is so flavorable.  You have to try it with the beef.
A little bit of ham always perks up a chicken recipe.