A typical food day, second week after surgery

Right now, I consider my job to be healing, and within that, to drink my fluids and eat my protein. For women, Beth Israel recommends 2-3 liters of decaf, low-sugar, non-carbonated fluids a day and 60-80 grams of protein. 

I'm getting 1.5-2 liters a day, from water, SmartWater (with electrolytes added), herbal tea and Crystal Light. Most of my protein comes from protein shakes. BI recommends whey protein isolate, a more expensive but higher-quality protein. The dietician said patients give Unjury and Syntrax Nectar positive reviews for taste, so those are the brands I went with.

My typical protein shake choices are

• 1 cup almond milk (1 g protein) with 1 scoop Unjury vanilla (21 g protein) 
• 8 oz water with 1 scoop Nectar pink grapefruit (23 g protein) 
• 8 oz chicken broth (1 g protein) with 1 scoop Unjury chicken soup (21 g protein).

I just ordered more Unjury, a starter variety pack and strawberry sorbet, to prevent what BI calls "flavor fatigue."

Other protein choices are 

• half an envelope (1.5 g protein) of Cream of Wheat, soupy, with half a scoop of unflavored Unjury (10.5 g of protein)
• half a container of light Greek yogurt (6 g protein). 

Two shakes, Cream of Wheat with protein powder, and half a Greek yogurt brings me to 62 grams of protein per day, and I'm picking up another 2 grams of protein in sugar-free pudding (1 twice a day to take my meds). 

Physical check-in

Physically, I feel quite well. I finally took off my remaining bandages this morning and now just have something called Steri-Strips covering my incisions. I have abdominal discomfort — it feels as if I've stretched my muscles — but not pain. I haven't taken Children's Tylenol in a few days. 

I'm having some insomnia, which is a bother, and I can tell I'm feeling much better because I'm starting to get bored. I'm not scheduled to leave the house until a week from today, when I resume appointments with my therapist, but I might drive to the pharmacy tomorrow and get a pill crusher. 

An interesting thing happened last night: I woke up in the middle of the night, about to roll on my side. That hasn't happened since surgery. As I've mentioned, I'm a side sleeper, and I'm so tired of sleeping on my back. Since it hurts my abdomen to lie on my side, I'm sticking with the back... but maybe that's coming to a close.