Liquid Diets Stink!

Ok, now I'm day 4 into the liquid diet and it's a cruel irony that I'm starving myself preoperatively and after surgery will have to work to get the protein in.

I've pretty much tried all the products by themselves. In the not so bad category are the meal replacement drinks, and the chicken noodle soup. In the yeeeuck category is the cream of chicken soup mix and the strawberry drink mix (blech). I've been eating Sugar Free Popsicles like they're going out of style. Tonight I tried something my dietician suggested - Trick Potatoes. They're basically made by beating cauliflower to death, mixing it with soup mix and then beating it some more. Interestigly, it tastes pretty much just like mashed taters - and given the mostly soup diet, it was a nice departure from the purely liquid fare.

I'm now 9 days away from surgery, and other than a couple of fleeting "holy crap" moments I've been pretty resolute about this process. I'm sure that the day of surgery I'll have more than a few thoughts of "why am I doing this". I plan to have a picture of my wife and girls with me for just such occasion - that's why I'm doing this.

Other than that, I'm sticking to the 1000 calorie, liquid diet, with 100 g of protein per day, and dealing with the Ketones I'm secreting at this very moment. In the end, being able to work more than 20 minutes at a time in the yard or climb stairs without gasping for air will be well worth the temporary starvation, postoperative pain and time off from work.