I know drinking liquids after surgery must be managed differently. Can you tell me the rules on this?
Temporarily you will be restricted to 2 oz of low calorie liquids during each hour on the day of your discharge from the hospital. Dr. Thomas allows this to be increased by a half an ounce each day as the next week goes by. In other words, the day after you get home, you may have 2.5 oz of liquids. The next day you may have 3 oz per hour and so on until 8 days after discharge or the day you get your skin staples removed at which time you may increase the amount as you wish.
The liquids you choose to drink must be low calorie. You will not be able to drink any fluids one hour before, during, or one hour after a meal. This rule will last forever. You may drink as much fluid as you like. However, you will always be restricted to low calorie or zero calorie fluids. This includes diet-decaffeinated sodas, water, decaffeinated unsweetened tea, crystal light, artificially sweetened Kool-Aid, etc. It does not include large quantities of skim milk. It does not include Gatorade or soups.
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