Hi Len!
Surprisingly, I had the gastrectomy first before this and it was a much easier recovery. They gutted me from sternum to pelvic bone. Twice in 2 years. Totaling 16 hours roughly of surgery.
Eating is fairly normal except I have very little room so about 2-3 eggs fills me up in the morning. I can barely drink liquids and have to watch out as it can cause dumping syndrome. Fortunately I don’t have to have iron infusions. I do take a Centrum Multi-vitamin that’s chewable. I also take a chewable calcium/D3 vitamin as well. Since I only have a small intestine left food will go through me much faster. They want me to have a lot of pectin rich foods so my output will consistently be apple sauce like. It’s so far a struggle as I am only 2 months out from the total colectomy/ileostomy. I do get hungry quicker. I also get weak quicker. The feeling of full is sorta the same but now it’s more like filling a tube and that tube is my throat. When too full it will make me throw up and have a horrible time. I’m not a grazer or and love big meals so it’s very hard to adjust to a change in eating habits and food after nearly 50 years of eating habits.
My surgeon has me on IV hydration daily. 1000mil over 4-5 hours. I don’t really get out of the house right now.
I had over 70 polyps in my colon/rectum. The last one was 2cm above the dentate line and deep rooted showing pre-cancerous stages, hence this second surgery.
I hope that helped answer some of your questions.