Back to Work Tomorrow

Going back to work tomorrow morning. Or, more accurately, back to the office. I've been working a bit from home. But this'll be my first time to wake up and get dressed and commute to the office in the nearly three weeks. I feel like the timing is right.

I went to the doctor last Thursday for my second follow up visit. Everything looks good. Also on Thursday I advanced my diet from liquids to pureees and blended foods. Basically the consistency of applesauce or baby food. I can have pureed chicken or turkey, or pureed vegetables, or mashed sweet potato, or sugar free yogurt, pudding, or applesauce. I still need to have one protein shake each day to supplement my protein intake, which should be at least 70g/day. It's hard to get to that number. I don't make it about as often as I do.

Things that feel better: the pain from the surgery itself is much better. One spot in my stomach gives me some pain if I'm particularly active, if I sneeze, or while I'm trying to sleep. But it's a huge improvement over the last week or two. I've gone from narcotic pain pills, to round-the-clock Tylenol, to nearly nothing.

Things that feel worse: My back. My neck and shoulders. Very, very uncomfortable. Worst after I've been active and at night when I'm trying to sleep. I think I must be using my back muscles in strange and unusual ways to compensate for not using my abdominal muscles. I'm trying a heating pad for the first time as I type this. Not sure it's helping. We'll see. At this point my back is fast becoming my #1 complaint.

The other ongoing issue is my right thigh, still suffering from the pinched nerve that I somehow got during the surgery. Still some numbness, still some sensitivity to touch. Doctor says it should go away on its own but may take a while.

Biggest issue right now is eating the semi-solid food and monitoring how that affects me. I have to eat tiny amounts, quite often. A typical meal is 1.5 ounces of pureed chicken and 1 tablespoon of pureed vegetable. And after that I'm stuffed. Stuffed! Which is very, very strange. But two hours later, once I start becoming hungry again, I go back to craving all the things I used to crave. And when visiting friends order take-out (which I want them to be able to do), I miss food a lot.

No vomitting yet, almost three weeks out. Probably not a record I'll be maintaining for too long, but nice. I did have a low blood sugar reaction a few nights ago to some yogurt that, while fat free and less than 100 calories, had some added fructose that I reacted to. Apparently the fructose overwhelmed my system, which released a bunch of insulin, which caused the low blood sugar. I was dizzy and a bit disoriented. I've actually been lightheaded several nights in the last few days. My friend Mike thinks it's a reaction to how low my calorie intake is, and that that's why it hits at night. My mood also seems to start out strong and fall off a cliff late at night, and last night I had a full blown anxiety attack. Missing food. Uncomfortable in bed or sitting up. Worried that I'd made a terrible mistake in having this surgery. Did I mention missing food? Gold stars to Mike and to my brother Brian for helping me though that one. So far so good tonight.

Comments

[Reece]

Thanks for this post.

You are great.

That is all.