The thrid greatest gift: laughter. in A new start in the same life

I might as well update. I had my surgery on the 5th. I did a clear fluid diet for 2 weeks before and have been on one since. In a month, I have only had 5 small bites of cottage cheese which I consider real food. I’ve have sugar jello and Popsicles along with protein shakes. I really miss food sometimes. I’ll work my way up to eating but it takes awhile as my stomach gets used to things.
The sugery went well. My liver was nice and small. That clear diet was meant to shrink the liver so they could lift it off the stomach during surgery. I ended up staying 2 nights in the hospital. The first night I was pretty groggy and confused. I didn’t want to move. I had a nerve block in my stomach but I still hurt. I kept saying something was stuck in my throat. Something was there and it felt weird. The next day, I was more awake. I started using my 1 oz medicine cups. I could only drink 1 oz at a time to prevent overfilling my stomach. Those medicine cups were so annoying. I constantly spilled them everywhere. For some reason, I didn’t think that my actual stomach would hurt but it did. I was still complaining about my throat thing and I was so tired. I just randomly fell asleep. Surgery takes a lot out of you. I did shower though which was freaking difficult. I went home on Friday and kinda just laid in the bed. I set up medicine cups and I slept. I wasn’t really supposed to be napping for longer than 30 minutes because I needed to be constantly drinking but I did anyway. David thought it would be nice to put a TV in our room so I could watch it while basically being a bed worm. He went and got one which got broken somehow and he had to return it and came home with a bigger one for $20 more. It was pretty crazy. Our bed also lifts so I used that a lot to help me sit up. The TV has been pretty cool though.
Since I have been home, things have been good. The medicine cups lasted like 3 days at home before I gave up. I found them useful at the beginning but now that I am drinking more and have a better idea of what my stomach can hold, it’s just extra work. The day after I got home, I went to the urgent care for the thing in my throat. Turns out it is my uvula. It’s sitting on the back of my tongue. It is most like caused from the pressure due to intubation. I saw an ENT on Wednesday and she wanted to put me on steroids. I can’t have those so I am stuck waiting 2 weeks for my next appointment where I will probably get it clipped. Only me.
I started protein shakes again which turned into a disaster. I was so constipated. I looked like I was 8 months pregnant. It hurt. I have a binder for everything so I followed the binder for the constipation rememdies. Those didn’t work so I called the nurse. I had to move back to the clear diet and do all this stuff but I’m not back up anymore! My stomach shrunk so much. I am just amazed how much poop a person can have inside.
Things have been complicated with the surgery. I have been having food cravings and food dreams. I haven’t been sitting with the family during dinner because it’s difficult to watch them eat. Especially pizza. Around 4 weeks after surgery, I should be back on normal food which will make everything easier. Obviously, I can’t eat a lot of foods anymore but there are a lot of different substitutes. A lot of thr food I can eat, I already like and eat. Plus, I am really working on moderation as well. I will still be able to have some things but instead of a piece of cake, it will just be a bite. Stuff like that. My friend, who had her surgery in November, drinks coffee and stuff. It’s about looking about the sugars and carbs and keeping them down while eating lots of protein.

Izzy started started school yesterday. 6th grade. Craziness. Thia and Indy don’t start at their school until the 24th. Their school isn’t done being built. It’s. The only school in the district that hasn’t started. I don’t know why they didn’t sent the kids to a different school until it was finished. It won’t even be completely finished when it opens either. Lunches will have to be brought over and specials will be done in classrooms. I am expecting the schools to close before the end of first quarter. Omaha is a red zone now I guess. Our governor sucks. I hatdd him before this happened and now it is worse.