Yesterday officially completed one,…..forget it. I said I’d throw out the calendar. I can tell things are getting slightly better. The minute change day to day is barely detectable. Nevertheless, I feel like I’ve found a couple of nuggets, even though they might really be called nuggettes (uhh, small nuggets).
On Friday I had an appointment with the speech and voice therapist. Those Phd types love to collect data. I filled out about 10 pages of questionnaires. I go through a battery of tests and she tells me my larynx is dry which is why I may sound hoarse even though I’m not hoarse. I think it’s the damn phlegm. I can feel it getting in the way. Anyway, she tells me I’m doing good and we both know that those lovely ulcers on my tongue are really holding me back. I could be swallowing more but the issue is chewing.
I’ve got to be able to swallow more non-liquid food and she tells me it’s important for me to move into the puree stage. Some of her suggestions are things like oatmeal, eggs, tuna fish and chicken salad with lots of mayo, and even meatballs with lots of gravy or ketchup. I’m surprised by all this stuff but then again she’s not a nutritionists.
So that evening I tried some canned tuna. Normally, I’m not so keen on the canned tuna only because of the entire processing that goes on to get the tuna to the can. Some cans are not far from eating hotdogs-of-the-sea kind of thing. The thought of one of the most powerful creatures on earth, and certainly one of the fastest, who literally swims the world traveling thousands of miles in short migratory periods of time, being cut up and stuffed in little cans is not so appetizing. The tuna is truly a marvelous fish. Now, as in most flesh consumption, we’ve captured this great creature and penned him and now grow them in farms, cages. They can’t go anywhere after having almost 3/4 of the earth to roam. So we slaughter them by the thousands and stuff them in little tiny cans so we can all add mayo and love tuna salad. I’m not against eating fish at all. Just that I’d rather eat a piece of fish from a whole piece that is wild caught.
But, in the interest of getting better, bought some canned tuna and added lots of mayo. I did manage to get about half a can down but the tuna did taste different than I imagined. I couldn’t stomach, no throat more even though I was still hungry.
Yesterday I had two pieces of corn bread dunked in hot chocolate and it was great. A dash to the bathroom afterwards for a quick rinse helped, but still. And, last evening I was very happy to have downed a large Chinese egg drop soup as well as a large hot and sour soup.
This morning I was bound and determined to have pancakes. Been wanting pancakes for a couple of weeks (for some reason). We don’t have a griddle so made them in a frying pan. They weren’t so fluffy (my own ineptness), but I drenched them in maple and agave syrup and got them down. I was happy.
Enough about my eating habit, but it does have everything to do with getting weight back. Which,…..I’m glad to say is now 10 pounds off the low. Now back up to 140.
Even with the nuggettes in hand, still can’t leave home without a homemade mouthwash kit. I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday morning without the kit and the mucus attacked. I couldn’t even talk to the cashier my mouth was so full of mucus. The kit consists of a small bottle of salt water for swishing, spit cup and just in case, some magic mouthwash for the burn. The mouth is still in a state of constant soreness and the mucus just adds to the challenge of spontaneous conversation. With the kit, I’m good to go.
The stomach hole is doing well. So far, no leakage which means that it’s probably healing well enough not to require too much attention except bandage changing. Weird as it looks like I have two navels about two inches apart, one on top of the other. And now is probably a good time to stop this blog post as I’m probably sharing more information than any reader might want to know.