2 weeks out today

Jan 05, 2012

I'm 2 weeks out today. The pain has pretty much subsided. I still have some sore spots and I get tired more easily but I'm feeling pretty good. I'm really happy about moving on to mushies. They make me so full! It is so much easier to be happy about this surgery when I'm not pouring broth down my throat trying to get full. It's not that I was hungry post surgery, but around day 6 or 7 I started to miss the feeling of fullness. It's a comfort thing I suppose. Regardless, now that I get full from a few spoonfuls of mushy food I have zero interest in food when I'm full and it has really made me feel like maybe this surgery will work for me after all.

I've felt good enough to get back into the kitchen which makes me happy. I really love to cook and don't want this surgery to affect that, I just want it to help me make better choices about how much of it I put into my body. My favorite part of the process is feeding others anyhow.

Yesterday I made this fantastic split pea soup. I started with a little pancetta (I couldn't resist when I saw it already chopped up in Trader Joe's and I had planned to make this anyway) with my onions, carrot and celery. I let those sweat up a little bit the veggies got nice and soft and the pancetta got crispy and then I added some garlic while I got the stock out. I'd made the stock a few days before with a frozen chicken carcass I'd been saving and a bunch of odds and ends of veggies that I'd saved and frozen until I was ready. I threw in the stock with the leftover hambone from the Christmas Ham and brought it to a boil. I threw in the bag of split peas and let it boil again and then put it down to a simmer. I threw in some leftover chopped ham and 2 hours and a few seasonings later a fabulous soup. I used the immersion blender to blend it up a bit and then took my portion and blended it even more.

Oh it's extra amazing if you finish it with sherry but I was out so I put in a little white wine vinegar to give it a little bit of an acid. So Satisfying.

Today I had a soft scrambled egg with herbed goat cheese melted in for breakfast. The 4 tablespoons kept me full until about 1pm while I drank up my protein drink. When I finally felt like tackling lunch I had some avocado mixed with greek yogurt to make it nice and creamy and layered it with some tuna with a tiny bit of mayo and a little greek yogurt mixed up well. I had about 2 tablespoons of each layered in a bowl. It was pretty good. I think I'll add it to the repertoire with 2 saltine crackers to scoop it up. I need to make another trip to the store but everytime I go I come back with more than I meant to get and I've been bleeding money as a result of this surgery with the huge copay for the hospital, the optifast, the nurtritionist fees, and the big initial outlay for vitamins - first the liquid which were vile and impossible for me to deal with and then the chewables which were are slightly less vile but quicker to deal with.  I need to conserve money for the next few months to make up for it.

Oh well at least we'll no longer be paying for the random fifity dollars a week on lunches/breakfasts/coffees that I ended up buying at work because I was hungry and too worn out to pack my own lunches.

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