Week Twenty-Eight

(Header is Chris and Carol…on a beach somewhere)

 

Hi folks,

The holidays are over, and it’s time to get back to our normal lives.  For me, that means buckling down to work on getting my weight up and my stamina back.

I have good news on the weight front, even though there were some eating schedule disruptions that had to be worked around this past week.  As you may recall, my weight last Friday was 119.8 lbs, a post-surgery all time low.  I’m pleased to report that this Friday (today) it is 122.5.

I worked very hard at getting in as many meals a day as I could, and focused on adding olive oil or flax oil to meals whenever reasonable…I added flax oil to my morning concoction of cottage cheese and blueberries, and olive oil to soup dishes and spaghetti warmups.  I talked to my dietician yesterday and she reiterated the importance of adding the oil to meals…it’s almost like free calories.

This past week I was able to average about 1800 calories a day, which is meeting my minimum goal.  Now I must strive to get to 2000 calories, to start adding the lbs! My dietician also said my protein intake was way below target levels…she wants me to try to get to at least 70 grams a day (and 90 grams would be better), and I’m hovering around 50 grams.  I haven’t been paying attention to the protein level of stuff we get at the store, focusing instead on the calorie count.  Now I better look at both.

The three ‘work-arounds’ of abnormal eating arrangements I had to cope with this past week were a gumbo gathering on New Year’s Day, a dim sum extended lunch on January 2nd, and a dinner before the Pedro game last night of wild duck, venison, beans, and bread slathered with butter and garlic.

I ended each of these meals with a very full stomach, almost painfully full, but without any ill effects.  And I must say, the gumbo, dim sum, and wild game were truly outstanding…especially the venison…wow.

A few words on some other physical changes….Some weeks ago, when I would go to bed after eating a lot, I would have a major pain in my mid back.  That has gone away.  No more back pain after a full meal, although I do often feel bloated (burby) and uncomfortable in the stomach/digestive track after a big meal.

There have been a couple of other things happening that are a bit odd–but not painful.  I find myself sometimes talking in my sleep.  It has awakened Carol a few times, and it’s even awakened me in the middle of a nocturnal dissertation.  It seems like I am answering a question posed by someone in my dream.

The other oddity is when I wake up in the middle of the night, which I do three or four times a night because of either a dry mouth or cat activity, sometimes there appears to be something suspended in mid-air within arm’s reach of me.  I reach out to touch it, and there’s nothing there.  Upon closer inspection, the ‘apparition’ is something against the wall…a chest of drawers, a picture…or the patio posts outside the bedroom window.  They just mysteriously look like they are floating out in front of me.

One last complaint….my back, about at the edge of my incision scar and near the rib that was broken for the operation, sometimes gives me great pain if I am standing too long, and sometimes acts up on our exercise walks.  It is so painful I have to lie down for a couple of minutes, then it is okay.  I presume it will go away after a while.  I see the surgeon next week.  Maybe I’ll ask him.

So….that’s about it for this week.  I’ll finish off with a poem I wrote about five years ago.  Does it indicate, perhaps, that ‘thought’ is the parent of ‘reality’?

            Fate

I sip my morning coffee

And peruse the morning paper.

I fee fine, although

I’m a little annoyed with an editorial or two

And I see the Giants lost a close one

On the other hand

I get a chuckle from Baby Blues.

 

I scan the obits, looking to see if anyone I know

Is there.

 

Poor souls, gone, and they all sounded like

Such nice people.

 

The obits every day tell of the courageous mother

Or the carefree, free-spirited dad

Who succumbed to a death that grew within them

That overtook some vital organ

And spread inexorably to bones or nodes or brain.

 

And then I wonder

Are there seeds of death somewhere

Germinating within me?

 

I don’t like to think about that fate for me

But you never know

Things can be fine, life can be good, and then one day

The doctor says…you’re screwed.

 

Well, nobody gets of of this life alive

That’s for sure

 

But I was kind of hoping I might.