Cody Updates by Mom

Friday, Jim brought home a little gift that my team had sent to me.  It seems that the Wild mascot (Nordy) was at work for an event and he was trying to take over my job while I was away.  This picture makes me smile so much.  I am so happy that he was not able to take over.  I would miss my team that made this for me.  You are an amazing group of talented women that I have the joy of managing.  He looks extremely comfortable sitting in my chair.  Thank you so much for including me in on the fun.  I look forward to you coming out to visit me next week.  🙂  Thank you to my entire department for the beautiful flowers too!

Well, its day…I forget…day something after surgery and I am doing fairly well.  As of this morning I am down 15 pounds.  Eating is still going way better than expected as I have been able to pretty much handle everything that I am trying.  I am thrilled that I haven’t had the “dumping syndrome” yet.  I believe that this may be our focus on staying away from significant amounts of sugar but not eliminating it completely. This morning was probably the best so far as Jim basically made me a ham, onion and cheddar mixed up omelet.  Ok, that’s really scrambled eggs but oh well.  I was able to convince him to not completely puree the ham and onion.  This was nice as there was little bits throughout.  Texture!  I gotta tell you that texture is extremely important.  Everything was good after that too so yay I can keep having it for breakfast.  Sorry but Jim may have to go in late for awhile so he can make me my special breakfast every morning.  My new favorite treat so far is very simple.  Frozen strawberries pureed with whole milk.  It’s almost ice cream.  🙂

I have been thinking a lot about the different feeling I have as it relates to being hungry.  I guess I do not know what I had expected and I am struggling to put it into words.  I do not ever feel hungry however I do not ever feel satiated either.  I do not know if that is my body remembering what it was like to have a stomach and searching for that satisfied feeling but it is very odd.  My system is definitely missing my stomach.  Maybe this feeling will go away or get a little less as it is not a very “fun” feeling.  It isn’t horrible but I am not really enjoying it right now.  It always amazes me the psychological connection we have to our body.  I am not sad about the body parts that I am now missing however I do not quite feel whole.  I continue to have thoughts about a book series my friend Cheri and I have read:  Unwind.  If you have ever read it you may understand why this makes me feel creepy.

I have been off of the heavy pain meds for over 48 hours.  This is a relief as I don’t have to take other meds to combat the pain meds side effects.  Also, the VERY WEIRD dreams have stopped too.  I really don’t remember specifics but when I wake up going “what the..” is not a good conduit to getting back to sleep.  I can technically drive but am not ready to do long trips.  I have been able to go up to the school to drop off or pick up Cody and the store.  It is nice to not feel trapped because of the meds.  I am amazed at the difference between this surgery and my breast cancer surgery.  I was on those meds for a really long time.  This was a matter of days and Tylenol is doing the trick.  Like Jim says, “That’s why you go to Mayo, you go there so you can have that surgeon.”

So, a few people have asked about visiting.  I am fine with visitors during the day if you want to make the trip.  I would request that you email me on this address mdengnell@comcast.net or text me if you have my number.  I want to make sure that I can visit and enjoy the time without getting too tired and would like to space things out a bit so I don’t have visitors every day.  You do NOT need to bring me anything!  Please!  I am good and would love just the time to spend with you.  You also do not need to visit.  It isn’t required at all and I actually quite enjoy having some quiet time.  It can be healing just in itself.  Your prayers are the main things that help me now.

Next week is going to be all about soft foods.  Thank the dear Lord that the “Cheese Filled Pillow From Heaven” are considered soft!  Yay.  I intentionally did not puree any cheese ravioli so I could have it as a treat to me for moving to the next step.  I will have to do it without the Italian sausage for now but that’s okay.  I still have to wait a bit before I can eat breads so that will be an additional treat later down the road.  Off to investigate what soft foods I get to eat now.  Wish me luck!

Caring Bridge Comments

Laurie Raske|Feb 13, 2015 11:27pm
Marilyn…. I love your rocky quote! None of us know what it is in life that’s going to get the better of us. But Melanie has us all in her boxing corner and like Katy says…”you’re gonna here me roar” …Mel …YOU are a champion!