Cody Updates by Mom

First, I must explain the picture.  Today I got an email from a co-worker saying that my new ID badge had showed up.  Thank you my friend for the laugh.  I don’t think that I have looked this good in years.  They have really captured the essence of my being.  🙂  My hair is on a level of amazing that I cannot express into words.

Well, its the end of another week of recovery.  I am feeling pretty good and can hardly believe that I had surgery a mere 3 1/2 weeks ago.  Sometimes it feels as if it was months ago and sometimes just yesterday.  I am fairly mobile and can do all the normal things just not lifting anything heavy.

It’s been a good week as I had visitors come and see me.  Yay!  Monday was a busy day as my friend Laurie and her son Tom stopped by.  We even went up to the school so they could see Cody and get a look at the robot.  Then before they headed out my dear friend and sister-in-law Trish stopped by.  She joined Jim and I for dinner and it was lovely spending time just chatting.  Last night my brother Roger came and spent the evening visiting with us and we also went out for dinner.  It was wonderful to spend time with him.  Other than that, I have just been watching TV.  I finished a puzzle and am half way through one of the books I have had waiting for me to read.  I am getting restless during the day so I have started writing a bit.  Who knows what I will do with it but it will keep me occupied.

Eating is going pretty well.  I am still needing to be careful on chewing my food as my connection between the esophagus and intestine must still be swollen.  If I am not careful I end up getting something stuck.  It is usually the first few bites of food that seem to get stuck so I am working on being very diligent in chewing.  Having to throw up because something is stuck is not fun and it hurts when it gets stuck and that isn’t fun either.  It’s only happened a few times so it isn’t too bad but not great.

I have been able to have bread foods now.  I had half of a grilled cheese sandwich and that went well.  I have had some graham crackers with peanut butter and that was fine.  Meat has also been going fairly well.  This week I made pot roast and also some baked round steak and they both went well.  As long as I make sure it is extremely tender I can eat it.  Hamburgers are on the menu too.  I have been experimenting with making different pasta salads as they are a quick snack during the day.  So far my Teriyaki chicken and BBQ/Ceasar Chicken pasta salads have turned out pretty good.  For drinks I have mostly juice or lemonade but I have been able to have coffee with creamer this week with no issues so that is a nice change of pace.

As of today, I am down 20 pounds.  I am noticing it a lot in my face and my clothes are starting to fit different.  I reminded Jim last night that I am certain that I will need to buy new clothes in the near future.  *wink, wink*