The road to recovery

Last night had a few unpleasantries in store for me. Coughing is becoming less frequent, but has not entirely subsided yet, and is certainly still uncomfortable, but then there is the product of the cough. There is really only two possibilities when nasal congestion or coughing produces a mouth full of mucous. Neither is actually polite conversation, but then you are not reading my blog for that, you are reading it to know what it's like for me to go through bariatric surgery (and other general aspects of life) and sometimes what happens is just not polite.  Most of my phlegm of late has be deposited into tissues, then trashcans. Some out car windows or on to the grassy area near sidewalks, but as I'm trying to pass out in bed last night at 2 in the morning, I was going with option two... until option two got full.  There just isn't enough volume in my stomach to swallow much snot right now, and while trying to fall asleep I hit the limit.  I didn't quite get sick, but I was certain I shouldn't even swallow down my saliva for awhile and I got up and spent some time in the bathroom in case I didn't keep it down, and to give me a place to deposit further slimeballs.

While in there I emptied my bladder to another awkward surprise. For the first time in my life I experienced dick-farts. I warned you this wasn't going to be polite. As I was finishing my steam tapered and waned as expected, and at the end there was a sputtering as I peed air.  I knew gas in my system was causing me problems, but I had not yet considered every means for it's escape yet. That caught me completely off guard. It wasn't until almost 4 when I finally passed out in my armchair. My wife didn't say anything to me about it, but I think she was a little resentful that I wasn't more help in the morning before she took the boys in to daycare at noon.

Today was the first day I could start adding stuff to my intake, my wife had bought me some smooth, low-fat Greek yogurt, one of the suggested foods, and my first few spoonfuls were quite delightful. It was vanilla flavored, and it occurred to me that I still had minimum protein goals and my protein powder was also vanilla. So I mixed in a bout 1/4 serving of protein powder.  Much less tasty then. The two vanillas were not compatible. But 3-4 spoonfuls was all I was going to accomplish anyway, so I foiled up the top and put it back in the fridge.

Got out and about some today. I haven't taken my Rx pain meds since Wednesday, and I can turn plenty well enough to check my blind spots, so I took the van out and deposited a check we had, ran into the Independence Costco and replaced my hair trimmer since OP didn't have any left and buying them at Costco is still cheaper than a haircut. Went to a Halmark store and got my darling wife a Valentines card that I thought she'd appreciate. Then came home and buzzed my clown hairdo back to a normal bald-guy cut and reshaped my beard.  I wasn't done cleaning up the bathroom yet when the wife and kiddos got home.  The two year old was in a constant state of pestering Mom for some of the candy he got at school today, once she was the slightest bit settled in, she acquiesced to a single dose of sugar, and when the begging was reestablished moments later, she insisted the next dose would not be administered prior to dinner.

The boy was displeased by this response. To help redirect his energy I got his shoes and coat back on him and we ambled around the block talking extensively about trees and trucks and fire hydrants. When we returned home I directed him to the back yard where I pushed him on his swing until the chill and dark were enough for me and I told him it was time to go inside again.  He conned me into waiting long enough for him to take a trip down the slide first, then we went in where Mom was almost done making a big old pot of mac & cheese (semi-from-scratch) and some spanikopita.  I made about a third of a packet of instant oatmeal, plain. Not fair, is it.


 I decided that since 1% milk hit my "okay" list today, that I'd pick some up to mix up my protein drinks and oatmeal.  Also decided I would make my Wifey a nice romantic dinner for one tomorrow for Valentines night, and was going to pick up some asparagus spears as a side to the salmon fillet.  So after we put the 2 year old to bed for the first time, I went out to the grocery store. My okay list also includes pureed fruit, so I picked up blueberries and strawberries and some per-pureed gerber prunes... hey someone's got to poop again some day, ya know?

When I got to the milk isle I wasn't certain I was feeling like a whole gallon would be in order... So I was looking at the quarts and half gallons, and I noticed the local, hormone free, Shatto brand of milk there in the glass bottles.  I know a few people who advocate for that brand of milk, but I was feeling a little frugal so I went back to looking at the A&E, Highland Dairy, and Price Chopper brands... and soon realized that the Shatto was the cheaper choice, too. I bought 2 pints. I sipped one on the trip home.  It tasted like milk... not like the nothing some other milks taste like, this had milk flavor to it. I'm pretty darned happy with my choice.