Solid Food Never Tasted so Good!

I am currently waiting at the car dealership and should be grading but I did so for about the last hour.   I think I qualify for a break.   Plus it's difficult to concentrate in this environment.  

• Gavin and I got a Christmas tree this past weekend.    It is the first item I've ever bought on the Ankeny Buy and Sell portion of Facebook.   A family up by Madrid was selling it.   It worked out well to take the scenic route to Ames on Sunday to the women's basketball game and stopped at their home to get it.   It was technically free since Gavin and I drove to get it but I still gave them $20 since it was such a nice tree and it came with a storage bag.   Furthermore, it's not pre-lit!   Finding a used non pre-lit tree has been a challenge.   I looked to buy a new fake tree but the prices are outrageous.   We got it home and assembled and it's huge!    It's 7.5 feet and well built.   It took four sets of lights to cover it properly.   A neat side note about the process:   the neighbor's of the tree-giving people had zebras out to pasture.    Never knew that people could own zebras in Iowa.   I guess it's probably like owning horses.  

• I am now able to eat more foods.   I can eat poultry and fish.  The pouches of tuna have been wonderful.   If I eat chicken, I have to be sure it's very moist which is a bit different for me as  I like baking the hell out of chicken so it's a bit dry.    I'm going to throw some chicken breasts in the crock pot with extra broth and see if they are decent.   I can have yogurt now as long as it doesn't have added sugar or huge pieces of fruit in it.   Unsweetened applesauce is back on the diet too.    Hummus too!   I've been pretty happy eating eggs and cottage cheese too.   

• I have a meeting tomorrow with the surgeon.   They'll take our official post-surgery weight since swelling shouldn't be an issue anymore.    I've been weighing myself at home and you're not supposed to do it often.   But ya, I've been doing it everyday.   We'll get a new reading on our body composition too.   I had to cancel class tomorrow because of the meeting so I wasn't too happy about that.   I gave my students an online assignment to do instead.   

• I only have two more days of blood thinning shots left.   The process really hasn't been too bad.  You don't even feel the injection.   I thought it would be more difficult with my hatred of needles.   Taking my other two meds is still a bear in the morning.    I can take one med with a spoonful of sugar-free pudding but it still tastes like battery acid since it has to be dumped out of the capsule.   The other one is a little easier since I can dump the capsule in the back of my throat.   It doesn't taste bad unless I chomp down on one of the little beads of medicine.   In a couple more weeks I can just swallow the capsules like normal and I'll be adding B12 and iron supplements.   I need to make a chart for my bathroom and kitchen for my supplement regimen.    I'm going to make them all pretty so I can laminate them.   

• I found out in a previous meeting that it's common for some hair loss in the months after surgery and yup, I'm losing some hair.   I actually got a significant hair cut recently to prepare for the hair loss.   I had six inches cut off and I think it looks better in general.   I can notice though when I brush my hair and wash it, I have a lot more falling out.   By month six, it should cease because my body will be used to all the change and I should be getting plenty of protein by that point.    I've had people ask if I dyed  my hair because the hair cut took off most of my very blonde high lights.   My real hair color is very dark blonde/light brown so I do look a bit different.   

That's enough for now.   Back to the grind.