Three Weeks

Three weeks today. I haven’t written much this week, as I have been trying to rest as much as I could, since I will be back to work on Monday. I think I did a little too much last week, I noticed I was much more tired this week. (The doctor told me that’s usual for people recovering from surgery.) When the doctor told me three weeks, I thought that didn’t seem long enough, but guess he knew what he was talking about. I saw him the other day and he told me everything looked good. He signed my medical release paper that I have to take back to work. I’m happy that I am recovered and well enough to go back to my place of employment, I have missed my co/workers and friends there. I can’t help but be a little sad though, as all of us that work full time are, when we know our time away from the job has come to an end. Since my husband is retired, I have enjoyed being home all day with him. He teases me that I disrupted his daily routine (he is a routine person), but then after the teasing, he admits he enjoys having me around. I guess this has been a little taste of what our days will be like when I retire. I’ve enjoyed being able to take my time in the mornings, with the newspaper, reading, and relaxing. A nap in the afternoon has been nice too. I had a bunch of reading saved up, articles, books and magazines. I touched on them my first week, but that was about it, I still have most of the pile left, all unread. So, I didn’t really get things done that I thought I would. But, then I guess, the goal was to recover, not to catch up on the house or reading, so recover is just what I did.

Bob and I “celebrated my recovery” with lunch out today. We went to The Olive Garden, and I had a wonderful plate of Crab Alfredo, and I ordered the salad with the meal, NOT the soup! I even ate a breadstick, the first bread I have tried eating. Everything went down well and stayed down. It was delicious! I only ate ½ of it and will have the other half for lunch tomorrow. It’s the only calorie filled meal I’ve had all week, I have really been eating very healthy, as I want to keep off the weight I lost in this process, and hopefully, lose more. I have been eating pretty regular food all week, and it’s so wonderful! Please don’t take your ability to eat for granted. The Dr. did remind me that I still have achalasia, this surgery was only a treatment, not a cure. While they fixed me at the bottom of the esophagus the food still has to get down there, and the muscles in my throat still do not work in pushing the food down. I must depend on the food going down by gravity, but at least now, it has a place to go when it does get down there! Therefore, I have to still be careful what I eat, eat slowly, chew very well, and drink lots of liquid while eating. All these things will help me in losing weight too.

I want to send a big thank you again to all those readers that kept me in their thoughts and prayers during my diagnosis time and recovery time.