It’s been over a week since Sandy and life is starting to
get a little bit back to normal.
Thankfully, I live in an area of Brooklyn where we didn’t get hit bad at
all, just a few downed trees.
Unfortunately, there are so many people who did not fare as well. My in-law’s (MIL & BIL), were some of
those people. My husband grew up in a
small gated community at the end of Coney Island called Seagate, where his
mother and brother still reside. We also
have a bunch of close friends that my husband grew up with still living
there. The devastation in Seagate and
Coney Island is unreal. No one expected
Sandy to be this bad. In Seagate, where
once houses stood on the shore, there is just rubble. My mother in law was luckier than most
because she lives in the middle of Seagate.
On their block, pretty much all that happened was basements flooded up
to their ceilings. The houses are still
standing but so many lost so much from the flooding. One friend, who had a basement apartment,
posted a sad picture on Facebook of all her belongings being thrown out on the
curb. Yes, they fared better than most
but it still hurts to lose so much.
My mother in law's destroyed basement, water line was to the top of the tv in the corner.
Now, I’ve taken in a refugee kitty that belonged to my
mother in law until she can figure out where she can live for the next few
months. Even though husband and I are both allergic, but we're doing okay thus far. Clean up is going to take a long
time. So much needs to be replaced in
these homes in order for them to be livable again. Some of our friends are staying in Seagate
with no power or heat, but they sure do have heart.
In the past week, I’ve been able to move on to mushy
food. My doctor wanted me to do another
week of liquids but I told him I just couldn’t do it anymore. So, he told me to start slowly on mushies and
I’m honestly doing great. I’ve even
snuck in something solid here and there but chew chew chewing it until it’s
mush (mmm, tasty). My first mushie meal
was at a restaurant! I know, bad post-op
newbie sleeve girl. My husband and I
went to a gourmet Middle Eastern restaurant in our neighborhood called
Tanoreen. Seriously, it’s the best and
they are very different from your regular, run of the mill Middle Eastern
restaurant. We got a soft red pepper dip
that I took one or two bites of and my main meal was a falafel appetizer
portion. I had just a half falafel
mushed up with extra tahini. My husband
had a dish with cauliflower roasted with tahini sauce in it so I took a few
bites of that too. Everything went down
fine and it all tasted like HEAVEN after two weeks of liquids.
The first mushie meal that I cooked myself (besides
scrambled egg) was pot roast. I made it
in the crock pot so it was extra moist and then pureed it up.
Yes, it does look like dog food but it really didn’t taste
that bad! Since then, I’ve been living
on farina, yogurt, ricotta bake, cauliflower casserole, refried beans, peanut
butter, eggs, and sugar free popsicles.
The ricotta bake and cauliflower casserole recipes can be found at TheWorld According to Eggface, which has been a lifesaving blog for me! I am, however, starting to get sick of
mushies but I’m just trudging along. I
honestly cannot wait to start solids and exercise again. I feel like that will really kick up my
weight loss. Since surgery on 10/12, I’ve
lost 17lbs! I already feel a difference
in my clothing and I feel great. I’m
worried about when I will hit a stall but right now I’m just trying to focus on
healing and getting my protein in. My
calories most days are around 500 and protein just about 40-50 grams so,
according to my doctor’s plan, I’m doing pretty well!
I do still have some head issues to work out though. Head hunger has been horrid. I try to just drink when I think I feel
hunger but sometimes it’s really bad.
Yesterday, for example was bad. I
wanted to eat everything and anything. I
even took a small scoop of my husband’s rice that he had at dinner. I immediately felt guilty (not sick!) and
knew that I need to get my head in the game.
If I don’t follow the rules, I will mess up big time and it’s just too
early in the game to mess up! I’m hoping
that solids and exercising will really help this. I have my birthday party planned for the day
after I can start solids and I’ve been pinning (via the time-suck/awesome
website Pinterest) healthy dips/recipes that I can have a few bites of. After that, husband and I are headed to
California for Thanksgiving! It will be
my first time there and I’m very excited.
My birthday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we will be spending
it in LA with friends who just moved there.
I hope to have a pleasant meal at a nice restaurant that night.
My stats thus far:
Pre-Op weight: 234lbs
Surgery weight: 226lbs
Current weight: 209 – 9 more pounds to ONEDERLAND! Yippee!
