Pardon the slowdown with the posts. I've realized that this will be a lot harder and take a lot longer than I originally thought. I asked my niece the other day how long it takes before I don't feel like total crap every waking moment. She hastily replied "six months." I wanted to cry. I think I did cry. But that seems to be the norm, four to six months before there are breakthroughs that allow one to feel anything close to normal.
I don't need to go into the details. It's hard for some to believe that trying to get enough to eat and also drink in one day is actually a struggle worthy of breakdowns and panic attacks. Not to mention the pain and nausea that eating and drinking cause. Plus, I need to remain upright for up to 30 minutes after eating or drinking anything. When I most want to just lay down and relax, I have to be sitting up or even walking around!
And I'm unable to drink and eat at the same time. At first, it's recommended to let up to an hour to pass between the two. (I'm trying to whittle that down to 30 minutes). Which is difficult when you are told to eat every hour and a half to two hours, it takes 30-45 minutes to eat, and you have to squeeze in fluids with almost an hour on either side between those frequent mini meals. If you do the math, you will clearly see that it is IMPOSSIBLE to work that schedule, and I'm often falling behind well before noon.
I'm most concerned about hydration. I was keeping a 64 oz container of water in the fridge to measure how much I had been drinking and was doing pretty well for like the first week. Now water seems to be giving me problems.
I'm the kind of person who would chug water, every morning, every evening, the middle of the night. I keep these frosty mugs in the freezer and would pull one of them out several times a day, fill them up two, maybe three times and chug glorious life-giving water. Well those days are over. Not only do I have to take little sips (I'm almost up to half a gulp though!), but water actually makes me feel I'll. I though it was the weirdest thing until my niece concurred that she couldn't drink straight water either.
So now I am attempting adding Crystal Light powder to my water to make it more palatable and go down better. I attempted Gatorade but I don't think it agreed with me. Yesterday I started some Vitamin Water and that didn't hurt as bas as Gatorade. The only thing I've found that works ok and actually eases any nausea/I'll feeling is Ginger Beer. No, not Ginger ale, that would be too easy, and cost efficient. It's this all natural Jamaican style beverage. And oh yeah, I have to open the bottle well in advance and then stir it in a glass until all the bubbles go away.
Usually the saying goes "No News is Good News" right? Unfortunately in my case the opposite is true. But I realize that most of you are reading this blog to keep track of my progress and I don't want to be a Nervous Nelly or a Debby Downer. I'd rather focus on the triumphs and successes. They will just be few and far between and this process of recovery will take much longer than I originally thought.
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