THANKSGIVING

This is my first Thanksgiving since having my prophylactic total gastrectomy in February.  Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I owe that all to my family. For as long as I can remember we spend the holiday in Kingman, AZ with my mom’s family.  For those of you who know about Kingman, you’re probably thinking ‘why would you want to spend any time there?’  And it’s true. Most people know Kingman as the armpit of Arizona located on the way to Las Vegas.  It’s a small town with nothing super exciting to do.  But to be with family is all I need for Thanksgiving. It has always been super laid back and a time to catch up on everyone’s lives.  

Earlier this year I didn’t think I would be too excited about the food for Thanksgiving. Given nausea has been a pretty big issue for me.  As you know, that has gotten so much better. Last week I went the entire week without taking the Marinol (the only medication that actually helped with nausea for me).  That’s huge for me.  People in my CDH1 world have always said things get better and eventually you forget you don’t have a stomach. I had a hard time believing that in the early days. I just tried to take their word for it and go day to day. Now, when people who will be getting their stomachs remove ask what it’s like to live stomachless, I’m telling them the same things I had heard.  Most of the time I feel very normal.  As long as I eat every 2-3 hours and keep up with fluid intake, I feel great.  So this week being at my aunt and uncles house will be perfect. There is always yummy food to eat.  

Aside from Thanksgiving, the holiday chaos has officially begun at our house. After two whole weekends of putting up Christmas lights, they have been turned on.  It is almost complete with all the finishing touches. Holiday crafts are sprinkled all over the house awaiting to be completed.  Cookie baking parties and Christmas light viewing are making their way onto the calendar.  I’ve never been good at teacher gifts for my daughters school, so that is a goal for me this year. Nothing super extravagant, but something well put together and thoughtful.  And don’t forget about our elf who should be showing up any day now.  This is my favorite time of year despite all the chaos and stress.  It’s just so magical for the kiddos. I hope I can continue to live in the moment and enjoy all the precious little moments with my kiddos and those I love through this holiday season.  My husband can attest I’ve been a bit stressed lately. Time to take a chill pill and roll with the punches. I know he would appreciate it. 

Time is going too fast

I have 2.5 more weeks off from work and feel like it’s going way too fast.  Since I wrote last, things have been pretty up and down as per usual since getting my stomach removed.  Just a continuation of the roller coaster ride.  The last post I talked about be nausea and lack of appetite while also trying to gain some weight back.  That got better the second week.  I felt so good.  I got some projects done and got out of the house quite a bit.  Actually took a little easy bike ride with my 4 year old, which kicked my but a bit honestly.  But felt so good.  And last week was a blah week again.  Nauseated a lot of the time.  I got a massage and had acupressure, which I thought was going to help more than it did.  But still glad I did it.  And now, today, I’m feeling pretty good.  Just more of the same ol’ same ol’ with my new life.  I’ve been a little more active with the kiddos.  It seems to help with the nausea a lot.  So we play fetch or soccer in the back yard and I run around a little bit.  It also increases my appetite and gives me more tolerance for drinking larger amounts of water at a time.  

I have gained about 4lbs back which is really exciting for me.  My persistence is paying off a bit.  I had a visit with my primary care provider to talk about my iron levels.  They were trending up until this last visit to the NIH in which they dropped a very large amount.  Which seemed weird to me and to my surgical team.  So they recommended I follow up with my PCP.  After much discussion and reasoning with her, she has agreed to order blood to keep an eye on it.  Thank goodness.  She was trying to send me to a hematologist (blood Dr) so they could keep an eye on it.  I strongly disagree with this.  My team at the NIH is keeping such a close eye on all my labs including nutritional labs and the only thing I think I need to looking at is my iron and related levels while I’m not at the NIH since it’s been a little all over the place.  I’m so relieved she agreed to do this.  Was starting to think I was going to need to see another primary care provider or try out a more wholistic provider.  I’ve been talking about going to see a doctor that practices Functional Medicine.  I’ve just been dragging me feet.  I’m really not wanting to spend a ton of money, just because we are cheap.  And I know it’s an investment in my health, but when insurance doesn’t cover it at all it adds up real quick. Anyway, I have the name of someone I’m interested in.  Also, I feel I’ve been doing really well, so why go see them now.  I go back and forth about it in my head all the time, hence me dragging my feet.  

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away.  This time last year I was basking in the joy of just eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.  Honestly, engorging myself at times.  And this year I can’t complain at all.  I tolerate all foods.  I have been tolerating whole fresh foods best, which is great because I love it.  But I haven’t found a food I can’t eat right now.  It’s all about portion control.  If I want dessert, I eat dessert.  Stuff that is really sweet, I usually just take a bite or two.  Other stuff that isn’t so sweet, I can eat much more of.  It’s definitely the force healthy diet I thought it would be.  Which is totally fine with me.  It’s like my body is just more sensitive now.  Like when a food makes me feel good, I can feel it better if that makes sense.  Or on the flip side, if a food makes me feel like crap, I also feel that better than I could have before.  Being home from work has kind of made my eating day to day a bit mundane.  Just the same things over and over again.  Just because I know what I like and what works really well for me.  But the last couple of days I’ve gone out to lunch with friends and such and I’ve very much enjoyed it.  We chose restaurants that are so fresh and serve whole foods cooked in really healthy yummy ways.  Which is probably contributing to me feeling so good.  It’s amazing too because when I eat food like that I am able to eat so much more of it.  I had been steering clear of veggies too much for so long because I was worried about more weight loss.  But now I know my body thrives on good food and I’m able to eat more when I feel good.  Anyway, I’m rambling now.  So I’m excited for Thanksgiving food and being able to just east turkey with all the fix-ins all day long.  And hopefully be able to enjoy a bit of my grandma’s homemade dessert, whichever she chooses to make this year.  And my uncle’s homemade rolls.  I could go on and on about it.  

Anyway, I’ll make sure to write again just after Thanksgiving, unless there is something exciting that happens again before then.  ♥️