I PROMISED A POST ABOUT MY SURGERY

 

Hello, friends!  Happy Saturday and the last day of April.  How quickly this month has gone.  So much has happened and I guess that's why things have seemed to fly by.

When I told you about Easter, I promised to catch you up with my surgery.  It's been three weeks ago now and things are so much better than before although I still have a long way to go.

The morning of the 12th I had to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m.  My friend Carole took Joe and me.  That was so nice of her.  I checked in and was taken back to the room to get ready for the procedure.  Joe and Carole went to get coffee (it turned out to be free!) and then to the waiting room until I was done.

I was supposed to go in for surgery at 9:00 a.m. but my doctor was a half hour late because of another surgery he was doing.  The nurses and doctors I saw were so nice!  The anesthesiologist did her internship near where my sister lives and so we were talking about northern New Jersey.  She said not many people she meets knows the little towns up there.  Everyone put me at my ease, and I was only a little nervous about things.

Finally my doctor showed up and I was taken into the operating room.  I looked at the clock before I went to sleep.  They had told me the procedure would take about 15 minutes.  But when I woke up, it was an hour later.  The first thing I said was, "Can I see Joe now?"  And I could.  They went to the waiting room and sent him in.

Dr. Cohen came in to see me and to tell me what had happened.  Originally they went in with a wire and tried to clean out the scar tissue in my esophogus.  No luck.  So then he put down a small balloon which he inflated, but it didn't do the trick.  Next he used a larger balloon.  Still didn't work.  So finally he used a cutter and cut away some of the scar tissue until the esophogus was large enough for me to swallow again.  I hadn't been able to swallow much of anything for quite awhile.

So now I'm on eight weeks of recovery.  I'm eating a lot more but still having trouble with certain things.  Meat mostly.  Chicken and fish seem to be the easiest things for me to swallow.  Then things like applesauce, chopped up fruit, mashed potatoes, etc.  I'm getting by, though.  The doctor said I lost a pound so this might be a good thing.

And now I'm going to go make potato salad and chicken salad for dinner.  Two soft things I can eat.  

I'll be back soon with another post.  Lots to tell you.  I hope to be on here a bit more than I have been lately.  Just not feeling great.  See you all soon.

Kathy

EASTER

Hello, friends!  Hope you are all having a wonderful day!  I will do another post telling you about my surgery but just to let you know that things are moving along.  It was a week ago yesterday.  Swallowing and eating has been rough.  But each day it gets a little better.  I am still on soft food for a few more days, but soon I will be able to eat anything.  Within reason of course.  Thank you so much for all your prayers and well wishes.  That means a lot to me.

But let me tell you about Easter.  We had a breakfast at church before our morning service.  My friend, Donna, came.  I haven't seen her in awhile so it was good to get a chance to catch up.

 

There was scrambled eggs with cheese, hash brown potatoes with cheese, bacon, sausage, bagels with cream cheese and fruit salad.  Orange juice too.  I couldn't eat any of it.  I brought my own baby oatmeal which Joe had bought for me and ate that instead along with a cup of tea.

The service was great.  We always have Pastor Dan Allen as our guest speaker on Easter.  He is so good.  The singing was good too.

I took Donna home and then Joe and I got ready to go out for lunch/dinner.  Our good friend Carole was going too and she picked us up.  We went to a diner we all like and met up with the rest of my family and a couple of friends.  Joe's stepmother went too.  Sorry I can't show you any pictures, but I never pulled out my camera.  We were just enjoying ourselves.  Sometimes that is more important than getting the shot.

I ordered a tuna salad thinking it would be something I could eat.  But what I got was not what was on the menu.  The tuna was dry and there were lots of veggies that I'm not up to eating yet.  I ended up eating most of Joe's mashed potatoes, some of his stuffing (he got a turkey dinner) and took the rest of my salad home.  Joe ate it for lunch today.

I had a great time talking with my brother and sister.  I almost never see them and it was good to just be able to sit together and gab.

When we took my mother-in-law home, she gave me a gift bag.  I was not expecting that.  Let me show you what was inside.

She gave me hand sanitizer, hand cream, a pretty candle that smells of oranges and lemons, a package of fudge, a box of Peeps (my family know me so well), and a pair of Peeps socks.

My sister gave me an Easter gift too.  She put it in the cutest furry bunny basket.

A little bag of chocolate eggs and two packages of Peeps.  One was chocolate dipped and one was party cake.  There was one other surprise gift.  It was something I had been wanting.

She found a pair of sunglasses to replace the ones that had broken.  I am so happy.  It even came with a little cloth bag.

Joe gave me two boxes of Peeps and two packages of peanut butter cups.  (I am in Peeps heaven right now.)  He also bought me a dozen red roses.

I am one fortunate girl to have all of these things given to me.  I certainly didn't expect it.  The best part though, was spending the time with my family and friends.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter also.  I will be back soon.

Kathy

THIS AND THAT

 

Hello, friends!  Thought I would just give you a this and that (and that and this) post today.  I have some photos I want to share with you and this will give me that opportunity.

I can't remember if I showed you the Peeps bunny that my friend Debbie gave me.  So here it is.

This was the first Peeps I got this year.  And as you can guess it is gone.  I love my Peeps!

Spring is here even though the weather is kind of cold still.  Well, it's warming up some because I am now wearing a jacket or sweater and not a coat.  I know things are warming up because the trees are blooming.  Here is a sunset I took a picture of the other day and you can see the pretty trees.

I put out a few Easter things, but not a lot.  I'm so into cleaning out the house and getting rid of things that decor has gone by the wayside.  But I did get out my Easter egg bowl and we have filled it with jelly beans and chocolate eggs several times now.  I say several because those things don't last long around here.  We walk by, grab a few, and the next thing you know they are gone!  Well, I get them just once a year.  Not good for my waistline though.

Some of you may remember my favorite polka dot sunglasses that I wore everywhere last year.

I LOVED those glasses.  I bought them at Target for $13 and they were the best pair I have ever had.  But...  about six weeks ago I pulled them out of my purse and they had broken in half at the nose piece.  *sob*  No way to fix them.  Sadly I put them into the trash.  I have some cheap glasses that I keep in the car and I have been wearing them if I need them.  But they aren't polarized and glare resistant and all that other good stuff.  I got them in the Dollar Spot at Target for...  well, for a dollar.  Joe and I were at Rite Aid the other day and he told me to pick out a new pair of sunglasses and he would buy them for me.  This is the pair that I got.

I like the little design on the side of them.  They are a nice shape on my face also.  They aren't my sweet little polka dot ones, but they are nice.  I would have gotten another pair like the ones that broke, but I haven't seen them anywhere.  But if I do...  well, you know I will pick them up.

Finally, I was talking with my sister yesterday and she said she was having our grandmother's goulash for dinner.  Hmm, I thought.  I have ground beef defrosted and that might be easy for me to eat.  So I made it too.  So good.

It did go down easy and didn't make me sick.

I am going to have my esophogus procedure next Tuesday.  Hopefully in a few days I will be able to eat and not have the huge banging in my chest that makes me feel as if I am having a heart attack.  I have to have a liquid and soft food diet for a week and then slowly introduce solid food back in.  If it doesn't work, the doctor will do one more procedure before it is surgery to remove the scar tissue and more of my stomach with it.  I am praying it doesn't come to that and this procedure next week will do the trick.

Now I have to run and get ready for Bible Study.  I am planning to finish up Hebrews 11 this week.  Last week only one person showed up so we just prayed and talked.  I know at least two people are coming this week, so I most likely will be teaching.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Until later...

Kathy