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10/30

This Blog is about eating, sleeping and walking, which are occupying my days recently.

It has been full two weeks since I started eating “somewhat” solid food. I have been feeding only two cans of food for the last few days, and expanding my menu quite a bit. It is wonderful that I can eat cheesecake and pumpkin pie without guilt.

Some dishes that I have cooked last week (yes, I actually cooked with Mark’s help) include Japanese Miso soup with pork (wonderfully nutritious dish with miso and ground pork with a lot of minced vegetables) Mediterranean fish soup with cod and vegetables, Chinese Maaboo tofu (spicy Chinese tofu dish), and over-cooked pan sticker, etc.

I am grateful that moderately spicy food does not bother my esophagus. As long as I can taste flavorful food, it does not bother me how small the amount is or how long it takes to cook. My days are spent racking my brain thinking what I can cook for dinner, concocting it, and eating a tiny amount of it very slowly. Even though many patients at my stage seem to supplement the nutrient with commercial protein shakes, I cannot do it; I do not like sweet drinks or ice cream that much. My aversion to shakes may help me get back to normal food fast.

Even though my recovery is going quite well, I am suffering from insomnia from hot flashes, which probably are caused by the forced menopause and J-tube feeding. The menopause was accelerated by the combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. J-tube feeding at night makes my metabolism fast and raises my body temperature. It is very frustrating to stay awake at night when you feel that you should be sleeping; I used to be able to fall asleep immediately and sleep through the night without any problem. I hope that by the time my J-tube comes off, I can sleep a little better.

Since the middle of last week, I have been walking a mile a day. As the weather is getting cold and nasty, I often walk in the shopping mall. Walking in the mall has an advantage and disadvantage. The first time I walked in the mall last week, I found a “sushi chef” nutcracker (photo on 10/26,) and had to buy it. Since I have not gone to the stores for a long while, my immunity and resistance to the shopping impulse seems to have weakened.

The photo is the Pedometer that Mark got for me from LL Bean. This is helping me keep track of how far I have walked.