Pampered Chef Temptation

Good friends of mine had a Pampered Chef party this evening.

We first went and visited my grandma in the hospital after her knee replacement surgery. She was spunky as ever. We only stayed for a little while but she seemed happy to see us. We will visit more when she gets home.

We went straight to the Pampered Chef party. Yes, there was delicious smelling food made. Yes, I wanted to taste a couple of things. No, I did not (even though my follow up appointment is tomorrow and I knew they would be putting me on the pureed consistency food plan which would include soup). I drank my CorePower while snuggling little Benjamin to sleep (he almost always falls asleep on me while I’m there). Since it was just my boyfriend and I that showed up, we all took turns helping the consultant make the soup – Chicken Tortilla Soup. It smelled and looked delicious.

Yes, we bought a couple of items for our kitchen.

The biggest thing to take away from this post is that you can go about your day and just incorporate what you need into it. Don't avoid interactions with friends and family. Bring your own food. Make the company the focus of your visit rather than the food.

Shopping: Water but no food

My friend Maggie came over today to hang out and do some crafting. We went to a place called The Outlet. Apparently this store has been around for 10 years but I just discovered it. It is an outlet store for crafting supplies (lots of different types of crafts). I brought my water bottle with me but no food. I had no idea we would be in there for 2 hours. I drank almost all of my water. I think this was because I was walking around a lot while looking at things and partly because it was warm in the store. It was a blast. I felt great. I was able to walk around for those two hours (it wasn’t a huge store so it wasn’t very vigorous walking). We came home and I went about my merry way making my drinks. Toward the end of her visit, we ended up just chatting (we do that sometimes). My boyfriend came down and chatted for a while too. We left when she did and headed to the movie store.

Steri-Strips gone

Yesterday was laundry day at my boyfriend’s brother’s house. He’s so great for letting us do laundry there. I did not drink nearly enough fluids. I have always struggled with fluid intake. I forget to drink. Pooped yesterday too. Good to know my bowels still work.

Today has been rough. Woke up a little earlier than I wanted to today. Stayed up. Drank 8 ounces of water and felt a little better. Made a shake with Lactaid. Every drink was the same stuck pain that I felt a couple of days after surgery. It made me nauseated. I stopped drinking it and made the shake with water instead, thinking maybe it was the Lactaid (I had been using Fat Free Fairlife milk). I decided to walk around since yesterday was a rather sedentary day. I cleaned the dining room, put clean laundry away, and purged clothing out of my closet (some I wore on the days I was bloated and needed something not tight – now those are falling off my butt, some that I haven’t worn in a while, and some that I know will be much too large for me soon). I walked between my dining room and bedroom while doing chores. Each time I went to the dining room I sipped water and I sipped the shake. This seemed to help. I still was not feeling all that well.

I decided to take a shower and soak the steri-strips that were covering my incisions. Since I had not been showering every day (perhaps that’s gross, but it wasn’t like I was doing physical labor lately), they were still on. They were to come off 7-10 days after surgery. Well today is day 9 and they were getting loose. I soaked them in the shower and then had my boyfriend help pull them off. Without my contacts or glasses in the shower, I was unable to see details to help get the off myself. I got very light-headed for a bit and had to sit. I ended up just lying in the tub and letting the hot water soak the strips. They were much easier to pull off. It felt a little strange at first, almost as if I needed to be very delicate with them. A couple of them are a little sensitive, but no pain.

I still have not been able to get my fluids on. I only got a little bit of protein as well. I’m not hungry or thirsty.

Tomorrow will be a new start. I am setting my alarm so that I can get up and immediately start drinking water. It was so easy the first week.

The other thing that is near torture for me is that my boyfriend loves to cook. Like really cook. Food Network recipes and his own recipes. The smells are wonderful. They are making me want to jump into his plates and eat my way out. I love really good food and feel like I’m missing out. I know this is for the best and that I just have to get through the recovery and take baby steps, but it is certainly tough.