<p>Now I have a craving for liverwurst. The best liverwurst sandwich, to which I was introduced by a coworker a number of years ago, is liverwurst with bacon,tomato and mayo on an onion roll. She was pregnant at the time. I don’t have that excuse. Of course, I also don’t have any liverwurst. 
</p>
<p>BTW, James might want to try getting a job at the Regenstein, shelving books. They always seem to need people.</p>
<p>So many foods to choose from, you can eat almost anything you want, and you choose liverwurst??!! Well, to each his/her own!!</p>
<p>But seriously – Donna, I’m so relieved you’re home, relaxed, and hopeful. You’ll eat lots of small meals, put on weight, get back to work, and – one day, in the far, far future – look back on all this and laugh. Well, maybe not quite laugh, but you’ll be proud of how you handled everything, proud of how you got through it all, proud of how James handled it. </p>
<p>You’re extraordinarily resilient.</p>
<p>I’ve been away for a few weeks and just caught up. So glad to get to the end of and see that you are home and escaped more GI surgery. Rest and more rest and follow that diet! Can you possibly drink some Ensure or something similar to gain some of the weight back? I’m glad you are feeling better.</p>
<p>Donna, I’m so glad you are at home and are eating something more substantial than ice chips!</p>
<p>Would smoothies all around be ok to offer? Here’s to Donna!</p>
<p>Donna,</p>
<p>It sounds like you have been through the wringer. Glad you came out of it, although I am not sure if I can say “relatively unscathed”. </p>
<p>Hang in there. Glad you are eating again and beginning to heal.</p>
<p>Thanks to all. It’s very hard to believe that it’s a week ago today that they brought me to Mt. Sinai from Montreal by ambulance. What a nightmare; it’s all starting to seem so surreal now. I still feel extremely weak and found that I needed a cane yesterday just to walk to the parking lot to retrieve some things James had left in the car. And when I took a shower and washed my hair (first time in 3 weeks for both, and it felt great!), I discovered that I had to hold onto something at all times so as not to fall down.</p>
<p>But I weighed myself this morning, and was pleased to see that although I’m already back up to 103 pounds, as compared to the 98.5 (translated from kilograms) that they told me I weighed when I arrived at Mt. Sinai. (How they weighed me I’m not sure, since I never got up; it must be that they passed the stretcher over some kind of scale and subtracted what they know the stretcher’s weight to be from the total weight. Or something.) Anyway, even understanding that I have no way of knowing how the scales really compare, that’s pretty good progress just a few days after I started eating solid food again. Especially considering how much trouble I usually have gaining weight. Then again, I don’t usually eat as much as I have been since I got home on Thursday! (I need to slow down a little today, since I think I ate just a little too much yesterday and didn’t feel that well last night.) I’m sure the remaining pounds will take a lot longer to recover, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>Donna, I have been unable to access CC for almost a week, so it was truly a relief to log on and read that you are now back home and well on the road to recovery (Yaaaay!:)). What a nightmare you have endured, such a nightmare that you should be exempt from even the hint of such a thing far into the future!:eek: I’m so glad you’re back. Hugs to both you and James!</p>
<p>Donna, as supportive as I am of you in all ways, I have to say I have a hard time sympathizing with a person who has a hard time putting on weight!</p>
<p>Donna,
With newer technology, the bed is the scale; it is set to zero before you get on it.</p>
<p>So glad my bed isn’t like that. It would be very depressing going to bed every night.</p>
<p>haha, that’s right. Donna, if you’d like I can send you a list of the foods I eat (all very similar to what you’ve been told to eat, with a heavy emphasis on the high carbs, low nutritional value other than fat variety). If I can’t “give” you some of my extra weight, I’d be glad to give you my secrets to getting and staying fat :/</p>
<p>Donna, I hope you at least got to sit out in the garden or on a stoop today to soak up some rays and some Vitamin D. It was a beautiful day to be back home and enjoying yourself!</p>
<p>So glad you continue to progress. I am married to a liverwurst lover, so while I don’t really empathize, I understand. Continued health and improving strength!</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I’m not a fanatic or anything; I had the liverwurst only that one time. I’ve since graduated to other things. (I’ve never been interested in cooking, so the current situation suits my skill level; I’ve simply been making various combinations of chicken, hamburger, steak, rice, potatoes and pasta, a couple of times a day – it all tastes great to me! Yum. I’m very, very thankful to be able to eat things like that.)</p>
<p>I did take a short walk today, but one circuit around the circular driveway in front of my building, even with the help of a cane, was more than enough to send me back upstairs exhausted.</p>
<p>I’ll try again tomorrow.</p>
<p>Flavor. You haven’t had it and now you can, whether liverwurst or chicken. How wonderful.</p>
<p>So when do you get to buy new lingerie ;)</p>
<p>Donna, today you can do one circuit of the driveway in the AM and another in the PM. Tomorrow, maybe put two circuits together. And you’re on your way!</p>
<p>Are you alive and well?</p>
<p>Yes – two circuits today! Plus some time sitting on a bench outside, appreciating the simple fact of being outdoors and breathing fresh air for (essentially) the first time since my surgery three weeks ago today. (It seems like a lot longer than that, somehow.) And I’m still eating copiously, although not gaining any more weight at the moment. I’ll get there eventually, but I’m certainly appreciating the process.</p>
<p>Mostly, I’m just eating, reading, napping, watching TV, snuggling with Ziggy and letting him take naps on me, and, above all, attempting to relax mentally. It’s difficult to imagine just how tense and wound up this whole experience made me. So I’m doing my best to think of the next couple of weeks as “my summer vacation” (since I’m not getting a real one this year), and to live in the moment, without worrying too much about when I’ll be able to return to work, or anything else. I can be pretty hard on myself, but I think I deserve at least that much.</p>