Before getting sick, I never considered all of the challenges that can arise when traveling with chronic medical needs that require special equipment, tubes, drains, liquid medications, and supplies. My first experience with this was in 2011 when I need to fly to a conference for work, but was still requiring home oxygen. Getting all…
2019 The Year of Running!
My friend Rachel recently signed-up for the Chicago Marathon and in a text message to me, she said, “2019 will be the year of running!” I really liked that! Now that I am able to fuel body with real delicious food and I am no longer dependent on TPN, I am feeling better than ever!…
2018 Recap
A year ago, I would have never imagined how much my life would change in only one year. Family The year started out great with a work conference in Las Vegas followed by a fun trip to the Grand Canyon. During this trip, my mom was home sick. She called me to tell me she…
Fueling with Food! Monumental Half Marathon Recap
Just as a little background to put this post into perspective… Prior to getting sick, I had been an avid, yet average recreational runner. After recovering from the initial shock of being sick, I started to get back to real life and running. In 2014, I ran two marathons (San Francisco and St. Jude in…
Rediscovering food
After four weeks of not being able to eat real food aside from sips of liquids, hard candy, popsicles, and ice, I have really enjoyed rediscovering food! During my time with minimal diet, I did a lot of cooking, baking, reading cook books, and viewing yummy food pictures on Instagram. Now that I can eat,…
New developments
I had a busy few days in Nashville. I had appointments with my gastroenterologist, nutrition NP, and surgeon. I was really hopeful that my surgeon would remove my JP drain. This drain is not comfortable and I am ready for it to be out. This did not happen. However, he is letting me eat!! Originally…
Hard week
This has been a hard week! It started off great! I had a wonderful walk to get frozen treats with my friends last Sunday and then my birthday festivities continued on my actual birthday on Tuesday. My parents, sister, niece, and nephew came over for lunch and a birthday party. It was really nice to…
Can’t eat, but I can cook!
This weekend I baked some cookies for my parents, sister, and my neighbor to thank her for getting my mail and packages while I was away. We were talking about my current eating situation (or lack there of) and she asked how I could bake when I was not allowed to eat. I was telling…
Home
I drove home yesterday. I’m happy to be home and able to rest and relax. I have been trying to find ways to distract myself from wanting to eat. I went for a walk last night and walked 5 miles this morning. I’m still a little too sore for running, so it will just be…
My appetite is back and that is not fun!
The first several days post-op I didn’t really have an appetite. Now that I am feeling better, I have an appetite. It is a weird thing to describe, I am not REALLY hungry because I am getting all of my nutrition from TPN, but I still have cravings that I want to eat food. I…