More back to normal?

So I took the plunge today, literally.  Well, more like the plunger.  I had "real" food.  Oatmeal with walnuts for breakfast.  Soba noodle soup and egg roll for dinner.  Let me just say the former was more attractive all ground up than the latter.  I'm having a few issues trying to figure out how thin it has to be.  I don't want to clog up the tube, but it is hard to get stuff to the consistency of thin gruel without adding so much liquid that it takes forever to plunger it all in.  I didn't figure out calories, or anything.  I just made a portion that looked like I would normally eat.  Then I slurried it and thinned it down.  I'm assuming that should work.  The only thing is seasoning.  Since I don't actively "taste" it (more on that later), I don't have to add a lot of seasoning. That could get me into trouble, particularly in the salt department.  I'll have to play around with it.  No formula at all today, so we will see how I feel tomorrow.  I had my usual kefir/probiotic/fiber/vit D cocktail to round out the day.

I can taste what I pump in as it kind of comes up in the back of my throat.  Not the food itself, just kind of a taste.  It lingers much longer than when you chew and swallow though.  That could be pleasant or problematic depending on how it tastes.  Everything thus far has had a better after flavor than the formula I have to say.

The key to sleeping is: 1) Be completely exhausted  2) Do not eat within 3 hours of going to bed 3) sleep right side, okay; sleep left side, okay; sleep back; reflux.  Hopefully this strategy will work again tonight.

An unattractive byproduct of the doctors poking around in my mouth so much yesterday is blood.  You know, it is unattractive enough to drool all the time.  Drooling blood will get you more than strange looks. Even your loving caring spouse will give you the double take when you wake up with dried blood crusted on your face.

Also from the land of stuff you never thought would be a big deal, but is: I got to brush my teeth today.  Yes, I know that sounds gross.  For four weeks I've been using the little green swabbies and water to brush.  Of course, as excited as I was to brush my teeth, it wasn't all fun and games.  My jaws still don't open very wide, so just getting a toothbrush in there was a feat.  Trying to rinse the tooth powder back out without choking or dribbling it all down the front of myself also not too successful.  Trying to avoid the flongue was tough, too, since I can't feel it.  It was sewn to my teeth early on and those stitches are dissolving.  Want to make spitting blood even more attractive?  Add little hunks of black stitches that look uncannily like flies. Too bad Halloween is over.  (I did once walk through the Dallas Airport with severely chapped lips weeping blood at the corners of my mouth.  I couldn't figure out why everyone was giving me such a wide berth until I slipped into the bathroom.)

I had a wonderful visit with Jen this morning.  Nothing makes me feel more normal than just hanging out with a friend and chatting.  My voice is much clearer in the morning before my vocal cords get a little tired (who ever thought that was a possibility for me???)  I also did some laundry, drove to piano lessons, and made dinner.  Not earth shattering, but pretty good progress for four weeks and one day.

Text to talk is ordered.  While I can carry on a conversation with minimal writing support, homework help is a nightmare.  I can't write explanations out clear enough that Karissa can figure out what I mean.  My speaking isn't clear enough for long explanations.  If I could have had a device do my explaining for me today, it would have been golden.  Not to mention helping her with reading and spelling.  As you can imagine, pronunciation isn't really my long suit at this point.

Overall a successful day, as evidenced by the food sprayed all over me (that syringe will not stay in there against too much back pressure), bloody drool stains, itchy stitches and some clean laundry.  Maybe if I stopped getting stuff all over me, there'd be less laundry...