Our meeting with the doctors on Friday brought home to me that I had been using my feeding tube as a crutch. I already knew that, but telling them I had reverted made it more real. I came home with a new determination to get back to eating food. It helped that the bad taste problem improved substantially in the latter half of last week.
So I have successfully avoided almost all use of my tube for the past three days.
On Saturday I used it for the routine half-liter of Gatorade I had been putting in upon waking up every day. That was my last use.
I'm not taking very many meds now. Just occasional tussin (expectorant to loosen mucous) and Ativan. I've been taking those by mouth now.
As I've mentioned, it's a challenge to ingest my 2000 calorie daily goal all through my mouth. But I've been trying a lot more things and I'm finding some foods that are palatable, or at least tolerable.
Here's what I've eaten/drunk today:
Item | Calories |
---|---|
Cherios, whole milk | 200 |
Toast w/Nutella | 150 |
OJ | 100 |
Instant Breakfast | 300 |
Starbucks Chai Latte (whole milk) | 250 |
Campbell's Tomato Bisque | 325 |
Apple Juice | 110 |
Apple Juice | 110 |
Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo | 250 |
Apple Juice | 110 |
Total | 1905 |
The tomato bisque was a good discovery. I've been examining the soup section at the store to find soups that are calorie-rich. The bisque tasted good and went down very easily. The fettucine alfredo was also surprisingly edible. The sauce had enough oil in it to keep the pasta from sticking to my teeth.
I'll still figure out something to eat or drink tonight to put me over 2000.
Apple juice is the only fruit juice I've tried that doesn't have an astringent effect on my mouth. Hopefully I'll survive all the arsenic.
I realize I have nowhere near a "balanced" diet at the moment but I'll worry about that later. Right now it's all about calories so I don't lose any more weight.
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