Tomorrow!

At this point tomorrow I will be tube-less for the first time since May 19th, when I had the three drainage tubes in my neck and my trach. My feeding tube was put in my stomach a few days later although I don't know really when because I was quite drugged up - I had a naso. tube before that and man was that uncomfortable! So, tomorrow I will bid my feeding tube good riddance and be done with it! 

I've gotten to the point where I am eating well enough that I can actually look at recipes and plan out meals to eat during the week. When I was on the feeding tube and not eating by mouth at all, except for maybe a few spoonfuls of soup or some baby food (both of which I have no desire what.so.ever. to eat any time soon), it drove me insane when people would talk about food. Another problem I had was right after I stopped using the feeding tube absolutely nothing sounded good. It's not that food tasted bad I just hadn't had it in so long that I sort of stopped craving things (not so anymore though, I eat like crazy!). Also I had those ulcers that would pop up and be painful so that ruined the whole eating experience - it was more work than it was enjoyable (they are going away now for the most part, I only get them occasionally and they don't hurt nearly as bad). Last week was the first time since May that I actually pulled out a few recipes to make for dinners (we mostly ate out while we were in Tulsa, okay we really just only ate out while we were in Tulsa. I had to put on weight okay???). I would eat frozen meals or meals that didn't require much thought (I would go to the store without a shopping list and basically buy whatever I thought looked good), I did make fish one night a couple of weeks ago, but I just made that recipe up, so it doesn't count! So this week I am trying a new lasagna recipe (because Warner really likes lasagna and I don't make it very often) and I also found a shepherd's pie recipe that looked really good so I might attempt that as well. 

Warner and I made it out to church this morning in Luling. It was fun to see everyone! I made soup for dinner at my parents house for me, Warner, and my brother (my parents are in Yellowstone!) on Saturday night. We spent Saturday evening over at Dawn's house hanging out with her and the kiddos and ate some cake (I haven't really had much cake since my surgery so it was really good!). This morning at church Dawn told me about this conversation that she had with her son Mason, who apparently likes me, but hardly ever talks to me and gets really shy around me (he's 4 right? or almost 4?). So anyway, the following took place during the "Say Hello To Someone" portion of the service:

Mason: Mom, there's Stephanie!

Dawn: Yeah, that is Stephanie, go say hi to her.

Mason: No, tell her to come say hi to me!

Dawn: No...you go say hi to her.

Mason: No, that's okay, I saw her last night!

Too cute! I used to babysit his older sister, Molly, when she was just a baby and she is now a whopping six years old! Dawn also is the one who took Paula and I to Maine for our senior trip in High School. So we go way back (ha!). 

Well, that's all I've got for now! I gotta go load myself up with more food tonight since they aren't letting me eat breakfast! If they try and keep me too long after, someone may end up with a black-eye, okay, or they may just get to see me cry because I'm so hungry. The two are comparable outcomes. Haha. Goodnight.