Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hope you’ve had a fun day

Monday is usually when I post my ‘Monday Eats’ post about what I’ve eaten all day. I thought about skipping this post this week since I just had a tonsillectomy but then I figured what the heck- might as well!

A few things about this post… I’m still taking pain medication around the clock as prescribed by my doctor and a lot of my fluid intake corresponds with when I take these meds. I am taking them crushed in Gatorade because they taste so bitter, and the Gatorade is the only thing that halfway neutralizes this. I’m still not able to eat much and this is driving me a little crazy. Jello is about the only ‘food’ I can tolerate.

I wish I had some cool ways I’m incorporating nutrient intake into my healing but the truth is that I had a ton of different things pre-prepared for this surgery and I haven’t been able to touch most of it. I have been in so much pain that my main priority has been just to stay hydrated.

Here’s my intake for today. Hope you enjoy!

12:00am: I’m getting ready to go to bed (I’m sleeping on the couch) so I get everything I need for the night lined up on the coffee table. This includes a big mug of crushed ice with a little bit of water in it. I also take some pain medication by crushing it and mixing it with Gatorade, and I eat a cup of Jello.

2:00am– I drink some icy water with my Advil and go back to sleep.

4:00am– It’s time to take my prescription again. My husband gets up to help me with this one because I accidentally slept through taking it the other night… let’s just say it didn’t end well for anyone here when I woke up.  He crushes my pain medication and mixes it with ice & Gatorade. While I’m drinking that, he refills my mug of crushed ice and water, fills my two ice packs with fresh ice, and makes sure my Advil is good to go at 6am. I’m in the most pain in the middle of the night so I’m thankful that my husband helps me with this! I eat another Jello and I go back to sleep at 4:30.

6:00am: I drink some icy water with my Advil and go back to sleep.

8:00am: I wake up for the day and take my pain med mixed with Gatorade.

 

10:00am: I fix an 8oz. iced tea w/ dissolved Miralax, which my doctor has told me to start taking daily since I’m taking pain medication around the clock. I am just now getting to the point where I can drink things other than Gatorade and this tea tastes amazing. My mom brewed it before she left… bless her. I also take some more Advil.

 

12:30pm– I was supposed to take my pain med at 12pm but I’m running late because I decided to take a shower and change my PJs beforehand. This pill makes me sleepy so I wanted to be fresh and clean for an afternoon nap. However, now my throat is throbbing and I definitely do not care that I am freshly showered  

I start out by taking my pain med crushed in Gatorade. I’m still sipping on the tea from earlier because it takes me forever to drink or eat anything right now.

I typically try to eat something when I take this pill to avoid nausea, but I don’t think I can stand to eat *another* Jello cup today. I go through the fridge and weigh my options. So far I have tried hard-boiled eggs, pureed apples, pureed chicken, mashed potatoes and pasta unsuccessfully. Anything that is soft and mushy gets stuck in the sores in the back of my throat and it hurts like a you-know-what. I’ve tried something new every day but nothing has worked out for me as of yet.

I decide to take a little bit of the pureed chicken and mix it with a larger portion of chicken broth. My goal is to keep the mixture as thin and water-like as possible. I also throw in a scoop of protein powder, as my protein intake has been minimal the past few days.

I have avoided chicken broth since my surgery because regular liquids were initially very painful, but I have been handling them okay in the past few days as long as they are very cold.

My results are pretty successful. It feels amazing to have something that tastes like chicken because I’m getting pretty tired of slushy/fruity drinks. I know it doesn’t look that great in the bowl but please keep in mind that I have not had real food since last Tuesday.

This is also the first time I’ve eaten food without my throat killing me afterwards. Yay!

That’s pretty much all I’ve got for today other than some more Gatorade throughout the day. I can’t wait to be able to eat other things

Have a good night!