Recovery Day 27 - Mixed News

I was up early today to catch a 7:20 ride to the Knights of Columbus meeting from Chris K. It was great seeing the guys I've hung out with at church and KofC events. I'm planning to go to the KofC Spaghetti Dinner tonight to help out a little bit here and there. Chris K has come over to my house twice over the past two weeks just to talk with with. That has been great therapy for me.

I have been pumping at 105 ml/hr today. That is my new record rate. However, to put that in perspective, at that rate it takes 9.5 hours to consume 1,000 ml of formula (4 cans = 1,500 calories). That's a long time. I may have to try drinking the formula to get it down faster. It doesn't taste very good - even with the limited taste buds I have.

Karen M. gave me a lift to Colorado Pharmacy up on Colfax Friday. I picked up 4 more cases of formula. I really need to start eating more and pumping less as 4 cases of formula at 7 cans a day will only last about 14 days. I've been trying to maintain 7 cans a day AND eat food by mouth so I can put on weight. I need to eat more meals (I'm only doing breakfast and dinner so far) and add snacks too if I'm going to reduce the formula intake.

The bad news is that my stomach tube seems to be causing problems again. If I sit in a chair then my stomach starts to hurt. A standing or reclined position isn't a problem. Having a "full" stomach seems to reduce the problem. But I don't have a full stomach often. Maybe if I drink a lot more water and other fluids that would help. Not being able to sit is going to be a serious impediment to going back to work - even part time.

I'm getting better at bringing up the mucus from my throat. I have learned to do it on an empty stomach though. I tried it once right after a large bowl of Cathy's Super Cream of Wheat and came very close to vomiting it all up. With an empty stomach (during pumping formula counts at empty oddly enough) my stomach makes like it's going to come up but doesn't come anywhere close as when I have a full stomach.

In other news, it got down into the teens last night. Consequently, my sprinkler system is all frozen up. I can already tell that there is some damage that needs to be fixed. Ugh!