All's Quite On The Western Front

Bonus points to anyone that understands that reference! It does describe how the last few weeks have been.

Everything is going well at this point. I am continuing to get my strength back and have continued but slowed down my food testing. I met with the medical Oncologist the week before labor day and one thing they were concerned about is that I lost some more weight. So as a result I am focusing more on doing PEG tube feedings now to help gain some weight. I am not overly thrilled by it because it is disruptive to have to keep using the PEG tube for feedings during the day. Still weight gain is important so I am focusing more energy on that for the moment.

On the food front I have made some interesting discoveries at two picnics we attended on Labor day. The first is that the filling for deviled eggs goes down pretty good. I made a basic filling at home and put it through the strainer. I worked without a problem. The egg white portion on the other hand was an issue. The other interesting discovery was that the instant Jello Cheese Cake is good to eat in small quantities. It also dissolves into nothing in your mouth. The down side to all of this is that so far getting protein and fiber has been elusive. There may be a solution on the way though. I have tried things like split pea soup but the problem was with the bits of skin in it. That would cause problems that really were not much fun. However a neighbor just made some lentil soup that I am trying out. She ran it through a food processor and then a strainer. It is pretty thick so there is some substance to it but more importantly it does seem to go down OK and has both protein and fiber in it. Big time plus there and it also tastes pretty good. Right now my throat is pretty sore from the dilation procedure I had done today but I plan on eating it in the next few days when my throat recovers. I could eat it now but it is hurts to swallow and I would rather wait and eat it when I can enjoy it.

That brings me to the next item. Today, or actually yesterday, I had dilation procedure number 3. Unfortunately we didn't make any forward progress. My esophogus had started to close up a bit and they were able to open it up back to 10 MM again. The plan is to go in in 4 weeks for another procedure. I am committed to keep doing this until I stabalize in the 16-18 MM range. With another 40-50 years left to go I figure it is worth the effort. After all there are so many foods still waiting out there for me to eat. It would be shame to disapoint them.

So that is where things are at. Lots of activity in terms of appointments and such but in the end my swallowing function is still where it was about a month ago. I am more aware of what works and doesn't work now but from a functinal point of view things haven't changed. All's Quite On The Western Front as the saying goes. :-)