Gradually, I transitioned from the feeding tube to hot broth and eventually to soft food. When I would call in my food order to the nutritionist, I would chuckle and ask: What am I allowed to eat today? It was always the same answer, not much. They also had a special “yummy” diet for me because of my diabetes. Sugar-free orange Jell-O was one of the choices.
I was quite happy when the catheter came out. Some of you know what I mean. Wink. Wink. At first, I had to be accompanied to the bathroom by an aide. But since I am VERY determined, after a short while, I convinced them that I could maneuver my way out of the bed and walk into the bathroom by myself – dragging the hospital pole with me.
My next achievement, and one that I was really proud of, was to get out of bed along with my pole and do walking laps of the hospital floor. There was actually a line to follow. At first, I did about two laps. By the time I was ready to leave the hospital, I was averaging two to three miles a day. I had to try hard not to knock into anybody with my pole as I “zipped” along.
The physical therapist did a lot of breathing exercises with me. And it took a while to build up my stamina. By the way, I lost about 40 to 50 pounds from the time before I was diagnosed until a couple of months after surgery. I had to push myself to want to eat more and to train my one-third of a stomach as to how to digest food again.