Updates

 A photo from a local news source of the condo fire at Grace Village

The blind lady left with her son yesterday to relocate in Florida where he lives. I think she said that she had lived 16 years in that condo. A big adjustment for her.

The couple next to her have temporarily settled in a recently vacated condo on my street. Somebody told me they thought they would be there 6-8 weeks. No work has begun on restoration; the insurance company wanted a forensic expert to investigate the cause of the fire. I saw him there mid-week. The general consensus is that it was an electrical fire. Though the CEO said at the Townhall that restoration was possible and not as much tearing down as originally thought, I have to believe it will be more than 2 months before anybody can live in that part of the building that was damaged by flames and smoke.

The couple directly behind us was going to move back home since they had little damage (maybe some air quality issues), and the power to the building was turned on this past week. Alas, the man now has COVID (was in the hospital one night), and they are isolating in the Grace Village guest room where they have been since the fire. 

I am doing well. My belly button incision is still tender, but I can zip my pants all the way up. I had two incidents of regurgitation this past week: some chicken pieces infused with Greek flavoring on Monday and au gratin potatoes Friday. I was able to finish my tilapia Friday night. Today I had salmon and mashed potatoes at Ruby Tuesday. This was my first restaurant meal since the surgery. I did ask for some tartar sauce to lubricate the salmon. I did OK. Lubrication is still key I guess.

I am going to push ahead some this week. Baked chicken cutlet with lots of gravy tomorrow, crock pot chuck roast cooked in a sauce Tuesday, and ravioli with Prego marinara sauce Thursday or Friday. The Prego will be the first tomato acidic item since the surgery. I am not noticing much dysphagia (swallowing problems). I have to keep doing the waking hours hourly swallow of yogurt, apple sauce, pudding, or cracker until April 1st. Thursday March 2nd will be one month since the LINX was implanted. 

Winona Literary Club starts up after the winter break on March 1st. The GV choir sings in chapel that morning, too. A busy week with choir practice Monday, the cleaning lady coming Tuesday. The week of March 6th I will start on our income tax filing. 

The passing winter weeks have gone faster than I anticipated.

 I have been amazed at the news photos of Big Bear in California; so much snow! The fallout of that storm system has mostly been north of us in Michigan. My husband's brother in the Detroit area lost power because of ice, but he had recently bought a generator so is getting by. Hope you Californians are doing OK, too.

Neighborhood Calamity

 Yesterday about 1 p.m. we encountered a fire engine heading down our cul-de-sac as we were heading out. It realized it could not get through our street so backed up and went one block south. As we drove past the end of our quadplex we could see smoke pouring out of the roof of the building behind ours. We were gone less than an hour; when we returned, we could see fire engines (maybe 5?) from surrounding communities besides the Winona Lake Engine.

From our angle looking at the rear of the condo two doors down, it didn't look too bad, but when we saw images from the front we could see there was lots of damage.

The lady in the purple coat and the man with the cap are the residents of the condo where the flames are leaping out. 

The two photos above are what we could see. There were all kinds of people walking through our backyard so they could observe the damage. We did see maintenance employees working with the firefighters to keep things under control.

The condo where the elderly lady who is legally blind lives is a total loss. The couple's condo is not habitable. They may be able to salvage some things though there was smoke and water damage. The eastern end unit was vacant, the resident having died several months ago. We learned today that our friends who live directly behind us in the western end unit have some smoke damage. They are meeting with an insurance adjuster today. We have not talked with the other 3 people.

Grace Village put 4 victims in guest rooms in the main building last night, with the blind lady in a rehab room they had vacant so somebody could help her get around. None of the residents were injured.

The majority of the folks here know each other and interact in events and activities. It is not just a collection of condos, but a real community. In the 11 1/2 years that we have lived here, there has never been a fire in Robin Hood. 

What will these people who lost their homes do? There may be a few empty units to put them in, but I am guessing the blind lady will end up in an apartment or more likely in Assisted Living. Lots of major decisions and challenges ahead. 

Bump In the Road

 My hiatal hernia surgery went well. There had been the possibility of using biodegradable mesh to fix the hernia, but the doctor decided that was not necessary. I won't hear the surgeon's report until February 14th at my follow-up appointment. My husband used his phone to record the oral report given to him at the hospital which is how I know about no mesh. 

However, I saw the surgeon yesterday for a "rescue" procedure done in the hospital. 

I am still in the honeymoon phase (about 7-10 days post-op) before dysphagia (trouble swallowing) develops in most people. My problem started about 12:30 p.m. Monday mid-way through lunch.

 Some of the stuff that you need to avoid eating is counter-intuitive to how you would take care of yourself in other illnesses or post-surgery. Noodles do not go down well so chicken noodle soup not a good idea. Actually, though cream soups are acceptable, the idea is to eat something that exercises the LINX device, makes it open and close frequently, sort of like "physical therapy". Thin substances like soup don't make that happen. I have an hourly swallow to exercise the ring which normally is something like a tablespoon of yogurt, pudding, applesauce, crackers BUT not bread. Bread gets gummy and causes problems.

Things were going well until I decided to make a cheese omelet for lunch Monday. I should not have used the asiago cheese but stuck to some shredded Colby-Jack I had in the refrigerator. The cheese became kind of rubbery between the two layers of the omelet. I ate about half of the omelet, and stopped because I could tell it felt like the bites were not moving through the way they should even though I was pausing for 30-60 seconds between bites.

All day after that everything I swallowed regurgitated. I phoned the doctor's office Tuesday morning. They suggested I try peppermint altoids as peppermint relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. They suggested I stop eating for 2-3 hours. However, after 3 bites of mashed potatoes at lunch, back up it came. At 1:10 p.m. they called to check on me, and upon hearing of no progress, they told me to head for the hospital. When the doctor was done with office visits around 4:15 he would come and do a scope.

Since I had eaten recently (or tried to anyway), I had to have general anesthesia to prevent aspiration into the lungs; that lengthened the post-op recovery. We got home around 8 p.m. totally exhausted.

The doctor was able to push the bolus (the food clog) at the lower esophagus into the stomach and unblock the opening to the stomach. Some other stuff higher up in the esophagus he pulled out. I ate mashed potatoes last night and oatmeal this morning fine. Things appear to be working again. I have to take a course of steroid pills because besides the inflammation from the original surgery I now have some swelling and inflammation from his poking around. I will be on a mostly mushy diet for about 5 days. I do have a sore throat, but still no trouble swallowing. 

People handle different foods in their own way. Obviously, asiago cheese is not for me. He also suggested keeping away from scrambled eggs and omelets for now. Eggs are such a good source of protein I don't really want to eliminate them. Fried eggs are on the avoidance list, too. I think Sunday I will try some poached eggs with a soft yolk.

The journey continues and eating will be different for a few more months. Pray that I don't have any more blockage problems. One major bump in the road is enough.

Prepping

 

Tomorrow is laparoscopic surgery to implant the above device (LINX) as well as do some repair on my hiatal hernia. The circle of magnetic beads covered by titanium is about the size of a quarter. The beads are on wires so they will stretch when food reaches them so the food can get into the stomach. The magnetic attraction then draws the beads back together so stomach acid does not enter the esophagus.

I have been stocking up on the kinds of things I can eat and will need to eat once an hour while awake. The yogurt and pudding and more applesauce are in the refrigerator.

For my "last meal" we dined at the Boathouse in Winona Lake tonight. The grilled chicken breast over linguini with cream sauce and mushrooms was delicious. The major problem is that the serving is always more than I can eat. The leftovers will have to be eaten by my husband. Linguini is soft, but apparently noodles do not travel down the esophagus too well at the beginning of the recovery.

The Miller Pavilion across from the restaurant was all lit up. According to InkfreeNews, Wednesday night is Skates and a Stick night. We saw some guys hitting a hockey puck around. I had not realized until I read the news article that the ice rink is open for public use several weekday nights, though the hockey stuff is only one night (Wednesday).

My wristwatch has a second hand so I thought I could use it to mark the time between bites. The battery died a week ago. Usually, I can get the battery replaced at Walmart for a reasonable price. Alas, today the clerk told me that as of 2 weeks ago they are no longer doing that because somebody accused them of damaging their watch. They will sell you the battery if you know the size, but no handling of the watch. She looked at the back of my watch to see if it had a battery size. No such luck. My husband has been changing out batteries for Grace Village residents as a "service". He has the equipment to remove the watch back; but it turns out he has no battery the right size. Maybe in a few weeks he can take the battery to Walmart and buy a replacement.

I went to plan B. I bought a little clock with a second hand for around $5 at Walmart. I will keep it at the table where I eat.

I will keep an eye on the clock so I can space the bites out at least 30 seconds apart. 

They had a cancellation in the surgery schedule, so instead of noon surgery I will have it at 10 a.m. I need to go watch Jeopardy and eat my last See's Toffee-ettes as nuts are a no-no beginning tomorrow. In a few months, I can start returning to my normal diet.