I got to thinking about something a little while ago and I thought, why not throw it out there for discussion.

Background- Had my lap-band surgery 03/10/2011. So, this is my 4th night awake. I'm doing so so, hurting quite a bit still, which makes it hard to sleep, as do narcotic pain meds. Throughout these last few days, and the last 3 weeks I've been on a liquid diet. At times totally successful, and a few times I fell off the wagon. Understanding I am human, I'm not going to hide it or pretend I am perfect.

I tried to start a full liquid diet today and was sorely unsuccessful. The runny grits, no good. Took 4 bites and felt like I had sandpaper stuck in my throat. Tried some sugar free pudding tonight, again... just very uncomfortable, so I stopped after 3 bites. My stomach is still very swollen despite hot and cold packing. So I'm guessing that's part of the issue.

But the truth is also this, even the last week before surgery I was having a hard time gagging down the protein shakes and crap. I was literally living on vitamin water zero, hence my few lapses. I'm not craving food as much as chew. I don't find many foods to taste that great to me, but if it has the right texture I'm addicted. When you put the two together, it's a winning combination.

What do I enjoy THE MOST? A perfectly cooked steak. It was my last real meal before starting the liquid diet. Oh man do I miss it. I MISS MEAT!!!

So, as I said earlier, I got to thinking. I've worked with the mentally and physically disabled in the past, and for some... eating was not an option. They were fed through tubes in their stomaches. PERIOD! But for some who were fed through the tubes, they were given the opportunity to have sensory stimuli. TASTING!

How do you let someone taste something without letting them swallow it? I mean you have to be able to swallow at least your own spit for it to work. The therapists would use 'chew bags'. Some sort of solid food placed into a pourous yet not meshlike cloth. So no pieces could come loose. And we'd hold these bags in the patients mouthes and they would be encouraged to chew. Of course they got some of the flavor, and they chewed. It was kind of cool.

So I just tried it myself. A peppered piece of lunch meat and cheese in a chew bag. I got my chew on, I swallowed a little bit of flavor/spit. Nothing bad there, and I feel... ok. Kind of wierd, but like the garlic clove crunching I did the first 2 weeks, I had to do something, and it works. I feel Much better!!!

Bren