Two days ago marked my 3 week anniversary to my surgery. What a difference each day makes!

I've been struggling with some deep depression since surgery and a lot of soul searching has gone on. One of the hardest things for me to do is sit still. I've spent more time at home than I'd like to and am actually looking forward to going back to work to break up the monotony. I've now read 7 books since surgery and about to finish my 8th. Reading has been my lifesaver through this surgery. Since I started on soft foods I've been unable to eat more than a few bites before I am overcome with nausea and have to go lay down. And that's been really frustrating. I'm still drinking two protein shakes a day and eating yogurt to balance out the fact that I can't eat any other types of protein without getting sick. On top of that, the anti gallstone medication (Actigall) I'm on really adds to the nausea. I can wake up full of energy every morning, have my protein shake and then my Actigall and a short time later I'm stuck in bed with nausea for the rest of the day, even after taking my nausea meds. So my books are really helping to take my mind off of things while I'm lying in bed.

Yesterday was the first day that I felt any way back to my normal self. Every day I do a self check to see if I feel like I'm ready to go back to work or not -- and every day I get the nausea. Yesterday I chose not to take the pills and got out of the house. New siding is getting installed on my apartment so it was pretty loud yesterday and was an added incentive for me to leave. I decided to go to a restaurant while we were out and try some of their halibut. I barely had a few bites down before I was full. I then spent the next half hour worrying about when the nausea was going to kick in. It didn't! Marking yesterday as a big jump in progress. Today I will go back to taking the stupid medication, but I'm happy to have one day where I felt I was returning to normal.

Summer break started for both girls this past week. Brie (15) already got a job for the summer. She'll be 16 in a few weeks. I'm taking her back to the DMV next Friday to see if she can pass her permit test. Summers are always hard, especially the beginning. My youngest, Sylar (11), has to go to her father's house in another state for the summer and he wants her the week that she gets out of school and will not allow her to return until the week before school starts. Sylar has been in basketball for the past three years and I haven't been able to get her into camps because any time she's out of school for over a week she has to be at her father's. I was able to wrangle keeping Sylar here for a week longer this year just so I could make sure she got into the local high school's basketball camp. She'll be able to meet and work with the varsity coach during camp and get to know some of the other girls in the upper grades that play basketball. Sylar and Brie typically experience some emotional problems before Sylar leaves so I'm glad that I'm able to keep her busy and happy before she heads out next Saturday.

I'm currently in more of a stall than I'd like to be but I'm working through it. It's been 2 weeks since I lost any weight. I took a recommendation by someone here about eating a tsp of peanut butter when you are in a stall. I don't know if it was that or something else but I started losing again right after I tried the peanut butter for the first time. I'm a believer for now.

I also saw my primary care physician two weeks ago and got results from my ferritin and Vitamin B-12 levels. Turns out both are elevated right now so I'm fine eating my gummy Multi Vites and not taking the B-12. I'll need to call back and find out about when I need to take another test to confirm my levels. The last thing I want to do is end up with levels getting too low.

I bought a new board game, Ticket to Ride, for myself as a late birthday present last week. I played it once while I was trying to snack on soft foods and ended up getting really nauseated. Between the memory of the nausea and losing the game, I have refused to play it since. I'm on a quest today to find Elder Sign, another board game. If I can't find it at any of the game stores in town, I'll be stuck going to Powell's for it. While Powell's isn't a bad place, I have no want to ever go into the stores anymore. I included a picture of the current rotation of board games that have a permanent spot at my kitchen table.

Now to get something to eat this morning and hope for the best after taking my Actigall.