Every day gets easier now as my body is healing. I still have a bit of a rash on my both arms from where the tape covered my arms, but it is getting much better. I am getting use to eating constantly throughout the day. For my meals I am not sure if I am full but I stop when there is a bit of discomfort. At dinner tonight I said that it was hard to sit and watch people eat at dinner because I can not eat more. Olivier said it would be tough for him as he loves food. For his lunch today he had two bowls of soup and a whole sleeve of premium plus crackers minus 2 he left behind. I am sure that he is going to eat more than Xavier very soon consistently. He eats more half of the time now. This recovery does not seem to be too bard, the hardest adjustment is food intake, but with practice the last 3 or 4 months it is not too bad. With most of the difficult part over, within the next 12 weeks it should all be done. I stopped eating just a liquid diet and am starting to eat more solid foods now, just soft. Rice and pasta is pretty safe and easy to eat. I may progress to some meatloaf and mashed potatoes as well. I am looking forward to eating a burger again.
1.) I have gone back to work this week and it was not too bad. For at least the next 3 to 4 weeks I would like to get back to normal for work. The only thing is that I am not sure if I can consistently work my previous hours. I seem to need more sleep now, so I go to bed and when I get up I start work, which is normally between 6:30 and 7:30 compared to before where I would consistently start at 6am and work till 5pm. My colleagues at work are still trying to protect me though and not provide any extra work for me. I appreciate the gesture, but my role is there to help my team. I enjoy the people that I work with and it has helped bring some normalcy to things. With the kids at home, it is not like it is super relaxing and I can just sit there.
2.) My parents are bringing food to us, and they do not necessarily listen to my new eating requirements. They watched me make myself a bowl and were surprised by how much I was eating. Or they suggest food that I do not want to eat such as crisp vegetables and meat. I need to make sure that the meat is very tender. Today it is probably the most that I ate at each meal and I feel full tonight, or as far as I know what full feels like. I appreciate the gesture, but it is difficult to eat all that they provide. We should give some of it away right from the start. This weekend in theory we will make some softer food like pulled pork or some pot roast.
3.) My friends are great and check in on me fairly frequently. I appreciate it because they tell me to rest and to take care of myself. They also offer to come help out with things like mowing the lawn or taking care of the kids. Right now we have some young kids from families coming to mow our lawn. I am curious to how successful they are. My neighbour and I pay them $20 each to do our yards which is a steal. I am not sure if they will be able to maintain it or do it. We will see next week when they come.
Quoc Hao