Three strikes!

Apparently Mr. Bandy is PMSing.  He is not amused.  Nor am I.

Yesterday I had the stuck episode with the hamburger.  This morning I went to the deli to get some turkey for my turkey roll ups (Boar's Head Lower Sodium Oven Roasted Turkey breast rolled up in a slice of Boar's Head provolone cheese--YUM).  Publix always gives you a sample when they cut the first slice.  I ate it too fast (we do not seem to have the hang of pencil eraser sized bites and CHEW-CHEW-CHEW) and boy howdy, it got stuck!

I walked around the store and picked up my other items.  Still hurting. Fortunately the parking lot was deserted at that time of morning and I could slither up the tiny bit of turkey by the door of my car.

I was very worried at lunch and wondered if I'd be able to tolerate it. This is the thing:  it's a learning curve.  What can I get down, what does the band not tolerate?  So far, he does not like over cooked hamburger patties and he does not like poorly chewed, snarfed down turkey meat.

Let's add number three to the list:  poorly chewed, snarfed down grilled chicken (notice a theme here?).

I am just now starting to feel better after this episode.  

I needed lunch for tomorrow and Thursday and had thawed some chicken.  I love to make this Greek style chicken that I marinate in a bit of canola oil, red wine vinegar, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic and lots of Greek seasoning.  I serve it with grilled veggies--zucchini, mushrooms and red pepper that have been sprayed with olive oil Pam with a dash of garlic salt with parsley.  OMG, I LOVE THIS and I could literally eat it every day.  The girls at lunch are likely getting tired of my in-chair happy dance I do the entire time I am eating.  But it is that good!

I prepared all the veggies (using my own, home grown zucchini I might add) while the chicken was marinating, then fired up the grill. Yum.  The smell was incredible, which is a good thing because my back yard reeks from composting grass clippings.  Yikes!  But that's a totally different blog entry.

I brought the chicken in and cut off a bit.  Note to self:  eraser sized = pea sized.  Not the big pink gum eraser size, thank you very much! Tried to chew it as well as I could, but I was so excited about it that I snarfed it down.  And then I had a few bites of grilled red onion. Drooool.  So good.  

Then the pain hit.  Awwww, damnit.

The kitchen sink and I have spent most of the last half hour bonding. I was finally able to pack up lunch for tomorrow and put it all away without eating it.  But it tasted so good!  It was quite a challenge, though I confess I DID lick my fingers.

The ickiest part is the drooling.  It wasn't copious, but it was enough to overfill my pouch and that had to come back up.  One thing I know without having to make the mistake on my own is DO NOT TRY TO WASH THIS THROUGH THE BAND WITH SOMETHING TO DRINK!  Unless you really want to spend some quality time leaning over the sink.

We will see if I can eat this tomorrow for lunch.  I will try a single, pea sized piece of chicken, I will chew it into oblivion and then I will wait and see before anything else goes in.  Because I haven't had restriction until now, I haven't really understood the tiny bites and chew-chew-chew thing.  Until today, I mean.

I have a back up plan (cottage cheese and tuna) just in case.  Or I'll just do yogurt and protein drinks and give my pouch a break.  I did tuna and cottage cheese at lunch today with no problems.  So I know I can eat solids!  I just have to learn to play nice with the band and his newfound tightness!  

Definitely a learning curve, but the band is finally starting to do what he was put there for.