Something fairly big happened in our lives this past week.. or rather, something of a slightly larger than usual (I’m guessing) size left. On Friday morning T had his gallbladder removed. He is sleeping peacefully at the moment, or I’m sure he wouldn’t want me posting this, but hey, sometimes it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission right?
The whole event was a bit of a whirlwind, starting with the surgery being scheduled earlier in the day than we thought (crushing our plans to take the train into “the city”, thankfully a friend pulled through and gave us a ride to T’s parents where we spent the night), then the surgery being later than we thought (starting at 9, not 7), a dead car battery, a reaction to one of the anesthetics, an excruciatingly long wait in recovery, some nasty car sickness (though gold star for T for not puking!). Luckily the one thing that didn’t go wrong was the surgery itself. T was released about 4 hours after his surgery ended and we were back at home the same night.
Recovery was going pretty well until late last night when T woke up with a lot of pressure under his ribs, feeling like he was full of liquid. We called the Nurse’s hotline (if you have not heard of this please look it up: they are FANTASTIC help, and will tell you what your next step is. Whenever I have used them they have been calm, friendly and helpful and last night was no exception). In this case, they suggested we head to the ER, so after a flurry of activity and a ride in an ambulance (thanks to a snow storm, lack of license and panic) we went to the hospital. Blood tests were done and thankfully there is no infection or anything, just some high liver number stuff, but that’s normal after a gallbladder surgery apparently. T was given some stuff for acid reflux and it seemed to help a lot, but we still aren’t too sure about the pressure and everything. We did some research at home this morning, and it sounds like bloating and indigestion are a common thing for people who have had this surgery. The people who have dealt with and experienced this suggested some digestive enzymes, but more importantly a very low fat diet.
From what I gather the gallbladder stores bile, and releases it when it senses that you have eaten something fatty. With out the organ, your body just kind of oozes bile (appetizing eh?) into the digestive tract, often causing acid reflux. In addition, because the gall bladder isn’t there to help release the bile, which breaks down fatty foods, it is harder for your body to break down the fatty foods, causing a lot of bloating and such.
So, to the point…
The challenge is now to learn how to cook without all of the butter (and those who know me know how much I love to cook with butter.. currently we go through about a pound per week), oil and fat. Of course, this is on top of the organic thing (which is probably a blessing in disguise: organic butter runs us about 9$ a pound), and also trying to eat vegetarian or vegan 3 or 4 times a week (again, a blessing in disguise as the fats people tend to have the most problems with are animal fats).
I can cook from scratch.. just about anything. No problem. I can cater to Vegans, Vegetarians, Gluten Free-ers. I have cooked without sugars, salt or grainy carbs. Fat free though is something new to me. Please don’t get the wrong idea.. we aren’t deep frying maniacs eating breaded sticks of butter for dinner or anything.. but we do enjoy cream based soups, butter chicken, some grilled cheese or quesidillas or veggie drenched nachos (I’m drooling a little bit thinking of it). Breakfast is usually home made scones, or waffles, drenched in butter with a side of fruit. We can eat avocados once or twice a day without blinking, and I personally will admit to a baked goods and chips addiction.
This is gonna be a bit of a challenge. And, to the best of my ability, I will keep you updated, and hopefully inspired.
If anyone out there has suggestions.. please let me know! Now, bring on the salads…
Eat Write Play 