As usual, food prep gets bigger the closer we get to surgery date...

CW: yeah, in a post about food prep. Because I also discuss orthorexia, religious trauma, trauma from alternative medicine, trauma in general and how it affects the relationship to food, gastroparesis, enemas... and yeah, I have links to my recipe blog in here, too.

I kinda forgot about refrigerator oatmeal. You know. The summer time meal prep darling. I do remember the last time I made myself refrigerator oatmeal, and it was honestly pretty traumatic (the situation, not the oatmeal), so it's not surprising it dropped off my radar. I was eating the hot version last January after the hip replacement, because it was January, and a blizzard the entire month, and a cold breakfast wasn't really sounding great. But once spring rolled around, that turned into a simple coconut yogurt with ground flax seeds and honey, mixed on the spot, there you go.

Problem being, I can't have flaxseeds until after surgery next week. tfw your diet is so nutritious, the nutrients would screw up the anesthesia. I know I wrote the recipe with flaxseeds, I'm not putting them in for this week. I will definitely put them in for the cups I prep next Tuesday as I'm doing the Laundry From Hell. I'll need as much added fiber as possible post-op!

My mother, who did this in 1991 - "I don't remember having to stop taking or eating anything weeks before my hysterectomy. But then, I might have been taking a multi-vitamin."

In 1991, we were still Seventh-Day Adventists. I wasn't even baptized until three years later, so, this was a good five years before we formally left the church. Now, obviously, medicine has come a long way in 35 years, as has the medications we use in anesthesia and our understandings of how those medications interact with substances normally found in the human body. But that would have been the peak of her hanging out with the church ladies and their orthorexic diets, not to mention the older lady with the Shaklee supplement shop and the colonics rig in her suburban basement. WHO'S THE CRUNCHIEST BITCH IN THE ROOM NOW, MOM???

Speaking of, apparently an enema used to be part of the deal. As someone with gastroparesis issues, I have a deluxe electric enema system and would be ready if that were a requirement nowadays. I'm not sad that I don't have to add a half-hour to The Shower the night before the procedure, but damnit, I am prepared for the possibility! Which is good, because speaking of things you have to give up, my daily magnesium citrate gummies are a whole week out of my system, and I have a week to go before I can take them again... ugh.

So, after that less-than-appetizing narrative diversion... that'll be five cups of refrigerator oatmeal, plus five dinners, three Salisbury steaks with whipped white beans (that's not on my blog, because it's a friend's recipe), and meaty refried beans over polenta, for like a deconstructed tamale bowl. That's probably all I'll want to eat, those are pretty filling! So, that's food set through the first five days. And then, lots of frozen fish and veggies to make rice bowls, as well as somen noodles and broth fixings. And potentially going back to my simple yogurt bowl in the mornings, idk. Refrigerator oatmeal is pretty delicious...

It's kind of freaking me out, how casual I am about all of this. Surgery prep has obviously gotten pretty easy. I shouldn't have to be this familiar with the process to be so comfortable with it, damn.