Oh, Yummy Food, How I Will Miss You...

It's been almost seven weeks since my surgery and a week since my last dose of thyroid replacement hormone and I'm doing really good! Life is pretty much normal now. We're back to just "us", no extra moms staying with us for a couple of weeks. It was so awesome to have my mom and Jeff's mom staying with us and helping us out, a bigger help than we could ever explain and express our thanks for. But that time has come to an end, and I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda nice to be "us" again. We can all relax a bit more and not have to be quite as extra careful on what we say, what we wear, and what we do. Now, we didn't change that much, but things were definitely a little more guarded about how we acted and the way things were done. So being able to get back into our normal routines and everything has been nice.

Last Friday I was given the okay from my surgeon to do full activity and pick up anything I wanted (no weight limits). It was nice being able to actually take care of the kids all by my self, although, with no excuses, my work level did go up a bit but it was still nice being able to pick Luke up and just give him a hug when he asked for it.

So now life is continuing on. Although, starting tomorrow I take the next step in preparing for my radiation. Because of the type of cancer I am being healed of, I have to go on a Low Iodine Diet for two weeks before my radiation. Everyone's first response is, "oh, so no salt, right?" And actually that's not true. The diet doesn't restrict sodium or salt, it only restricts iodized salt or sea salt. Any salt that is labeled as Non-Iodized may be used freely. So I can cook and bake with non-iodized salt freely which is great, but I can't buy or eat any foods that have salt in them since there is no way of knowing which companies use iodized or non-iodized salt. I also can't eat out as you don't know what type of salt they use in their cooking.

Other foods that I have to avoid are:

all dairy products (milk, sour cream, cheese, cream, yogurt, butter, ice cream, etc.)

margarine

egg yolks

seafood (fish, shellfish, seaweed, kelp)

foods that contain carrageen, agar-agar, algin or aiginate (no idea what any of these are, but they're all made from seaweed supposedly)

cured and corned foods (ham, bacon, sausage, corned beef, tuna, etc.)

marinated chicken or turkey

dried fruit

canned veggies

bread products that contain iodated dough conditioners (anything bought at stores pretty much hence the homemade bread for the next couple of weeks)

chocolate (boooooo!)

molasses

soy products (soy sauce, soy milk, tofu)

food containing Red Dye #3

Foods that I can eat:

egg whites

fresh chicken, turkey and beef in moderate amounts

black pepper and fresh or dried herbs

homemade bread made with non-iodized salt and oil (not soy) instead of butter or milk

most fresh fruits and veggies (but not potato skins, bizarre, huh)

frozen veggies that don't have salt added

canned peaches, pears and pineapples

unsalted nuts

unsalted Matzo crackers and unsalted rice cakes

clear sodas

coffee or tea, as long as it's made with distilled water, but only non-dairy creamer

popcorn popped in veggie oil or air popped

sorbet (as long as no "avoid" foods in the list which is hard to find these days when you can't have milk, eggs or soy, along with the no salt thing.)

So there it is. It's not too horrible just a little boring especially since I use quite a few prepared spice mixes and marinades for my meats that I won't be able to use. The hardest part will probably be that I can't just munch on all the little snacky foods and the left-overs from the kids food that I'm used to. Also, I'll have to be better at actually making meals instead of just picking at things because most of the things that I eat on the run or pick at are on the "avoid" list. Thankfully we don't eat out too often so that won't be a big deal, but I will miss my milk products greatly.

I stopped at our local health food store the other day and found all of four things that didn't include any of my "avoid" foods and picked them up. I tried some of the rice crackers the other day and they were HORRIBLE! No flavor, bad half soggy half (not really sure what to call it) chewy? and just plain bleh. Thankfully my mother-in-law made a big pot of soup for me while she was here and packed it away in single servings in the freezer for me and those will be a lifesaver. I also cooked a couple extra chicken breasts tonight which I can use for different things for the next couple of days and then be able to cook my normal meals for the rest of the family.

Thankfully it's only two weeks that I have to eat like this. I was able to find a whole cookbook online for Low Iodine Diets but the problem is that you have to have all these different spices, no combo things like I'm used to, and well, I don't really want to go and buy all of them - they're not cheap. Also, my family is pretty picky. Trying to introduce a new food to them is really hard and even just changing a little thing in how it's made or what it looks like can make things really rough when it comes down to sitting around the table and eating it. So I'll probably be making a couple of different meals for the next two weeks. But it's only two weeks.

Wow, that's crazy to think about - two weeks. Only two more weeks till my radiation and then things will, for the most part, be over with, other than a few follow-up appointments with all my doctors. This past week went by SO quickly. I also have a big consignment sale that I'm part of this week and it's taking up all of my mind and focus so it's making things pass quickly, thankfully. Once that's done then I get to think about Easter and my birthday, which happen to be on the same day this year, and also preparing for my mom to come back. I also have to get everything ready for my "confinement" in my room while the radiation leaves my body. So many things to think about and keep me busy, all that on top of taking care of the kids and trying to keep the house in somewhat decent shape.

On a side note... today I had one goal, and I almost accomplished it. Sure, it took me about three times longer than I had hoped and I really didn't quite finish it, but well, I got almost all of my floors vacuumed and washed. I had planned with Jeff that he'd take the kids outside to play so that I could do the floors but things just went awry. Sure they played outside, but I was outside for almost half the time they were due to many different things that went on and then they were inside for half the time that I was trying to work on the floors. And as anyone with small kids knows, it take less than a quarter of a moment for kids to mess up the floor that you just spent an hour cleaning. I was just finishing the vacuuming when I had to go over the area that I had done first because the kids had been playing there and messed it all up before I was able to wash it and it's not possible to wash a floor that's covered in mess. Oh well, almost all of my floors are now clean.

Well, I need to go and make bread for tomorrow. Thank goodness I have a bread maker! This would be way, way harder without it!